The MFRS Board of Directors is pleased to announce Heidi Veluw as our new Executive Director. Heidi started her new role at MFRS on Monday, July 25, 2022.
Heidi has worked in the non-profit sector in Edmonton for over thirty years. Most recently, she served as the Executive Director of the Canadian Skin Care Foundation. She also worked in workforce development for the last 4 years bridging employers and immigrants for the Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative.
After starting her career at Operation Friendship running their drop-in center for hard to house seniors in the inner city, she gained experience in various non-profit roles such as setting up community development programs for immigrant groups, facilitating groups for youths and coordinating multicultural teams to perform research projects. Heidi thrives in the non-profit environment and has used her project management skills to start-up or revive many different programs at non-profit agencies.
Heidi also has a great interest in supporting food security and the local economy. In addition to working to support small businesses, she ran a social enterprise selling and delivering local food to Edmontonians. Her commitment to local food services continues as she currently sits on the Board for the Edmonton Downtown Farmers Market.
A quote from Heidi:
“The opportunity to work at MFRS excites me! The well-being of immigrant and refugee families is integral to the vibrancy and resilience of the community of Edmonton.This will be only achieved when we continue to look to the leaders in the field who have developed approaches of support that include the input of immigrant and refugee families themselves. I look forward to contributing to the success of the MFRS mission.”
We would like to congratulate Heidi on her new role and extend our deepest gratitude to the MFRS staff for their commitment to MFRS and the communities we serve during this transition period. Heidi is excited to get to know the MFRS community and find the best ways to further MFRS mission and vision.
Heidi may be contacted at ED@mfrsedmonton.org