Qualico Business Units Collaborate to Build New Home at Treatment Centre for Children

Edmonton, AB – Qualico business units in the Northern Alberta Region are teaming up to help build a new 36-bedroom group-home-style building for Be Brave Ranch, a trauma-informed, evidence-based treatment centre focused on helping children who have been sexually abused, as well as their families.

Little Warriors – a national, charitable organization based in Alberta – operates Be Brave Ranch. The one-year combined onsite and outpatient Be Brave Ranch program was designed with significant input from many leading academic and clinical experts and is geared towards girls and boys from 8 to 12 years old and girls between the ages of 13 and 17.

Annual treatment costs average $20,000 per child (8 to 12 years old) and $10,000 per teen (13 to 17 years old). To help cover costs, Little Warriors works with parents and caregivers to access financial supports that may be available to them and/or their children.

Brad Armstrong, Vice-President, Qualico Communities Edmonton, has known Glori Meldrum, Founder and Chair of Little Warriors, for many years and said she is an important part of the community and he finds her commitment and tenacity inspiring. According to Brad, Little Warriors’ Be Brave Ranch project fits well with Qualico’s corporate responsibility initiatives.

Front and back 3D renderings of the new group-home-style building

“These are not only things that we want to do, these are things that we have to do,” he said. “Our staff takes pride in corporate responsibility. It raises the company morale, and genuinely giving back with a purpose is who we are as a company.”

Glori expressed her appreciation for Qualico’s commitment not just to the Be Brave Ranch project, but also its ongoing support throughout the years.

“Qualico employees have been to every luncheon for 10 years and they've just always been such big supporters of me and Little Warriors,” she said. “With Qualico helping expand our housing complex, there will be positive changes to generations of families. I think this is the most impactful project that a company could take on.”

Main floor plan

Be Brave Ranch will not only offer new and improved cabin accommodations for the program, but will also allow Little Warriors to help more kids at a time.

“Forty was our capacity before,” Glori explained, “so this new housing complex will almost double our size and it'll get rid of a big chunk of our waitlist. Children, teens and families won’t have to wait as long, which we’re so thrilled about.”

Second Floor

Brad and a few other Northern Alberta Region VPs visited Be Brave Ranch and learned about the history of the Ranch and the work the program does. Brent Bommes, Vice-President, Sterling Homes Edmonton, said those who visited the Ranch wanted to do more to help.

“It stems back to the core values of the company, which is helping build better cities,” he said. “That’s not just about building homes and developing land, but it’s also about getting involved in the community and making valuable contributions. We knew we wanted to contribute more and talked about building a new facility and Qualico taking on all the heavy lifting for this project.”

Qualico employees will be contributing to the actual site construction and construction management of the build, primarily by leveraging relationships with trades and suppliers, managing construction schedules, and estimating. The hope is to get as much donated as possible to help keep costs lower.

An interesting aspect of the project is the opportunity for all business units in the region to get involved at the same time to support a great cause. Teams that may not otherwise have a chance to work together on projects will be able to do so on this one.

Terra Vermette, Production Manager, Sterling Homes Edmonton, is the project manager for the build and said she’s grateful for the opportunity to manage such a meaningful project. She noted that along with participating in the build, Qualico employees will also be contributing through fundraising efforts, including a golf tournament.

“The August golf tournament planning is well underway with an overwhelming response from realtors, trades, suppliers, and Sterling staff,” she said. “It will be our first big fundraising event for Be Brave Ranch.”

Glori shared that Qualico’s efforts in providing support for Little Warriors and Be Brave Ranch sets an important example for other companies and individuals who may be interested in helping the cause.

“If people want to get involved, change the world, heal our kids, and make the world a better place, they can join us and help us fight for these kids,” she said.

As of early July, Qualico has secured support from some larger trade partners for major scopes of work on the Be Brave Ranch project, although the business units must wait for completed drawings before they can provide a cost estimate, figure out how much fundraising they need to do, and see what parts of the housing complex their trades and suppliers can provide as a gift or at cost.

Groundbreaking for the project will likely take place in spring of 2024, with the potential official opening of the new Be Brave Ranch facility happening in 2025.