{"id":501797962,"date":"2018-12-03T10:56:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T16:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/03\/support-group-still-thriving"},"modified":"2018-12-03T11:00:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T17:00:37","slug":"support-group-still-thriving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/03\/support-group-still-thriving","title":{"rendered":"Support group still thriving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Built on a foundation of empowerment and compassion, Thrive Community Support Circle has been changing lives in the West End for 45 years. <\/div>\n
Danielle Giesbrecht is a shining example of the profound impact the small resource centre can have. <\/div>\n
“Thrive has actually saved my life,” she said. “They picked me up, they gave me wings and I’ve just been soaring ever since.”<\/div>\n
Giesbrecht lost her son unexpectedly in 2016 and came to Thrive last September for grief counselling. In a little over a year, she has gone from the depths of depression to working a full-time job at Thrive’s thrift shop and sharing her story publicly in an effort to help others.<\/div>\n
“As much as it hurts to tell my story, I know I’ve done a lot of good out there,” she said.<\/div>\n
“That’s why I come to work every day,” Thrive executive director Rhonda Elias-Penner said of Giesbrecht’s transformation. <\/div>\n
On Nov. 22, the organization celebrated its 45th anniversary with a reception hosted by Lieutenant Governor Janice Filmon at Government House. <\/div>\n
Thrive — then called Pregnancy Distress Services and later known as Pregnancy & Family Support Services — was founded by Louise and Dr. Paul Adams as a crisis phone line for pregnant women in 1973. <\/div>\n
Several years later, the couple expanded their services to include pre- and post-natal supports for young mothers and in 2017 the organization rebranded to Thrive — a holistic support centre that offers everything from free counselling, to child care to emergency food for more than 10,000 families and individuals each year. <\/div>\n
“It’s not just about supporting the child or the parents, it’s about supporting the whole family and having their basic needs met,” Elias-Penner said. <\/div>\n
While Louise passed away in 2011, Paul and several of their children were able to attend the anniversary event last month.<\/div>\n
“That was really wonderful to be able to honour the work and the legacy that his wife created and the involvement that they still have,” Elias-Penner said, adding that she made sure to get Dr. Adams blessing before last year’s name change.<\/div>\n
Today, Thrive runs a therapy centre, licensed daycare, thrift shop and community resource centre at three sites clustered around the intersection of Spence Street and Sargent Avenue. <\/div>\n
In the 10 years Elias-Penner has been working for the non-profit she has seen the staff grow from seven to 22 paid employees and the programs offered expanded tenfold. She also continues to see a steady increase in the number of people accessing Thrive’s services.<\/div>\n
“It means that there’s still a need,” she said. “More needs to be done… in how we handle social issues at the government level.”<\/div>\n
Regardless of where someone’s contact with Thrive begins, staff are trained to help clients access other services that might benefit them. This is on full-display in the daycare, where many families are newcomers to Canada. <\/div>\n
“We try to be a safe place here because we might be the only people they know in Canada,” daycare director Jessica Smith said. “If we see a need we’re going to fill in the gap.”<\/div>\n
At the thrift shop, volunteers gain essential job skills and are given opportunities to take on leadership roles. Mikaelle Silva started volunteering at the store to fill a gap in her resume and is now responsible for training and mentoring other volunteers. <\/div>\n
“Never did I think I would be leader or a mentor,” said Silva, who will be starting a job at Thrive’s resource centre shortly. “Everyone here has been amazing and has helped me boost my confidence, I’m really happy that I found this place.”<\/div>\n
Visit thrivecommunitysupportcircle.com to find out about all of Thrive’s services. <\/div>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":279768232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,12],"tags":[],"education-subject":[],"media-literacy-topic":[],"post_topic":[],"content_type":[24],"class_list":["post-501797962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-metro"],"acf":{"short_title":"","seo_title":"","deck":"","story_tag":"","byline":"Eva Wasney","updates":null},"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/03\/support-group-still-thriving","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Support group still thriving","url":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/03\/support-group-still-thriving","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2018\/12\/03\/support-group-still-thriving"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/ew-thrive-anniversary-supplied-dec5+(2).jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/04\/ew-thrive-anniversary-supplied-dec5+(2).jpg"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"feedloaderapi"}],"creator":["feedloaderapi"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Our Communities","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2018-12-03T16:56:00Z","datePublished":"2018-12-03T16:56:00Z","dateModified":"2018-12-03T17:00:37Z"},"rendered":"