A Reflection on the Recreation for Life Foundation (2001 – 2026)

By Iheoma Uzomba

Looking back, it’s hard not to see the story of the Recreation for Life Foundation (RFLF) as a kind of bridge built in the early 2000s when Alberta’s parks and recreation professionals began to wonder: What if we could dream bigger? What if the good we do for communities wasn’t tied only to municipal budgets?

The name “Recreation for Life” carried twice its meaning: the promise of activity and the span of a lifetime.

The Foundation was set up as ARPA’s support system. ARPA would carry the vision and advocacy, while RFLF would find the means to make it happen. By 2003, it was officially registered as a public charity, with the job of rallying donations, building endowments, and hosting events that could raise both money and morale.

And the results were impressive. By 2014, the annual golf tournament alone had brought in more than a million dollars. Over $140,000 in endowments with the Edmonton Community Foundation now help fund professional development opportunities for years to come. Because of these efforts, countless programs thrived: student bursaries, Emerging Leaders initiatives, keynote speakers who brought new ideas at conferences, and even a $1.5 million partnership in 2006 that helped launch Alberta Active Communities.

But if you ask anyone who was there, the Foundation was never just about the cash. It was about the recognition that recreation isn’t “extra,” it’s essential. It was also about people. Volunteers organized tournaments, raffles, and auctions that became beloved fixtures. And a steady stream of chairs, from Barry Mitchelson, who guided the first nine years, to Greg Krischkie, Wanda Wetterberg, Todd Reade, Roger Smolnicky, and Jason Simituk. They all kept the vision alive.

By 2025, though, the bridge had done its job. With ARPA turning seventy-five and RFLF hitting twenty-five, the Foundation will gracefully fold back into the Association that first imagined it. As ARPA’s 2025 President, Deb Comfort, puts it: “The fund development leadership and focus will be the torch that ARPA will have to carry moving forward.”

The RFLF was never meant to last forever. It was meant to stir a generation of investment and it did. What we have left is not just money in the bank, but the lasting texture of community, carried forward by ARPA.

Recreation for Life, in both senses of the phrase: enduring and complete. A good run and a life well lived.