Phone: 604-435-0323 | Email: info@cnh.bc.ca

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Author: Karla Comanda

  • ‘[She] brought tremendous fun and happiness to those who were homebound and isolated during the pandemic:’ Celebrating Alice Crestejo, CNH Volunteer

    ‘[She] brought tremendous fun and happiness to those who were homebound and isolated during the pandemic:’ Celebrating Alice Crestejo, CNH Volunteer

    April 24-30 is National Volunteer Week! We recently celebrated CNH’s volunteers through a virtual Volunteer Appreciation Event to thank them for their dedication and generosity to the community.

    With this year’s theme being “Volunteering is Empathy in Action,” Collingwood Neighbourhood House’s volunteers have shown this in droves by supporting our programs and services. As CNH continued to deal with the impact of the pandemic, the organization relied on the assistance of up to 900 volunteers.

    Here are some stories from our staff—and the volunteers themselves—on how they took the extra mile to bring heart to the community.

    From Jenny Shen, Seniors Wellness Program Coordinator: 

    Alice Crestejo is the host of the seniors Sing for Fun program. She jumped into the volunteer position with the CNH Seniors Team to start a brand new online/virtual singing program after in-person singalong became impossible two years ago, and then committed to the bi-weekly Zoom program enthusiastically and never stopped. As a senior herself, Alice took a lot of effort to overcome barriers like the lack of computer skills, with support from the CNH Seniors Team. She shared her singing talents with seniors and brought tremendous fun and happiness to those who were homebound and isolated during the pandemic.  When word spread, not only seniors from local communities came to join the online program, but also seniors from the lower mainland, and even from other cities like Toronto. Those long-time-no-see friends, neighbours, and family members never felt so close to each other to sing, laugh, and celebrate together with Alice.

  • Celebrating a CNH volunteer’s ‘drive’ to help others

    Celebrating a CNH volunteer’s ‘drive’ to help others

    April 24-30 is National Volunteer Week! We recently celebrated CNH’s volunteers through a virtual Volunteer Appreciation Event to thank them for their dedication and generosity to the community.

    With this year’s theme being “Volunteering is Empathy in Action,” Collingwood Neighbourhood House’s volunteers have shown this in droves by supporting our programs and services. As CNH continued to deal with the impact of the pandemic, the organization relied on the assistance of up to 900 volunteers.

    Here are some stories from our staff—and the volunteers themselves—on how they took the extra mile to bring heart to the community.

    From Ava Jung, Grocery Shopping Program Manager:

    Crispin has been a volunteer with CNH since the start of the pandemic. First signing on as an order taker for our Frozen Meals program, he also became an order taker and delivery driver for our Grocery Shopping program, and has provided integral help to get seniors the food they need each week! Even without a car, Crispin was determined to provide food support and started using the car share app MODO for his grocery deliveries, showing that nothing could get in the way of his “drive” to help others. Crispin’s favourite part about volunteering is that he can make a difference for the people in the community who are more vulnerable than he is. Thank you, Crispin, for your service!

  • ‘I witnessed the lives of many older adults transform’: Celebrating Masa Kateb, CNH Volunteer

    ‘I witnessed the lives of many older adults transform’: Celebrating Masa Kateb, CNH Volunteer

    April 24-30 is National Volunteer Week! We recently celebrated CNH’s volunteers through a virtual Volunteer Appreciation Event to thank them for their dedication and generosity to the community.

    With this year’s theme being “Volunteering is Empathy in Action,” Collingwood Neighbourhood House’s volunteers have shown this in droves by supporting our programs and services. As CNH continued to deal with the impact of the pandemic, the organization relied on the assistance of up to 900 volunteers.

    Here are some stories from our staff—and the volunteers themselves—on how they took the extra mile to bring heart to the community.

    From Masa Kateb, volunteer for the Choose to Move program:

    Volunteering for the Choose to Move program during the global health crisis has been inspirational. I witnessed the lives of many older adults transform, especially Lee! Her commitment to movement, health, and social connections was impressive! She even used her kitchen counter as a home-gym for stability and support.

  • Registration for Spring Break Camps Now Open

    Registration for Spring Break Camps Now Open

    Children ages 7-12 can look forward to two weeks of gymnastics, soccer, and basketball in our Spring Break Camps, coming this March 2022! These camps provide a fun and safe learning environment where they can play and beef up their skills and techniques in those sports, while also meeting new friends. To sign up, please call 604-435-0323.

    Gymnastics Spring Camp
    Instructor: Lucinda Donaldson
    Ages 7 to 12
    Monday – Friday, 9-4pm
    Week 1: March 14-18
    Week 2: March 21-25
    Full day (9am-4pm): $150.00/week
    Half-day (9am-12pm): $75.00/week
    Maximum number of participants: 24

    This camp, run by Gym Sense Gymnastics Education, will create an atmosphere of fun and excitement that encourages participants to safely learn new gymnastics skills and techniques. This program will educate, challenge, and entertain young children. Weather permitting, we will go outside to do fun and exciting field trips.

    Please note: If your child is participating in full-day gymnastics camps, they must bring their own lunch/snacks. A supervisor will be present during lunch hour.

    Click here to access the Gymnastics Spring Camp’s health and safety guidelines.

    Spring Sports Camp
    Instructor: TBA
    Ages 8 to 12
    Monday – Friday, 1-3pm
    Week 1: March 14-18
    Week 2: March 21-25
    $65.00/week
    Maximum number of participants: 15

    A fun class for anyone who loves to play soccer and basketball. Learn to play the most beautiful game one week and learn how to improve your shooting and handles the next. This class will emphasize basic fundamentals and drills.

    Click here to access the Spring Sports Camp’s health and safety guidelines.

  • Outdoor library box unveiled at CNH

    Outdoor library box unveiled at CNH

    By Sylvia Barnett & Jim Chow, CNH community members

    The ‘Take a Book, Leave a Book’ book box is officially installed on the front lawn at CNH! The book box was designed and built with the idea of promoting learning and community connection through literacy. Community members can take a book and leave a book!

    The bookcase was built by Jim YC Chow, a CNH patron, who sourced 98% of the upcycled materials from construction sites around the lower mainland that were going to the garbage facility. Chow designed and built the bookcase with tools from the tool library, CNH, and his own, on the fly as materials became available over the months.

    The project was initiated in the spring of 2021 by Sylvia Barnett, a community member, who ran the idea by Chow and got approval from the CNH board and grant funding from Neighbourhood Small Grants, a program by Vancouver Foundation, for miscellaneous parts, materials, and other expenses, such as transporting materials and purchasing plexiglass and paint from Lowes, which is located in the neighbourhood. 

    After months of meetings with CNH patrons on the design, logistics, materials, and artwork done by CNH’s Families Branching Out program, the official book box was finished on December 19, 2021. 

  • Collaborate in the creation of a 2SLGBTQA+ Committee

    Collaborate in the creation of a 2SLGBTQA+ Committee

    We are reaching out to invite folks to collaborate in the creation of a new committee based in the Renfrew-Collingwood Neighbourhood representing 2SLGBTQA+ communities.

    In 2019 and again in 2021, an informal group that included CNH staff, neighbourhood volunteers, and partner organizations worked together to organize successful Renfrew Collingwood Pride events. We acknowledge and thank Sterling James, who initiated the formation of this group. After organizing these events last summer, there was interest from community members to have a formal committee to support organizing in the neighbourhood. That is why we are looking to start a new committee!

    In order to do this, we would like to come together as an interim planning group to create the terms of reference for the committee, including the community responsibilities, committee name, and process for new members to join. Once this work has been finalized, we hope that the official committee will be formed by April 2022.

    We are inviting representatives from community organizations, residents and individuals connected to Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood, with priority given to BIPOC 2SLGBTQA+ individuals, to join 3 planning meetings starting in January 2022 to work together to create the committee structure.

    Please email Emily Rees by January 10, 2022 if you are interested in being involved.

  • Reynato Tan recognized for over 25 years of service

    Reynato Tan recognized for over 25 years of service

    Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    This year, we recognize and celebrate Reynato Tan for 25 years of service. Here’s what Facility Coordinator Qasim Ahmadi has to say about Rey:

    Rey has worked with CNH for more than 25 years. Rey is very hardworking, kind, helpful, knowledgeable, and a great team player. He brings great ideas to the Custodian Team on how we can improve the health and safety of all staff. During the Facility Coordinator’s vacation, Rey has filled in as the Acting Facility Coordinator. He has done very well while covering for the Coordinator. Congratulations on this milestone, Rey!

  • ‘I love my job and I love coming here every day:’ Ana Kazulin celebrates over 25 years at CNH

    ‘I love my job and I love coming here every day:’ Ana Kazulin celebrates over 25 years at CNH

    Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    Raised in Burnaby BC, Ana’s journey into Early Childhood Education began at Douglas College in 1989. After completion of the program, Ana began work at St. Barnabas Daycare in New Westminster before coming to Collingwood in August 1996 to work in the Duke St. Preschool Program.

    Ana spent many years welcoming families to Duke St, creating long-lasting relationships that brought siblings to the program year after year.

    In 2003, Ana moved into a coordination role at Collingwood, overseeing the financial components of the child care department. Given Ana’s strength in organization and completing tasks, it’s a role that is invaluable to child care.

    For everyone that knows Ana, (and she will agree) she likes straight talk. If you request something of her and it’s not appealing to her… she’s going to let you know! She is also known in the department for being a fashion icon and Ana is always the first to volunteer to organize a Christmas party.

    Ana says she had stayed so long with CNH because it’s a great place to work and she was given the opportunities to grow and learn and that the organization is a loving, fair, inclusive environment. She says, “I love my job and I love coming here every day. Some days can be hard, but most all days are great. Collingwood has become my family, and childcare my life! My future plans are to do the best I can at the job I do and love every day!”

    Her last 25 years has given her so many incredible memories that she truly can’t pick one. All of our staff professional development days, Christmas parties, social gatherings—all have different and beautiful memories for her, so it is almost impossible to pick one… although setting up for our first Christmas party at CNH and watching a certain staff member belt out Shania Twain in the multi- purpose room all by themselves is particularly memorable!

    A passionate Croatian, Ana loves spending time outside with her tightly knit family—a husband of 29 years, three children, and a son-in-law.

    Collingwood is very fortunate to have someone like her who cares so deeply about the organization. Thank you Ana, and many congratulations on this milestone!

  • Celebrating over 25 years at CNH with Teresa Ha

    Celebrating over 25 years at CNH with Teresa Ha

    Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) proudly recognizes its long-serving staff members. At this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), CNH staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15, and 25 years of service to the neighbourhood house were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    Here’s what Information and Referral/Reception Coordinator Jenny Eng-Chan has to say about Teresa:

    An interesting fact that I learned about Teresa over the years is that you can grab her attention by saying any one of the following 3 words—“party room, gym space, or meeting room.” As you may have guessed, she is in charge of our facility rentals. How was she conditioned this way? The story begins with Teresa, moving from Toronto to Vancouver to make her home in the Collingwood community. As she was walking by CNH, she was curious about this centre. Soon after, she enquired whether she could volunteer and was placed in Reception. She had started with volunteering one day a week and then it grew to 5 days a week! When a position opened up, she applied, and here we are 25 years later.

    Teresa has a knack for business as she has a background in Commerce. She is the perfect team member to be looking after our facility rentals for CNH. Throughout the years, she has been occupying rooms with bookings at CNH and at the Annex. We have hosted many joyous birthdays, weddings, and baptisms that those people have returned to book again with Teresa for other celebrations. One time, I overheard Teresa say to a potential renter that was booking a bridal shower that they should have her wedding celebration at the Annex, and from a wedding celebration, that they should return for a baby shower, and yet again for baby’s 1st birthday! And some of them do!

    Aside from her role as the Rental Clerk at CNH, she is a long-time member of the Health & Safety Committee, now known as the JOHS Committee. Members of this group ensure that CNH staff have a healthy and safe working environment. This past year has really stretched and tested this group as they work diligently to develop new protocols and guidelines to keep us safe.

    Her service and dedication to her work over these years has continued to inspire growth and learning from those around her. Aside from the role and responsibilities at CNH, equally important is her individual qualities that she brings forth, which is her faith in people, her patience, her spirituality, and her forgiving nature. Some of those that work closely with her have mentioned that she is a pleasure to work with, devoted to helping people who are less fortunate, a really good listener, and like a sister that they never had.

    Teresa has other interesting attributes that make her unique. She loves ketchup on almost EVERYTHING, and has a fondness for dogs.

    There are many wonderful things that come to mind about Teresa, but the one that ties it up nicely is her philosophy of how to end the workday. She refers to the comic strip character Snoopy where he is laying on the rooftop of his dog house, gazing up at the fluffy clouds and happily reflecting, relaxing, and getting ready for the next day to do it all over again. We wish her many more of these moments.

    Congratulations, Teresa, on 25 years with Collingwood!

  • Mutual Aid CSA at CNH opens for 2021

    Mutual Aid CSA at CNH opens for 2021

    Do you believe everyone should have access to fresh foods? Do you want to support neighbours who face barriers to accessing healthy, culturally appropriate, and locally-grown food? Join CNH’s Mutual Aid CSA!

    What is a CSA?

    Community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs are direct relationships between farmers and community members that involve a subscription to a farm’s harvests. They are an alternative socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution whose overarching goal is to create a sense of community through local markets, quite different from shopping at big box grocery stores.

    Your membership to CNH’s Mutual Aid CSA will support the Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School (TFNFS), an integrated vegetable and livestock farm that centers regenerative agriculture and Indigenous food systems perspectives and is managed in partnership between Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPN) and the Tsawwassen First Nation. Through this CSA program, you’ll be receiving 8 weeks of fresh, local produce delivered directly from the farm school to Collingwood Neighbourhood House. You will also be subsidizing a box for a low-income community member!

    How our program works

    When you sign up, you will receive a box of fresh locally grown vegetables, and so will a family in the neighbourhood who is unable to afford healthy food options.

    Not interested in joining but still want to support a low-income neighbour to access fresh foods? You can make a donation to the program. 100% of these funds will go towards subsidizing a CSA for a neighbour in Renfrew Collingwood.

    What is Mutual Aid?

    Mutual aid systems involve cooperative networks of care between people in a community and involve the core principle that everyone has something to contribute as well as something they need. Mutual aid systems are long-term and grassroots responses to a common struggle and ultimately work toward justice and equity for all.

    What is in our CSA

    We will be working with the farmers at The Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School (TFNFS) to include a variety of fresh produce in your CSA box. The exact types of produce will vary according to the seasons and harvesting environment but we are working to focus on providing culturally appropriate vegetables that will be familiar to residents of Renfrew-Collingwood. See the graphic below for some of the produce TFNFS has been growing:

    Membership details

    Members pick up their CSA weekly on Friday evenings between 5–7pm at Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH). CNH is conveniently located 2 blocks away from the Joyce Skytrain station and includes parking access, wheelchair accessible front entrance, and elevator from the underground parking.

    Our first pilot season is expected to run from September 10 to October 29, 2021 for a total of 8 weeks.

    Stay connected as we will be working to run a second season for the 2022 growing season.

    Payment options

    Option 1

    Buy your own box and subsidize a box for a neighbour

    Pay $45/week for 8 weeks = $360 total

    Option 2

    Make a donation

    Suggested donation $30 to buy a box for a neighbour

    Who is eligible to receive a subsidized CSA?

    Subsidized CSA boxes are intended to support community members facing food insecurity to access healthy, culturally appropriate, and locally harvested produce. In general, CSA subsidy recipients are referred to the program through a CNH program or service. 

    Subsidized CSA cost  $20/month = $40 total

    Specific criteria are as follows:

    • Are interested in receiving and utilizing fresh produce weekly 
    • Lives in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood 
    • Experiences food insecurity 
    • Referred to the program through a CNH service (ie. Settlement Services, RISE, Seniors Services)