Patricia Davis of TAP Bookkeeping Solutions Ltd. is more than just a dedicated bookkeeper and business owner.
She has also been a skilled volunteer mentor to a little girl for the past two-and-a-half years, as well as a huge champion behind the scenes of The John Howard Society of North Island’s KidStart mentoring program.
“It’s been so much fun mentoring my little buddy,” said Davis. “When there are days that I’m tired, seeing her happy face turns it around and we have so much fun together. On my busier weeks, even if we only run errands together, she just loves it.”
At the beginning of their match, Davis heard from her then seven-year-old buddy’s mother that she was reading behind grade level and falling further behind at school. Davis spoke to a friend who is a tutor and arranged tutoring as well as to donate the full cost of the lessons.
“When she came out of her first tutoring session, jumping with joy and excitement from making her very first sentence, it was an amazing and truly rewarding experience,” Davis said.
Above and beyond her heartwarming connection with her little buddy, for the last two years, Davis has made an annual donation to KidStart of $1,000 per year to support the life-changing work that the mentoring program is making possible in our community.
Davis said, “Being a part of the program, I get to see how well the funds are used and that John Howard is very transparent with how their budgets operate. I also know firsthand about the amazing impact volunteers make on children and families in Campbell River and being proactive instead of reactive when it comes to providing support means a lot to me.”
Davis would like to challenge other professionals in Campbell River to step up to support this valuable program that relies entirely on donations, grants, and fundraising. Currently, KidStart has 44 children matched with mentors and 176 on the two-six year waitlist.
“To fully sponsor a child to participate in KidStart is just $3.33 per day. I know that there are many people reading this who can make this kind of difference, or more, in the life of one child in our community,” said Davis.
Campbell River KidStart Coordinator Tara Jordan said, “Caring KidStart Champions like Patricia Davis ensure that this program can continue running from year to year. We are incredibly grateful for Patricia’s generous support!”
If you want to help a local child by donating to John Howard KidStart make a donation by cheque or cash to The John Howard Society of North Island, 140 10th Avenue, Campbell River, BC. V9W 4E3; by e-transfer to John Howard’s Manager of Finance Colleen Ross at colleen.ross@jhsni.bc.ca or online at www.jhsni.bc.ca. All donations over $10 receive a charitable tax receipt.
To become a John Howard KidStart Champion, donors choose from three levels of monthly sponsorship (Gold = $100, Silver = $50, Bronze = $25). Champions receive a profile of the child they are sponsoring (names are changed to protect privacy), annual updates, a Champion decal, and a tax receipt. For more information, contact Tara Jordan at 250-203-3111 or tara.jordan@jhsni.bc.ca
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