Three North Shore community service agencies are celebrating significant anniversaries this year.
The North Shore Disabilities Resource Centre turns 40 and Lionsview Seniors Planning Society, 25. North Shore Volunteers for Seniors is West Vancouver’s oldest non-profit society at 55 years.
The three share more than a birthday and a commitment to community service. They share in the wisdom and experience of Anita Dadson.
Anita is a founding member of the North Shore Disabilities Resource Centre and Lionsview Seniors Planning Society. She serves as president for North Shore Volunteers for Seniors.
“I feel honoured to belong to each one of these indispensable organizations,” she says. “Volunteer-based service is the backbone of every community. Working to make life better for everybody, that’s what it’s all about.”
Anita’s career as a community service volunteer began when she and her husband Phil left the Ottawa Valley and returned home to the West Coast. They wanted family support for their daughter Sydney, who was born with cerebral palsy.
Syd, like every Canadian baby born in 1967, received a silver spoon from the federal government but in those days few resources were available to families with disabled children. The future for people with disabilities meant existence in an institution. Anita and Phil were determined Syd’s life would be different.
Home was the North Shore. Anita’s roots reach back to 1911, when her grandparents pitched a tent in a patch of forest that is now Memorial Park in West Vancouver. Her grandfather, Peter Johnson, was a captain on the commuter ferries. Her mother, Marjorie, was a nurse who served with the Victorian Order of Nurses, the North Shore’s first home health service. Anita worked summers at the cannery, at Cliff House in Whytecliff Park, and at the Bowen Island Hotel to pay for her education in social work.
In North Vancouver’s Highlands area, the Dadsons found the right house for their family needs: one level and wide hallways for Syd’s wheelchair. At Carefree, a daycare program for Syd, Anita met Sheila Gilmour, a lifelong friend and partner in the quest to establish services and support in the community.
Although children requiring personal care were not permitted in the school system, Anita and Phil were determined that Syd would attend regular school. Once she was accepted into a specialized site called Progress Centre, Anita and Sheila worked to have it included in Larson school. From there, Syd moved on to Handsworth secondary, integrated successfully into the school system. The next step was to make an independent home for Syd, one that would accommodate her disability in an inclusive community setting under the protection of a dedicated agency. Community living, the alternative to consigning people to institutions, would provide the right environment.
The North Shore Disabilities Resource Centre, established in 1976, was the right agency. When the first group home on the North Shore opened in 1978, Syd was among the first residents. For years, Anita used her skills as a social worker to develop resources for people with disabilities. Energized by the commitment of volunteers, families and individuals, she made connections with community social support organizations and with all levels of government. Along the way, Anita and Sheila joined a group of people organizing to provide services to seniors. Lionsview Seniors Planning Society was established to plan and co-ordinate services for seniors in transportation and accessibility, affordable and appropriate housing, preventative care and inclusion in the community.
The MAPS program (Making Access Possible Safely) was a Lionsview initiative close to Anita’s heart for its link with disability issues. Pedestrians can thank the Lionsview volunteers for the curb ramps at North Vancouver’s street intersections.
Six years ago, Anita returned to West Vancouver. Although Syd left this world in 2001 and Phil departed in 2012, life brought time with son David, bridge afternoons and travel. A search for a yoga class led to Anita’s most recent volunteer commitment. She found the class and an opportunity to volunteer at North Shore Volunteers for Seniors. Their centre is about the same distance from Anita’s home as Memorial Park, where her grandparents pitched their tent back in 1911. Anita’s life, well lived, has come full circle.
Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. Reach her at 778-279-2275 or [email protected].
