WESTLOCK – As communities across the province have emerged from behind closed pandemic doors in recent weeks, Westlock and District Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) is helping rural residents reconnect.
FCSS provided $1,500 each to nine communities, including, Jarvie, Fawcett, Dapp, Clyde, Hazel Bluff, Vimy, Pickardville, Busby, and Linaria, to help offset costs for their post-pandemic community events. FCSS will attend each event and provide information and awareness about the services and opportunities they offer.
“This was just an opportunity for us to reach out to the communities, who would normally have community events, (but) through COVID they couldn’t do any of that,” said Westlock and District FCSS executive director Tracy Proulx.
FCSS supports the Town of Westlock, Westlock County and the Village of Clyde and wants to hear from the communities, particularly how residents are doing in terms of social well-being.
“This is an opportunity to re-engage with our county residents as well,” said Proulx. “Recently we completed our social development strategy and through that there was a community survey…and in that we did identify that people were looking for affordable ways to have some social interaction and re-engage with their neighbours and get to know their neighbours.”
The money being distributed is part of the core funding FCSS receives to hold conferences or workshops, noted Proulx, adding they decided to re-allocate the funds to help support rural communities in Westlock County.
“We’ve left it up to each community to decide what their event is and when it’s going to occur,” she said, noting several of the community events are in the process of being organized for later this spring and summer.
“Some of them have already given us dates. We’ve got a few of them happening in April already,” said Proulx. “We’ve seen some of the posters they’re making and one of them called it ‘Meet the Neighbour Night’, which is exactly what it’s supposed to be. We can finally leave our homes — let’s remember who our neighbours are and that we’re here to support each other, help where we can and get to know each other.”
