“While the COVID pandemic pushes us apart physically, the crisis has sparked a newfound appreciation for, and desire to live in, a real community. We have grown to miss those casual conversations with our neighbours and have also come to realize just how important it is to know our neighbours and to look out for each other.” (13ways.ca)
This quote caught my attention as SECA has been working towards “creating a more neighbourly community where people have a sense of pride and belonging”. Based on the quote above, it looks like SECA is heading in the right direction!
As you know, our annual Stampede Breakfast has been cancelled due to the pandemic. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to go ahead with the Family Fun Day on September 12, co-hosting with Calgary Evergreen and Shawnessy Community Associations. We’re also looking forward to a few more Community Campfires and getting back into our SECA Plays programs. It all depends upon how the pandemic progresses and what the province and City determine is safe for us. We’ll keep you posted.
Are you a SECA member? If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to join or renew by going to our membership page at Shawnee-Evergreen.ca. You may join online via your Paypal account or with a credit card. E-transfers or a cheque are options, too. Thank you to those who have already sent in their $20. Our expenses are down slightly but we still have many fixed costs to cover through membership fees, so we appreciate your support.
New – Community Partners. This new program is a way for SECA to assist local business (#SupportLocalYYC) and for the businesses to support our community by offering discounts to SECA members. Our first four Community Partners are: Raintech Irrigation, Raintech Home Services, iDrive Alberta Driver Education and AID IT Services. We’d like to add several more partners as a benefit to SECA membership. Businesses can email [email protected] to learn more.
SECA Plays – Laura Alwast, a third-year practicum student from MRU assisted the SECA Plays initiative by observing and reporting on several children’s events and by collecting parent perspectives via a survey and interviews. The Board received her final presentation. It was lovely to hear her many very positive comments about the quality of the programs. Laura’s valuable insights will inform future programming. Thanks to the parents who generously volunteered their time to support Laura’s project.
Graywood Development’s Land Use Amendment updates are available via our e-newsletter and Facebook or by emailing our Director of Development at [email protected].
We can serve you best when we are connected! Receive our electronic newsletters by emailing [email protected] and like our Facebook page – @ShawneeEvergreenYYC.
A final reflection about COVID-19 from 13ways.ca:
“If this tragic event has a silver lining, it is that we have a chance to right our path and go back to building real communities where people belong rather than subdivisions where people are housed. Community is what makes us stronger and has allowed humanity to survive challenges and flourish time and again. People are stronger when they work together. Community is the foundation of our strength. We have always said that community building is the single most important job anywhere. It is time to build your community.”
It’s time to come together. Volunteers are always welcome to assist SECA in building our community.
Lynn Jobe
