Introduction [Sarah Fung]: “It takes raindrops to fill a lake.” (Mumbai woman) This quote is also an analogy we can apply to so much of life. It could be the small steps we take towards a large goal. It could be those small acts of love, that builds one’s partner up, who has only ever faced hardships in relationships. While we can put numerous meanings to the metaphor, for one person in particular it meant the beginning of a new era. Walter Paetkauw is the founder and former executive director of Abbotsford Community Services. For him, this quote began the development of his organization that originally worked to serve immigrant families and has since developed into a multi-program organization.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had the pleasure of conversing with Walter about his work. Eventually, with two steaming cups of coffee on the table in front of us, we were able to converse more about the work he’s done. Below is some of our conversation:

Fung: In the prologue of your book, you shared the impacting quote “it takes raindrops to fill a lake”, from which you got the title for this book. You mentioned how this quote was from a book you were reading about a mother from Mumbai, India, who was struggling to make a life for her and her daughters. Was this the sole, catalyst moment for you to begin Abbotsford Community Services? Or, was there another moment that spurred action? If so, what was that moment?

Walter: I selected the title of the book, “It Takes Raindrops to Fill a Lake," after I read the story of the Mumbai slum about three years ago. This was the catalyst for the title of the book. What spurred the action to write the book was a stimulating conversation I had some four to five years ago with Roop Seebaren, a former professor at the UBC School of social work, now living in Mission. We became colleagues over the years as he brought his social work students to Community Services to become familiar with what we were doing.  Roop and I also sat on common boards and did workshops together in various parts of the province. As we were talking over a long coffee and reminiscing about the early and the developing years, Roop said, “Walter, you need to write the history of Community Services.” The seed was planted and took root and so the three-year-plus project began.