Earlier this month, Ivanhoé Cambridge employees from Tsawwassen Mills were planning to volunteer at Reach Child and Youth Development Society during their Giving Back Day.
That was before COVID-19 hit and respecting social distancing guidelines rendered it impossible.
Instead Christine Babkine, Director of Corporate Responsibility, reassessed how Ivanhoé Cambridge could still give back to their community and chose to donate $1,750 in lieu of volunteering efforts.
Reach Choices program manager Katie Scozzafava was thrilled to receive this support to children and families and visited Mastermind Toys at Tsawwassen Mills to provision on June 25.
“This generous donation has helped us to equip our staff and families with tools to work on goals at home in a productive and creative way where kids are having fun and learning at the same time,” Scozzafava said.
The toys, crafts and learning tools will be used by children and youth at Reach by behaviour consultants, occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists.
These materials will help children to work on routines, following directions, sequencing, communication, fine motor skills, social skills, problem solving and turn taking.
Many Reach families do not have toys and materials at home for parents and staff to use to work with their children and having these new items to better engage them during virtual sessions is greatly appreciated.
“Tsawwassen Mills and Ivanhoe Cambridge have been incredible partners of Reach through various initiatives including our annual Mingler at the Mills event,” added Reach development manager Kristin Bibbs. “The innovative way that they adapted their Giving Back Day to help supply Reach with materials that became instantly necessary as a result of COVID-19 is incredibly impactful. We are extremely grateful for their support.”
