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Key leader retiring after 21 years with Town

Keeping a roof over people’s heads, putting food on an empty table or simply supporting education have all been important parts of Linda Blasetti’s job with the Town of Okotoks for much of the past two decades.
Linda Blasetti, Okotoks FCSS team leader, is helping Debbie Posey, who will take over the position at the end of the month when Blasetti retires after 21 years with the Town.
Linda Blasetti, Okotoks FCSS team leader, is helping Debbie Posey, who will take over the position at the end of the month when Blasetti retires after 21 years with the Town.

Keeping a roof over people’s heads, putting food on an empty table or simply supporting education have all been important parts of Linda Blasetti’s job with the Town of Okotoks for much of the past two decades.

“The people who go to the resource centre are people who’ve lost their job, they can’t pay their rent, they have no food. It’s basic needs,” said Blasetti.

It’s been a critically important job for Blasetti, who has worked for the Town as Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) team leader for the past 17 years.

However, after 21 years it’s a job she is ready to pass on when she retires at the end of the month.

Debbie Posey, formerly from the Claresholm and District FCSS, will take over Blasetti’s position in the new year.

Blasetti first started working for the Town in 1989 setting up its volunteer program and worked in that position until 1993 when she took over the Okotoks FCSS.

She was the lone person handling FCSS in Okotoks for her first seven years, but now she has a staff of three. As the Town and her staff grew she has had to hand over more of the front line work to take on a more administrative role.

According to Blasetti, the biggest change over the years has not been so much about specific programs or social needs, but the number of people needing assistance.

“It’s more of everything, more requests for services, more needs for programs,” she said. “I wouldn’t say there’s a huge increase in needs, they’ve grown proportionately with the community.”

As well, Blasetti said the complexity of issues people bring up has also increased.

In most cases, she said requests for help with a single issue reveal a series of other needs and it’s important to peel away the layers in each case to ensure people get the help they need.

“People seldom come to you with just one issue,” she said. “If someone says ‘I don’t have any food, I’m not going to make it to my next pay check.’ That’s not the only thing, you have to talk to them and see if they can pay their utility bills or if their rent is behind.”

Another change over the years is the amount of funding FCSS has been able to provide allowing them to provide better support to non-profit groups in town.

Blasetti said Okotoks has historically had a strong non-profit sector, which meant FCSS didn’t have to set up much in the way of new services.

“Lots of times, by giving a group $5,000, it’s enough to let a group start their programs and then we don’t have to spend $20,000,” she said. “It’s really a cost effective way to support the people in the community.”

However, Blasetti said providing guidance to non-profit groups typically plays a larger role than financing.

She said FCSS plays an important role within the Town and often sits at the same table as other town departments to provide a social perspective to issues and has become a go-to point for many in the community.

“I think FCSS has become known for knowing the community,” she said. “We’re invited to attend a lot of meetings to develop programs… they’re asking FCSS to be at the table because they know we give a community perspective.”

One of accomplishments Blasetti is most proud of is the opening of the Health Family Resource Centre in 2000. She said it took five years to get the funding in place and open the doors to the centre which is located in the Okotoks Health and Wellness Centre.

The centre doesn’t offer specific programs, rather it directs people where to go to get specific needs addressed.

“It’s good to know there’s a place for people to go when they need help,” she said.

It has also been helpful in identifying gaps in existing services, said Blasetti.

Posey said the resource centre has become renowned in social services as a great success.

“Really and truly, for years I remember everyone talking about one-stop shopping as a concept, a goal to obtain and Okotoks was able to do that,” she said.

Posey worked with the Claresholm and district FCSS for almost seven years. She also sits on the board for the provincial FCSS association.

She used to lived in Okotoks and moved away 10 years ago. She’s now moving back to the community.

Posey said she isn’t looking to make any big changes with Okotoks FCSS and wants to continue on with what she called Blasetti’s legacy.

“Linda has left an enormous footprint on the community and she’s done a tremendous job in the community,” she said. “It’s quite an honour to be hired to take that mantle and run with it.”

Posey said the community will drive the need for new services.

“I’m not coming in with some things I want to do for the community, it will be about what the community needs and what FCSS can do to support those needs being met,” she said.

Posey started working with the Town in mid-November and Blasetti has been helping to introduce her to the position.

“It’s been wonderful to have that mentoring and that transition time,” she said. “Linda’s been very good at telling me what’s happening in the community and what the needs are going to be.”

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