Richmond CLC
As many will already know, CLC schools (Community Learning Centres) work collaboratively with community partners to support our students and the overall well-being of their families and the English-speaking community. With schools closed for over a month now, what has been happening with some of these projects and activities, and what new ones are now in place to address the pandemic reality?
For the Richmond, Danville and Drummondville area CLC, which includes Drummondville Elementary, A.D.S. Elementary, St. Francis Elementary and Richmond Regional High School, work hasn’t stopped to ensure that our families and the English-speaking community can still access services offered by community partners and organizations.
Some of the planned projects for this spring are now continuing online:
The RRHS Kitchen Brigades have a Facebook group where participating students can share their cooking projects with their chef-facilitator, Tammi Mcgee. In addition, the organization has put many resources and challenges out on their Facebook page, open to all youth (Les Brigades Culinaires/ The Kitchen Brigades). Check it out to see what challenge Ricardo is launching!
Parent Tap workshops offered by Lennoxville & District Women’s Centre are now virtual, meeting over the internet on ZOOM every Wednesday evening until mid-may. Call 819 564-6626 or check out LDWC’S Facebook page for more information.
Our Parent-child Mother Goose partners in Danville and Richmond are also exploring running their meetings online, to share with parents and their babies some rhymes and storytime in a supportive group environment.
Some others activities and programs are adapting. For example:
The musician, Ian Fournier, who had been working with RRHS students to create sound compositions, will be mixing an album that will be released online this spring (follow the RRHS Facebook page so you don’t miss it!)
My Sugar Shack at School, the popular community supper for all the new St. Francis Kindergarten students and their families has been postponed with several re-design scenarios possible depending on when schools re-open.
There is also a new project that is just getting off the ground this week.
In this new current situation, we know that our community still needs support outside the virtual world. While our community service partners are well resourced for the moment to provide food baskets and other emergency aid, there are still some families and individuals who are having a tough time for a myriad of reasons. So, this week, our partners, volunteers and school staff are collaborating on a new community aid project, which we are calling “Rainbow Baskets” for now.
Working with the notion of “let’s help our community help each other”, our idea is to create care packages for people to dedicate or deliver to a family, neighbour or friend whom they think could use a little extra cheer. Our Rainbow Squad of volunteers would (either individually or while maintaining safe social distancing) put together kits of material items and resources with a selection of different themes, such as “Play Outside” “Inspiration in the Kitchen” or “Getting crafty”.
We hope to launch Rainbow Baskets as early as next week; keep your eyes and ears open for when reservations open! In the meanwhile, we are still recruiting organizations and volunteers to work with us. For anyone wishing to contribute or help out with the project, please contact Siu-min at jims@edu. etsb.qc.ca.
For more information, or a list of resources available in our area (food banks, family aid, mental health support etc), please visit our Facebook page (Facebook.com/richmondregionclc) or reach out to the CLC Community Development Agents, Siu-min Jim (819-437-4727 or jims@edu.etsb.qc.ca) or Geneviève Manseau (819-437-4126 or manseaug@edu.etsb.qc.ca)