Nicola MacKay and current team of Care Families at BGCSVI in South Vancouver Island
VICTORIA – A lot of people want to do good in their community, but it can often be hard to know what to do and where to do it. When communities come together to help each member flourish, a greater, more positive and fulfilling society emerges, creating a healthier and happier place to live.
So where can one get started? According to Nicola MacKay, Family Programs Manager, BGC South Vancouver Island (BGCSVI), if you have a spare room or a suite in your home, you already are a candidate.
“At the moment, we are in need of care families who can host young people.” says MacKay. “Being a Care Family means reaching out to youth in your own community and becoming part of their journey. You have the chance to make a real difference, helping a young person grow from where they are today to where they have the potential to be and watching them thrive.”
BGCSVI has 8 neighborhood clubs across Greater Victoria that give kids a safe place to be themselves. The organization provides substance-use services and support to some of the most vulnerable youth in our community and offers numerous programs to at-risk youth and families in need of support, including counselling and employment readiness assistance.
Currently, BGCSVI is looking for participants for their Care Family program, which means they are looking for residents of South Vancouver Island who can provide a spare room or a suite that can host a youth or young mother. There are three main programs that need care family support, the Young Moms Program, the Turning Point Program, and the Full-Time Attendance Program.
Each program has different aspects and requirements, but all need a safe, loving space that can be occupied by one the youth attending the program. Becoming a Care Family is a rewarding journey that can change not only someone else’s life but yours as well.
If you have an extra room or detached suite, you may be eligible to become a care family
“When you have given a youth the right support, watching them fly is the heart-piece in it,” says MacKay. “It is a passion in what I do, throughout my years I have had many youths that are not my own living with me, so I know what it is like to take in someone who is not your own family and work with someone who is struggling,” says MacKay.
“I have worked with youth in Victoria for a long time, I have done front line work and things of that nature, and I have a strong love and admiration for the people that take these youth in and are willing to take time out of their own personal lives to enrich someone else’s.”
Although there is a need, the program requires care family participants to make a real committed effort that will include some teaching, training and administration.
“We spend a good couple months getting to know a family quite in depth before we bring them into their role,” says MacKay. “Within BGC, we provide 24-hour support, we have a line that is manned for care families and youth, we do training once a month for care families which is mandatory, we provide them with myself, the Family Programs Manager who supports them weekly. We also do weekly check ins, I visit them in their homes, we do a study on any Care Family that is looking to participate.”
As someone who has taken part in providing transitional housing for youth, who works to help find Care Families, and who assists in being a Care Family, no one is more ideally placed for guidance than MacKay, and her experience speaks for itself.
“It comes from a deep passion of mine to see these young people succeed,” says MacKay. “If I can do that and be part of that, that brings me joy in my life and my daily work.”
If you are interested in becoming a Care Family and have space to welcome a new person and a new chapter into your life, please reach out to Nicola at nmackay@bgcsvi.org or 250-686-9109.
