“Extremely comprehensive, honouring both the roots of the organization and the directions for its future.”

Walter Paetkau has written “It Takes Raindrops to Fill a Lake”, a comprehensive history of the first fifty years of Abbotsford Community Services. He has charted the growth of the agency, the many interwoven initiatives within it and shared with us the principles that have governed its development. He has skillfully used anecdotes, interviews, and plain prose to tell the story.

As the first Executive Director, Walter’s fingerprints are all over the organization. He and like-minded souls hammered out a constitution that reflected a shared vision – that a community has a duty and a need to help those less fortunate than themselves to achieve their potential. He and many others have striven to keep that vision front and centre as times and trends have changed.

The book is full of interviews, old newspaper clippings and photos dating from the second half of the last century. Walter’s writing style is extremely readable and the stories are of people right here in our community. Sometimes I could feel myself back in the era he describes.

The author describes and celebrates the many triumphs of ACS, but doesn’t hesitate to admit mistakes that were made and express regrets over good programs that have been lost. Often, though the needs and the successes are at the community level, the funding decisions are at the shifting direction of federal and provincial politics.

Abbotsford Community Services is so large, so varied, so changing that, occasionally, I found myself overwhelmed, particularly in the areas of family services and employment services. Luckily the book is written so that there is a bit of overlapping exposition to help the reader place each chapter in the larger context.

Some of the most compelling stories are those of the volunteers. Not only do they help out new immigrants, lonely seniors, people with diverse abilities and the homeless, but they have found fulfillment and belonging themselves.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has been involved with the Abbotsford community in the era of growth and change that Walter describes (1968-today). The book is extremely comprehensive, honouring both the roots of the organization and the directions for its future. This history of Abbotsford Community Services is also timely; it is good to be reminded of people and organizations that seek to help others at a time when society seems to be shrinking back from the responsibility of caring for others. “It Takes Raindrops to Fill a Lake” reminds us that there are always needs and that we will always be needed to contribute – and that is what makes a community.

-Linda Watson, Retired Teacher-Counsellor, Abbotsford School District