Local chapter of Safe Families Canada looking for support

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on November 13, 2024.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Amy Vetter, director of Safe Families Canada Lethbridge Chapter, says she hopes to partner with local businesses to host their piggy banks during the Tiny House Piggy Bank Fundraising Campaign to collect funds to continue helping families in need.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Safe Families Canada Lethbridge Chapter is asking for community support to help children and their families during a crisis through their “Tiny House Piggy Bank Fundraising Campaign.”

Safe Families Canada is a Christian charity that helps families in need in a time of crisis when they do not have a support system in place. They have chapters across Canada, United States and United Kingdom.

They help families experiencing medical emergencies, hospitalization, domestic abuse, starting over, through job loss, homelessness, mental health crisis and addictions.

Amy Vetter, Lethbridge Chapter director, told the Herald this holiday season they are hoping to get help from the community to continue supporting families with a caring, compassionate community.

Vetter explained the tiny house piggy banks that are located in various local businesses are in part conversation starters to get people talking about Safe Families Canada, while also serving the purpose of collecting money to go towards their cause.

“We’ve been operating in Lethbridge for just over a year. We’ve been serving families since last Thanksgiving and our whole mission is to support families who are experiencing crisis,” said Vetter.

 She explained they offer wrap around supports made-up of volunteer teams that help families when they are struggling with a short-term crisis.

“It’s for anyone and everyone who is hitting a crisis and don’t have those healthy natural supports in place. In our first year, we found that we work with about 35 per cent new to Canada, about 25 per cent Indigenous families and 45 per cent white families,” said Vetter.

She said within their first year they were able to help 53 families through various crisis scenarios and they hope that through their fundraising they are able to help even more.

“We get referrals from all over the place, from Lethbridge Police Service, Alberta Health Services, local teachers, doctors, anyone who might be running into a family and say hey, they need some more help,” said Vetter.

 She said they often work together with Child Family Services as well if they do an investigation for a family and apprehension isn’t needed.

 “They’ll often say, hey, some more supports could be helpful for this family so that in the future that isn’t a possibility. Also, that’s our hope is to be that early intervention for families when they first get into crisis so that things don’t get to the place where kids are being abused or neglected,” said Vetter.

She said it takes roughly $3,000 to support a family for a year, while also trying to utilize as many resources available within the community to be able to support them.

“It’s different for every family, but when we first meet a family we hear their story and make a three month plan based on the kind of crisis they are experiencing, what they need help with and what they would like to work towards,” said Vetter.

 She said after that, they meet every three months and decide whether another three months would be helpful or whether they are feeling like their crisis is over, they are more stable and ready to move forward.

 “Every family gets a family friend, which is very much like it sounds. That friend is checking in, maybe help with tidying, organizing their house or going on a walk, those kinds of things,” said Vetter.

 She said they also get matched up with a family coach who can held with paperwork, or going to court with them for support, or navigating various systems that might be challenging for someone going through a crisis.

“One unique thing that we do is we can host kids. We have our host families that we’ve screened and who have gone through a home study and they can take kids into their home maybe just for a day while a parent is in court or as long as three months if a parent is going to addictions programming or being hospitalized for either medical or mental health reasons,” said Vetter.

In order to continue to offer those supports, Vetter said they would love to partner with local businesses and professionals to make sure that families are getting the best care.

 “They can reach out to our office by email at lethbridge@safefamilies.ca or by giving us a call at 403-393-8957 if they would like to host a tiny house piggy bank at their establishment, offer their services, refer a family in crisis or to find other ways to donate,” said Vetter.