From Client to Community Leader: Haley Helps Bring Family Fun Day to Life

Photo of Haley: Taken at Family Fun Day photo booth, used with permission.

On the afternoon of June 7, Haley Wolgien-Lowe had two places to be. The first was ISTAR's Family Fun Day, an event she had spent months helping to plan — securing sponsors, wrangling volunteers, supporting event logistics — and where she was scheduled to give a speech about her own years as a client. The second was across town, where the Cosmopolitan Music Society, in which she plays the oboe, was holding its year-end performance. She managed both. "I was able to give my speech and eat cake before going there," she says, and she laughs about it, the way you might expect from someone who has spent her adult life proving that a full schedule and a full heart tend to travel together.

If you’ve followed ISTAR’s stories over the years, you may remember Haley. Nearly 15 years ago, she attended her first Intensive Stuttering Therapy Clinic — an opportunity her father was determined she would have, in part because he never had it himself. That story was about what the program gave her. This one is about what happened afterward, which is that she never really left. 

It started small, the way these things do. She encouraged a fellow client here, offered a bit of advice there. People listened. “I realized I could be a positive force for supporting people at ISTAR,” she says. “People were receptive to my advice and encouragement, and it just snowballed over the years.” The snowball, at this point, includes former-client talks, speeches to client groups, mentorship, and fundraising — a volunteer résumé long enough that Clinician and Interim Director Ashely Saunders simply calls her “a true gift to ISTAR.”

Of everything she’s done at ISTAR, the project she’s proudest of is a speech therapy and support program for teenage girls who stutter, which she helped to develop two years ago with former Clinic Director Holly Lomheim. What stayed with her was watching the girls change over time — arriving reliant on the adults in the room, and gradually turning toward one another instead, building friendships that didn’t need supervision.

Family Fun Day, held this June, was the big version of that same idea. A joint effort of the ISTAR team and Foundation, led by Saunders, it drew 150 people — former clients, families, volunteers, donors, neighbours — for an afternoon of cookie decorating, face painting, giant inflatable obstacle courses, lawn games, raffles, a DJ, and a photo booth. It was a party, but it was also a marker: ISTAR turns 40 this year, and the day celebrated four decades of lives changed through connection, support, and communication. 

Saunders, for her part, is happy to elaborate on the “true gift” assessment: “She gives generously to the many sides of the organization through client mentorship, involvement in fundraising, participation in student clinical education activities, and she is a strong ambassador of ISTAR’s client services. Her desire to share her professional interests to support the stuttering community through public speaking initiatives and her integral involvement in bringing ISTAR’s Family Fun Day to fruition are examples of her exceptional character and above and beyond nature as a volunteer.”

Ask Haley whether other people should volunteer and her answer arrives without hesitation, which seems fitting: “Do it. Don’t hesitate. There is no downside. It will only make your life better.”

She has plans — more science communication, more opportunities for people who stutter to find each other. But the shape of her story is already clear. The program that once helped her find her confidence is now, in no small part, sustained by it. 

More About Family Fun Day

The afternoon event welcomed 150 attendees and was an important step toward our goal of raising $40,000 in celebration of ISTAR's 40th anniversary. Thanks to the generosity of our community, we've raised $10,055 toward that goal so far.

There's even more reason to celebrate: Peter and Jeanett Flynn have generously pledged to match every donation, dollar for dollar, up to $40,000. That means every gift made during this campaign has twice the impact, helping us raise up to $80,000 to support ISTAR's greatest needs, including expanding our children's program and advancing research.

Thank you to Haley and all of our volunteers, the ISTAR Foundation and team members, donors, and participants who made this day a success!

Fast event stats:

• Supported in part by a City of Edmonton Festivals & Events Micro Grant
• 150 attendees of all ages, 17 volunteers
• Partner raffle with the Edmonton Elks Lodge, and a donor presentation made to the Alberta Elks Foundation
• 19 sponsors and community partners donated services or prizes for the coloring contest, relay race, and raffle, including: Fort Edmonton Park, Education Station, Staples, Michaels, Chuck E Cheese, Bountiful Market, Tim Hortons, The Rec Room, Tea Cup DJ, Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton Valley Zoo, Utopia Play Cafe, Domino's Pizza, Made by Marcus, Clip 'n Climb, Campus & Community Recreation, Dollhouse Hair Boutique, Wilson Climbing Center, Muttart Conservatory