David Hosking, Executive Director of the VDRC, Retires after Four Years

David Hosking, Executive Director of the Victoria Disability Resource Centre, has retired after almost four years of doing his job as a volunteer. Previous to this position, David had also served the VDRC for three years as Chair of the Board.

Although David modestly says, “It’s been four years of being a caretaker, making sure the place functions,” the staff point to a rather impressive list of achievements. One of their favourite achievements is how he brought the staff together as a team to help the centre function to its full capacity.

Other accomplishments:

• Played a pivotal role in re- organizing the VDRC’s filing and paperwork, moving it to a largely paper-free and searchable system
• Applied for and obtained a variety of government grants that have aided the VDRC’s growth, including grants for summer writer-researchers, who have added a great deal of quality content to the community resources sections of our website
• Guided the selection and implementation of an improved database system
• Hired a web-designer and appointed a tech-savvy staff person to create a new, more user-friendly, and far more accessible website
• Guided the creation of two new programs: CodeAbled, a summer program focused on teaching coding to people with disabilities who feel that a woman’s coding group is the best fit for them, and ArtAbilities, a fall art program for young people with disabilities (see separate articles here and here)

In addition, David oversaw the formation of a passionate board of directors, who have organized such events such as our Annual Artists with Disabilities Showcase and our annual participation in major events such as Pet-A-Palooza. Of the board, David said, “They enthusiastically take on projects to spread the word about VDRC in the community.”

The VDRC has also strengthened its external partnerships with other organizations such as the Neil Squire Society and the Rick Hansen Foundation, who have both joined our office space since he became Executive Director.

The volunteer program has likewise become more productive, efficient and well-run. “We thank our invaluable volunteers for providing our services and we appreciate the work they do for us,” David said. “Many of them have been able to progress to other roles, either voluntary or paid, after a stint of having volunteered for us.”

When asked for his reflections on retiring, David said, “I’m pleased to hand over a financially-secure organization with a confident management and working board of directors to Wendy Cox, and I look forward to watching their achievements in the future.”