Where the Door is Always Open
For an object lesson in the power of philanthropy to make dramatic change in a community, look no further than the Shewan family.
Around Christmas every year, Dougal, Lori, their two daughters and their daughters’ partners get together with one thing in mind. “We sit down and go through everybody’s favourite charities and non-profits,” says Dougal, the principal of the Shewan Foundation, along with wife Lori.
In 2023, one of the Foundation’s gifts helped to boost the capacity of drop-in counselling services, staff couldn’t keep up. Between 2022 and 2023, staff members had to turn away a total of 53 young people.
Thanks to donors like the Shewan family, Encompass Support Services Society, which runs Foundry programs, was given the financial capacity to hire a clinical supervisor to organize and supervise up to five Masters-level student counsellors to support the drop-in program.
“The counselling practicum supervisor allows us to offer more services during drop-in,” says Jesslyn Linden, Clinical Manager at Foundry Langley. “Since the time [of donor funding], our turn-aways have been almost zero.”
Averting a Crisis
The slash in the waitlist can be attributed to donors like the Shewan Foundation, the Bank of Montreal, and the Nuraney family, another longtime philanthropic family and longtime fundraising partner.
The Shewan family’s philanthropic interests lean towards groups that advocate for a more civil society. School Board scholarships, the Langley School District Foundation food programs, autism evaluation programs, YWCA and programs that centre on improving the lives of youth resonate deeply with the family. In fact, the eldest Shewan daughter runs a counselling practice in Victoria, while the younger daughter and her husband are raising two children in the Langley School District. “My daughters have a really huge interest in Foundry Langley,” Dougal says.
Foundry Langley’s counselling services fit well with the family foundation’s focus on providing interventional support to youth. Drop-in counselling helps to stem the tide of a brewing crisis that can be turned around with the right support. Youth who visit Foundry Langley in need of mental health support and counselling can find support when they need it, instead of waiting for appointments that could be weeks or months into the future.
Between April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, Foundry Langley welcomed 842 unique youth to the centre with 4,184 services, including drop-in counselling, youth and family peer support, substance use support, primary care, housing, employment, sexual abuse support, income assistance, accessibility and transition support and social programming.
“By hiring one counselling supervisor, we have the ability to take on and supervise up to five Masters-level students who will provide drop-in counselling services to youth in the community. This structure has significantly increased our capacity to see more young people during drop-in, while providing an enriching training opportunity for more Masters-level counsellors in Langley,” Jesslyn says. “We’re so grateful for the donations that have allowed us to expand our program and support more youth in the community in a timely manner.”
A Family Tradition
The Shewan family giving tradition began more than six decades ago, with Bob and Jean Shewan. New to Langley in 1946, he worked as a salesman for BC Electric, selling power to farmers across the region, and Jean worked as a substitute teacher. Between 1962 and 1969, Bob sat on the Board of Directors for the Langley Memorial Hospital, serving as Board Chair for two years. During his tenure he helped to secure provincial funding for the hospital’s expansion in 1963.
In 2009, his son Dougal, CEO of the mortgage lending group VWR Capital Corp., launched the Shewan Foundation to help carry on the family tradition, to direct their donations to help equip a growing population of young people and seniors in Langley with the resources, programs and facilities to gain - and maintain - physical and mental health and independence.
“As we raised our girls here, we found the community has always been really wonderful to us,” says Dougal. “So it’s shocking to think that so many young people can’t get counselling because there aren’t enough counsellors. We need to take care of the kids and provide the services they need. They are our future.”