Day One Society held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday, Sept. 26 at the Northshore Community Centre, following a year of notable achievements. In January, the organization celebrated 50 years of offering support and treatment services for substance use to the Kamloops community.
The meeting was led by board president Marilyn McLean, accompanied by executive director Sian Lewis.
KMPG auditor Lindsay Holmes informed that the organization is in a good financial position having grown its assets from $2.3 million (2022) to $3.2 million as of March 31st, 2023. This growth comes from construction funds, including the investment from Interior Health to add five new youth withdrawal management beds for the Phoenix Centre. Another impressive milestone for the organization.
The agenda for the evening included the approval of bylaw and constitution changes, the review of the AGM report, and the nominations for the 2023-2024 Board of Directors.
During the review of the AGM report, McLean listed some of the most remarkable changes throughout the year. One of them was the IT Transformation Project, funded by the Stollery Charitable Foundation, the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation, and United Way. This project has been incredibly significant to the growth of the organization due to the addition of IT management and equipment they didn’t have before.
McLean also noted that one of the challenges Day One Society has still been facing is the limited amount of staff. “We really are on the lookout for nurses and L.P.N.s (licensed practicum nurses).”
The event continued with the recognition of the Hermes Creative Award for the film ‘One Day at a Time’ produced alongside Amplify Consulting Inc. and Kiwi Man Creative. This film was premiered during the 50th-anniversary celebration to display the rebranding of the organization.
The highlight of the night was the recognition of the Out of the Ashes Bursary (OOTA) recipients, Haley Baker (category 17-29 years old) and Michelle Raglin (category 30+ years old), presented by OOTA founder Leann Kopytko. The Out of the Ashes Bursary provides educational support for young people and adults who’ve had a one-year minimum of recovery time. To date, there have been 45 bursaries awarded with a sum of $100,000 in donations raised by the community.
For the category of 17 to 29 years old, One Day Society awarded Haley Baker with a grant of $2500 directed to her Social Worker certificate program. Baker expressed her gratitude to the organization’s team for their pivotal role in her recovery. “They’ve helped me get sober. They’ve helped me become the woman I am today. I am just very grateful to the Day One Society. From helping me detox, helping me get into treatment, referring me to treatments, guiding me through it, guiding me after it. They’ve been my rock.”
Second-time OOTA awardee Michelle Raglin destined her $2500 award towards her Masters of Arts with a focus on Human Rights and Social Justice at Thompson Rivers University.
Executive director Sian Lewis informed that one of the upcoming plans for Day One Society is the creation of an Indigenous artwork project for the new youth detox unit, funded by BC Housing with a grant of $5,000. “We approached Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc to see if they would work with us on this because we wanted to honor the local territory and the local people.”
Lewis expressed that the current substance use situation in Kamloops is highly concerning. She aims for Day One Society to keep offering treatment services in the future and work closely with the Kamloops community to tackle this problem. “The biggest thing people can do is just to become aware of the issue of substance use and addiction, to educate themselves and better understand the challenges that are faced by people who become addicted. This would help reduce the stigma that’s associated with using substances. When the stigma is reduced, people feel safer to come forward for help.”
The date for the next AGM is Sept. 24, 2024.
