She’s a friendly face with a treasure trove of knowledge and community connections at her fingertips.
After seven years as constituency assistant for independent MLA Vicki Huntington, Bernadette Kudzin is continuing her advocacy work at Ladner United Church.
Kudzin is at the church Tuesday and Thursday mornings as the new community advocate. Her role started in mid-October and she has already helped 15 cases.
“The MLA’s office kind of became a place where people came in with not only provincial issues, but other issues,” Kudzin said. “Jim [Rev. Short] was always a person who I could turn to who had the information and knew others in the community that could help with issues that were beyond the provincial government, so I was really excited about starting an advocacy program here affiliated with Ladner United Church.”
She said others have reached out in the community who would like to volunteer, so there is the prospect of the program growing a bit and perhaps being open other days.
“Sometimes it’s pointing people in the right direction, other times it’s simply filing out a form and giving them a direction of where to start,” she said.
Short adds the congregation has a goal of the church being seen in Ladner as a community hub.
“I think it adds a really important piece to the idea of the ‘hub’ that we would like to be,” Short said. “I got the idea originally from not only Bernadette, but the United Church has an advocate on the Downtown Eastside and I have been impressed with her work, so for me, it’s really helpful because I don’t have the breadth of knowledge of the various organizations around here. So Bernadette brings that amazing history as well as being very hospitable and meticulously patient. It’s finding the information and knowing how to get into the system.”
They’re both quick to point out that the service is for all of Delta and is not meant to replace any of the existing advocacy that the offices of MLAs Ian Paton and Ravi Kahlon or MP Carla Qualtrough provide.
“The way we are running this, if someone comes here and they raise an issue that is a provincial issue, then Bernadette is going to say, ‘Hey, right down the street is MLA Paton’s office’ or here is Carla Qualtrough’s office, or Deltassist, or the Boys and Girls Club, so this is not to replace anything, but in fact strengthen the connections to all of those things, so as a team we can continue to help people,” added Short.
