Lakes Animal Friendship was created in 2009 to improve the lives of companion animals in our local communities around the Village of Burns Lake in northern BC. Our founders believed that happy, healthy animals are part of happy, healthy families and communities. You can’t have one without the other.
We created programs for animal care, compassion and dog bite safety – focused on elementary school children. We also developed support systems to help low-income families with critical needs: like spay / neuter and other veterinary services, pet food, and shelter for pets when they are outdoors.
We became a society in 2011, a registered Canadian charity in 2016 and in 2024 our society’s operations became Increased Animal Care and Community Empowered Safety Society (Increased ACCESS). The charitable work we started in the Lakes District still serves the same communities, as well as an expanded network of communities with our animal rescue partners. Please check out increasedaccess.org to learn more and stay up-to-date on all the exciting developments.
We maintain this page as the repository of free educational resources for animal, care, compassion – and for the sales of materials where 100% of the revenue will be used to support the programs of Increased ACCESS.
Our Education Team
Valerie Ingram is a certified teacher with over twenty-five years of experience teaching all grade levels but spent much of her career teaching kindergarten. A lifelong love of animals and a commitment to teaching care, compassion and respect made humane education a logical career move—even at no pay! She is one of the founders of Lakes Animal Friendship. Valerie has volunteered in classrooms around the community and northwest BC. She also mentors others who volunteer in communities across the region.
Valerie’s husband Alistair Schroff is a founder of and long-time volunteer for Lakes Animal Friendship and the coauthor of the dozens of materials they have created over the years. He is on the board of directors for Increased ACCESS.