Author: Kayla Isomura

Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At the 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM), Kulwant Kaur, Director of Operations, was recognized for over 25 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house.

When Kulwant Kaur talks about Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH), she often refers to love: her love of working at CNH and her love for what CNH staff do both inside the organization and in the neighbourhood.

When Kulwant arrived at CNH in July of 1994, it was an instant love match. Kulwant said she remains amazed at all that the staff do with and for residents and organizations in Renfrew-Collingwood.

Kulwant had arrived in Canada four years previously from her native country Malaysia. At CNH, she started as an Office Manager, then Office and Volunteer Coordinator and now, for many years, Director of Operations. Along the way she also served a couple of times as Acting Executive Director.

While Kulwant often expresses her love for CNH, she’s also clear that dealing with change—even positive change—isn’t her favourite activity. When she worked as Office Manager and Office and Volunteer Coordinator, her desk was in a very public part of the administration office. Once she became Director of Operations, the role came with a private office. It took Kulwant a full year to make the shift, as she had to get used to the idea of a new work space before moving into it.

Looking back on her years at CNH, Kulwant recalls fondly working with former staff such as former Executive Director Paula Carr, and Operations Directors Oscar Allueva and Sandra Menzer. She recalls saying to them: “There’s no university that could teach me what I’m learning from you.”

Kulwant’s favourite memory from CNH is the opening of CNH’s Joyce Street location. The premier at the time was Glen Clark, a local resident. There was a huge ceremony which felt very celebratory.

Another cherished memory is the opening of the CNH Annex. Kulwant was deeply involved with the Annex so, she said it felt wonderful to be part of the opening ceremonies and to think of both the satisfaction of all that work completed and the possibilities the new space represents for our neighbourhood.

Kulwant expresses huge praise for the Operations team members, saying they are talented, work hard and are very dedicated to CNH.

In her free time, Kulwant loves to watch Bollywood movies, walk trails with her “Just Walking” group, and have dinner with friends—when we’re not in a pandemic.

Her current life goals are to help plan her son Mandip’s upcoming wedding, walk up the Eiffel Tower in Paris and travel to India.

In looking back, Kulwant notes some people work at their jobs simply for their pay cheque. Kulwant stresses that is not her motivation; she works from the head and from the heart. As those who work with her would say, it shows. Congratulations, Kulwant on 25 (now 26) years at CNH!

Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and, for the first time in CNH’s history, 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.

This year, we recognize and celebrate Alison Merton, Director of the Early Years, for 25 years of service.

Alison is an efficient woman: she grew up, was educated and met her husband in the same city, Preston, England. When her to-be husband decided to return to Canada (he had relocated temporarily to Preston to be near his mother, who was friends with Alison’s mother) Alison decided to move with him.

Trained and experienced as a Nursery Nurse (the British equivalent of a Child Care Worker), Alison landed in Canada in 1995 wondering how she would ever find work. Turned out her skills in efficiency worked yet again: a woman living across the hall from Alison’s mother-in-law happened to be looking for casual child care workers for CNH. Alison applied and within a week of landing in Canada, she had a job.

Within two months, Alison was hired permanently as a child care staff at CNH and two years later, she became the program’s manager. When she was just three years shy of working at CNH, Alison was promoted to Child Care Assistant Coordinator where she worked on human resources, program operations and financial management. By 2001 she was a Child Care Coordinator, adding enrolment to her list of responsibilities.

In 2018, Alison was appointed as Director of the Early Years Department. While growing her career at CNH, Alison and her husband Dave have also raised two children, Ross and Cerys, whose sporty talents led Alison and Dave to attend more soccer and basketball games per year than most people attend in a lifetime.

In looking back at her 25 years with CNH, Alison said one of the hardest challenges was moving away from her coordinator colleagues, Ana and Diana. For so many years they were a tight threesome, sharing one office and working very collegially and Alison found it tough to move away from them and into the Director’s office.

As a director, responding to COVID-19 has been one of the biggest challenges Alison has had to face but she said there have been other, day-to-day challenges she has faced from the moment she started in the role. She said learning to focus on finding a balance of what’s good for the individual (staff or participant) and the organization has been a learning curve. She also reflected on how, in her role as a director, she’s learned to take the time and reflect on why people are responding in particular ways to a situation: “I’m not so quick to judge,” she said. Highlights in her work at CNH include a CNH staff trip to Reggio Emilia, Italy to study the Reggio philosophy and approaches to child care as well as meeting, “amazing mentors, friends and leaders at CNH”. Best of all: “I’m making a difference in people’s lives.”

Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and, for the first time in CNH’s history, 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.

This year, we recognize and celebrate Diana Taykandy, Operations Child Care Program Coordinator, for 25 years of service.

Diana was born and bred in East Vancouver. She attended Capilano College (now University) to study Early Childhood Education (ECE). In early 1995, Diana was sought out by a former director to be on the team that would bring more licensed childcare to the Renfrew Collingwood community-offsite and then the programs at the Main House on Joyce Street just in 1995 alone… And there has been a steady stream of more programs over the years! Her fondest memory at Collingwood was overseeing the opening of Sarah House and Duke St and how rewarding that was.

Diana’s role as a coordinator is to oversee the operational pieces of the programs, to ensure the delivery of quality experiences in our child care programs. One of Diana’s many strengths is working with staff to create plans for children who require extra support in the programs. Her education and experience in special needs care, enables her to think outside the box and plan for children’s success no matter their ability. We are fortunate to have this expertise on the child care team and many children over the years have benefitted from this.

She has always given her time willingly to CNH – participating in the Health and Safety Committee, arranging countless staff professional development opportunities and helping out with other CNH events. Her passion for quality childcare never wanes and after a trip to Reggio Emilia in 2018 for professional development, Diana was a great resource in supporting staff to implement ideas and changes to programs to ensure CNH continues to be highly regarded in the field of Early Childhood Education. Her ability to speak Italian was also most helpful!

Diana puts her longevity at CNH down to the people she works with and notes that the community is special and CNH provided her with flexibility while raising her family.

Her commitment to CNH and the ECE profession is truly commendable. Thank you, Diana, for your many years of service and congratulations!