Welcome to the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism
We are your parent representative to the board of directors, and your parent fundraising committee. Janine and Tammy organize and execute fundraisers, doing the leg work, contacting the companies that we partner with, and organizing our twice-yearly staff appreciation luncheons. Janine represents us at the monthly board of directors meeting and will bring parent concerns to them if needed. Janine is most knowledgeable regarding questions around the Autism Funding Unit and the Parent Portal. If you have any questions about that, they can be directed to the parent rep email address: parentrep@chrisrosecentre.org with the subject: Att’n Janine. Tammy is the creative designer in the group and likes to organize anything social. We’re passionate about supporting the Centre and its opportunities for our children. We also attend and facilitate parent meetings which typically happen a couple of times per year and can be attended in person and virtually. We would like to begin by introducing some of our parent-led fundraisers that happen each year. Please note that all events, fundraisers, and potential volunteer opportunities, are subject to changes by the Ministry of Education or the Public Health Office of British Columbia.
Why Fundraising?
As most of you know already, your child’s attendance at the Centre is partially funded by the Ministry of Education (either through the school district, or your chosen online/distance learning centre). This does not fully fund the extraordinary programs that our children participate in every day at the Centre. Every year, the board of directors, the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism Society Foundation, and the Parent Group work to raise as much as 50% of the total cost of operating the Centre through donations and fundraisers, and your parent portion of your tuition, commonly paid by autism funding. This is essential for us just to keep the programs running! The Centre costs over a $1,500,000 annually to run, so this is quite a bit of money, and although grants and donations do help and count toward the 50% fundraising total, our parent group efforts make up a significant piece of the total every year.
Who We Are and What We Do
The Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism has several branches who each play a part in our funding, operating, and administration. These groups are made up entirely of volunteers You’ve met your parent group committee in the introduction above, so here’s a little bit about some of the others:
The Chris Rose Society Board of Directors: The board is the operations branch of the Centre, including the Day Program, the Extended Autism Program, Summer Program Day Camps, and the Adult Program. They meet monthly to discuss Centre business and host an Annual General Meeting for the entire society. This includes all parents, and the AGM gives us, as parents, the opportunity to have our voices heard. Attendance at this meeting is also critical when we apply for many donations and grants, as the number of attendees involved in that meeting are often criteria. For instance, Society has a partnership for the 2023 year with Kia Kamloops to sponsor some of our fundraising activities.
The Chris Rose Foundation: The Foundation is the fundraising arm, and oversees the administration of large donations of money, as well as hosting some of the larger fundraising events, such as the Walk for Autism (seen below).
Without further ado, here is the information about our current and upcoming fundraisers.
Purdy’s Chocolatier
This one is probably most familiar to you. After all, who doesn’t love chocolate? Purdy’s fundraisers are held twice per year, usually organized to coincide with delivery within a couple weeks of Christmas and Easter, to help facilitate gift-giving and timely shipping. You can help with this fundraiser in a variety of ways: by sharing on your social media a couple of times, by taking the catalogue and order form to your family, friends, and co-workers, and, of course, by ordering chocolate for yourself!
Global Coffee
Like Purdy’s, the coffee fundraiser happens twice per year. We work with BC-based coffee roaster, The Global Coffee Company, to sell some of the best coffee we’ve ever tasted, as well as the recently added hot chocolate for the non-coffee-drinking crowd. The coffee can be ordered in drip grind or whole bean form, is roasted fresh after we place our order, and in our hands within a week, making it extremely fresh and a wonderful gift or treat. This one can also be shared with family, friends, and co-workers, and on your social media. You’d be surprised at how much of a difference your sharing of these events makes!
Penguin Meats
Our third semi-annual food-based fundraiser comes from our long partnership with Lower Mainland meat processor Penguin Meats. They sell a wide variety of quality BC raised, organic meat at grocery-store comparable, or sometimes even lower, prices. It’s a great time to share the ordering opportunity with those around you again, and the perfect time to stock up your own freezer for either the long winter, or even better, BBQ season! It’s all packed to order as well, and everything is amazing. Everyone who’s ever had their bacon agrees, it’s the best!
Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction
This is our parent group’s single largest fundraising event every school year. Usually set near the end of November, it can really help you to get your Christmas shopping in gear, as well as being a great benefit to the Centre! It’s been done in a variety of ways, from a potluck to the cooking being done by a select few volunteers, to drive-thru style being served to you. Last year’s hybrid style dinner (drive-thru and in-person, with online auction) was very successful. Likely this will be the same for the coming year, but more info will be available as soon as it is known. Please note: parts of this event can be worked on all year-round, and these efforts also count toward your total fundraising commitment. You can speak to family, friends, and businesses at any time of year. Items collected can be given directly to the Centre’s office all year round. Some of the ways you can help with this event: solicit and collect a few auction items (including gift cards, which are always popular) from local businesses or artisans (letters on official letterhead should be obtained from the office, for credibility and community recognition), sell tickets, share the event on your social media, put up posters in locations you’re able, donate to the cost of ingredients if needed, be available to help with setup, cooking, serving, or cleanup as needed. This event is very work-intensive, but don’t let it scare you – it’s a lot of fun, too! The food is always good, the items are always great to check out, and some friendly bidding is always enjoyable too.
The Annual Walk for Autism
Strictly speaking, this event is not a parent-organized fundraiser. The Walk for Autism is presented by the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism Foundation, with our help and involvement. However, it’s one of our best-attended events every year and raises a significant amount each year. It takes place each April, during Autism Awareness Month. Individuals, families, or teams, make donations and/or collect pledges in advance of (& right up to) the set date. On the day of the event, we gather, and walk the McArthur Island Loop (approximately 3.2 km). Afterward, the North Kamloops Lions Club hosts a BBQ of hot dogs and hamburgers in the parking lot, with a variety of refreshments, by donation, and then donates all the proceeds right back to us at the Centre! It’s a great fun, highly positive energy day for the whole family.
Staff Appreciation Luncheons
These lunches occur twice per year and are usually timed with the Christmas vacation and near the end of school year. This is in lieu of a gift from each child attending the Centre to the amazing people who care for our kids. The staff usually chooses where they’d like to order lunch from (or at least, the kind of cuisine they’d like to eat), and then we collect donations from the families of each child. The recommended minimum donation is $15-20 per child who attends the Centre (any amount can be given, more as you are able is also very acceptable), to cover the cost of the food ordered, as well as drinks and treats to go along with the meal. This works out to approximately $1 per staff member. Anything over and above that amount is also used for our caring staff’s benefit:
Our staff at the Chris Rose Centre is second to none! If you’ve been here a while, you know; if you’re new, you will learn just how amazing and dedicated these people are to our children. Many of them go well above and beyond their job descriptions and even get involved in fundraising themselves. They have a hard and challenging job! It’s a real challenge to find or replace the special people who work with our children, so we try to do some things to make their day a little brighter a few times per year (Easter, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, for example). Any donations left over from the previous staff luncheons are used toward bringing in a carafe of coffee or tea, and a couple boxes of doughnuts or other treats, as well as sometimes done randomly through the year. As always, any other funds left in the coffer are carried forward to be used in the next staff appreciation luncheon. The staff really look forward to these special events.
Your Commitment
As you have read in your parent contract, every family whose child attends the Centre makes the commitment to a minimum of 10 mandatory volunteer hours during the school year. This might sound like a lot, but it’s only approximately one hour per month, and can be shared among any family members who would like to help out or get involved. There are many businesses and community partners who are glad to help us out too, so please keep that in mind. Please make sure that your family meets this commitment and helps us to meet our financial obligations to keep this vital place as unique and special as it is.
Our Commitment
We are ready to help every family find ways to help us make a difference this year. If you have any questions regarding any aspect of family involvement or concerns to be brought to the board, or questions regarding autism funding, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at: parentrep@chrisrosecentre.org and we will answer questions or point you to an appropriate staff member.
Welcome to the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism’s 2023-2024 school year!