April 13, 2005

Remarks from Keith Seel, President of the DDRC Board of Directors

Good afternoon and welcome everyone to the launch of the Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre of Calgaryˆ¢s rollout of the second phase of the everyone belongs™ campaign.

I am Keith Seel, President of the DDRC Board of Directors, and the Director of the Institute for Nonprofit Studies at Mount Royal College. It gives me great pleasure to be here in front of such an animated group to introduce Darryl and Wanda Sutter as the new Ambassadors of everyone belongs™.

The Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre of Calgary (DDRC) is a charitable organization committed to the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in the community in real and meaningful ways.

We offer programs and services to families, children, and adults and serve as a resource centre to the community as a whole. We work with a budget of $11 million and close to 350 employees to support 850 people with developmental disabilities lead independent lives within our community. More than 10,000 people per year come to us wanting to learn more about inclusion ˆê how to make schools, workplaces, community programs, and other areas of activity more inclusive of people with developmental disabilities.

While we have a proud heritage going back , more than 50 years to Christine Meikle and Emily Follensby, we are entrepreneurial, excited about the future, and commited to ensuring that everyone does belong in our communities.

An example of our activities is the everyone belongs™ campaign conceived and initiated by DDRC to promote the inclusion and contribution of all people - especially those with developmental disabilities ˆê in the stuff of life: going to school, working or volunteering, having friends and a home. We believe that when a community finds ways of including all of its citizens, that community is stronger and more vibrant as a result.

Why we are here is to welcome Darryl and Wanda Sutter as our everyone belongs™ Ambassadors. While some may think that marketing and advertising may not be a natural role for at least Mr. Sutter, the wisdom gained from being parents of their son Chris, who has a developmental disability, makes them excellent spokes people for inclusion.

Please join me in welcoming Darryl and Wanda Sutter¬…. Ambassadors of everyone belongs™.

Remarks from Patty Morris, Executive Director, DDRC

We know that the world will be different for the children you will see in this commercial¬…the communities that they will create will reflect what they have come to know about how much better our classrooms, schools, workplaces, and neighbourhoods are when they include citizens with developmental disabilities.

Their classrooms today¬…those that embrace diversity and a wonderful spectrum of learners¬… are setting the stage for communities which welcome the contributions of all Calgarians tomorrow.

On May 28, 2003, the Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre of Calgary (DDRC) launched a social brand advertising campaign known as everyone belongs™. DDRC began developing the initial concept of a social brand campaign in 2000 with the assistance of Eric Young Enterprises (EYE), a nationally recognized agency that specializes in social marketing campaigns and founder of the Government of Canada's ParticipAction initiative.

Driven primarily by a fundamental belief in the importance of human connection and a deep commitment to community, DDRC became interested in the possibility of creating a social brand that could communicate and represent the value and benefits to everyone when including people with developmental disabilities into all aspects of daily life.

The focus of this phase of the campaign is inclusive education, and the value of it to all learners and educators.

veryapproaches which get implemented in order to include students with developmental disabilities, are the same ones which serve to welcome the gifts of children for whom English is a second language, for those whose families who struggle to secure enough resources for the basic necessities of life, and for that matter, any children that are left on the margins.

I would like to acknowledge the participation today of Mitch Clarke and Nancy Blevins, Mitch at MRC and Nancy at U of C support students to be included as young adults in post secondary settings.

In much the same way we all were swept up the success of our Calgary Flames last year at this time, we are experiencing the same kind of momentum for the principles of the everyone belongs™ campaign.

We canˆ¢t help but, in many ways, feel as if the Sutter family is really our Alberta family. They have embodied for us, the best we can imagine in our selves. They have stood for pride, hard work, and a powerful commitment to the strength of community.

To say we have been honoured by the support that Mr. and Mrs. Sutter have extended to our work in the everyone belongs™ campaign seems inadequate. They have afforded us the chance to share the stories of community members. Stories of lives changed for the better by the contributions of people with developmental disabilities. We have been able to have this message reach so many more Calgarians because of their endorsement of our work¬…and for this we will always be grateful.