Significant donation for Lethbridge Family Services

The pandemic has brought with it large changes on how we access mental health resources in our city. Lethbridge Family Services received a huge donation of funds on Friday to offset some of those issues. Staff from the centre say this money will continue to help out children and youth who are in need of obtaining those resources. Donors Trina and Kim Tymko, did not disclose the exact amount, but say the funds will be impactful. They did end up saying the donation was in the, “tens of thousands” of dollars. Staff say calls have doubled in the past year for those who are seeking help.

“January of 2022, we’ve already almost doubled our calls from January of 2021. Our calls have increased a lot, and the complexity of people’s needs have increased a lot too. Because as we’re finding with covid as they’re going along, people that have been in a family violence situation, and have experienced sexual violence, they’ve kind of held on. They’ve kind of held it in, and now they can’t do it anymore. Now they’re looking for services to support them,” said Lisa Lewis, the Counseling, Outreach, and Program Director for Lethbridge Family Services.

Trina and Kim Tymko’s family volunteer at the LFS, and the couple say they are extremely comfortable with putting their money into the centre.

“We’ve seen the way Lethbridge Family Services works. All the way from the CEO, to the staff, and volunteers. How they deal with the money, and how they work with the money. We’re very comfortable in parking the money here. They’re a really good fit for our family.”

Lethbridge Family Services says with this money they will be able to hire more staff to be able to help out those in the community who need it the most. Last year, the centre served over 1700 seeking help from traumas like sexual or family violence.