Marieze Tarr (right), the executive director of Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre, gave a presentation about her organization last Thursday to the Rotary Club of Osoyoos. Pictured with her is Jeff Duguid, who recently took on the role of Rotary Club president. Tarr is also a Rotarian and is the vice chair of School District 53’s board. (Richard McGuire photo)

It was difficult enough before to keep track of the many programs provided by Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre to the Osoyoos and Oliver communities.

Now Desert Sun is taking on a handful of new initiatives, not only aimed at women and children, but for men too.

Marieze Tarr, who was named the new executive director at the start of the year, spoke last week to the Rotary Club of Osoyoos about the array of programs that deal with family violence, helping seniors to be independent and teaching people to cook nutritious meals, to name just a few.

Tarr, who is also a Rotarian, has given other talks recently about the organization she heads, such as a presentation in April to Osoyoos Town Council.

One of her first goals after taking the job was to develop a new strategic plan outlining the mission and vision of Desert Sun, including its goals and strategies, values, institutional and volunteer partners and more.

“I think that a strategic plan should be a living document, something that people see and are reminded of all the time,” she said, showing a poster version done by Larry Hunter.

Tarr wants this roadmap – though she didn’t call it that – hung in every office as a constant reminder.

It’s hard to reduce such diverse programming and goals into a single theme, but it’s there right on the poster, as a hashtag: #wehelppeople.

A laudable goal, but also an ambitious one.

“We work with anyone in our communities who is experiencing difficulties,” Tarr said when asked what target group Desert Sun represents. “That is our target group.”

Many of the programs are responsive programs intended to help vulnerable people in crisis.

The safe home and crisis line, aimed at women and children who are victims of family violence, is one well-known example.

Similarly, there is counselling for women, children and youths as well as men’s counselling. The men’s program receives no government funding, so Desert Sun must fundraise for it.

“We feel it is very important that we provide men’s counselling as well as women’s counselling, because if you only provide women’s counselling, you don’t treat the other half of the equation,” said Tarr. “Your success rate is not going to be that great.”

But increasingly, Desert Sun is adding preventative programs, aiming to stop problems before they happen.

One program that is close to Tarr’s heart is the Roots of Empathy program in which elementary school students learn about emotional literacy in part by interacting with babies.

She’s coordinated and taught that program for years and she asked to continue doing Roots of Empathy when she took the position at Desert Sun.

A long-serving school trustee, and currently vice-chair of the board of School District 53, Tarr plans to end her involvement with the school district in October.

“So between the superintendent, myself and the director of instruction, we figured out that it would be best if the program came with me,” she said. “I will be continuing to deliver Roots of Empathy.”

Another Desert Sun staff member will also be delivering it, she said.

In May, Desert Sun took on an 18-unit affordable housing project at Sandalwood Court in Oliver, grandfathering in the existing residents.

Tarr said that through attrition, as some residents leave, Desert Sun wants to provide some second-stage housing at Sandalwood Court for vulnerable women after they leave the short-term safe home.

Desert Sun has also, as of July 1, taken on the regional contract for Literacy Now, which had been run through the Penticton Chamber of Commerce.

“They just felt it would be a better fit with our organization,” she said. “I believe that it fits in nicely with our mission and vision. The more literate people there are, the less likely they are to be vulnerable.”

Desert Sun will handle such literacy programs as One-To-One Reading, Raise A Reader and Computer Tutor, serving an area from Summerland to Osoyoos and out to Hedley – essentially for the areas covered by school districts 53 and 67.

They’ve also partnered with the Okanagan Correctional Centre to deliver a parenting program in the prison and they’ve been asked to submit a proposal for a longer-term commitment.

Meanwhile, Desert Sun has acquired a counselling contract with School District 53 to provide counselling at Southern Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver.

As if all that’s not enough, next week Desert Sun is starting a one-week youth summer camp. It’s called Fearlessly Facing Forward and is intended to teach resiliency to children, learning about the outdoors without being glued to electronic screens of phones, tablets, computers and television.

“We are all very aware of the fact that our children are struggling,” said Tarr. “There’s a lot of anxious kids, a lot of kids who are not resilient, who are not coping very well in our schools. So the Fearlessly Facing Forward camp is our small gesture to try and do something to rectify that.”

Finally, this fall Desert Sun is starting a new program aimed at senior men called the Men’s Shed. It’s based on a similar program in Kelowna.

Tarr said she learned from social workers at South Okanagan General Hospital that there are many depressed senior men living in the community and in winter they are often shut in.

“A lot of these men are widowed,” she said, adding that a lot lose friends who were their wives’ friends and they become isolated. Some have never learned to cook nutritious meals.

The Men’s Shed will operate from a small workshop at Sandalwood in Oliver starting in October. Half will become a kitchen and the other half will be a workshop area where men can work on projects such as building garden beds or birdhouses. And they’ll learn cooking skills.

“It’s basically a gathering place for men,” she said, noting that there are always activities for women such as sewing clubs and quilting groups, but there aren’t as many for men.

These new programs are an ambitious addition to the numerous existing ones. But as Tarr pointed out, the strategic plan is meant to be a living document.

Desert Sun may need to update it before long. And maybe use a bigger sheet of paper.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times