Collingwood N.H.Collingwood N.H.Collingwood Neighbourhood House
To promote the well-being of the Collingwood community by providing leadership and working collaboratively with individuals, families, agencies and other groups to develop and support inclusive, innovative, sustainable initiatives and services that respond to the community's social, educational, economic, health, cultural and recreational needs.
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2022-2023
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
DIRECTORS
MANAGERS
Reports
When you work in a neighbourhood house there are almost seamless connections between staff members’ efforts, the collaborative work with our volunteers and the joy participants experience through their connections formed at CNH.
Staff work extremely hard to provide childcare, family programs, recreation, youth leadership, health care and promotion, settlement services, parent support groups, youth outreach, food growing, cooking, sharing and shopping, homeless outreach, seniors’ programs, Indigenous youth and family programs, food justice, arts and culture and systems change – and this is just a partial list! Staff also provide support such as cleaning, accounting, reception, maintenance, administration and communications to ensure all of this happens smoothly.
Alongside our amazing staff, volunteers also work hard to cook, plant, organize, teach, sew, listen, advocate, shop, create art, plan, collect donations, answer phones, or sit on committees or the Board – and this isn’t an exhaustive list either.
In the past year, as we’ve continued to build back from the pandemic, staff, volunteers, participants and our community partners have continued to work (and play!) together. Over the past few years, CNH has experienced a lot of growth in the range of programs, services, initiatives and spaces we offer. A trend that we’ve noticed is that participants may come for one service or program and wind up getting involved in several more. They may join a badminton program, then pop by for Community Lunch, hear about a volunteer opportunity and start delivering weekly groceries for a home-bound senior. Some even start working for CNH. The connections grow.
We strongly encourage you to read the “Changing Lives” section of this annual report and we guarantee you’ll be moved by the stories describing the extraordinary changes that involvement with CNH has brought into the lives of some of our volunteers and participants. And, over the next few months, please keep an eye on the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News and CNH’s social media for stories of CNH staff who have dedicated 15 or more years to CNH.
CNH is a people-centred place with its focus firmly trained on treating each person – whether they’re a staff member, participant or volunteer—as a unique individual. For every person who comes through our doors, CNH truly is a place to belong and a place to grow. Together, we’re all CNH.
— Leila Trickey (President of the Board) and Jennifer Gray-Grant (Executive Director)
Photo Gallery
To cap off National Indigenous History Month, the Renfrew-Collingwood Food Justice (RCFJ) team hosted an Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration in the Norquay Community Food Forest on June 29, 2022. With heaping spoonfuls of homemade jam and fry bread, neighbours took part in art projects and helped name our new baby hummingbird while the sound of drums and singing floated through the neighbourhood.
A group of seniors and CNH staff posed for a photo on the CNH shuttle bus before heading to an event hosted by the Renfrew-Collingwood Community Response Network (CRN) on Sept. 28, 2022.
On July 17, 2022, RISE Community Health Centre held its grand opening event and art unveiling as part of Collingwood Days. The building opened in June 2020 but due to the pandemic, public events were postponed until this event.
A celebration at CNH Joyce hosted community members in appreciation of their support on May 19, 2022 for a recently installed community fridge. Festivities included crafts, storytelling and seedling planting.
A local artist showed off a recently painted mural inside RISE Community Health Centre during its grand opening on July 17, 2022.
Participants of the CNH C.R.E.W. program carried a canoe in Gaston Park during a canoe awakening ceremony on June 3, 2022. Each year, the canoes are awakened through ceremony before the youth take on their first paddle journey by CNH youth.
On July 8, 2022, our Collingwood Early Learning and Care Program welcomed the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. Hon. Freeland’s visit celebrated the one-year anniversary since B.C. became the first signatory on the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement between the Government of Canada and the BC government. Since then, all provinces and territories have gone on to sign their own agreements.
Community Lunch volunteers celebrated the Lunar New Year with a special meal in January 2023. The volunteers and lunch participants received red envelopes from local MP Don Davies.
CNH's All Genders group posed with a sign at a Burnaby Pride event in July 2022. Taking a spin on the idea of a “girls' group” and a "boys' group,” All Genders is a weekly group for gender-diverse youth and their allies to come discuss various topics in a safer space with their peers. Thanks to this group, they feel safe to speak to other youth in similar situations and at the same time teach their straight/cisgender peers through their personal experiences.
LINC preschool participants and staff wore orange on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Sept 30, 2022). Indigenous books, puppets and art were included in the day's activities to help connect children with the land and who we share the land with: each other, animals and plants.
Qasim Ahmadi and Jenny Eng-Chan hung a star in a hallway at CNH Joyce on Nov. 17, 2022. The star represents Jenny's 25+ years of service at CNH.
Our 2022 pumpkin festival included special visitors from the Graham Bruce after-school program. Staff worked with the children and their teachers to make Jack-O-Lanterns. There was a delicious pumpkin pie-making workshop at the same time. Thank you for coming to join us at this nice fall event!
A group of participants in a recreation program at CNH are photographed together at the CNH Annex. In 2022, CNH launched its online registration portal to allow participants to sign up for recreation classes online.
As part of the Ancestral Food Festival, CNH partnered with the Working Group for Indigenous Food Sovereignty at the CNH Annex on Oct. 18, 2022 to teach a workshop on canning and dehydrating wild BC salmon.
From Our Blog
Described as no “regular” volunteer, Barry Londry has helped develop projects at CNH as he continues to serve soup at Community Lunch every Tuesday.
From Our Blog
Zenaba, a parent of five young children, says the neighbourhood house changed their lives by providing additional support and activities outside of traditional childcare.
From Our Blog
A hot meal and essentials at CNH went a long way when Clayton Travis Williams was experiencing homelessness and addiction. “It’s such a rejuvenation.”
From Our Blog
Darren Childs was “scared” of medicine before joining RISE Community Health Centre. Today, his outlook and overall quality of life have changed.
Thank You
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all of our Collaborative Partners who help us in a myriad of ways to support CNH’s success
Collingwood Neighbourhood House's mission is to promote the well-being of the Collingwood community by providing leadership and working collaboratively with individuals, families, agencies and other groups to develop and support inclusive, innovative, sustainable initiatives and services that respond to the community’s social, educational, economic, health, cultural and recreational needs.
Collingwood Neighbourhood House is a registered charity (#118868298RR0001).
