Peer support is the root and cause of who we are. If VPWAS has ever provided you with quality of safety and care, then you know Penny. She showed up decades ago and never left. As our long-term peer navigator, she meets people where they are at, —whether long-term survivors working through issues of aging or the pain of isolation or newcomers and new generations seeking support to organize medical or other social supports, with Penny, you always get the right dosage of listening with the right pinch of wisdom and action.
Sitting next to her we have Numa, joining us from Peru last year. Within a short time he transformed from welcomed volunteer to becoming a vital part of the peer navigation team. Mentored by Executive Director, Craig Dales and Office Manager, T.J. Furlani, Numa is making an enormous difference in people’s lives. On behalf of our small but dedicated peer run board, we are very grateful for the dedication of Penny, Numa, TJ and Craig for outlasting yet another pandemic and surviving long and well enough, to show up for others in need. You are the role models needed.
Two years ago, volunteers, board and staff, initiated a new project called, Walking Each Other Home (WEOH). Together, we explored the practical details, perceptions and feeling of end-of-life care from an HIV framework. Joining us on zoom, it was the last time we saw our beloved, long time board member, Dawn Cloutier alive. She died the next day. You are missed, Dawn and forever be in our hearts, you are an important part of our legacy.
Through a second round of STOP AIDS funding for WEOH, we seeded another circle of LGBTQI+ elders and elders-in-training on the Gulf Islands to work alongside Indigenous elders to address and facilitate the cultural needs of our populations determined to bring dignity to the final years of our lives. If you are interested in more information, or to join us please contact me. We have several events brewing for the coming year.
From the heart of VPWAS our volunteers and staff know that up to date, peer-informed knowledge and service helps to create a vital sense of purpose and necessary experience of belonging. Many people are arriving interprovincially and from other countries to Victoria and Vancouver Island seeking firsthand knowledge of how to effectively live with or prevent HIV and/or HepC. People walk through our door scared, perhaps arriving for their very first HIV test. They leave reassured, validated, and more effectively resourced to face the challenges ahead.
Change is knocking on our door. We’re staying open to see what the future holds, knowing new challenges and opportunities are around the corner.
As ever, thank you to our Executive Director, Craig Dales-Furlani and office manager TJ Furlani for being the cornerstone to our little organization that could. On behalf of our loving and devoted board, Charlene, Levi, Daniel, Jonathan and myself, we are grateful for your ongoing support of VPWAS. If it has been a while, please drop in and reconnect. We invite your thoughts, feedback and participation. There is always room for you at this kitchen table.
Please feel free to contact me at Rbirch9@gmail.com . We were never only about a disease. As messy as life can get, VPWAS has, for more three decades, been about connection, being a model of community and peer support, of figuring it out together.
Positively yours,
Robert Birch
Board Chair
