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 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Im Mei Kwok for over 20 years of service!
Im Mei Kwok
Im Mei has worked with CNH for over 20 years. Currently with the Duke Street Early Learning and Care Centre team, she first started as a childcare worker on Nov. 3, 2003.
Im Mei has a passion for teaching children many different concepts and skills; she introduces different activities and stories to them with excitement and joy. Described by her colleagues as scholarly, resourceful, thoughtful and positive, she is also described as “a gentle, loving teacher to the children.”
Im Mei said that she has stayed with CNH because she has been part of a good team over the years. To the team, they say Im Mei is like family to them.
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 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Karl Chan for over 25 years of service!
Karl Chan
Throughout the years at CNH, Karl has worn many hats. From teaching youth badminton to becoming our go-to IT consultant, Karl has been the silent force behind our systems. In the beginning, he helped us with all things techie, but soon found his true calling: revolutionizing our point of sales system.
When CNH first started, the reception team relied on slips of paper and checkmarks to register and receive drop-ins for programs. Booking a room meant battling with a paper calendar and slathering liquid paper on our corrections—what the newbies now call correction tape. It was the Stone Age of administration! But then, our techie superhero Karl introduced us to our first electronic system. It was a dream come true but a nightmare in the learning process.
Once we were settled, in true Karl fashion, only appeared when the system needed his magic touch. And when our first system began to show signs of age, we found ourselves in a race against time to transition to a new one. Now with our second system calm and settled, Karl has once again retreated into his bat cave. Through endless calls, he guided us through every tech hiccup and crisis.
Karl’s dedication, patience, and expertise have been invaluable to CNH. An IT superhero, badminton guru and calming presence in times of reception tech turmoil, we congratulate Karl on his 25th anniversary 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 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Kulwant Kaur, Director of Operations, for over 30 years of service!
Kulwant Kaur
Kulwant loves working at CNH. She loves how the staff work internally like a family and also the difference CNH makes in the lives of the community residents.
When Kulwant arrived at CNH in July of 1994, it was love at first sight. Kulwant said she remains amazed at all that the staff do with and for residents and organizations in Renfrew-Collingwood.
Kulwant came to Canada from her native country, Malaysia, in 1991. At CNH, she started as an Office Manager, then an Office and Volunteer Coordinator for 10 years, and now, for the past 20+ years, she has been the Director of Operations. Along the way, she also served a couple of times as Acting Executive Director.
Looking back on her years at CNH, Kulwant recalls fondly working with former staff, such as former Executive Directors Paula Carr and Jennifer Gray-Grant, and Operations Directors, Oscar Allueva and Sandra Menzer. She has learned a lot from the past Executive Director, Paula Carr and says there is no university that could teach her what she has learnt from CNH.
Kulwant with Betty Lepps, Executive Director of CNH, at our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.
Kulwant’s favourite memory from CNH is the opening of the Joyce Street location and the Annex. She helped organize the move from the storefront to the new, big Joyce site. Kulwant was deeply involved in the building of the Annex, she said it felt wonderful to be part of the opening and to think of both the satisfaction of all that work completed and the possibilities the new space represents for our neighbourhood. Both the opening ceremonies were huge and felt very celebratory.
Kulwant expresses huge praise for the Operations team members, saying they are talented, hardworking and 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.
Her life goal was to fulfill her 60th birthday dream of visiting Paris but she could not at that time as we were in a pandemic. She is finally going to travel to Paris this year to walk up the Eiffel Tower, tour London and may also visit Switzerland.
Looking back, Kulwant notes, some people work at their jobs simply for their paycheck. Kulwant stresses that is not her motivation; she works from the head and the heart. As those who work with her would say, it shows. Congratulations, Kulwant on 30+ 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 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Jenny Eng-Chan, Reception Manager, for over 30 years of service!
Jenny has a diverse and rich work history at CNH. With 30 years at CNH, she has developed a wide range of skills. Here’s a summary of her roles:
Summer Student at Kingsway Storefront Location
Public Relations Assistant for Joyce Site Building Project
Contract Position for Settlement Services Project
Acting Office Manager
Since 1995 she has been the Information & Referral/Reception Manager
Jenny’s varied roles showcase her adaptability and commitment to the organization.
Aside from Jenny’s wealth of experience at CNH, she also brings a delightful sense of humour that brightens everyone’s day. She’s known for adding witty messages to notes and managing the occasional chaos at the reception desk with a smile.
As the gatekeeper of CNH, Jenny loves her role, claiming she has the best seat in the house to witness all the interesting happenings in the lobby. She’s also famous for her file cabinet dedicated to treats— everything from chocolates for stressed-out staff to doggy biscuits for visiting furry friends.
Always ready to lighten the mood, Jenny has perfected the art of playful teasing with her colleagues, making the workplace a more enjoyable environment for everyone.
This captures her vibrant personality while highlighting her contributions. Congratulations, Jenny!
Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At each year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Lisa Symons for 15 years of service. Here’s what Jennifer Gray-Grant, Executive Director of CNH, had to say about Lisa:
Lisa’s journey with CNH has followed a familiar path: first, her children got involved in programs. Then, she saw a volunteer opportunity and grabbed it. Soon, she was working as a contractor for CNH. In the blink of an eye, more than 20 years have passed, 15 of those as a CNH contractor.
When Lisa was bringing her children to CNH, she wound up chatting with staff. At one point, somebody recommended that she would be a great volunteer for the inaugural Neighbourhood Small Grants (NSG) committee. The NSG offers grants of anywhere from $50 to $500 to ad hoc groups of neighbours to create a project that improves their neighbourhood socially, culturally or physically.
Lisa tackled the role with enthusiasm, helping to create the promotional materials, figure out marketing, evaluate the applications and work with project organizers to support their success.
She has also held a few other small contracts with CNH, helping to organize community meetings and initiatives.
Lisa is such a natural relating to people that CNH recruited her to the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News, where she remains today, selling advertising for the newspaper. She’s a critical member of the newspaper’s team which works collaboratively to ensure that the paper represents the neighbourhood and recruit people to write for it. She’s well-known to local business owners and managers who hear from her regularly as she reaches out to organize their advertisements to run in the paper.
Lisa continues to volunteer her time with CNH, most recently doing volunteer grocery shopping for homebound seniors during the pandemic. She has also had a role in contacting seniors to let them know about CNH’s services and classes and helping to register them for programs.
Thinking about her 15 years with the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News, Lisa points out that while so many newspapers have closed, the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News has continued to publish. She attributes that success to the community members and businesses that continue to contribute to the newspaper.
As to why she has stayed so long at CNH, Lisa said: “The CNH environment’s inclusiveness and diversity makes it so rewarding; you feel it’s a special organization to work for. Many services and programs operate out of CNH, with countless employees, but as a part-time contractor I’ve always thought my contribution was encouraged and valued.”
Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At each year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Karen Wong for 15 years of service. Here’s what Renuka Bhardwaj, CNH Preschool Coordinator, had to say about Karen:
Currently working in administration support for CNH’s preschool and early learning care programs, Karen is a hardworking, reliable and passionate individual. She is especially great with children with special needs. I still remember she went back to school to get her special needs certification so she could support a particular child in our preschool.
Karen is also an executive member of the Vancouver branch of Early Childhood Educators of BC (ECEBC) and is always ready to help her coworkers.
Karen loves the family-friendly environment of CNH, which made her stay at CNH for over 15 years. She initially moved to another neighbourhood house but decided to come back because she loves CNH.
When I asked Karen about her favourite work-related memory, she said, “I love spending time with all the great colleagues every day. On graduation day, seeing children getting ready to move on to the next stage is a very special experience. I love our Pro-D outings.”
Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At each year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Jyotsna Patel for 15 years of service. Here’s what Sabrina Bantog, Child Care HR Manager, had to say aboutJyotsna:
Jyotsna has been a childcare casual with the Department of Early Years at CNH since March 4, 2008, where I have had the pleasure of both working with and supervising her. As a casual, she works in multiple programs, sometimes with very little notice for a shift start time. Jyotsna is flexible and always wants to work as much as possible. There have been multiple occasions when she has worked in the same program for months at a time.
Her colleagues describe her as being helpful and hard-working and say she is always friendly with the children and staff. She is very generous, kind and thoughtful. When asked why Jyotsna has stayed with CNH for so long, she said it’s because she likes CNH, she likes the children and she simply just wants to stay with us. Jyotsna says that when she started working with small children at CNH she just had to continue.
We thank and appreciate Jyotsna for her dedication and commitment and want her to know that she is so valued. Congratulations, Jytonsa!
Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At each year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Elisa Casilla for 15 years of service. Here’s what Kulwant Kaur, Director of Operations, had to say about Elisa:
I have had the privilege to work with Elisa for the past 16 years.
Elisa first joined CNH in 2007 as a casual accounting assistant and learned the work very quickly. In 2008, she was hired as a temporary accounting assistant. Elisa worked diligently and was promoted to payroll and benefits manager in 2010. She is very hardworking, extremely trustworthy, very dedicated and does not hesitate to help other staff even if she is extremely busy with very tight deadlines. If you know Elisa well, she is calm and has a good sense of humour but can get very serious, too, especially if it is about payroll. Elisa takes her responsibilities very seriously. There is a funny quote when new staff are introduced to Elisa, their supervisor would say to be nice to her as she does payroll.
Elisa says she has enjoyed working at CNH for all these years because of its family-oriented and flexible work environment. Her daughter even attended our school-age child care program at Graham Bruce and is now in university. Time flies so fast.
Thank you, Elisa, for all your contribution. CNH is very lucky to have you all these years!
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, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Amie Fan for 20 years of service. Here’s what Sabrina Bantog, Manager of Child Care Human Resources at CNH,had to say about Amie:
Amie started work with us at CNH in August of 2003. I had the pleasure of working with her for 10 years before I moved on to other roles within Collingwood. It is an honour to recognize Amie for 20 years of dedication to CNH. Amie currently is an Early Childhood Educator (ECE) working at the Collingwood Early Learning & Care Centre.
Amie’s coordinator, Kalvinder, says that Amie is a dedicated, hard-working individual with a great sense of humour. Amie supports children’s learning by having a love for playdough. Every week, she makes playdough that children can roll, mould and construct with. When children combine playdough from two different hues, you can see the joy on their faces. Amie also shares her love for music and dance with the children by engaging them in “dance time” by playing songs. Kalvinder thinks Amie stayed with CNH for the majority of her ECE career because she enjoys the everyday interaction with children and families and loves the welcoming environment of the daycare.
Kalvinder’s work-related memory involving Amie was when she participated in the learning with the community pedologist about the Early Learning Framework. Amie took the initiative to learn how to use one-note to enhance the documentation experience for both staff and children. She would take pictures of children exploring different mediums of art, while recording their thoughts, conversations and ideas and then download it to one-note for the team to look at.
Amie’s colleague describes her as always being reliable and having a memory like no other. She remembers children’s names and families from many years ago. Amie always has a smile on her face and a calm demeanour no matter what is going on.
When asked Amie about her highlights of working at CNH, she mentioned watching children grow and develop and the support she receives from CNH in particular during the pandemic which was a difficult time for everyone. Amie really appreciates the support the CNH provided her during this time.
When Amie was asked why she stayed with CNH, she said: “I love the people that I work with and interact with each and every day. CNH is a home away from home for me!”
Congratulations, Amie, and thank you for your continued service 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, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.
This year, we recognize and celebrate Rania Hatzioannou for 20 years of service. Here’s what Carmen Correal and Amir Sabbaghan, both Recreation Managers at CNH, had to say about Rania:
We come together with pride and appreciation to honour a truly exceptional instructor who has dedicated two decades of her life to nurturing the creative minds of the children in our community. We celebrate Rania, a guiding light in our children’s writing class, for her unwavering commitment and remarkable contributions.
Rania has inspired our children’s community for the past 20 years, the spark of creativity in countless children’s young hearts and minds. Her dedication to fostering a love for writing and storytelling has enriched the lives of these children and left an enduring legacy within our community.
Through the years, Rania has consistently demonstrated qualities that make her stand out as an outstanding educator. Beyond her instructor role, Rania actively contributed as a member of the Board of Directors at CNH for nine years. From 2010 to 2012, she was vice president.
We asked Rania. Why did you stay so long at CNH?
She turns down every Friday night invitation to socialize with family or friends because she cannot think of anything else to bring her the same joy she gets from seeing a child’s eyes grow while learning.
Rania’s favourite work-related memory?
“I have far too many fond memories of teaching creative writing at Collingwood. Children have to read their stories in front of the class. One time, a young student was reading in front of the class with his eyes going left to right across the notebook page. The story was very long, but he was not turning the pages. I asked him to show me the story afterwards; the pages were blank! He was making up the story as he was going along! He was an excellent storyteller, but after two years in my class, he was also a good writer.”
Rania’s impact on our community and our children’s lives is immense, and we look forward to celebrating her legacy together as a community.
