Jim Gordon (JG) sat down with the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives (RCRG), Ed Gavsie (EG).

For this print edition, It was difficult to select from the many programs that were covered in the filmed interview with Ed Gavsie who spoke with great pride on all the work RCRG does for our community. To watch the interview in its entirety, go to richmondsentinel.ca/videos

JG: Our guest today is well-known in this city as someone who has been involved in the volunteer sector for decades. He served as director and chair of Richmond Chamber of Commerce and president and CEO of RCRG. He and his wife founded a private career college which they expanded to several campuses in the Lower Mainland before selling. His background also includes media and management positions in tourism, hospitality, and the financial sector. 

JG: He is Ed Gavsie. Ed you’ve accomplished a lot in your career, but today, we’re going to talk about RCRG. 

EG: We are a full-service, social service agency, and we have programs that we administer for various levels of government under contract as well as Vancouver Coastal Health. 

We are the volunteer center for Richmond, so we encourage volunteerism. We have about 65 non-profit members who list volunteer opportunities with us and we also offer seminars and webinars to help train, manage, and recruit volunteers. 

JG: You mentioned various programs, let’s talk about the recent Christmas program you held, can you offer updates on that? 

EG: The Richmond Christmas fund has been in business for 91 years continuously, it was founded in 1932 by Ethel Tibbets, the publisher of the Richmond Review and what we do is help the most vulnerable residents of Richmond over the Christmas period with both food cards and toys. 

I’m always very proud to say that we help more and more people every year that ask for help. This past year, we helped just under 4,000 people which was about a 38 per cent increase over the previous year. 

The Richmond RCMP hosts our toy drive and they’ve confirmed they’ll be doing a tenth year in 2024. 

JG: Can you explain to our viewers—do you rely on government support or is it mostly funded through fundraising? 

EG: It’s a community-supported operation, with a very small exception, we do not get any level of government funding for the Christmas fund. We depend on the community, both corporate and individuals to help us to buy the food cards that we distribute. 

I’m often asked how much satisfaction do I get from this job, and I have to say that the Christmas fund gives me the most satisfaction because I get to see and talk to the clients. The number of people that say to me, without the Christmas fund, they wouldn’t have extra money for a Christmas meal, or their kids wouldn’t get toys 

JG: Is funding and getting support your biggest challenge in what you do? 

EG: Funding is always a challenge, and the statistics from across Canada are indicating that, in 2023 (and I’m talking generally with non-profits) donations were down by about 12 per cent over the previous year and the number of people who donated were down by about 18 per cent. 

JG: Speaking of challenges, everybody has a story about how they had to pivot throughout the COVID years. How did that affect RCRG? 

EG: The biggest challenge was the Christmas Fund. For 88 years, we organized the Christmas Fund program as ‘in-person’ for both registration and distribution. When COVID came about we had to go totally online. 

For instance, our clients had to qualify through Zoom and show some proof of need. I’m not a technical guy, but our staff advised all of our rooms in Zoom were filled during our period of registration. When people came to pick up the toys, we had to have volunteers pre-choose the toys. Of course, like everyone else, we also went to Zoom for our meetings, seminars, workshops to keep going. 

When the governments came through extra funding we were able to give out special Covid related grants to various organizations for food security or help seniors isolated, due to COVID. 

JG: Speaking of seniors, can we talk about some of the services you provide. You mentioned childcare resources and also helping out in the senior community, give us a little more description about that. 

EG: The biggest program we have is called Better at Home, again operated throughout the province and funded by the province of British Columbia. They give the money to United Way, who then manages the contracts throughout the province. Under the Better at Home program, we grocery shop for seniors who cannot get out. The seniors pay for the food, and our volunteers shop for them, then deliver the groceries to them. 

Under the Better at Home program, we also have transportation services, so if a senior needs a lift to a doctor’s appointment, or go to church, or has to go shopping, we have volunteers who will pick them up in a vehicle. These volunteers are all highly trained before they go out. 

We also have another program in our senior’s department called Seniors Peer Counseling, for seniors who have gone through a stressful situation, perhaps they’ve lost a spouse or had to move out of their home, we have trained volunteers to help get them through the situation. 

We offer all these programs in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Punjabi. 

JG: You mentioned volunteering, how can someone volunteer? 

EG: On our website rcrg.org we have a volunteer now page, and all of the non-profit organizations in Richmond can list their volunteer opportunities, and individuals can go onto that page and filter by what they are interested in and deal directly with the organization who offers the opportunity. We advertise for volunteers, we encourage volunteers. We have a program in high schools where once a year, one of our staff goes in and talks about volunteerism because it's important to get our youth involved so that volunteerism will continue on.