Newsroom
What’s happening at BFO-MR
The past few months have brought about a lot of change at Bereaved Families of Ontario – Midwestern Region and it is important to us that we keep our members and supporters up-to-date. It’s been a little while since we shared, so as we embark on a new year, we wanted to fill you in on what has been happening around the office and out in the community.
Around the office:
In July we welcomed Anum Syeda to the position of Events and Administrative Coordinator. If you attended the Butterfly Release/Walk to Remember or the Tree of Bright Stars ceremony or called into the office lately, you have likely already met (or at least talked to) Anum. She will be instrumental in ensuring our fundraising and memorial events run smoothly, and providing administrative support in the office to make sure WE run smoothly.
In September BFO-MR welcomed Jaime Bickerton as our new Executive Director. Jaime is looking forward to building on the successes created by Rose Greensides, building awareness about the work we do, and ensuring more people in our community can access peer grief support. We thank Rose for her incredible leadership over the almost 10 years she was with us and we wish her the best in her future endeavours.
We will also soon be welcoming a new person in the role of Program Coordinator as Alex Bissley will be going on maternity leave at the end of January. Stay tuned for more information on this.
In the community:
2015 was an amazing year for BFO-MR. We are proud of the successes we have accomplished, most notably bringing peer grief support to Wellington County. Significant outreach work has been undertaken which has resulted in the launch of Living with Loss in Mount Forest and we are proud to be supporting this community. You can read more about that here.
We also have a renewed focus on educating the public about peer grief support and will be working hard at connecting with agencies, organizations and individuals in this community as well as Cambridge and North Dumfries to spread the word.
2016 will also see us shining the spotlight on volunteerism. People use this expression a lot, but we truly could not do what we do without our volunteers. Increasing the number of volunteers who can facilitate our groups means we can support more people. Increasing the number of volunteers who help organize or run our events, means even more success honouring our loved ones and raising funds for our organization. To everyone who currently volunteers with us – THANK YOU for all that you do. To anyone who wishes to get involved, please let us know. We would love to hear from you. There are lots of opportunities outside of facilitating that we would be happy to talk through with you.
Thank you for your support, understanding and trust as we’ve gone through this transition. We are excited about the direction we are going and look forward to what 2016 will bring.