Helping newcomers make Calgary home is all in a day’s work for Amanda Koyama and Anila Lee Yuen
AS CALGARY’S POPULATION becomes increasingly diverse, there’s a growing need for help in weaving newcomers into the fabric of their new communities. Calgary Foundation volunteers Amanda Koyama and Anila Lee Yuen are two community leaders on the front lines of helping immigrants and refugees. Both are Canadian-born children of immigrants, and each brings a unique background and passion to work every day.
Anila Lee Yuen
IN BETWEEN THE strategy and planning meetings that fill her days, Anila Lee Yuen can often be found “recharging her batteries” by sharing a laugh with a few small children in the playroom at the Centre for Newcomers in northeast Calgary. As the CEO of the centre, which offers English language training, employment assistance and first-language settlement support for recent immigrants, Yuen heads a staff of 300 multicultural professionals in a modern space inside Pacific Place Mall. A child of Indian immigrants, Yuen’s ideas on issues facing newcomers were shaped early. Her mother volunteered with immigrant-based organizations and launched a cross-cultural parenting association, and while in high school Yuen helped out at the Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth. So for her, volunteering with the Calgary Foundation’s Education & Lifelong Learning Grant Advisory Committee is a natural fit. “I like being able to connect with like-minded people with a deep love and caring for the community,” she says. “I really believe in collaboration, partnerships and learning from each other — and reaching out to the community to find out what’s going on.” As a teenage volunteer, she was struck by the resilience, resourcefulness and intelligence of Vietnamese and Iraqi refugee children with whom she worked. “In comparison, I felt very inadequate, never having experienced war. Would I be able to survive? There, I developed my respect for refugee youth — that they can still laugh and be successful.”
Amanda Koyama
THE YEAR BEGAN at full speed for Amanda Koyama, manager of family and children services for the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society. The agency normally sees about 360 government-assisted refugees over the course of 12 months. But in just six weeks between mid-December and late January, it helped 380 — along with a number of privately sponsored refugee families. Most came from Syria. “Everyone is working way past their capacity to make things happen. All cylinders are firing, and we are overwhelmed by the generosity of the community, our partners, volunteers and the city,” Koyama says. It’s a challenge she can handle. She’s used to juggling her full-time work with a number of volunteer roles, and she welcomes the opportunity to coordinate resources with other organizations. Koyama first volunteered for the Calgary Foundation on the Arts & Heritage Grants Advisory Committee and has since moved to the Children, Youth & Families Grants Advisory Committee. Her experience at CCIS, where she’s worked for 12 years, gives Koyama valuable insight. “It’s always interesting to be able to give my perspective on both sides, having been a recipient of grants. The best part about being on the committee is learning about the amazing initiatives taking place around the city. It’s inspiring.”
Story By Karen Rudolph