Catholic Family Services in Prince Albert was incorporated in January of 1985 and celebrated their 40th Anniversary with the Rubies and Roses Gala on Thursday in the Ches Leach Lounge.
The organization provides counselling and support in Prince Albert. Along with celebrating their history, they announced a new scholarship named after Jeannette Eddolls.
During his speech, executive director George Marshall spoke about how volunteers make Catholic Family Services run. This transitioned into the announcement of the Jeanette Eddolls Scholarship.
Eddolls has been fighting cancer and thanked everyone for their prayers and thoughts.
Eddolls said that she knew that the announcement was coming. Eddolls said she thought the scholarship should have just been for Catholic Family Services and not attached to her name, but appreciated the gesture.
“I’m really pleased because how I live my life is represented through it. I was an educator,” Edolls said.
Catholic Family Services board chair Anna Dinsdale said that Eddolls is a powerhouse of community commitment.
“She volunteers, not just at Catholic Family Services, but the Salvation Army and a number of other organizations—huge dedication to community,” Dinsdale said.
The scholarship is an annual scholarship of $1,000 from Catholic Family Services. It will go to a graduating student from Ecole St Mary High School.
The recipient must demonstrate three things: relentless enthusiasm and positivity in volunteerism in Prince Albert, a genuine spirit and alignment with the Catholic mission to serve all people in our community, particularly those marginalised and suffering and a high achievement in education, and a continued commitment to post-secondary education.
Marshall said the award is about celebrating the next generation of volunteers. Those who, like Edolls, see faith is something you live through action.
“She’s amazing,” Dinsdale said. “We thought about ways that we could honour Jeanette and the thing that we felt, given her background in teaching, is if we could establish something that would speak to that.”
“The intent of it absolutely is to try and (capture that) because many of the volunteers that have been so dedicated in Prince Albert are growing older and what’s that mean for our new generation of volunteers? How do we inspire young people to have the same dedication and commitment to their community?”
Edolls viewed the scholarship in a similar fashion,
“I volunteer not only with Catholic Family Services and with other entities. I really believe that, especially for women, you have to have an education to be able to support yourself,” she said.
Edolls said the scholarship will benefit someone with solid marks and a commitment to the community. She said those are great attributes.
“So many entities that I volunteer with today are people of my age, they are not the 30 and the 40 year olds. (If) I can get the younger generation up to do some volunteer work, I think that’s what’s important,” Edolls said.
Edolls joined Catholic Family Services before they incorporated. She left for a time before returning in 2004 and has stayed ever since. She currently serves as a member of the board of directors. The anniversary was important to her.
“What it means is that there’s community people here who are very dedicated and focused to helping people get up on their feet through developing good mental health and strengthening their families so you’ve got healthy parents, healthy teens, healthy young kids, and you end up with a healthy family unit,” Edolls said.
She explained that, with her education background, she understands that people who don’t have all of the puzzle pieces to mental health can be lost.
“They’re actually lost, and so Catholic Family Services gives hope, gives stability, gives ongoing supports. As long as the individual is asking for support, somebody comes, (and) they get it,” she said.
She also appreciates that despite being called Catholic Family Services, nobody is turned away no matter their faith.
“People of all cultures and all religions of all belief systems are welcome to come, and that whatever their modality is in those areas is respected through the delivery of the services. That to me is very important because we’re all brothers and sisters. We are all each other’s keepers,” she said.
“If individuals want to have a faith-based counselling session they can get it and faith-based does not mean a religion. (It) does not mean that you belong to a certain denomination or a certain religion. It’s ‘you’ve got faith, you’ve got hope, you’ve got an element of spiritual connection.’”
Edolls said that the concept came from Father Jean Papen who had a vision when he was the Parish Priest at St. Michael’s Parish.
“He said, ‘people come for help, but we don’t have the skill sets to help and we as priests don’t have the time to help. We need to have councils,’ so that was the start. Then he started shoulder tapping people and saying, ‘will you join me and let’s see if we can make something go here,’” she said.
The people who came were not counsellors at the beginning but had passion and belief.
“We worked together really well. It was 1981-1982 at the very latest that we started and then got incorporated in January of ’85. (There was) lots of camaraderie, lots of caring and visions and ideas,” Eddolls said.
She said that all the people at the beginning were go getters and found ways to make it work.
“There was no money for it, but his creation was well founded, we provided the rent, provided paper supplies, all that kind of stuff,” she said.
Dinsdale also saw reaching 40 years as important and significant.
“I think it’s a significant milestone in terms of where the organization has come from 40 years ago and the … identification of the need by the Diocese for counselling services,” she said. “There was this gap and the priests couldn’t meet that gap, and so they employed counsellors to do that. From where we’ve gone today, I think the need is just as great as it ever was.
“It’s a milestone that celebrates the growth, the stability of the organisation, what’s been achieved over the last 40 years and also it’s an opportunity for us to look ahead and say, ‘okay what’s next?’”
Before supper there were speeches by Mayor Bill Powalinsky, longtime volunteer Hilda Powell and Dinsdale.
After supper, there was a speech by Bishop Stephen Hero. Former Catholic Family Services of Prince Albert Executive Director Louise Zurowski could not attend but sent greetings and new Executive Director George Marshall also spoke.
“He has the vision for a lot of this,” Dinsdale said. “He’s got the heart, and Louise, I had the pleasure of working with Louise both at Catholic Family Services and then on the board. I think the exciting thing is George is now one year into his new position and so we’re looking forward to see what’s next.”
The evening was catered by Shananigans and included music from Lauren Lonheis, a silent auction and many opportunities to donate.
Edolls was pleased the evening was a celebration of Catholic Family Services.
“I’m just glad to see this is a very joyous evening. It’s nice to have a connection with so many people that have had some involvement in some way or another, to interconnect and to share, and it’s a happy audience.”
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
