This is a story about love. Not romantic love, a love of music, or a love of good food. This is a story about how the love of faithful, dedicated people can change the lives of many.
We All Have Purpose
Joanne Mawhinney – one of the founding members of L’Arche Comox Valley – lives a modest but rich life in Courtenay, BC. The mother of eight children, a foster parent and a maternity nurse, Joanne demonstrates the value of faith, perseverance, and unconditional love.
“We all have purpose, we all belong,” says Joanne with a soft smile as she gives hugs to her big labradoodle Dino. Joanne has shown her purpose to be endless love and support for children and families. “If a person doesn’t belong, it’s a tragedy,” she says.
Joanne talks with ease about the achievements of her husband Lock Mawhinney, and the many friends that worked alongside them for years to create the foundation that L’Arche Comox Valley is built on. And when asked to share her story, Joanne unfolds a colourful perspective.
Already Living Busy Lives
Joanne and Lock were both working and raising a house full of kids when they attended a retreat in 1983 in Victoria, which included talks by L’Arche founder Jean Vanier.
“At the time,” Joanne says, “we had a VW van, six children, and we had recently adopted Susan, an 18-month-old girl with special needs. We already had a full life! Who knew how much of a turning point that retreat would be for all of us.”
The retreat was very personal and touching for the couple. As the pair drove back home, they talked about what the future held for their new daughter, and all the young people and adults with special needs. L’Arche’s vision and spirituality left them feeling they had found an answer and they wanted to explore it some more.
Lock was a well-known educator and the first Director of Special Education for the Comox Valley School District. He and his team had come to know many families of children with disabilities, and they realized that providing access to education was only part of a bigger solution. The continuing issue was that after people with intellectual disabilities graduated from school, and their friends went off to new adventures, they were left feeling isolated and lacking meaningful relationships outside of their families.
I Come from an Italian Family
Over the next 17 years, Lock and Joanne immersed themselves in everything L’Arche, with Lock serving on L’Arche national boards, and Joanne hosting any and all L’Arche meetings and visitors in their home. This included some L’Arche communities arriving for summer vacations and Assistants who sometimes needed a break.
“Our house was always full,” says Joanne. “I come from an Italian family, so I cook BIG! which came in handy. It was an exciting time and I loved it, but it was also an awful lot to handle.”
An Amber Light to Proceed
It was 1991 when L’Arche’s Regional Council gave the couple an amber light (proceed with caution) to start a Comox Valley community. So much had already been done to get to this point, but there was a lot more work to come.
The couple was instructed to form a ‘Friends of L’Arche Comox Valley’ group and start to meet regularly for potlucks, celebrations and prayer, and to always ensure that people with disabilities were included. In 1993 the Friends of L’Arche Comox Valley was registered as a non-profit society and a governing board was formed. The faithful, dedicated group of friends set their horizon on building a L’Arche community and eventually opening a home, which became a reality in 2000.
Listen to the Littlest Amongst Us…
“There is a biblical passage in Luke about listening to the littlest amongst us,” says Joanne. And in 1988, this little voice in the Mawhinney Family was their foster child Kenny, who had special needs. Kenny grew to inspire the whole Mawhinney clan with his perseverance and joy.
Kenny and others that live with disabilities are the cornerstone in a L’Arche community, calling people into relationship and revealing the love in all of us. How does someone who struggles daily with their own challenges and in many ways is dependent upon others for their basic needs, become a source of strength and healing? It’s a mutual experience that must be lived to be fully understood.
This is not where the L’Arche Comox Valley story ends. In the coming months, other founding members will share more.
