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Tag: Community

  • ‘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.

  • 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. 

  • Celebrating 5 and 10 year milestones

    Celebrating 5 and 10 year milestones

    We are so happy to honour staff and contractors who have reached the milestones of 5 and 10 years of service and dedication to CNH! We would not be able to do the work we do for our community without them.

    The following staff have reached over ten years of service: Bharti Vardhan, Crecien Bencio, Jennifer Gray-Grant, Nazima Rahiman, Valeria Mancilla, and Tiffany Ouyang.

    The following staff have reached over five years of service: Akberet Beyene, Andrea Noel, David Le, Eda Ertan, Harpreet Gill, Hong (Joy) Yang, Lianjie (Jenny) Shen, Nhan Lu, Nic Galdamez, Sandra Medina, Suzanne Liddle, Verna Kate Smith, and Wen Jing (Mandy) Fang.

    We sincerely thank these individuals for their commitment and contribution to CNH. They are all amazing! Congratulations!

    [*Photo taken at a staff event last year]

  • “A pleasure to work with and a great morning coffee partner”: Elizabeth Ramos celebrates over 15 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, 20, 25 and, for the first time in CNH’s history, 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    A school practicum assignment first brought Elizabeth (Beth) Ramos to CNH. Shortly after, she was hired as a casual accounting assistant before securing a permanent position. Beth has worked with the Early Years department in accounting since 2007. Her daily tasks ensure that the Early Years payments and invoices are in order. She also assists the invoicing requirements of the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News, and had once stepped in to cover the Accounting Coordinator role while the coordinator was on leave.

    “Beth is an important part of our team. Her knowledge, dedication and efficiency is what helps the department run smoothly”, a team member says.

    Beth is a pleasure to work with and a great morning coffee partner! We truly feel that without her, we would be lost. We are blessed to have her!

  • All the children know and love Mary!

    All the children know and love Mary!

    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, 20, 25 and, for the first time in CNH’s history, 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    Mary Hoang has been a regular face in our childcare programs, for many, many years. She worked as a casual staff who floated from program to program on a daily basis up until recently. We finally were able to encourage her to take a more permanent role in our programs at the Collingwood School Age Program.

    All the children know and love Mary! She is very modest and she has a quiet, respectful approach to everyone who knows her. She is a very talented photographer who loves to take photos of our Kindergarten graduates. You will find her actively involved in soccer with the children or creating amazing art. We are very fortunate to have Mary working alongside us.

    Congratulations and thank you to Mary for her over 20 years of service!

  • ‘I love having the opportunity to give back’: Carmen Correal celebrates over 20 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, 20, 25 and, for the first time in CNH’s history, 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    Carmen E. Correal Martinez began to take ESL classes run by Collingwood Neighbourhood House at First Lutheran Church after arriving in Vancouver in July 1998. Before immigrating to Canada, Carmen had obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education as well as a Master’s degree in Sexual Education and Orientation in Colombia. She had also worked as a PE teacher during her time there.

    Upon finishing her ESL classes in 1999, Carmen started volunteering for several recreation programs at CNH, such as Parents and Tots. She started her own program soon after, which she called ‘Spanish with Fun’ dedicated to the local families in the Collingwood community.

    Carmen started her first work at CNH as a Recreation Sub. She then became a Regular Instructor for adults and school children, where she got to work closely with Mike McLenaghen, the Recreation Coordinator at that time. In 2006, Carmen was promoted to the full-time role of Recreation Coordinator when Mike became a Director and has since been working in the position.

    Carmen’s family has been deeply connected to CNH since they first immigrated to Canada. Carmen’s son Carlos joined her when she was volunteering for Parents and Tots. Her daughter Laura also helped her translate and read to the children during the ‘Spanish with Fun’ classes. Her other daughter, Adriana, has also been involved with CNH and created an art installation on the foyer walls. In fact, both Laura and Adriana have worked as Recreation Instructors. All three of Carmen’s children have volunteered in a diversity of CNH programs. Carmen’s daughter has two small children and they have also had the opportunity to participate in the various programs that Collinwood has to offer, including Parents and Tots.

    Carmen says, “CNH has given me the opportunity to learn and grow and be part of the community. I love having the opportunity to give back and feel very connected to the Collingwood community. It’s so rewarding to support newcomers and residents when they come to Collingwood. CNH staff are so supportive of me, and I want to thank them all.”

  • In twenty years of teaching at CNH, Cheryl Hallman has some lovely memories

    In twenty years of teaching at CNH, Cheryl Hallman has some lovely memories

    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, 20, 25 and, for the first time in CNH’s history, 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    Cheryl Hallman attended her first Jazzercise class in 1980, and she loved it! A year later, she became a Jazzercise instructor herself.

    CNH’s previous Executive Director, Paula Carr, attended one of her classes and liked her so much she asked Cheryl if she would teach classes to the staff at CNH. It started with a few of the staff – Paula, Isolde, Satinder, and Kulwant.  Eventually, CNH opened the classes to the public, and it just took off.

    One of Cheryl’s favourite memories was when she was teaching a Saturday class. She was just finishing a routine and said, “Hold it right there!” All of a sudden, the power went off and the class was plunged into darkness. It turns out a fallen tree knocked out the power lines down the street. Cheryl ended class early that day and went for coffee with the class at the Bamboo Cafe instead!

    In twenty years of teaching at CNH, Cheryl has some lovely memories from the community participants and staff. The participants love her energy, enthusiasm, and workout. She truly values the social connections she’s made at CNH.

  • Paul Reid, founding member of Collingwood Days, reaches CNH milestone

    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, 20, 25 and, for the first time in CNH’s history, 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    Paul’s 20 years of paid work with CNH is actually a small part of his long-time, broad involvement and activism in the neighbourhood, where he has served as an enthusiastic volunteer both with CNH and other local groups.

    Paul started volunteering with CNH in the mid-‘90s on CNH’s Board of Directors, serving as Board Treasurer. He stepped down from the Board to join the Arts Pow Wow, encouraging support for the arts in Renfrew-Collingwood. Paul’s love of the arts also showed up in some of his other volunteer work as he founded the Collingwood Music Club, designed and helped produce the Spirit of Collingwood Mural and also helped to produce the Faces of Our Neighbourhood Festival, the pre-cursor to Collingwood Days. He was a founding member of Collingwood Days and for many years has been Co-Entertainment Coordinator and Stage Manager for Collingwood.

    Paul also worked as a mentor with Prevention Education and also with CRYME (Collingwood Renfrew Youth Mappers and Educators).

    Paul’s involvement with CNH’s Communications Committee led to him helping to turn the CNH Newsletter into the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News. Paul writes some articles (particularly restaurant reviews) for the newspaper and does the paper’s monthly design and layout. He is proud of the fact that the newspaper was instrumental in saving two local historic landmarks, Firehall 15 and Carleton Schoolhouse. Paul also worked for a time at CNH teaching English classes, where he not only helped newcomers to learn English but also met the woman who became his wife, the most personally meaningful outcome of his many years of volunteer and paid work at CNH.

  • Maria Alpirez, an ‘angel’ to newcomer clients

    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, 20, 25 and, for the first time in CNH’s history, 30 years of service and dedication to the neighbourhood house, were thanked by the Board of Directors.

    Maria Alpirez started in the organization as a receptionist in 1999. By the time she was hired as a settlement worker, she already had a lot of knowledge and experience working with immigrants in the community. Maria has been a great asset to the Settlement Services team. Her critical thinking and understanding of immigration policies and mainstream services have helped immigrants to successfully start their integration process in the community and in the Canadian society at large.

    Maria is a worker that always gives 110% and more to serve others. One of her clients says, “Maria is a real ANGEL in my life, she has provided me with tools and supports to be successful with my children in Canada, especially because I am a single mother”. Maria is a very valuable asset to our Settlement team and CNH. Congratulations, Maria!