A self-professed type A personality, Angela Rinaldis’ words flow with the speed of coins pouring out of the winning slot machine into the hands of a happy gambler. I am like that gambler, fingers poised over my keyboard, typing furiously as I try to keep pace with Angela’s words, eager to capture every idea.

On the day we are speaking she has just launched a new line of health foods specializing in organic, gluten free breakfast cereals, her criminal law practice is busy and she’s working on fund-raising for the Project True Centre for Body Image and Eating Disorder Recovery.

She is busy. And she loves it.

And she’s making a difference.

“My heart swells every time we reach out to a person,” she tells me. And reach out she does, constantly.

Project True is the brain child of her own struggles with an eating disorder.

At 16 her struggle with food began to take on a life of its own. “I was a food hoarder and I wouldn’t even eat it,” she says with a laugh. “You’ve no idea how many Lagostina pots I’ve ruined scrubbing them and scrubbing them. I used to take butter out of the fridge wearing rubber gloves because I was convinced that somehow the fat would seep into my body and make me fat.”

Eventually, anorexia nervosa began to take its toll as it inevitably does. “I was in my final exams at law school. I was so tired. I weighed 80 lbs and am 5′ 8 1/2″. I had 8% body fat and bruises all down my spine from my backpack. I couldn’t sit, my bones rubbed everywhere. I asked the school for a deferment on some of my exams but wasn’t given the opportunity. I finished my last exam, packed up my backpack and went straight to my endocrinologist. I just couldn’t do it anymore.”

She was 26 years old. Eight years later she’s still fighting the fight, doing her utmost to live eating disorder free.

Recovery from an eating disorder is a long road and if she has her way, through Project True, recovery will be easier for women and men everywhere.

“I won’t rest until we open the Day Centre at Project True,” she says, and I imagine her eyes burning brightly. I imagine her wielding the giant scissors to cut the red tape. I imagine men and women knowing there is a place where they can get the help and support they need.

Angela Rinaldis has a vision and it is coming true.

I know this even though I am only on the phone with her for half an hour. I know this because Angela is committed, impassioned, courageous. And she’s surrounded herself and Project True with a board and volunteers that will see this through.

Not only is she a woman of conviction, she’s smart, talented and driven to succeed, not only for herself but for the thousands of women and men who suffer from disordered eating everywhere, in the Lower Mainland of B.C. where Project True is establishing its roots and all across this nation and all around the world.

“We’re so far behind in best practices,” she tells me. “You should see what they’re doing in Germany, Sweden, Australia. We need to catch up.”

And catch-up they will. Angela has a vision. And her vision is global. She sees Project True impacting legislation, changing health-care provision and insurance rules.

“I can’t get extended medical care because I’ve had an eating disorder,” she tells me. “And when it comes to organ transplants, I’m at the bottom of the list. Smokers can get lung transplants before I can get one.”

And that has to change. And Angela is committed to making it happen.

As I listen to her, as we chat, I want to stand up and cheer. To jump up and down and yell, “Go Angela Go!”

And I want to say Thank you.

I have to say Thank you.

Because Angela isn’t just a woman with a dream, a woman on a mission to create well-being for people who are suffering from disordered eating.

I have a personal connection to Angela.

Angela has helped save my daughter’s life. Angela has given my daughter Alexis a dream to hold onto, a vision to unfold.

And I am grateful.

Tears form in my eyes as I write this. Tears of gratitude. Of relief. Of joy.

As a mother with a daughter whose eating disorder was stealing her life, I am grateful that Angela Rinaldis is in this world and that she has stepped onto my daughter’s path and shared her light.

It is a bright light Angela carries and in her light many others are finding their way to well-being.

And that’s the thing about visions as big as hers. They inspire others to start shining. To step onto the path and create an illumination bright enough to carry those who still struggle with the alienation, aloneness and fear of their disordered eating out of the darkness into well-being.

Angela’s light is bright. And it is brighter and bolder if we all shine together.

Eating disorders, like depression and other mental health issues are not choices. A person, no matter their age, doesn’t suddenly wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll become anorexic.”  Just as someone doesn’t suddenly decide to become depressed. The factors leading to the disease are many and complex and they can be deadly. No matter the driving forces that lead someone down the dark road into disordered eating, finding the light to health and well-being requires resources.

And sadly, those resources are lacking.

Angela is doing something about it. And we can help.

Please  visit Project True’s page at AVIVA Community Fund and VOTE. Please vote everyday. Please help Angela and Alexis and the Joe’s and Sally’s and Anya’s and Sergei’s and Lucinda’s of the world find their way out of disordered eating into well-being.

You can make a difference — it’s easy. Just click HERE and VOTE.