It is great to be the best in B.C. Hanne Fair is literally glowing with pride as she tells me of the prestigious award presented to the James Bay Community Project in December 2006. As Family and Community Services Manager, she excitedly tells me that the B.C. Association of Family Resource Programs selected the James Bay Community Project to win the 2006 "Continuum of Service Award" for the whole province of B.C. They were nominated by a local parent. The award recognizes that the Project offers a whole spectrum of services where someone can come in for one program and then end up taking advantage of many other helpful activities. Congratulations to the James Bay Community Project for this honour.

Considering their eclectic array of services, I was not totally surprised at her good news. Fair elaborates on the accessibility of their programs. One of their mandates is to make sure everyone, regardless of financial status, can access their services. In fact, Fair informs me that virtually all their services are totally free. They encourage donations but it is not necessary. They offer free child-minding while the parents attend their support groups. Their free Family Programs include drop-in play groups for parents and children, support and education groups for parents like "Nobody's Perfect", and supportive counselling for parents. The free counselling must be family related and can be done at the Project or the person's home. An important fact is that all the staff that work with families are all professionals with university degrees, including the counsellors. The Community Volunteer Services also provide free access to many activities, where 250 volunteers donate their time. For example, there is the Seniors' Connections Group where seniors can get out of their homes and socialize. They presently have free art classes for seniors in the Social Connections and by donation for other seniors. For those on a meagre budget, they offer a food cupboard where people can drop in and get some soup and bread. No questions are asked. Public computers and free tutoring give those with limited means access to the digital world.

My obvious question to her is: how can they afford to be so accommodating? The answer is that they have multiple sources of funding. They have core government grants and contracts with the Ministries of Health, Children and Families, and the Vancouver Island Health Authority. And they receive some funding from the City of Victoria and various charitable organizations.

Treating the whole person is important to Fair and the Project. She says, "Their rationale is that the social determinants of health are really important to our centre." To Fair, health is much more than medical care. Social connections, nutrition, decent housing, an adequate income are all factors in the overall health of the individual. The project tries to focus on all these areas in people's lives. And a major value of their organization is accessibility for the community.

Everyone needs a place to go when they want support or just to bend someone's ear. At least the James Bay Community Project is trying to keep the doors open for everyone. In December of 2003 a bronze maquette depicting Emily Carr and her creatures was unveiled in the drawing room of her childhood home on Government Street. It has been on public display at various locations around Victoria, but now it has been purchased and will stay at Carr House permanently.