Charitable Choices

June 23, 2026 | Vancouver Guardian

Andrea Castro is a mother, an advocate, and the kind of person who sees a gap in the world and quietly gets to work filling it. As the founder of Forever Kind, Andrea has turned a deeply personal mission — ensuring her daughter Ariyana could communicate, connect, and belong in public spaces — into a province-wide movement for inclusive design. By developing practical communication boards that blend visual supports, sign language cues, and emotional regulation tools, Andrea has helped transform parks, playgrounds, schools, and community centres across British Columbia into spaces where children of all abilities feel seen and valued. We spoke with Philip Kendrick, Executive Assistant at SPARC BC, to learn more about what they do.

Andrea’s work began with a simple goal: to create environments where her daughter, Ariyana, could engage and belong. In public spaces, Andrea observed that children were eager to connect but often lacked shared communication tools. In response, she designed Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) boards integrating AAC-friendly visuals, sign-supported language, literacy cues, and emotional regulation supports. What began as a single prototype has grown into a province-wide initiative, with tools now installed in parks, playgrounds, schools, recreation centres, and community hubs across British Columbia.

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