35 years of serving Airdrie, along with several other communities, is reason to celebrate and that's exactly what Community Links did on Friday (October 20).

The organization held an open house at their recently renovated facilities on Main Street in Airdrie to not only mark 35 years but also to recognize the contributions of their donors and volunteers,

The celebration looked at the history, as well as the future, of Community Links, according to Executive Director Brenda Hume.  

"We began in 1982  with Airdrie Family Services, then in 2001 the North RockyView Resource Centre began and then in 2008 the two agencies amalgamated to become Community Links, so we're celebrating all of that great history of support to the community.  We're also honouring all of our donors, volunteers and community supporters who help us with our vision of strong individuals, strong families and strong communities."

Hume can't say enough about the contributions that the volunteers and donors have made to Community Links.  "They are hugely important to us.  Over the years we have sustained our budget through support from all the community groups and community members.  It's been amazing to have that support and we really, truly appreciate it all."

Hume says that Community Links has about 250 volunteers who provide 7,000 to 8,000 hours of volunteer time.  "We have different programs that are entirely volunteer led.  We couldn't do it without them, that's for sure."

Although the community support is great for Community Links, Hume says they still need to fundraise every year to meet their operating budget.

"We are always in the midst of applying for new funding, either for sustaining existing programs or starting new ones.  We are seeing a lot of increased support that's needed in the community and we want to be ahead of that game, so we're always on top of trying to find more funding so we can do even more."

Hume says additional funding would help them to expand the programs offered by Community Links, and the organization has specific goals.

"Stability is very important for Community Links and we also want to increase our support through our intake, our counselling and also our parenting support.  We are seeing an influx of those needs so our hope is to expand those services and also our outreach in Irricana, Crossfield and Beiseker.  Also in the schools where we're getting many more requests from all the schools, which is great.  We want to be helping people from birth to seniors in any way we can."

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