Giacomazzi/Alary family learns about student success during visit to UFV Abbotsford

Dr. Lenore Newman addresses members of the Giacomazzi/Alary family during a May 27 gathering on the UFV Abbotsford campus.

A local family with a long history of generous support for UFV has come forward once again with financial contributions for student researchers in the Food and Agriculture Institute (FAI).

Bruna Giacomazzi, her husband Bob Burnett, joined by her sister Gina Alary, and several other family members recently visited UFV’s Abbotsford campus to learn more about UFV and the impact of their support over the past two decades and through the Giacomazzi Alary FAI Endowment Leadership Award established last fall. Three students — Shelbea Julseth-White, Harleen Johal, and Carla Young — each received $1,000 research stipends at a special gathering on Monday, May 27.

See photos from the gathering here.

Bruna and Gina’s staunch support of UFV is inspired by their mother, Amabile (Nona), a brilliant and resourceful woman who instilled in her children and grandchildren the value of higher education.

Left to right: Gina Alary, Susan Mide Kiss, and Bruna Giacomazzi.

“Our mother was the leader in our family, and she was an amazing inspiration to all of us with the example she set,” Bruna said. “She was such a forceful individual who encouraged all of us to go to school. It was ‘Learna lots. Learna everything.’

Gina agreed that Amabile was a champion for education. And both of Gina and Bruna’s husbands (Dan Alary and Bob Burnett) have been very supportive of these endowments for UFV. Dan and Bob attended electrical classes at UFV, which added to their farming skills.

“She used to have this Italian saying that whatever you put in your head was never a weight on your shoulders,” Gina added.

Their ongoing support offers a tangible example of UFV’s mission of engaging learners, transforming lives, and building community.

“I want to acknowledge the impact your family has made in the community and at UFV,” said Susan Mide Kiss, Vice-President, Community Engagement. “Your passion and commitment to higher education, community leadership, and community building is truly inspirational.”

Gina became a pioneer in the poultry industry. Along with husband Dan Alary, she founded Western Hatchery in the 1970s. At the time it was the largest of its kind in Western Canada, and still operates today. Gina and Dan were founding members of the B.C. Egg Marketing Board in 1972 and spent years working to ensure stability and a dependable livelihood for the province’s egg producers.

Encouraged by Amabile to pursue post-secondary schooling, Bruna earned an Administrative Professional Certificate from Vancouver Community College and became the first female Chief Credit Officer in the financial services industry in Canada, a groundbreaking achievement at a time when gender equality was scarce.

Bruna said Amabile was her role model for equality, refusing to accept any less on the family farm she helped to run with her husband Primo, brother-in-law Leone, and sister-in-law Luisa.

“Their first night, she told them, in Italian of course, ‘We all need to be on top of the table at the same time, or under the table at the same time,’” Bruna said. “In other words, equality. When you’re farming it’s whoever’s closest who needs to get the job done, and it was my mother who knew how to milk the cows and grow the grain for the fields and vegetables for the garden, which she preserved for the winter months.

“Despite having a Grade three education, she was wise beyond her years.”

In addition to the FAI endowment created last year by Bruna, she also established the Amabile Giacomazzi Endowment Scholarship in Professional Cook Training in her mother’s name back in 2003 and has made other gifts to the university. She was also a UFV Foundation board member from 2002-07, and she had a smile of pride on her face as she listened to Julseth-White, Johal and Young talk about the research they’ve done this year.

Left to right: Alesandro Glaros, Carla Young, Charmaine White, Shelbea Julseth-White, Dr. Lenore Newman, Harleen Johal, and Stefania Pizzirani.

The family also heard from FAI Director Dr. Lenore Newman, and FAI Associate Director Dr. Stefania Pizzirani. Pizzirani explained it’s uncommon for undergraduate students to have the research opportunities they get at UFV, which are often reserved for master’s students at other universities. Newman talked about the exciting work being done in the FAI, which focuses on issues, challenges, and sustainability solutions related to food and farm systems.

While Gina’s husband, Dan, couldn’t attend due to health reasons, her four children – Dana, Daren, Darrell, and Donna – were also at the gathering. Donna is a longtime UFV employee (since 2007) who is currently Enrolment Planning Manager for Institutional Research and Integrated Planning. She graduated from UFV with a MA Crim in 2012, and has supported the university with several gifts, along with serving as a UFV Alumni Association board member from 2004-2008, and with meaningful gifts to both of the endowments at UFV.

Daren shared thanks to the students, FAI, and Newman for their hard work. He said that farmers are by nature scientists, and he was excited to hear about the innovative research taking place at UFV.

“Farmers are always searching for ways to improve their production, by tilling the soil a little different to capture just a little more rain, to adding just the right amount of ground flax to their chicken ration to improve the flock’s rate of lay,” he said. “They are always tinkering, experimenting, looking for better ways to survive, improve their lot in life, and take better care of their family.

In closing, Daren expressed, “With great honour on behalf of the Alary side of the Giacomazzi/Alary family, thank you. And on behalf of the farmers, please keep up the great work.”