THE TOP

John VolkenJohn Volken

Penultimate philanthropist

From a furniture empire to a charitable foundation helping addicts in recovery and children in poverty, John Volken is the definition of a philanthropist.

In 1960, a young Volken immigrated to Canada from Germany with less than $100 in his pocket. Over the next two decades, Volken worked a series of jobs — at a cauliflower farm, in a frozen food business and at a flower shop for $1 an hour. He bought 22 old houses and fixed them up. He even wrote a book called 1,001 Ways to Make Money.

“You have to work hard, long hours, sacrifice, work around and work through it,” he says.

It paid off with his own personal rags-to-riches tale. After opening his first furniture store, he grew it into a chain of 150 United Furniture Warehouse stores, employing thousands and reaching annual sales in excess of $200 million.

In 1994, Volken won Canada’s Pacific Region Entrepreneur of the Year award. In that moment, he made a decision to do more with his life. After selling his business to the Brick, he started up Welcome Home, a two-year internationally accredited recovery program for people addicted to drugs and alcohol.

His plans for the future are to “develop our addiction treatment centres to be the most effective in the world and keep its costs to a minimum,” he says. One way he supports the program is through PricePro, the grocery and household goods store he opened in Surrey, B.C.

Under the auspices of the John Volken Foundation, Volken also started the charity Lift the Children, which supports orphaned and abandoned children in Africa. He covers the operating costs, so 100 per cent of donations go to the cause.

“I believe someday we [will] stand before our maker and he’s going to ask ‘what did you do with your life?’ I want to be able to say I did the best I could.”

James Wan James Wang

Finding one’s voice

Born in Suzhou, in eastern China, and raised in Xi’an in the northwest, James Wang immigrated to Canada in 1996 seeking “positive change.” An architect by profession, it was Wang’s desire to “see the outside world” that largely motivated his decision.

“I think my family’s tradition of mobility may have driven me to go to Canada,” he surmises. “All my family members were born and raised in different areas; I got used to moving around.”

Soon after arriving in Burnaby, B.C., Wang came up against challenges that many new immigrants experience: language barriers, settlement issues and a sense of being “voiceless.” Rather than wait for help, Wang made up his mind to practise his English and, eventually, take up a leadership role that would allow him to serve as a role model to other newcomers.

A successful businessman as vice-president of Canadian Overseas Holdings, Wang also became an active participant and a volunteer in his community. In 2008 and 2011, Wang was elected as a school trustee for the Burnaby Board of Education, effectively becoming the first immigrant from Mainland China to win an election in Canada. This position has allowed him to bring his ideas to the table and create policies that he hopes can help other newcomers find their voice, as well.

“The greatest impact I’ve been able to make is through the adult basic education programs that are offered by the Burnaby School Board, which are often aimed at immigrants,” he says. “I also have two kids of my own, and I have worked very hard to ensure that Burnaby’s children are successful learners and receiving a quality and inclusive education in a safe and supportive environment.”

Now, Wang has set his sights on becoming a city councillor in the upcoming civic election — a role that he says will help him to do even more to serve his community, and give a voice to the many newcomers who also call Burnaby their home.

Dr. Anna Wolak Dr. Anna Wolak

The good doctor

It was 2007 when Dr. Anna Wolak decided to join her parents and brothers in Canada. This wasn’t her first big move — in 1999, she had left her native Philippines for Australia to pursue a medical degree. Her re-relocation meant she’d need to have her education and residency experience accredited by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., plus pass a set of rigorous exams by the Medical Council of Canada.

“I worked very hard,” Wolak says of her first years in Vancouver. “There is no substitute for this. An immigrant has to work to succeed in a new environment in order to … establish oneself in one’s profession.”

After receiving her Canadian credentials, Wolak couldn’t simply open a practice wherever she chose. As an international medical graduate, she had to seek a designated “area of need.” She accepted a position in Osoyoos, in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley, and also worked as an emergency physician in nearby Oliver. Travelling between the towns, Wolak encountered a second challenge of immigration: the climate.

“The first winter I spent in Canada was one of the coldest in B.C.,” she recalls. “It was the first time I’d seen snow of such magnitude — the snow banks were eight feet tall! I struggle with snow to this very day, especially if I have to drive in it.”

One thing that Wolak doesn’t struggle with is gaining the respect and admiration of her peers. Besides working as a family doctor at Fraser Street Medical in Vancouver, she holds a faculty appointment at the University of British Columbia’s department of family medicine and serves as chair of planning for the Post-Graduate Review in Family Medicine conference, now in its 50th year. She frequently gives preventative health lectures to the public, developed the curriculum for a prenatal course that’s being taught at a local community centre and volunteers for organizations that raise funds for teenage cancer research.

Most importantly of all, she is a devoted mother to her son, Jacob, and just a few weeks ago, she and her husband, Arthur, welcomed their second child, Joshua, to the world.

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