A Rebirth

We all know we are walking into a time of unknowns. What does the future look like in the covid world? Will our kids still be in school in a month? Will we ever get to travel again? Will we have to wear masks forever? It is easy to get caught up in the fear and anxiety of it all, I get it. But what if we look at this time as a rebirth or a reset in our lives. Ask yourself, what have been some positives from covid? What has it taught you about yourself, your family and your choices, good or bad? What do you want in your life moving forward?

As your Beyond the Blue president, I can assure you we are asking the same questions. We have been an organization for 6 years but we are looking at this upcoming year, starting in Sept, as a rebirth for us. We have a strong vision of what we want to accomplish and provide for our families and spouses of our officers. First of all, we are applying to become a charity. With the economy, we felt that we needed to be able to provide tax receipts and legitimacy to our vision. This will allow us to look for sponsorship's and donors, giving us the financial resources to provide more for all of you. Secondly, we have created clarity on what Beyond the Blues vision is. We decided on a 3 pillar approach. Our vision is to build resiliency within Calgary Police families, in all walks of life, by offering community, resources and education. This makes it easier for us when we are approached and when we are looking for ways to support and help you. If it doesn’t fit within the 3 pillars, we can easily say no. And finally, we as a board, had a strategy planning session for all of the upcoming year. It was an incredible time of sharing ideas, looking at everything we have accomplished but focusing on what our goals are for the organization. We came away from that with a renewed sense of urgency and excitement for the future.

With that being said, we know we can’t give you all everything you need. We want to hear your ideas and how we can best serve you. Not everyone has kids, so we need to hear from you. Some of you are also an officer and we want to hear from you and what you need. There is no cookie cutter police family and we understand and want to try to offer education that everyone can benefit from. We will be looking for specific positions on the board, forming committees and for more volunteers. We couldn’t do everything we do without all of you. I’ve said it before, we are all part of a bigger family. With the challenges our officers are facing, now more than ever, we need to band together. If we want to be able to build resiliency in our marriages and families, we need to be leaning in and utilizing the resources and education that is being provided to us. We, Beyond the Blue, are here to serve you. Thank you for walking alongside us in this journey.