It was a moment of gratitude on Monday, Aug. 21 as the Ambulance Paramedics of BC presented a cheque for nearly $80,000 to Honour House Society, which is based in New Westminster.

The funding—which is an annual donation—comes from every paramedic in the province. More than 4500 members set aside a bit of each of their paycheques to pass along to the group.

“What they do for so many uniformed personnel, police, fire, military, paramedics, our dispatchers, and their families…it’s one of our proudest things we do every year, and we continue to do that. We’ve done it since the inception of Honour House,” explains Troy Clifford, president of the Ambulance Paramedics Union, Local 873. Honour House first opened its doors in 2010.

“[The idea] went to our annual convention, where delegates…from each region are elected. This motion came forward when Honour House, when Al [de Genova] and people came forward. One of the first [group of people] Al talked to was our executive.”

Since then, $5 has come off each person’s paycheque, which Clifford says is very little in the grand scheme of things. “There’s a bylaw [for this to happen] and it has to be voted on by our membership…and it was an easy decision, and it became a payroll deduction,” explains Clifford. “It seemed like a no-brainer, really.”

Honour House and BC’s wildfires

Clifford also expressed his gratitude to Honour House for offering up its house and its ranch—located about 10 kilometres away from Ashcroft—as crews continued to battle wildfires throughout the province. Over the last few weeks, it’s been revealed that some of the folks who have been tasked with battling some of these fires actually lost their homes. As an example, CityNews 1130 reported on Aug. 27 a GoFundMe was set up to help the 13 members of Wilson’s Landing—including the fire chief—after their houses burned to the ground.

“[Honour House] reached out and said, ‘hey, if you need anything, the ranch is available, the house is available.’ We were able to get that out. Thankfully things are subsiding in the Okanagan, and hopefully we won’t need to use [those spaces] but there’s been some discussions around who can use it and potential opportunities for that.”

Honour House is dedicated to those who are active or non-active Canadian Armed Forces, veterans, and/or emergency services personnel. For instance, the space might be an option if the person is travelling to receive health care in Metro Vancouver—their families are also welcome to be with them.

“We need to remind people where [our donation] actually goes. There’s a…new generation that wasn’t even around when this started. We’re seeing a lot of recruitment of new folks,” adds Clifford. “We know that paramedics and our dispatchers are some of the biggest users of these facilities, and that makes us proud to know that we’re able to providing the funding that’ll go a long way,” explains Clifford.

“Paramedics step up to help people.”

The space is a renovated heritage home that includes 11 private rooms. Al de Genova—who came up with the idea—worked with many others including former New West Mayor Wayne Wright to open up the space at 509 St. George St.

Every penny counts according to de Genova, who explains the group doesn’t rely on government funding: they utilize financial donations from a variety of sources to keep the lights on. While there are a small number of staff on-hand, much of the space is volunteer-run.

“[Today’s presentation] was a special day for us, considering all the havoc we have going on in this province, all the fires we have happening. And the floods will be coming…to know that they took time from helping people to deliver this cheque…it meant everything for us. We’re very grateful for all they’ve done, but we’re here for them 365 [days a year], 24/7,” says de Genova.

If you’d like to learn more about Honour House and how to help, you can visit their website or follow their social media pages, including Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram.