50 Stories

Read - 50 Stories Part 18 In January of 1994, AADAC added a province-wide Gambling Line to their services. The government had put newly available VLTs in all the bars and casinos and people were getting hooked on them, something which is still true today. Gaylene Heidt, who became the first co-ordinator, remembers: “AADAC was [...]

Read - 50 Stories Part 16 Happy Anniversary! Twenty years after its beginnings as the Drug Information Centre, Calgary Mayor Al Duerr proclaimed Distress Centre/Drug Centre week, March 18-24, 1990. Jeanette commented on various highlights over time. After 20 years, staff with higher qualifications were being hired, responding to much broader crises concerns, and offering [...]

Image: Volunteer in a 1982 newspaper. Read - 50 Stories Part 14 During the 80s, The Board of Directors was able to move slowly towards more of a governance-only role. Funding and fundraising were the exceptions; that remained hands-on. As noted in the 1981 Annual Report: “Financial management for the coming year will be a [...]

Image: Appeared in our 20 year anniversary publication in 1990. Read - 50 Stories Part 12 By 1980, the first location of the Drug Information Centre had turned into Bandito’s Bar. The second location, in the basement of what was known as the Old Y building, was becoming problematic due to limited space and ongoing [...]

50 Stories Part 12: Just Between Teens Read - 50 Stories Part 11 In the early 70's, most Drug Information Centre callers were adolescent. By the early 80's, the Distress Centre/Drug Centre “found that teenage service users had all but faded out of the picture...it was back to the drawing board to figure [...]

Read - 50 Stories Part 10 1980 marked the 10th anniversary of the Distress Centre/Drug Centre.  At the Annual General Meeting, Chair Hilde Houlding was pleased to note that: From a 1980s newspaper. “The month to month struggle is past, the new challenge is to maintain the vital, productive partnership of volunteers and [...]