Wood's Homes: Our Company History

Wood's Homes has been around for a long time and just like all things that have been around for a long time, Wood's has a great collection of stories that are attached to its history. And like all good stories, in the telling they get better and better. The history is only the beginning. We are actually all making history every day.

Serving the community since 1914, our mission is to promote and assist the development and well-being of children, youth and families within the community.

The history of Wood's Homes is housed in the archives of the Glenbow Museum, but it lives in the literally thousands of young people and their families that have come and gone through the gates of Wood's Homes since 1914. Our connections and respect for the past values and experiences are a significant part of how we view the work we do today.

Wood's actual date of beginning, according to our records, is 1914, in the Innisfail home of Reverend George Wood. Reverend Wood was actually raised a Presbyterian, so we are told, but learned his ministry with the Baptists because the cost of training was cheaper!

He had come to Canada from Scotland, and settled in Melfort, Saskatchewan, but left there when tragedy struck his family. His wife was sold gasoline instead of kerosene for her lamps, and an n explosion killed her. Fortunately, a passer-by saved their daughter, Anne, who was three at the time. George asked for a transfer of his ministry and was granted one in Alberta.

All of these events were occurring at the same time that World War I began, and soldiers were called to the front daily. A young man, Bob Porter, whose wife had died, was called to the front and he had no one to look after his two young children. He stopped George Wood on the street and asked if Rev. Wood would look after his children while he was away. Of course, Rev. Wood said, "yes".

During this time, George met a social worker named Annie Jarvie. She was a Scot too, and shared his interest in caring for others. It sounds as if he was pretty shy and almost "let her get away" when she was returning to the East. The story goes that he sent a telegram, proposing to her, she accepted and returned to Innisfail.

Other children were brought to the Wood home to be cared for because of the war or family destitution so the numbers in the house grew. The growing group moved to Olds and a larger building; Bob Porter died at the front and George and Annie ended up being the Porter children's guardians. Eventually it became clear that they would have to move to an even larger space and in 1926, they moved to Calgary, to what was called the Hextall Estate in Bowness which is the same site the Wood's Bowness campus calls home today. This land and the building were purchased using George Wood's insurance money as collateral. By the time the move occurred, there were 32 children living with the Woods'. The orphanage; the care and concern for children and families had begun.

Wood's Christian Homes became a society in 1925, which means it had a foundation and a Board of Directors. Today we use just "Wood's Homes" as our working name. In those days and up until 1950 Wood's was a charitable institution and relied completely upon the donations that it received. These donations might be money, tasks done or donations of food from neighboring farms or gardens. Part of George Wood's job was to convince the wealthy businessmen of Calgary to donate to a worthy cause. He made sure the grounds always looked pastoral and inviting; he ensured the children were always on their best behaviour. The archives are replete with pictures of sweet children at Christmas time, waiting for Santa or brochures advertising the Home and asking for donations. It could be said that in some ways, times have not changed very much.

In the 1960's the world changed and the children who needed care were not just "orphans" any more but young people in need of "something else". This something else was called "treatment". Wood's was required to change with these times, along with everyone else, and for one year in the early 1970's even closed its doors so that the Board could decide what kind of service Woods should deliver, and Child Welfare took over the funding for Wood's.

In 1981, the Parkdale Campus opened with Mental Health funding, which was the opening of another chapter in the Wood's history book. From this time on, the two funding sources would predominate in Wood's life and this would continue until the present day.

In 1984, the management structure of Wood's changed and over the next twelve years there were many events imbedded in these changes that have now turned into so many stories. These stories are what we are really all about. It is in the telling of these stories, the repeating of the events, the struggles inherent in the plot, the lessons learned, the terror and the excitement experienced and the feeling afterwards that we have the essence of what we do every day.

The young people teach us so much and constantly remind us about how much more we have to learn. As we find ourselves saying frequently: "It is never boring".