Valerie Tutton, Director

Val was born and grew up in Alberta.   She married in 1971 and had two beautiful daughters.   In 1979 the family decided to adopt another child from Korea and after five years of waiting and a move to BC, her five-year-old third daughter joined the family.  Once the children were all settled, Val decided it was her turn to go back to school and enrolled herself in the Office and Business Administration programs at College of the Rockies in Cranbrook. 

 

When she graduated, she was offered a government posting at Forest Renewal BC.  After two years with them in Cranbrook, she was offered and accepted a position at the head office in Victoria.  When Forest Renewal was revamped by the government, Val was moved to a managerial position at Provincial Revenue and, as governments are prone to change, some of the mandates of Provincial Revenue were outsourced to the private sector and Val’s position transferred with them.  Prior to her retirement last year, she managed millions of government dollars with a team of 24 financial analysts reporting to her.  

 

Now that professional work is behind her, she wants to follow her own personal dreams and try to make a difference in the world.   She met Micaela after volunteering to go to Kenya with Habitat for Humanity with her and her heart was deeply touched by the people she connected with there.   Now she sees in Homes of Joy the new focus she has been looking for and hopes to be able to make a small difference to girls and women in Zambia through our work.