“Love in action. Families for families.”

When they first became parents Mark and his friend Ryan quickly learned one of life’s great lessons - We can’t do this on our own, we need help! In search of help, they started scouring the web for community support groups for young parents where they could share their lives with or go to if they need help. Whilst they were able to find mum’s groups - or activity groups - these were either too narrowly focused or there wasn’t an active community in the groups. Undeterred in their desire for community, Mark and Ryan decided to create their own group. Almost immediately, it became apparent that they were not alone in wanting this sort of community; As the ranks of parents started to grow, a real community called Young Families of Metro Vancouver was being born.

From the beginning Mark and Ryan (soon joined by Jonny) were determined to build the group to be a community for families with kids ages 12 and below that reaches parents in need or who struggle with isolation and loneliness. Knowing all too well that none of us are perfect, but believing fully that everyone is redeemable, they have built everything in the group to emphasize the values of love in action through grace and compassion.

We know how it is to feel isolated and lonely in this phase of life. It comes in waves, and a wider sense of community is what we need to address this part of family life. It has been a beautiful thing to see the community respond to this and flourish as we learn to support one another as we are able - and we’re just getting started. 

You can find our community here: YFMV Facebook Group

Meet The Team

Mark Jarder

Mark and his wife Kym are ecstatic parents to their two cheeky young boys Theodore and Hudson. He's a planner in operations for a robotics startup and a local entrepreneur. Since healthy family units build up thriving societies he believes a balance of community support and parental responsibility will help alleviate suffering and truly make this world a better place to live in.

"To put your house in order, always prioritize the health of your own family unit first and ask for help when needed. That gives you the stability to help others later and it becomes a chain reaction of sustainable fostering of community." ~Mark

Jonny Somers-Harris

Jonny and his wife Kelly are proud parents to Lydia (4) and Kaz (2). Jonny is an office manager for a local IT company and also freelances as a PA for sporting events. With no parents on either side of the family around to help with the kids, you are likely to catch us chasing our kids around the park or at Superstore calculating and recalculating the grocery cart to make sure we are maximizing our PC Points haul.
Ryan Lee
Living on a 6-acre Langley farm, Ryan and his wife Melanie are busy parents to Una and Ara. Ryan works as a lead developer at a local startup and also as a small business owner. As a second generation immigrant, he experienced difficulties and pains to raise a young(and new) family in a new country and a strange city. Being an only child, he is just happy to watch his two daughters growing surrounded by many loving aunties, uncles and cousins from his wife's side. He now has this firm conviction that the bigger family, the better. Welcome to the YFMV family!

YFMV Moderators Team

As with any community, it requires a solid team of volunteers to keep everything going smoothly. We want to recognize our moderators that help steer the Facebook community in the right direction with helping answer questions, sharing resources, smoothing out disagreements or concerns, and encouragements. A massive thank you to the team! 

Karen Sunshine
Monica Samson-Chin
Vitti Von Cartier
Courtney Megan
Chantelle Clarke
Charmaine Charity Laride     
Young Families of Metro Vancouver By TDI Inc. All Rights Reserved.