Three Cheers for Mission Group

The Mission Group in Kelowna has an attitude of giving back to the community which is simply exemplary. One of their corporate attitudes is to allow each employee to determine which charitable organization in the community to which they might like to offer some volunteer service. The employee is then entitled to go and serve at that charity group for one day a month. The employee gets a day off from their regular work and the employee is paid by Mission Group.

Freedom’s Door, a Kelowna charity, has been the beneficiary of this kind of generous volunteerism over the last several years.

But the story does not end there. Freedom’s Door was contacted by the Mission Group who asked what project we might have to which Mission Group could contribute. “We advised them that we had a home with a basement suite that was built in 1965. The men we serve live in this home while they receive our recovery program. It is badly in need of an interior and exterior upgrade” stated Peter Lees, Executive Director of Freedom’s Door. Their response was “We will come and take a look and estimate the scope of the work and we will then arrange for the entire job to be done.”

Jon Friesen, Mission Group CEO, and several employees and sub trades arrived at the site several months ago. They planned the entire project and arranged for all purchases and trades people. The Mission Group, their employees and subtrades, carried out an entire renovation and renewal of all surfaces within the upstairs and the downstairs suites; new floors, new gyproc, new paint, new cabinetry, sinks and showers, light fixtures, everything. The transformation of this home was amazing.

“We, at Freedom’s Door, offer a recovery program for men suffering from addiction and/or mental health issues. We are a charity which has operated in Kelowna for 19 years and we house 64 men each day providing for their needs as they recover to good health and transition back into the community. We need the generosity of the community to survive and grow in our work” commented Tom Smithwick, volunteer Director of Freedom’s Door.

“Mission Group has shown us philanthropic generosity, human kindness and caring. From all of us at Freedom’s Door we extend a huge THANK YOU AND WELL DONE!!”