A local social service agency is celebrating 50 years of serving the community.
For the past five decades, Catulpa Community Support Services has assisted people and families with special or unique needs access a variety of services and supports to help with their lives.
Their work ranges from helping young parents struggling with poverty access public health or food security supports, to helping families or individuals with mental or physical disabilities connect with resources they need, among a variety of other services.
Catulpa has served Orillia since 1973, including 5,500 people over the course of 2022 alone, and the organization celebrated the achievement with dozens of attendees at the Orillia Common Roof on Thursday.
Beyond Orillia, the organization has offices in eight other communities, and it is holding celebrations in Barrie, Newmarket, and Collingwood this week, as well.
“What you hear from (our) people is ‘How might we do something?’ not ‘We can't do it,’ and I think that makes a really significant difference in how services are delivered,” said Catulpa’s executive director, Karen Hirstwood.
“The attitude of possibility and determination has fueled our progress and innovation over the years, and it is in this mindset that we've been allowed to overcome challenges and find creative service solutions to provide better services in our community.”
Hirstwood thanked the numerous local social service organizations that have helped Catulpa over the years, as well as countless volunteers and the original board members who were “forward thinking” when they started the organization 50 years ago.
“Our work would not be possible without this commitment to collaboration and forward thinking from our community partners, and they also have a passion for making a difference, and we are so very grateful for this,” she said.
Catulpa’s quality assurance manager, Kim Latour, said she was inspired to join Catulpa after completing a high school co-op with the organization in the late 1980s.
“What clearly resonated from that experience was that families and children were at the heart of the programming, and that was my first experience to any kind of programming that actively included the family and the individuals themselves in the dialogue,” Latour said. “It is those qualities that underpins Catulpa’s values then, and certainly continue to ring true today.”
City councillor Ralph Cipolla spoke at the event, and said Catulpa has made Orillia a “better place.”
“I’d like to thank you for what you do, especially the staff, your help to people in our community and your assistance and your professionalism goes a long ways to making our community a better place,” he said.
“You've made a lot of people respectful in this community.”
More may be read about Catulpa Community Support Services here.
