An Open Letter from Brian Ferguson

To our valued Supporters, Donors, Volunteers, and the Calgary Community,

We are facing an unprecedented time in our lives and history with the public health emergency, COVID-19. I want you to know and be assured that the Calgary Police Foundation Board of Directors, Staff and Community Partners will be here for our city’s children and youth in the weeks and months to follow, as the threat to lives, livelihood and safety continues.

The Calgary Police Foundation is a registered charity that supports and funds education, early intervention and prevention programming aimed at preventing children and youth from victimisation and engaging in criminal activity. We provide programming in partnership with Calgary Police Service and in collaboration with other community partners. We are only able to do this with your help. I know we have said it before, but in these difficult times we want you to hear it once more, thank-you. Thank-you for your support, your friendship and for your commitment to building stronger communities and funding resources we can offer to those who need our help the most.

For some of our Programs, the way in which we deliver our support has temporarily changed because of school closures and controls around physical distancing. So we want to let you know that we are working hard to adapt to the current circumstances and are continuing to help our children and youth through this difficult time.

All of the Calgary Police Foundation funded Programs are grounded in positive relationships with others in the community and we know we will have to find new ways to support our Calgary Police Service members who deliver the CPF funded Programs. We will be innovative and flexible in our funding model and will work with all of you to find a new normal. Every year, we reach over 9000 vulnerable children and youth, and now more than ever before, they need our help.

In times of extreme challenges, Calgarians react with acts of great kindness and every day community leaders are coming forward to help support our children and youth. Recently, Safeway-Sobeys responded to our request for help and gave us grocery cards to donate to the students who are no longer able to access food they usually get at school through the Integrated School Support Program. Our goals for physical education and fitness, normally achieved through PowerPlay, continue to be met with the help of local fitness instructors who are able to share videos online for us to provide to our families to help them remain physically active while in isolation.

These acts of kindness do more than fill an urgent need, they give us all hope that together we will get through this and that our vulnerable children and youth will remain safe from crime and victimisation during this public health emergency, where the risks around them are greater now than they ever were.

Together, we will continue to strive to keep our children and youth safe from crime and victimisation. This was our promise when we formed in 2011 and this is our promise today.

Take great care of each other.

Brian Ferguson, Chair of the Board, Calgary Police Foundation