Despite growing up with a single mother of 5 and in a very poor household, we always had a roof over our heads and food on the table. I wore hand-me-down clothes from my sisters (yes, my sisters) and used their old note books in school, writing in the margins. However, I never felt poor as our house was full of love and we had what we needed. And it was never lost on me how fortunate we were, as I knew others that had much less.
When I first started my business I lived just off of Whyte Avenue in Edmonton where there were a lot of homeless people and I befriended quite a few. Despite the very rough start to my business, I still found enough money to scrape together to feed and clothe as many as I could. For those of you that know, Edmonton’s winters are brutal and I couldn’t imagine how difficult it was for them. Some of the greatest lessons and stories I have from those early years come from people living on the streets. I kid you not! If we’re at an event together, just ask me and I’ll share some as they are truly amazing!
In Edmonton I donated constantly to the Mustard Seed and a few other homeless shelters and on my birthday, I made large scale Timmy runs to feed 100 at a time. It was hard to do at the time, but it gave me great pleasure knowing I was doing what I could. Besides, as I said, it paid back in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
As the years went on and Dream Travel did better and better, I was able to make much larger donations to those in need, like a $10,000 donation to the Pathfinder Youth Society, a program helping at-risk youths in Vancouver.
We are still and will always been an Alberta-owned business and therefore we will always contribute locally, but we also want to support our global family in destinations that we escort our groups.
These pages are dedicated to those who needed a helping hand.
