Some people, when they retire, kick back, put their feet up, soak up some sun and consume drinks with tiny umbrellas in them, maybe beside a fairway.
Paul and Bev Carrick went in a different direction when they retired from CAUSE Canada (Christian Aid for Under-assisted Societies Everywhere), a group they founded in 1984.
The Carricks, who soaked up plenty of sun while working in Sierra Leone and Central America, have now founded Philanthropic Events & Tours (PET Inc.), an organization committed to sponsoring thoughtful activities that broaden the discussion on humanitarian responsibilities, global citizenship and environmental stewardship.
PET’s first free event will take place Saturday (June 3) from 1-5 p.m. at the Canmore Seniors’ Centre. A forum on climate change, the event is entitled Visioning a Just & Sustainable Future. The forum will look at those who are most threatened by climate disruption and what can be done.
The keynote speaker is Bob Sandford, EPCOR Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in Support of the United Nations Water for Life Decade and a member of the Forum for Leadership on Water.
Joining Sandford will be Dr. Peter Nichol (speaking on climate change and threats to public health), foreign aid worker Bev Carrick (speaking on the present-day damage being done to farmers within the Global South by climate change), journalist Colette Derworiz (providing a gender-based analysis on climate change), and youth delegates Robbie Knott and Caitlin Hansen will provide a youth perspective and what it means it means for future generations.
Despite retiring from CAUSE, Carrick said he and Bev still have many connections in the NGO sector and will continue to manage the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon through PET.
“We’ve always been a rights-based group and our mission is to champion the rights of those who need help,” said Paul Carrick, who will moderate the event.
Climate change, he said, is an issue worth tackling, particularly in the Bow Valley, on the home front, as it were.
“We’ve seen climate change kill people through crop failures and bad water,” he said. “And I think people in Canada are too casual about climate change, thinking if it gives us a milder winter, what’s the problem?
“And I’ve always been a fan of Bob Sandford’s. He speaks around the world and we want to give him a chance to speak in Canmore. World class experts are rarely appreciated at home, so we wanted to give him a platform.”
Nichol will speak on climate change making public health more and more challenging and Bev Carrick will speak on how the issue has negatively affected friends, family and people they’ve worked with, “who lost water, crops and lives. It will anecdotally be about how real world people are affected.”
Knott is a Banff Community High School grad now engaged in environmental studies, while Hansen is a Canmore Collegiate grad in nursing.
“We want youth to come out,” said Carrick, “because nothing starts without youth. We welcome skeptics and those unconvinced and this will be a respectful encounter.”
Beyond the climate change forum, Carrick said PET is working toward putting a group together to construct a stable and corral in Guatemala for a program for kids living in extreme poverty.
They are also looking to be champions for children with autism and Down syndrome in the Global South.
“It’s broken my heart to meet mothers with special needs children whose husbands walked out – leaving women with special needs children.
The stable and corral will be constructed in partnership with a Guatemala-based centre for people with children with disabilities.
“It’s really good work,” he said.
PET Inc. is a social enterprise that pledges to give charities and worthy not-for-profit organizations a minimum of 50 per cent of its net annual revenue. PET Inc. is particularly interested in programs that promote social justice, climate justice and the rights of special needs children and their mothers.
The corporation embraces a global perspective on humanitarian activities and supports projects in Africa, Central America and Canada.
