You might recognize the smiling face of Lourine Babcock. She has been a valued staff of the Kamloops Community YMCA-YWCA for almost a decade as the School Aged Care Coordinator. She lights up every room she walks into with her big smile, energy and hearty laugh. Lourine ensures all the Y’s After School Care sites and Day Camps are also full of big smiles, energy and hearty laughs.

Lourine consistently demonstrates ALL of the Y Core Values of caring, honesty, responsibility, respect and inclusiveness in her daily interactions with staff, co-workers, parents and their children. She does this with humility and unwavering compassion. Her staff look to her as a true mentor, she takes the time individually with each After School Care Leader to be the best they can be so they can provide high quality after school care. She sees and recognizes the strengths of each child and staff and is quick to point them out. She states that “every child is a gift and deserves to be treated as such.”

No task is too big or too small for Lourine. You will see her regularly driving the bus, playing with kiddos at both the Downtown and Rayleigh after school care sites, splashing around in the downtown Y pool with program planning, training staff and all administrative duties in between. She ALWAYS has a smile on her face. Lourine has volunteered countless hours for the Kamloops Y Strong Kids Campaign. She has organized pizza sales, bowling nights and BBQ’s to raise money for this campaign that is near and dear to her heart.

Lourine will be retiring from her coordinator role at the end of June 2021, but the Y is so lucky to continue to have her remain on in a supportive role with the School Aged programs. It is our extreme pleasure to present Lourine Babcock with the John Kjelson Memorial Service Award for 2021.