By: Aly Sawatzky, Safe Families Canada

For Andie Sather, stepping into a volunteer role with Safe Families Canada wasn’t a calculated move; it was an answer to prayer after a season of uncertainty in her life. Walking through a profound personal wilderness a little over a year ago, Andie felt she had little left to give, even to her own family, let alone someone else’s. But God often moves through divine interruptions.

Andie first heard about Safe Families through her husband’s involvement in a local hockey league and a growing partnership between Safe Families and her church, Christ Church in Langley, British Columbia. Andie attended an information night and heard the testimony of Safe Families Lower Mainland’s Chapter Director, Jennifer Gamache, which resonated with her on a deeply personal level. “I had felt a strong calling to volunteer,” Andie recalls, “and upon hearing their heart to serve vulnerable families, I felt it was an immediate answer to prayer.”

Over the past year, serving as a Family Friend and Resource Friend (two of Safe Families’ volunteer positions), Andie has seen firsthand how simple acts of relational investment operationalize the mission of keeping children safe and families together. The core mission of Safe Families Canada is rooted in proactive, community-based support. Often, the families seeking help are not lacking love for their children. They are simply drowning under the weight of overwhelming, isolated circumstances and they have no one to call.

Andie recalls walking beside a single mother of two who was struggling to meet basic needs: food, transportation, and extracurriculars for her kids. While the mother was highly motivated and connected to social resources, she was completely isolated, lacking a support network of family or friends to lean on.

“I met with her weekly for six months—sometimes assisting with administrative tasks, budgets, driving, or getting groceries,” Andie shares. “But what had the strongest impact was simply our time having coffee together, just giving her space to talk and share. It became evident quickly that she deeply desired a friend, someone to speak life into her and help her feel seen. It was less about the volunteering tasks than it was the investment of time into her as a person.”

By offering short-term relief, resource connections, and practical support, Safe Families helped clear the mental load for this young mother. More importantly, feeling loved and supported empowered her to better model that same care for her children. “When she was able to feel loved and cared for, she was better equipped to model the same for her children”. By providing wrap-around support, just knowing she had people in her corner cheering her on, she was able to have some breathing room to take care of the essential items involving her children’s well-being.

Volunteering in crisis care work rarely leaves the volunteer unchanged. For Andie, stepping into families’ lives has radically transformed her own walk of faith and trust in God. “Many of the families we serve are not from faith-based homes,” she reflects. “Many have no one lifting them up in prayer or modeling the love of Christ to them. I consider it such an honour and privilege to cover these families in prayer.”

Pointing to Matthew 25:40, Andie notes that serving the vulnerable is a direct offering to God himself. Rather than waiting until one feels fully ready or abundantly resourced, the call of the Gospel is to step out in radical obedience. In doing so, God redeems even our past pains to help others through theirs.

“While not all of us are called to travel for missions across the globe or garner large audiences, we each have a garden that we are responsible for tending,” says Andie. “We each have a field around us and families struggling within it; opportunities for seeds to be planted. Sometimes a small investment of time or a skill we have been given is mountain-shifting in the life of another.”

For churches, donors, or individuals considering partnering with Safe Families, Andie’s message is clear: do not let feelings of inadequacy hold you back. “God does not call the equipped, but He equips those that He calls,” she emphasizes. “He just requires you to step out in faith. It is amazing to experience God’s presence in your own life when you are serving those around you with the little that you have to give.”

With flexible volunteer roles, professional organizational support, and a deeply Christ-centred approach, Safe Families offers local believers a practical, high-impact way to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their neighbourhood. As Andie anchors her service in the promises of Hebrews 13:20–21: “Now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

There are 18 Safe Families Canada chapters operating across 5 provinces. Visit our website to find the chapter closest to you to get involved. Donate here.

Read more stories of Kentro Domestic members cultivating hope to avert catastrophe.