The Lloydminster & Area Brain Injury Society is celebrating their outreach client numbers and express their gratitude to the community as they reflect on 2025. Maxine Lebo, Director of Operations shares that 2026 will mark 40 years that LABIS has been serving Lloydminster.
Question 1:Â What is/are your organization’s major accomplishments this year?
Lebo: Our organization’s major accomplishments this year are our outreach client numbers, and participation in the program. Every year we aim to provide programs to offer supports to participants and their families to enhance their lives through positive social interaction and recreational programming.
We have been settling into our new facility and making the space we have, feel like home thanks to Lloydminster Co-operative and our community partners. We would not have been able to make this place feel like a home away from home without you all.
Another accomplishment is the major summer fundraisers we do that turn out to be a success every year. The charity golf tournament, Bones and Slow-pitch tournaments as well as our online silent auctions. This year we had help from new people and community partners and with our team it all turned out wonderfully.
We always strive to give continuous support to our clients and their families and every year we offer that support; it is a year of success in our eyes. We would not be able to do it without the support of our funders and community members that give us the donations and support that we need to keep the programs going. We have cultivated amazing relationships and plan on strengthening them for years to come.
Question 2: What was your biggest challenge?
Lebo: Finding volunteers has proven to be a challenge. We are always looking for new people to give new perspectives and ideas for our nonprofit as well as to come in and interact and socialize with the participants that come here. We used to be bustling with multiple volunteers coming in every week. However, we have found that volunteer numbers are down tremendously and we would love to see them rise again.
Another obstacle we face is transportation for the clients. Our goal is to transport the clients free of charge safely to and from their homes to the LABIS centre. However, we have not found funding to allow them to have the accommodation for free as of yet. This presents an issue for our participants as they are on fixed incomes and may not have the funding themselves to pay for the ride service. This could also prevent new participants from joining if they can’t afford transportation, especially as living costs continue to rise.
Question 3: What are you looking forward to in the new year?
Lebo: We are looking forward to the celebration of 40 amazing years in this community. 2026 marks the 40th year LABIS has been serving the participants with brain injury, and we are so proud of that milestone. We have ideas and celebration plans in the works, including educational seminars, an open house in June and a celebratory dance in October 2026, and we would love to have the community celebrate with us.
We are also looking forward to a new way of educating the public about what we do, why we do it and what exactly it is we provide so they can be better informed. If someone knows a person who could benefit from LABIS’s services, they’ll be able to point them in the right direction instead of wondering whether Lloydminster offers that support.
The anniversary day is Oct. 8.
Question 4: What are you concerned about in 2026?
Lebo: Funding and transportation. This is the flip side of the same coin. As a nonprofit, we rely on funding to keep our doors open and participants coming. The participants live on fixed incomes, so funds are limited for them. We try to supply as much as we can and find funding to cover most costs for significant expenses. However, transportation continues to be one of our most difficult barriers to entry into our program.
Question 5: What are your plans to overcome this hurdle in 2026?
Lebo: We are looking outward into the community to provide some of that funding, we plan on doing that through education, public awareness, and strategic campaigns that align with local companies to generate partnership and collaboration to see who can help and what they can help with, that is a good fit for both them and for us.
We are looking forward to the new year and the new experiences and challenges it brings. Even though we have concerns, we feel confident we can overcome them and keep on creating an enriching program for the participants that need it, along with a stronger presence in our generous and mighty community.
