Express yourself was a really fun and creative session. The kiddos really enjoyed it. We had many great discussions around the table and lots of laughs as we worked through the process of art and did not focus on the outcome. We used music, dance and skipping to get our body moving and keep our creative juices flowing.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and/or follow us on Facebook for more Arts & Culture sessions! We provide classes for range of Cherryville youth, including teens!
Kicking off the year with an engaging Community Art Project, spearheaded by our new Youth and Family Coordinator Maya Arcand! Maya has hit the ground running with growing our Arts & Culture programming and getting the whole community involved. Jake the Snake painted by the INCREDIBLY talented Emma Fellenz along with coloring books filled with Cherryville Landmarks really captures our vision for community building and connectedness. Jake the Snake is an ongoing community art project where all are welcome to leave a painted rock, located permanently down at Hansen Park, come and add your rock piece and lets watch him grow! If you do add a rock, take a picture and tag us on Facebook at Cherryville Youth & Families so we can follow along the adventure.
Thank you to all of our staff and volunteers who continue to represent the Cherryville Community Food and Resource Society and support our mission and vision.
Check out this YouTube video presented by Meghan Derkach, Executive Director at Cherryville Community Food and Resource Society.
(1318) A Rural Approach to the Compassionate Community Model – YouTube
Bio: My name is Meghan Derkach, and I was born and raised in a rural community called Cherryville. I have always been an advocate for social justice and equity since a young age. When I was 18, I was having lunch with a group of older adults who were sharing their frustrations about having to leave the Cherryville community because there weren’t enough resources for them to live independently and I remember feeling absolutely broken hearted about it. That was the moment I realized I wanted to support Cherryville aging and pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work with a Concentration in Aging. I was drawn to the aging-in-place model, community development and looked to age-friendly community literature. However, being rural has its unique challenges and many of the “making an age friendly community” infrastructure wasn’t relatable. Working with older adults I soon came to realize you cannot support aging-in-place without addressing access to health care as they are overlapping systems. I then pursued a Health-Focused Master’s in Social Work through University of Waterloo to better understand the complexity behind health care and how to better support rural aging in place. During this time, I was volunteering at Cherryville Food Bank and started expanding its reach to include resources and services to all residents. In 2021 I assumed the Executive Director position after strengthening our organizational and financial health and obtaining multiple grants. 2021 we officially changed our name to include resources as we expanded our vision and mission to meet the needs of all rural residents. Fast forward to 2024, we have implemented a range of services and resources to support rural living for youth, low-income families, persons living with disabilities, older adults, and a variety of community engagement events. In early January, we started to focus on Cherryville residents who had complex health conditions and or living with life limiting illness to advocate for better access to health care within community. These conversations led us to BC Centre for Palliative Care Seed Grant as the Compassionate Community model aligned perfectly with our growing vision and mission. I am excited to share a little more about this grant and how it has unfolded in the Cherryville community.
Hi everyone!
United Way of S0uthern Interior BC has upcoming bootcamps for youth 15-25 to learn more about programming and IT. Check out the details below and share with anyone who may be interested – it is completely free to register!
April 13th & 14th – 4.30-7.30pm – Crack the Code : explore modern web programming with the very cool Nathan, and by the end you’ll understand such things as HTML, CSS, JavaScript & NodeJS !
April 20th & 21st – 4.30-7.30pm – Surviving & Thriving…in a Tech Driven World : have fun exploring the fundamentals of I.T., computers, and internetworking… with the incredibly entertaining Troy. From a zero base you’ll discover network management, computer systems administration, and computer and internet security…. in amongst a bunch of other career skills needed for entry level IT jobs.
Both Bootcamps will be via Zoom and will involve plenty of hands-on activities, opportunities to get to know others while learning…. and I promise you, nothing at all that will send you to sleep!!
These are 2 seriously fun instructors & 2 great sessions PLUS free pizza dinner & cool awards for completing the workshop (last time was STEAM Gift Cards but you get to vote on what you’d like this time!). And truly ZERO previous tech genius is required. All that you’ll need is a desk top computer or laptop, a reasonable wifi connection….and you don’t even need to leave your house unless you want to! There will also be young, fun coaches already in the tech industry at both sessions too, to assist anyone who need a little one-on-one support or encouragement in a virtual breakout room anytime.
If you are anywhere in the 15-25 age group you are IN….. but in these Covid times we are being super flexible on age eligibility, so please reach out if you are outside that age range but want to participate anyway. FREE Registration for both workshops is now open at www.codeanagan.com
