About Richmond Caring Place

Our Vision, History and Society

Richmond Caring Place Society

In 1985 the Richmond Community Services Centre Society was formed and set about the task of raising the capital funds to build Richmond Caring Place. With the support of business, government and the people of Richmond, that task was completed in 1994. At that time, Richmond Caring Place Society (RCPS) was formed.

The Richmond Caring Place Society has the responsibility to efficiently manage the facility in order to ensure optimum coordination and synergistic benefits for the agencies and users of Richmond Caring Place.

Richmond Caring Place’s Vision

To maintain, manage and expand a superior affordable facility to assist as many social agencies as possible in delivering services and enhancing quality of life in the City of Richmond.

Richmond Caring Place’s Mission

We provide an efficiently and accountably managed multi-use building for the benefit of social agencies in delivering services and enhancing quality of life and effecting positive change.

Our People

The Richmond Caring Place is run efficiently due to the dedicated efforts of our operations and support staff and the experience and vision of our current Board of Directors.The Board of Directors is a diverse group that brings both community and corporate experience to help Richmond Caring Place Society consistently achieve its goals and operate within high standards. Our Board meets the last Wednesday of each month excluding August and December.

Our facility is supported by a full time Manager and three part-time Facility Attendants. A member of:

Careers

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Board of Directors

Belinda Boyd (Chair)

Belinda is a professional in the field of community engagement with a particular expertise in patient and family engagement within health care. Her background and experiences, which includes working with many community leaders and organizations, has led to an understanding of the social determinants of health and the mechanisms needed to improve outcomes for individuals in our community. As a past Chair and Board member of the Richmond Caring Place Society for 9 years, Belinda is pleased to have now returned to the Board. She values this role as well as the many other volunteer roles she holds in her home community of Richmond. Being a farm girl growing up in Richmond Belinda understands the value of hard work and is committed to strengthening and celebrating our community.

Thomas Chen

Thomas immigrated to Canada with his family in 1995 from Taiwan. He completed his high school in North Delta, BA in Ottawa and Master in Public Administration in Victoria. Thomas’s career started in BC Public Service, managing forest stewardship program for the province. He has worked in logistics, shipping, international trade, real estate development in Vancouver since 1999. Thomas is an avid golfer and cyclist who enjoys whisky, travel and hikes. Joining the RCP feels like answering a calling for him.

Nick Loenen

Nick Loenen is a former Richmond City Councilor and MLA.

“I’m honoured to be a board member with the Richmond Caring Place. RCP is a unique grass-roots approach to supporting our community. The model of RCP speaks to my values as I believe it is a citizen’s initiative to meet the social needs of their neighbours. Caring Place exists because Richmond residents responded to the needs of this community. These residents benefitted from the community, then gave back to the community. Community is best built from the bottom up.”

Keith McDonald

Keith has been a Richmond resident since 1980, and with his wife Neda raised 2 wonderful children here.  He retired from hospital pharmacy in 2018 after 40 years in the profession.  This included 23 years as Director of Pharmacy at the Richmond Hospital and subsequently as a Director, Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services – overseeing rural hospitals, mental health and addictions, residential care and community care operations for the lower mainland.  Keith is very honoured to be able to give back in time and expertise to the Board of the Richmond Caring Place.  He enjoys travel with his wife, gardening, golf and the new found sport of pickleball – and most importantly spending time with his family and new grand daughter.

Victor Mok, CPA, CGA

Victor is a Chief Financial Officer and Director for a private technology and manufacturing company based in Richmond, BC. He has over 15+ years of experience in the tech and banking industry. Victor received his designation from Chartered Professional Accountant of Canada in 2012.

Ron Toffolo

Ron Toffolo has been a Richmond resident for over 40 years. He spent his entire career in leadership positions within human resources completing his career as Vice President Human Resources. After taking a one year sabbatical  Mr. Toffolo reengaged in business as Project Director with a multi-national Civil Engineering/Construction Company. He is now retired and excited to be part of RCPS.

Carol Yeh

Carol immigrated with her family to Richmond from Taiwan in 1999. She is currently the Manager of People & Culture for Foley’s Candies Ltd. headquarter located in Richmond. Before this role, Carol worked for Tourism Richmond, a non-profit destination marketing organization, and oversaw administration, human resources, finance, research, and technology. She has held a CPHR designation since 2012. Carol also volunteers as a member of the Economic Advisory Committee at the City of Richmond and serves on the Board of Directors for a local senior housing and advocacy society. She is passionate about connecting people from different backgrounds to support the growth of Richmond’s community. Carol is excited about joining Richmond Caring Place and looks forward to contributing to and learning from the board and the non-profit organizations that RCP works with.

Christabelle Zhang (Treasurer)

Christabelle is a commercial account manager from RBC based in Richmond and holds the Charted Financial Analyst designation. She was given a tour of the Richmond Caring Place by a longtime employee who managed the facility, and instantly fell in love with its uniqueness and its important role in the community. She has volunteered for many non-profit organizations and causes that she supports include mental health, lifelong learning, and environmental enterprise. She is also a Women’s Council member for the Home Builders Association of Vancouver through which she promotes sustainability and gender equality in the construction industry.

Our Staff

Dijana Lugonjic

Dijana is the Facilities and Administrative Manager. After spending a decade working for the Richmond Caring Place, Dijana has found great pleasure in helping people and supporting various non – profit agencies and enjoys the rewards of knowing their work is changing the world for the better.  Besides being fully dedicated to Caring Place, Dijana has taught ESL classes to students in several private schools and enjoys motivating students to learn the English language in an interesting and fun way. In her spare time, Dijana loves to go horseback riding, snorkeling, dancing, and enjoying the little things that every day has to offer.

Lam Dang

Having worked for 24 years in the community development field, Lam Dang has now been enjoying his time working as a tenant facilitator in a place such as Caring Place where a number of non-profit agencies have been helping people in needs in Richmond area.

Arthur Cheung

Arthur Cheung has a strong sales and marketing background before coming to Canada from Hong Kong in 2005.  He then developed his career as an experienced Community Practitioner in Canada, including solid experience in career counselling, program facilitation, mentorship and job development with respective non-profit organizations.  He enjoys both the fast paced and dynamic of the business world, as well as the caring and giving of the social field.  Arthur enjoys the outdoor adventure, cycling and playing guitar during his leisure time.

Eva Xie

Eva has more than ten years of work experience in banking, where she enjoys teaching clients about banking products and helping them to reach their financial goals.    Before joining the bank, she ran a family restaurant, looked after the whole operation as well as handles all the accounting matters.  She loves going camping with her family to discover the beautiful wild side of British Columbia.  She also loves cooking and gardening.