Kyndred Community Living Society, formerly Delta Community Living Society, supports people with developmental disabilities to reach their full potential in living and belonging in their community. Kyndred community connections, family supports, employment opportunities, and supportive housing options with a commitment to life-long learning, choice and self-determination.
Society CEO Anita Sihota addressed members of the Rotary Club of Ladner on February 25th about Kyndred's role in serving families and people with developmental disabilities in Ladner, Tsawwassen, North Delta, and Surrey. Anita has been involved in the community living sector for close to 30 years and brings to Kyndred her background in budgeting, funding, negotiating, and financial analysis.Anita co-founded the BC Employment Network, serves on the Board of the BC CEO Network and the Community Social Services Employers Association. In December she received the King Charles III Coronation Medal for her significant community contributions.
Moving from segregation to integration, from institutionalization to community living, life for those with developmental disabilities is much different than it was when Delta Community Living Society (now Kyndred Society) opened in 1963. It began with Tony Schmand and his wife Lucia, and sons Paul, Ronald and Nick when they moved to Ladner in 1958. Mr. Schmand became an active member of several organizations that supported people with developmental disabilities. But Schmand had a vision for a new organization with a different approach – a vocational farm for adults with developmental disabilities.
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The “Lower Fraser Valley Society for Retarded Persons”, incorporated in 1963, founded a few years later the farm centre. The centre included 75 acres of federal land, 10 acres of developed land for the farm centre. It started with a roster of nine “boys” between the ages of 16 and 29 to train them in farm work and get paid for it. After various fundraising campaigns, construction at Variety Farm centre was completed in 1971, with four residences, recreation hall, barn, chickenhouse, greenhouses, wood shop and administration areas.
Over the next decades, the “Community Living Movement” developed, advocating for communities to welcome diversity and allow people with developmental disabilities to live full lives in their own communities. Community living is about:
- integration and acceptance of individuals in the community;
- breaking down barriers and recognizing the rights, needs and above all the contributions made by even the most vulnerable citizens
- having a home, not an institutional placement;
- being a person, not a case;
- having personal likes and dislikes and the right to express them by making simple choices in daily life;
- being out in the world, knowing people and living in a neighborhood where people say hello;
- having access to the wealth of activities and beauty of the place we live in;
- the deepest and best values in our society that make us all better, happier, safer and healthier individuals in a community we can be proud of.
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Lynn Cameron (l) and Avis Glaze (r) thank Kyndred Fund Development and Communications Manager Martha Davis and Kyndred CEO Anita Sihota with a donation in their names to The Rotary Foundation campaign to end polio in the world |
Kyndred Community Living Society represents newer thinking and innovative service to more effectively integrate persons with developmental disabilities into their community. This included the development of new residential and community- based living options, such as home sharing and semi-independent living. Kyndred also has become an enthusiastic supporter of the Self Advocacy movement, a civil rights movement that is spearheaded by persons with disabilities and which seeks to give them greater control over decisions that directly affect their lives.
While Kyndred still operates its administrative offices at the original Variety Farm site, the majority of its services have moved into the heart of the community so that people with disabilities can contribute and participate in all aspects of community life.