Annual Community Awareness Evening

This event occurs annually in November.

Community Awareness Evening gives families the opportunity to learn about the “help services” that are provided in the community by local agencies and outreach programs that come into the area. The evening provides a venue for service providers and families to meet and learn about one another. Families become familiar with the services and put a face to the provider. This helps them feel more comfortable when accessing their service.

A spin-off of the evening is the opportunity for local agencies to network with other agencies and learn about their services and ways they can compliment and reinforce each other.

Contact Info:
Kathy Richards, (403) 653-3922

Books for Babies

The Books for Babies program  is a community-based volunteer project that promotes reading as a family activity and encourage parents of infants between birth and 12 months to share books with their babies.

A bag with two carefully selected age-appropriate books and resource materials introduces parents of newborns to the importance of early reading to their children.

Early shared book reading helps children become stronger and better able to cope with new situations in constructive ways. It helps them develop independence and become more resistant to crisis.

It is important in a child’s brain and behavioural development. Books for Babies program supports families in developing early literacy and language experiences and promotes healthy family relationships.

Contact Info:
Shannon Palmer, Books for Babies Coordinator
403-626-3635
sscpalmer@gmail.com

The Caring Connection

WHEN:  Weekly & Bi-weekly programs available

WHERE: Provincial Building, South Doors; 576 Main Street Cardston, Alberta

The Caring Connection offers Resource, Support Groups and Workshops in the Cardston area to bring Wellness Strategies, Mind, Body, Emotional, Spiritual, and Relational Self-Care Experiences, both personal and professional, that can bring awareness and healing to compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and burnout. Affirmations of self and others, acknowledging fears, emotions and building relationships, creating and restoring social supports, listening skills, acknowledging boundaries, making powerful requests are some of the classes we hold. Meditation, circle drumming and laughter yoga balance the educational resources that we provide.

Regular groups and TBA series of classes are offered through the year.

Support Group: 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month at the Conference Room in the Cardston Provincial Building 6-7 PM

Resource Group: 2nd & 4th Tuesday of the month 2-3 Chinook Lodge; 3:15-4:15 Lee Crest

Contact Info:
Kathryn Jensen, RN, PBMH, 403-653-2073
www.ourcaringconnection.ca  

CHS Peer Mentoring Group

Through group collaboration, students learn about relationships, gain understanding and increase empathy in the following areas: Leadership skills, coping strategies, mental health and addictions, and other seminal issues determined by the group. Following the presentation of materials, group members are given the opportunity to process what they have learned. Through the lens of their values, they build character, increase decision-making and communication skills, and gain a sense of belonging. Further, the program allows students to try newly acquired interpersonal and intrapersonal skills in an effort to increase empathy and acceptance of other socioeconomic, cultural, and religious groups. Students are then able to practice these skills and implement their newly acquired knowledge in the broader community, in an effort to create stronger healthier citizens.

Some of the outcomes of this group are to create higher rates of graduation, increase friendship and compassion, and reduce indifference and intolerance. Students relate feeling more connected to the school environment, to each other, and to the group leaders.

Contact Info:
Cardston High School (403) 653-4951
Chris & Garry Fox are the School Counsellors that facilitate the program.

Epic Youth Services

Epic Youth Services is a social and recreational Centre intended primarily for use by youth in Junior and Senior High school. Epic supports opportunities for youth to develop their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive abilities and to experience achievement, leadership, enjoyment, friendship, and recognition.  The name EPIC is an acronym for a defining statement of our overarching theme: Empowering People, Inspiring Change.  We believe that youth that are able to make positive personal connections are more likely to enjoy adolescence, adapt to life’s many challenges and successfully transition to adulthood.  Simultaneously, they are far less likely to succumb to typical pitfalls associated with teens.  We believe that giving them tools and creating those connections, while allowing their individuality to remain, are keys to achieving these goals.

Contact Info:
Jeremy Prete, Facilitator
Email: jeremy@epic-youth.com
Phone: (403) 360-7181
Address: 405 Main Street Cardston, Alberta, T0K 0K0
Website: https://www.epic-youth.com/

Cardston & District Family Centre

WHERE: Provincial Building, South Doors, 576 Main Street Cardston, AB

The Cardston & District Family Centre (formally the Parent Link Centre) provides a play based atmosphere for sharing information on child & brain development. Stay and Play and Family drop-in programs provide opportunities to share such information in a play based environment. Parenting programs that deal with topics such as brain development, toileting, discipline, positive family dynamics, infant massage and many others are offered to families with children from birth to 12 years of age. Prenatal information is also provided to families.

Early Childhood programs provide a safe haven for children birth to 5 yrs. of age to develop socially and for their parents and caregivers to enhance their parenting skills.

The Family Centre staff recognize that parenting can be a very isolating experience and the programs allow the parents to meet and visit with other caregivers while interacting with their children. Parents learn about age-appropriate activities that can be done with their children and the importance of play in early brain development.

Parenting programs teach coping skills and techniques that help parents build positive attachment. They encourage positive parent-child interaction and promote age appropriate activities. The programs help parents understand and watch for developmental milestones and provide helps that will aid the child’s development.

Seven parenting programs are offered throughout the year at the Family Centre with more being added as facilitators are trained.

Summer Youth programs provide an opportunity for youth ages 6-12 yrs. to participate and interact with other youth during the summer months when they are not in school.

The free programs allow youth, regardless of their financial means, to enjoy a wide variety of programs. Over 200 programming hours are offered in July and August and there is something that appeals to all youth.

New skills are learned and important self care tips share. For youth that have two working parents it is an opportunity to be with other youth and spend their days in constructive activities under the supervision of a qualified instructor.

After School Youth programs help socially isolated youth ages 6-12 yrs. engage positively with other youth that are experiencing the same self-doubts and often low self-esteem.

A variety of activities are offered, so youth can select the one that helps them succeed and makes them feel most comfortable.

All youth are welcome, but the majority of the youth that come are dealing with personal struggles and will not participate in main stream activities. The Family Centre is a safe-haven for youth that have been bullied, ostracized, ignored, or forgotten at school or in other social settings.

Contact Info:
Sonja Richards (403)653-7077

Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/242483205827106/ for a list of all current programs and schedules.

Great Canadian Quilt Club

Place: Hill Spring Community Centre

The Great Canadian Quilt Club is a community group of diverse women living in the area. Women gather together to learn about quilting, make quilts for charity, and to socialize with each other.

Contact Info:
Dixie Davis (403) 626-3243

Hope Squads

Hope Squads are offered in all the schools within our District.

Hope Squads are peer to peer suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention programs. It is a community-wide effort that partners schools with local mental health agencies, police, community resources, and hospitals.

Students are chosen in each school to participate in the Hope Squad in their school. They are trained and work together with school counsellors to question, persuade, and refer students to mental health professionals.

Contact Info:
Cardston Elementary School (403) 653-4955
Cardston Jr. High School (403) 653-4958
Cardston High School (403) 653-4951
Spring Glen Elementary School (403) 626-3611
Spring Glen Jr. High School (403) 626-3616

Community Keep Fit

Location: Remington Carriage Museum
Time: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at 10:00am
Cost: $25.00 per year

Join the Keep Fit Group at the Remington Carriage Museum! Keep Fit is designed for anyone that is looking for a low impact exercise program. Each class we aim to increase balance, enhance strength, increase flexibility, boost energy and socialize. We look forward to meeting you!

Sessions are taught by a AFLCA Certified Instructor.

Contact Info:
Cynthia Bevans (403) 635-0266

Meals on Wheels

The Cardston & District FCSS and the Chinook Lodge work in conjunction to offer a Meals on Wheels program in the Town of Cardston.

The Meals on Wheels program provides nutritious and affordable meals to your door, providing you with hot lunches Monday - Friday. Meals on Wheels are still delivered to your door even if a holiday falls on a weekday. This service is offered on both a short-term and long-term basis. Meals can be received 1-5 days a week, depending of individual choice.

Meals on Wheels, is a volunteer-based community support service for individuals to help them maintain their health and independence at home. The Cardston & District Handibus delivers the meals. This program also serves as a check-in service on the wellbeing of the recipient and provides social contact.

The meals are prepared by the Chinook Lodge, and the cost for the hot lunch is $10.00 per meal.

Who can receive Meals on Wheels?  Individuals, who by receiving nutritional support are better able to maintain independence and well-being in their own homes, including: 

•  Seniors

• Adults - who are chronically ill, living with physical or mental disability, convalescing from surgery or illness, or undergoing medical treatment

For more information or to apply for meals, contact Cathy Moore at 403-894-7598 or by email at cathlene55@gmail.com.

Mountain View Student Leadership Project

Location: Mountain View School
Time: Weekly

The Student Leadership Program provides leadership training and opportunities for Grade 9 student which they then pass on to K-Grad 8 students throughout the year. The program fosters the development of interpersonal skills, interconnectedness, and social skills.

Contact Info:
Mountain View School (403) 653-2404

Temple City Quilt Guild

Location: 71 - 2 Ave. W. Cardston, AB

The Temple City Quilt Guild is a group of ladies in different stages in their life. Some are learning to sew and quilt, some are there to have fun & share new ideas, and some are there to teach & do service projects. Everyone is welcome.

The Quilt Guild helps establish friendships over learned skills and they do service projects for the homeless, families in need, and women’s shelters to give back to the community. Regular workshops are held to learn new skills and regular meetings are held to share ideas and have fun together.

Contact Info:
Sharon Quinton (403) 653-3524