Tommy Kulczyk celebrates 30 years with Sun Youth.

BY NICOLAS CARPENTIER

If there is such a thing as being married to your job, Sun Youth’s Tommy Kulczyk is the perfect example. Kulczyk, assistant to the executive vice-president and director of emergency Services, celebrated 30 years of community service on May 1.

Kulczyk was introduced to Sun Youth when he began playing hockey for the organization in 1978. A few years later, while he was studying administration at university, Sid Stevens invited him to come work with him for the summer months.

“I thought it would only be a summer job but, 30 years later, I’m still here,” Kulczyk says. Because of his exceptional creativity, organizational and communication skills, he became a well-known and respected figure at Sun Youth.

He says Sun Youth is still around because of the organization’s capacity to evolve and to adapt. “We’re not smarter than anybody else. We listen, we learn and we put programs in place to address specific issues that are not taken care of.”

He and his wife of 30 years have two daughters, Vanessa and Éliane.

How does he juggle job and family? “You have to be with a great partner, someone who’s understanding and who believes in what you’re doing,” he says. “I never missed a meeting with the teachers, never missed a medical appointment with my children or one of their gymnastics competitions.

“I’m lucky to have two families: I have my first family at home and a second family at Sun Youth.”