Tag Archives: Vancity

Deborah Chatterton – Communicator Extraordinaire

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Who are you?

I’ve been told several times that Chatterton is an apt last name for a communications gal like me. It’s certainly true that I’m seldom short of opinions and, my friends and family would add, random trivia. That last bit is because I’m curious about the world, and I hope to stay that way until I die. Which event, I hope, is a long way off.

But I digress. Who am I? I’m a transplanted Montrealer who loves Vancouver, and a communications consultant who loves her career. I’m a devoted aunt who loves her two nieces and nephews, and a social person who loves her family and friends. That’s a lot of love. I balance it with hating lima beans and smelly public washrooms, which aren’t too dissimilar, as far as I’m concerned.

I’m a word nerd, I like to laugh, I believe in fairness, and I try to be environmentally conscious. I’m not good at sports but I like them anyway. And I hope to leave this world a little better than I found it.

What do you do for fun?

I spend a lot of time with my family and friends and I love to travel and try new things. I’m an outdoors girl and most weekends you’ll find me on a walking trail somewhere; I also like fishing, camping, gardening and swimming. I like to cook (but find baking boring), attend events like plays or hockey games, have fun or interesting discussions, and people watch. I also love to read and am seldom without a stack of books beside my bed.

What is your favourite community and why?

Of the five places in which I’ve lived, the Lower Mainland is my favourite, for its beauty and lifestyle. But I really like my PR/communications community as well. We meet regularly through the Canadian Public Relations Society and on Twitter (find me @dchatterton). They’re my kind of people, and not just because we can talk shop and learn from each other. They’re also passionate, creative, supportive, funny, interesting and not shy about interacting with people.

What is your Superpower?

I don’t think I’m wrong when I say it’s making connections. I believe I’m very good at connecting ideas and at connecting people, both with each other and with ideas. I think this ‘superpower’ makes me a pretty good strategist, which is very useful in my job.

How do you use it to build community?

I’m on the board of the Canadian Public Relations Society (Vancouver) and am therefore fortunate to meet many people in my industry. I try to connect people when I think they can help each other, and I try to be a good CPRS mentor by connecting my mentees with real-world experience, if they’re interested. I’m  also very willing to share knowledge when people approach me.

My Three Favourite Things About Deborah Chatterton Are…

1. She’s a doer. Lots of people say they’ll do things. But in my experience, an exorbinant number just never get around to doing them. That’s why when you meet someone who actually does what they say, it’s worth recognizing and appreciating. I got a first hand look at this when Deborah, myself and a number of other CPRS volunteers worked with the amazing web design studio Agentic to create a new website for the organization. Whether it was coordinating a time to meet for a strategy session, updating website copy or fixing a critical web glitch, Deborah was always there, all hands on debt. She’s definitely the type of person you want on your team. 

2. Many a helping hand. Deborah is a helper. Her involvement in her professional community, both as a board member and as a mentor is exceptional. She’s the type of person that new communications professional should track down like a heat-seeking missile. Why? Because she not only has a lot to give, but is willing to make time to give it. 

3. Kindness. Deborah has a general vibe of kindness. She’s all smiles (unless she’s trying to manage a sticky PR crisis – and then it’s all business) and has a very positive disposition! She is also a sympathetic and engaged listener. This only adds to the kindness element.

Happy Pride!

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This weekend the West End’s streets were jammed with an estimated 600,000 people. Despite a crazy rainstorm hours before (that hit me while I was riding through Strathcona), this year’s Pride Parade enjoyed huge crowds and a beautiful sunny Vancouver day. Here are some photo highlights for me. Particularly big “shout outs” to the City of Vancouver and Vancouver School Board, the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation, Vancity, TD Bank, the CBC and the Vancouver Police marching band. Amazing floats/exhibitions! Talk about an inclusive and fun event.

Your Credit Union, Your Community

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This weekend my partner and I were enjoying a delightful Easter dinner with family and friends. At the table we were asked about our future plans. Were we planning on buying a home? Yes, indeed that was the plan.

In fact only a few weeks earlier we’d tromped up to our local Vancity branch on Commercial Drive and sat in a small cubicle office with a  real-estate advisor.

Can you beat the rates of the banks, we asked.

No, he said. If you’re looking for the best rates, get up and head down to your nearest broker cause you ain’t going to find it here.

The whole conversation was refreshing in its candor. Our representative went on to explain that while credit union rates were indeed competitive, their edge wasn’t the bottom line. The whole conversation left us with a lot to think about.

We were still thinking about it a couple weeks later at Easter Dinner. That’s when we were told in no uncertain terms by our older and certainly more conservative friends to skip the credit union and head straight past GO to the nearest mortgage broker to get the lowest rate humanly possible. After all it really was all about the Benjamins right? Well, not quite.

While we both certainly intended to get another quote from a mortgage broker so we could see just how much of a difference we’re talking about – we both aren’t so sold to the bottom line. After all, it wasn’t finding the best savings rates, investment options or customer service that initially drew us the credit union route, it was Vancity’s (and other credit unions like it) commitment to the community that really made us want to be members. Here was an organization that backed Pigeon Park Savings, donated generously to Atira, the Potluck Cafe, Eastside Culture Crawl and dozens of other great organizations that contribute to our community.

That’s what credit unions do. Organizations like Vancity or Coast Capital Savings (which incidentally just kicked in a $1-million funding initiative that will create 69 child care spaces in downtown Vancouver through the new Robert Lee YMCA just a couple weeks ago) to this stuff because its what they’re all about. The profits they’re deriving from mortgages, my savings and investments aren’t going into the pockets of staff, directors or shareholders. It’s going back into the community.

And in my mind that’s worth paying a bit more for a mortgage. The big question though, is how much more? Is  a difference of $1000, $10,000 or $100,000 to much? How much of a difference would make you reconsider and head the way of the mortgage broker? I throw this question out to the Gumboot community…

Get To Know Your Community – Virginia Weiler

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Virginia-photo-bw1) Who are you?

my name is virginia weiler. i’m a stay-at-home mom to a 3 year old light of my life, wife to the most patient man i know, and sort of a social entrepreneur involved in discreet rabble rousing for issues i care deeply about. i love the outdoors – and once spent 3 months in the rockies and new zealand learning to mountaineer, rock climb and kayak – as a “vacation” after working hard on three different economic development initiatives in BC.

2. What do you do for fun?

for fun, i like to go meetings:) most recently, i’ve been going to alot of election planning meetings (www.voteaction.ca). what i really like to do for fun is get my husband to help me rearrange furniture late at night, take our son to the park and chat with the incredibly cool moms in our neighbourhood – who manage to do important stuff in community and in their work, while cleaning sand from their noses and cutting up apples into very small pieces.

3. What is your favourite community and why?

my favourite community is right where we live on commercial drive, and i think its because it has such an incredible diversity and alive social fabric, where the street buildings are mostly just 2 stories high, and its full of people who care about changing the world, but are still in touch with their inner (or outer) rebel.  but home is where the heart is, and i’ve loved just about every community where i’ve lived. its where you get to know the streets, the shopkeepers, the best place to get coffee, and you want to read the stuff on the notice boards.  years ago i lived in the yukon, and the practise was to stop your truck in the middle of the highway when you sawyukon2 another truck you recognized, and chat for 20 minutes. it was another fabulous community except for the country and western music and even that grows on you after awhile.

4. What is your superpower?

my superpower is staying up late with the elves and getting work done after our house has gone to sleep :) … but really, i think my superpower is being able (mostly) to see someone else’s point of view. maybe it comes from growing up in a diverse family (business/labour/academic; right wing/left wing; and loads of passionate discussions and arguments), or from spending alot of time operating heavy machinery in the north after university, but i’ve been saved by my superpower a few times.  its a handy tool for getting stuff done.

5. How do you use it to build community?

in my experience, sometimes amazing things happen when people with very different backgrounds and perspectives find a way to work together to make “change happen”.  i use my superpower to listen and then try and help all of us around the table hear what is being said.

My three favourite things about Virginia are…

1. Her friendly personality. It’s pretty self explanatory really. Virginia is a very friendly and thoughtful person. She’s always smiling and if you’re lucky enough to meet her on the street, odds are she’ll be smiling.

2. She used to operate heavy machinery up north. It’s something not all of us can say we’ve done. And it’s certainly something that adds yet another dimension to Virginia. Unlike many Vancouverites, she’s actually been out of an urban environment, giving her a great understanding of what’s going on around the rest of the province.

3. Her service and her vision. Virginia has sat on the Vancity board in the past and is running for the board in the future. Unlike sitting on, say the board of TD Canada or HSBC, sitting on the Vancity board requires a lot of work for very little renumeration. Endless hours of paperwork, reading and sitting in sometimes tedious meetings is a key part of the job. Virginia does all of this because she has a vision of what Vancity is and is committed to making that vision a reality. Her commitment to the credit union is admirable.

As told by Kurt…