Donna Huffam
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 07/00) - It's a hectic morning at the Military Family Resource Centre in Yellowknife as Anne Bokovay, executive director, shows me around the remodelled family dwelling that is now their home.

The Parents and Tots group is meeting this morning and children and parents stream up the stairs to the playroom.

While parents visit and chat, the children pull toys off the neat shelves and congregate in small groups.

Completely run by volunteers, the Parents and Tots group meets twice a week in the morning for an hour of open playtime followed by an hour of supervised, structured time for the children downstairs. Meanwhile, parents can relax upstairs in the coffee area.

Today, however, the parents are not relaxing. They are at the kitchen table arranging plates for the annual Christmas cookie exchange.

Sharon Otto is one of the co-ordinators of the program, bringing her four-year-old son, Christian along.

"Basically we come here for Christian to interact with other children. He's an only child."

She quickly interrupts herself to help clean up a glass of spilled juice.

"But I also come here for myself," she adds.

"As a stay-at-home mom, you're at home all day and I really like the adult social interaction that I get here."

Shauna Kester, who also helps co-ordinate, agrees.

"It was my support when we moved here, my security blanket."

Kester has been volunteering at the centre for two and a half years now.

"We're pretty lucky here. We have great volunteers. Volunteers are the backbone of the whole organization," says Anne Bokovay, executive director for the centre.

"They are involved at all levels, in all programs. They co-ordinate programs, provide support at all the events, they fund-raise and they comprise the board of directors."

Vital role in community

Established as a non-profit organization, the centre runs as a separate but vital part of the military establishment in Yellowknife.

"We fall under the Military Family Support Program, which funds approximately 40 family resource centres across the country."

The resource centres are part of an initiative by the Department of National Defence to combat the stresses of everyday life for "those who keep the home fires burning".

"While the members here are not sent to Bosnia for nine months, many are still away for extensive periods and families are left on their own, without extended family or support.

"For example, those military members involved with the Rangers can be gone for up to 200 days a year. That's extremely stressful for a family," says Bokovay.

One of the many programs offered by the centre is casual, drop-in childcare, offered one morning a week.

Bokovay explains: "Moms can schedule a dentist appointment, or just take some time to themselves."

In addition to the Parents and Tots mornings, the centre also runs a licensed nursery school two afternoons a week. Plus they offer a list of babysitters who have taken their babysitting course and have an emergency childcare program for special situations.

"If a member is out on a tasking and the spouse gets sick, we will step in and arrange emergency care for those children involved."

The centre also runs a number of programs for older children, largely focused on outdoor activities such as canoeing, skating, hiking and exploration skills.

Kinderkids is a program for children aged six to eight years old, and Kidventures is an outdoor exploration program for older youths aged nine to 11 years.

The teen program is extremely popular and many of the teens volunteer with other programs at the centre.

For the parents, the centre provides resources, information and vital links to the community. Many military spouses find it difficult to re-enter the workplace every time their military husband or wife is transferred to a new community. The centre provides employment assistance to them with help offered in resume preparation, job search and interview skills, and access to a fax and a computer with the Internet.

Always welcome

The centre also prepares welcome packages for newly posted families to introduce them to their new home. Tourist information, information about schools and recreation and about the services available in the city is included in the package.

They also send these packages out to other Military Family Resource Centres so that if someone wants to find out more about an intended posting, they can.

Frequent moves are a part of a military family's life, but waiting to receive your furniture and housewares can be a trying time. The centre provides a loan of the essentials to help families through the waiting period.

"We offer strollers and high chairs and vacuum cleaners, as well as the items you need to have fun with like snowshoes, snowmobile helmets for children and toboggans," says Bokovay.

But it's not all about work, it's a place to have fun, too. The children play and socialize and parents organize a variety of fun days and recreational activities.

One of the most popular events in February is the annual Chili Cook-off. The winner receives a tacky trophy for the very best chili in town. They also offer teens a pizza and movie night, provide a large community Christmas breakfast, do a Family Scavenger Hunt, Halloween parties, family skates, toboganning afternoons and hold a number of workshops and get-togethers throughout the year.

The centre estimates that it serves half the military families posted to Yellowknife and also provides assistance to the four members posted to Whitehorse.

One of the busiest Military Family Resource Centres in Canada, Bokovay attributes its success to the active volunteers.

"I think we have really good volunteers, supportive military authorities and an interested community. It's an example of community development in action."