Nanton's in the news!

Congratulations to Nanton for their amazing ACE Ignite event on December 3rd! Just out of the gate and they have already received coverage in their local paper, the Nanton News. ACE Communities was proud to have been the cover story. Please see these links to follow the coverage of Nanton's activities:

http://www.nantonnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2210310

http://www.nantonnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2210317

http://www.nantonnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2199821

http://www.nantonnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2199824

Active Okotoks

Okotoks is excited to be furthering the "active" component of ACE Communities and was chosen as one of six 'Canada Gets Active' pilot communities.

The Town of Okotoks has been selected by the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA) as one of six communities to participatein the "Canada Gets Active" pilot project. As a project participant, the Town has received $15,000 for their implementation of various physical activity programs for local grade 5 students, in addition to providing them with Recreation Centre facility passes. The project is designed to increase physical activity involvement of grade 5 students across Canada by increasing their access to participation in community recreation facilities.

Over the next eight months, the Town will be establishing partnershipswith key organizations in the community to achieve pilot projectoutcomes (ie: school boards and public health officials). As the project lead, Janette Messer, Community Programs Team leader will beproviding reports and evaluations to the CPRA with project updates and successes through the next months.

The CPRA is the national voice for parks and recreation professionals and volunteers across Canada. It is a not-for-profit, registered charitable organization with over 2600 members who are directly or indirectly in the provision of programming for the parks and recreation sector.

ACE Communities Bloom

Blooms, blooms, blooms across rural Alberta!

Whitecourt has received provincial recognition for its participation in Communities in Bloom and won the 2009 title in the 6,001 to 12,000 population category. Whitecourt actually won FIVE blooms- the highest number awarded.

Other ACE Communities that received bloom recognition include: Warburg, Thorsby, Trochu, Wainwright, Sylvan Lake, and Sangudo.

Communities in Bloom is a provincial program hosted by Alberta Recreation and Parks Assocation and is also a national program http://www.cib.arpaonline.ca/.

Communities who enter and participate in the contest focus on more than blooms. "Communities in Bloom promotes involvement and action by citizens of all ages, the municipal government, local organizations, and businesses. The program strives to improve the tidiness, appearance, and visual appeal of Canada's neighbourhoods, parks, open spaces, and streets through the imaginative use of flowers, plants, and trees. A focus on environmental awareness preservation of heritage and culture is also an integral part of its success, resulting in improved quality of life."

When people take more pride in their community and focus on beautification and environmental programs such as this, the outcomes are more than the blooms. The outcomes are about collaboration, decreased crime rates, cultural and heritage awareness, and increased local economic benefits. When people's quality of life is increased community flourish... and bloom!

Keep up the dedication to making ACE Communities and rural Alberta beautiful!

Okotoks' Fall Festival a Hit

Jelly bean dancing, talent, scrabble, baking, charity, and neighbours all rolled into one event during a weekend! Sounds interesting!

Okotoks recently had a Fall Festival that featured a Jelly Bean dance where all ages could participate. Over 150 people danced and jiggled and I would imagine ate jelly beans! What a super way to have a family event. A few children were brave and stood up for the "Okotoks' Got Talent" portion of the event.

The following day a Scrabble tournament was held with around 150 participants facing each other over a friendly competition of word crafting. A food collection was taken for the food bank to help others. Of course, food is always part of festivities so a bake off was held with delicious goodies.

Last but not least, a section of Okotoks was named "the most neighbourly ACE place to live". The ACE steering committee has been working at creating neighbourhood awareness and during the fall festival the winner was announced.

Okotoks residents are saying the loved the festivities and they want more. To me, that shows that people do want to be more neighbourly. When festivals like this are created then opportunities to be neighbourly flourish. Way to go Okotoks!

Involve, involve, involve

Drayton Valley residents were recently involved in the development of the Municipal Sustainability Plan. While the involvement piece may not seem new, engaging people throughout the process can be challenging and new for some.

Can you imagine the setting? Co-residents, city staff, and council sitting together and engaging in dialogue about the goals and aspirations of the community and how those goals are incorporated in the pillars of sustainability. What an opportunity to really hear from one another about what is important to residents and how the community can be shaped.

With such community involvement the goals that were developed will not be forgotten or put on a shelf to collect dust. Residents will be more aware of how the Municipal Sustainability Plan unfolds in the community because they have been an integral part of the process.

Hinton Moving Forward

Congratulations to Hinton for the great progress being made on their community garden and greenhouse initiative. Spearheaded by the Hinton Community Garden Society, the project has three goals in place: to increase Hinton’s food security, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and bring the community together in a central hub.


Two greenhouses have been donated by Kinder Morgan canada that will be available to anyone in town to grow their own food, with a small portion of it going back into the community. Along with the grant from ACE Communities, the society was also the recipient of a $22,000 Quality of Life grant from the Town of Hinton earlier this year. More recently, they were a beneficiary of the Skid and Steer Rodeo, held on Sept. 26. The goal is have an outdoor garden planted by the spring of 2010, and to have a public greenhouse ready for planting by 2011.

For more info on this project you can go to: http://www.hintonvoice.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=186&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=3041&hn=hintonvoice&he=.com

Ensuring Fees Aren't a Barrier

Paddle Prairie has developed an inventive way of dealing with both declining volunteerism and accessibility to sports like hockey. As part of their intent to ensure fees aren't a barrier, they are allowing family members (not necessarily just parents...) to volunteer their time to reduce registration fees. Because of this, more children have access to sports and Paddle Prairie is better able to keep their facilities maintained.

ACE Community Leaders Meet

Explore, discern, dig out, unwrap, bring to light, learn about, get wise to, reveal, and sniff out!

What does all this refer to? These words reflect a "Discover" theme where community leaders took two and a half days to learn, discuss, and apply information – about ACE Communities, personal and community leadership, community development, and a multitude of other topics.

At the end of September an ACE Communities Leaders Retreat was held near Sylvan Lake. Over 20 community leaders met one another and members of the ACE Team. This group of leaders are referred to as "Flight 3"- the communities that were recently accepted as partners for two years with ACE Communities to enhance the quality of life in rural Alberta by strengthening community leadership, collaboration, and innovation through recreation, parks, arts, culture and heritage.

Imagine time set aside to learn about community leadership, discuss what is happening in rural Alberta, and have the opportunity to build connections with other community leaders. The "buzz" both during and after the sessions was phenomenal.

Whenever people have the opportunity to share about their communities the results are amazing... exceptional people and exceptional projects.

Kitscoty Focuses on a Community Driven MSP

Building a community driven plan involving the grassroots of the community is setting the platform for sustainability in Kitscoty.

Kitscoty has been working with their ACE Coach and Council to ensure their Municipal Sustainability Plan (MSP) is one that engages the community.

A Community Advisory Group is leading the draft development of the MSP with community input. Community groups are an integral part of the process as it is the community groups that help build the capacity of the plan. On-going communication with Council about the process will assist in the implementation of the MSP.

Village Council has passed a motion to have the MSP developed using a community engagement process, which in turn will have the community more involved while building a plan to meet the needs of present and future residents.

Such a community plan will build leaders because residents will feel a part of their community and have opportunities to share in a community wide vision to make Kitscoty more active, creative, and engaged.

The Brick Sport Central Makes an Impact in Calling Lake

Andy Wigston doesn’t need a lot of time to come up with reasons why kids need access to sports.

“It’s important for kids to be healthy,” he says from his cell phone. Fittingly, he has just finished watching his son’s soccer game. He talks as he strolls through the grass back to his vehicle.

Most kids who play sports don’t have time to get into trouble. Another thing is the camaraderie they get—when they’re playing sports, they learn to play on teams, they learn team values and they also learn new skills.”

To Andy, team sports aren’t about developing athletes as much as they are about developing people. He lists more benefits: leadership and the ability to win—and lose—gracefully. Determination. A positive outlook. It’s clear he could keep going.

Given his obvious belief in the value of recreation, it should come as no surprise that Andy is involved with an organization that helps to make sports accessible to all children. The Brick Sport Central has been collecting and repairing used sports equipment and giving them to kids in need since 1991. Andy, now the president, has been involved with the organization for 11 years.

Andy recently partnered with Calling Lake, an ACE community in northern Alberta. He drove up to Calling Lake for an ACE weekend youth conference where he spoke about leadership.

Andy first learned about The Brick Sport Central when he was working for The Brick chain of furniture stores. “I thought, ‘this is amazing,” he recalls. He gladly sat on Brick Sport Central’s board as a sponsor and, when he retired in 2000, jumped at the chance to sit on the board as an executive. “This is a really incredible program. I’ve got another year on my term and I'm looking forward to it.”

The goal? “To get as many kids playing sports as we can,” he says, “whether that sport is soccer, tennis, volleyball, hockey, baseball or basketball, we’ll help them. We even get people dropping off sleds and toboggans.”

The Brick Sport Central deals with about 200 agencies in Alberta that contact the volunteer-driven organization when there’s a child who wants to play a sport, but his or her family can’t afford the equipment. It partners with KidSport Canada, an organization that supplies the funding to cover the cost of registration.

Andy and the team of volunteers serve the needs of sports-minded kids in Alberta from Red Deer all the way north. They’ve even helped hockey groups in Inuvik and Northwest Territories. To get the necessary sizes for these faraway teams, the volunteers get innovative. “We send them a form that has foot tracings and measurements for leg length, arm length, chest width, all those things so we can outfit them,” he explains, adding that the day the equipment arrives is always a happy one for those communities. “It’s really cool. When that plane arrives up north, the kids come out to the plane, and each one of them gets a hockey bag, full of equipment, with their name on it. They’re really excited.”

Last year, The Brick Sport Central outfitted 8,000 kids. They gave away lacrosse, tennis, baseball and hockey equipment—“any sport a kid plays,” Andy says. The organization also distributed 1,500 bicycles, refurbishing them in the full-service bike shop, which is run by volunteer bike mechanics.

As with any volunteer-run organization, The Brick Sport Central relies on a wide network of people that are as committed to the cause as Andy is. Right now there are approximately 45 volunteers who work tirelessly to ensure no sports dream goes unfulfilled.

“We have kids who received equipment when they were younger who are now volunteering with us,” he says. “It’s really rewarding when you see that happen.”

For more information on the program, visit www.sportcentral.org/.

By Jen Janzen for ACE Communities

Community Gardens are Growing in Rural Alberta!

Community gardens are not new to the scene of outdoor recreational activities. Community gardens have been established around the world long before our lifetime. However, it seems in the last few years the concept and implementation of such gardens have become more widespread and well known.

Several partner communities of ACE have either began to talk about developing a community garden in their area or have initiated the ground breaking of a garden. Hinton will soon be developing a combined greenhouse and outdoor garden concept and other ACE Communities are creating their community gardens, such as Irricana and High Level.

There are several reasons why community gardens are important to both the individual and communities. The council of Saanich, BC has identified key reasons why community gardens are valuable:

"Community gardens are a valuable community recreation activity that contributes to health and well-being, positive social interaction, community development, cultural expression, connection to nature, protection and use of open space, and economical food production."
(http://www.gov.saanich.bc.ca/municipal/clerks/bylaws/pdfs/gardens.pdf).

Other benefits include: food security, food sharing, reduced kitchen and restaurant waste, increased compost awareness, educational opportunities, increased skill base, and opportunities for all ages and abilities to come together around a common goal. The City of Victoria, BC is active in supporting community gardens and the link outlines several more benefits of community gardens.(http://www.victoria.ca/cityhall/pdfs/cmmnty_garden_policy.pdf)

Community gardens cross-over through several sectors in a community: recreation, arts, culture, business, social, health, and more. Community partners may include parks and recreation departments, planning and development departments, and several private and public partners. As any community development initiative, tapping into resources that may seem "out-of-the box" may reap several benefits.

When the local council supports the development and implementation of community gardens there is greater success in the longevity of these projects. Likewise, gaining community partners in developing the gardens are important to build networks, create a stronger profile in the community, gain support, and have increased access to resources.

It is important to understand that community gardens and sustainable community planning are two vital concepts to urban planning. This means the city planners need to re-think and be innovative about utilizing space during development. Securing areas in urban centres for community gardens establishes a way to increase the quality of life for residents. (http://www.cityfarmer.org/dianaCGplanning.html).

Check out in your area if there is a community garden. Learn more about them and how to become involved. Be proactive in securing our local food sources and creating opportunities for residents to be active, creative, and engaged in rural Alberta!

Sangudo Builds a New Playground

One of the ACE Communities, Sangudo has recently worked together at the local level with the "Let Them Be Kids" initiative to build a community playground. There was much preliminary work, but the main features of the playground were up in a day! This community spirit represents how drive and passion is not lost in when a group of committed citizens of all ages work together.

Sangudo's Community Playground Build has been featured this week on the “Let Them Be Kids” website. To take a look, just go to http://www.ltbk.ca/ and also http://www.viddler.com/explore/ltbk/videos/37/.

The community has shown how collaboration and determination can turn an idea into fruition and such an incredible success!

Sangudo Celebrates

Sangudo, an ACE Communities partner, has received funding from Alberta Community and Co-operative Association's Rural Co-operative Development Project. This means funding and support has been made available to Sangudo to develop a co-operative that is member owned and operated.

A Sangudo Co-Operative Center for the Arts is the project goal. The art co-operative would provide a store-front gallery-type space to showcase visual arts and a place for creative folks to gather and be inspired. Several other areas of the gallery would include a concession, consignment articles, live performances of various types, workshops, festivals, arts related classes, book signings, and a host to several other arts and culture activities.

Benefits of such a co-operative in Sangudo means increased employment, broader entertainment and activities, engagement of youth and seniors, and potential improvement and utilization of current infrastructures.

However, money is not just handed over to Sangudo and the work finished. The members of this grass-roots initiative will be using a collaborative approach. This means that the members drive the focus of Co-operative Centre for the Arts, as well as manage it. Likewise, the community will be required to bring forth local funds and resources.

The innovation and leadership that is demonstrated within this small rural Alberta community does indeed create a cause for celebration!

Congratulations to ACE Leader Cathy O'Donoghue

Partnering and opportunities have created a buzz for Irricana. The Town of Irricana got a tip o’ the hat from the province, April 30, for its initiatives to promote healthy eating, physical activity and social interaction. “We are honoured by this recognition,” said Cathy O’Donoghue, the Town’s community services officer.

The Alberta Recreation and Parks Association awarded communities from across the province as part of the Communities Choose Well 2008-2009 initiative at a ceremony held in Okotoks. “Communities Choose Well continues to be a popular way for communities to involve their residents in a wide range of fun and healthy activities,” said Dr. Raj Sherman, parliamentary
assistant for Health and Wellness. “For the second year in a row we are encouraged to see an increase in the number of communities that took up the challenge to eat healthy, be active and engage in positive social pursuits.” A total of 26 communities were recognized in Alberta, out of a record 162 participating communities.

It takes a few determined people to zero in on a good initiative and bring it out to the community where it can spread like wildfire, O’Donoghue said. “In whatever we do, partnering with everyone is key,” she said. O’Donoghue added Irricana is well equipped with a whole network of community organizations and a volunteering tradition such as the local firefighters. “The organizations in our community are great,” she said.

Irricana’s initiatives include a Pitchin annual event, which collected 100 bags of garbage from roadways and park areas last year. The local youth centre The Crib provides nutritious food and creates events such as healthy Halloween, while providing entertainment options that include physical activity. To that end, the local council has promoted a ‘stay fit while having fun’ approach, by approving the purchase of equipment such as table tennis, air hockey, a bubble hockey game, and a Nintendo Wii video game system.

Irricana has also been developing an electronic information board, a flooring system for the curling rink and a trailhead park under the Active, Creative, Engaged (ACE) community initiative. Recognition was also given to the Town of Chestermere, for its Youth Encouraging Lasting Leadership (YELL). The Town council assumed the role of planning, developing and building a bike park. YELL has been successful in communicating with the public, the local government and community groups. Peer communication also played a critical part in gathering youth of all ages to the park.

Serving Albertans since 1952, the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association is a non-for-profit, charitable organization made up of volunteer committees to building healthy citizens and communities through recreation and parks. Active, Creative, Engaged (ACE) Communities is an initiative under the umbrella of Alberta Recreation and Parks Association.

Rokkit Wake-A-thon a Success

The Rokkit youth group of Drayton Valley successfully held their Wake-A-thon on April 17th at the H.W. Pickup Jr. High School located in the centre of the town. With the help of ACE’s Youth Engagement Coordinator Cameron Sault, Rokkit developed, planned, and implemented the entire Wake-A-thon, with meetings reaching as far back as early February.

Rokkit’s mission was to provide youth with positive, fulfilling activities and in doing so, raise funds to benefit themselves and their community. Rokkit definitely stuck to their mission statement by hosting such activities as crafts, movies, Nintendo wii and Rock Band tournaments, cosmetology, sports, cooking, and team building games, just to name a few. Cameron also held a session to educate the youth about the Drayton Valley ACE Youth Support Group that had recently formed with the help of ACE’s coach Toni Lashbrook. Without the support of the adults within the community none of this could have happened.

Congratulations to Rokkit and Drayton Valley!

COMMUNITY GARDEN SOCIETY AWARDED $10,000

The local Alberta Active Creative Engaged Communities (ACE) evaluation committee has decided to award the $10,000 seed money to the newly formed Hinton Community Garden Society.

The Hinton Community Garden will be a productive, self-supporting, community greenhouse and outdoor garden. The goal is to plant the outside garden in spring of 2010, and to plant inside a greenhouse by the spring of 2011. The project will be promoted as a unique and innovative solution to high food prices, greenhouse gas emissions, and social fragmentation, eventually run as a non-profit company operating under the direction of the Society.

Mayor Glenn Taylor states that, “This community driven project will not only showcase Hinton as a progressive community, it will also showcase the desire for a greener way of doing things. The seed money for this project will go a long way in the planning for this project. I expect that the volunteers of Hinton will once again make Hinton proud by dedicating their time and energy to a distinctive project.”

The community garden has 3 objectives:
1. To provide food security to Hinton, by ensuring a perennial supply of fresh, organic produce.
2. To reduce Hinton’s greenhouse gas emissions, by reducing the fossil fuels consumed in the production, processing, and transportation of imported produce.
3. To foster social cohesion and inclusiveness by providing a “Third Place” where people of all ages can participate in gardening.

At a public meeting on January 12, 2009, a proposal for an all-season, organic, community-operated garden was presented to an audience of 36 to determine the level of community interest. In the three months since this meeting was held;
* nine more public meetings have been held,
* an email list of 75 interested people has been maintained,
* a non-profit Society has been formed,
* preliminary research has been conducted,
* letters of support have been received from numerous individuals and organizations.

For more information please contact Jerome Cranston at 780-865-3809 or email hintoncommunitygarden@gmail.com.

High Level Snapshot

High Level is a community in Northwest Alberta that has been focusing on community development. A community meeting that used the Active, Creative, Engaged Communities scanning or self assessment tool helped identify several aspects of community life they wanted to address. Four areas of focus that were identified included 1) engaging citizens, 2) inter-agency collaboration, 3) beautification, and 4) celebrating assets.


Those strands were woven into a community development plan, along with an overarching goal of increasing collaboration among community events and resources. Envisioning "a multicultural community working together and taking pride in our vibrant quality of life," this evolving group had identified core values such as clean, green, safe and developed- terms of reference that function as a guide, not a presciption.


What does all this mean for the community? It means that the community is becoming more involved while celebrating successes and accomplishments, an important aspect of a community. Some initiatives that High Level residents have benefited through the plan is a Community Events Calendar depicting local pictures that were submissions for a contest. A comprehensive directory was also created and it outlined the roles, volunteer opportunities and contact information of all agencies and organizations serving High Level. Besides fostering awareness of the services offered in High Level, the directory highlights opportunities for partnerships.


Above all, the process that High Level has been engaging in positively reflects how a community can pull together community members. The results have been both immediate and will be long lasting to create an active, creative, and engaged community.

Thriving Camrose

A Coalition of local leaders and community members have been working together with a focus of healthy living and active living. An important piece of this Coalition's approach is collaborative action which mirror's ACE Communities' focus as well. This group further reflects collaboration by incorporating research, strategic planning, relationship and partnership building. These aspects have made several successes for the Coalition and the community as a whole.

How did the Coalition make collaboration work in the community and amongst the groups? At one point, a World Cafe was held. Participants provided input on next steps by rotating in groups from table to table, discussing themed questions at each table and coming to consensus on their answers. Because the groups read and responded to each others' ideas, the session resulted in a rich bank of material for planning. And, of course, with any cafe good food was involved!

Linking, advocating, facilitating, and educating are four key intended areas that were indicated through a community meeting in Camrose. Some important actions from these areas were a healthy vending maching policy within all City of Camrose facilities, a Go To Book that centralizes many informaiton/promotion pieces on healthy lifestyle options in Camrose, a new logo and an amazing professional development seminar with Ian Hill for health care and business professionals.

What does this all mean in the end? It indicates that a group of dedicated, motivated, and action orientated community members are working together to make Camrose more active, creative, and engaged in several ways.

Highlights from Leduc County

Passion, vision, and connections definitely stand out in Leduc County. Leduc County is one of the 20 partner communities of ACE. Within the County, the support from ACE is directed to Warburg, New Sarepta, and Thorsby. During some recent community meetings, called Conversation Cafe, the residents focused on the community's strengths, assets, needs, priorities, and how to get there.

When residents began to list strengths and assets it was amazing that there is so much available in the County and the smaller rural communities. The passion for volunteerism and making the communities stronger and vibrant shone through. During the Conversation Cafe's residents were making meaningful connections with one another. People were exchanging phone numbers and recognizing others in the community in order to share resources and ideas. What was equally important was that the priorities were driven by the community. This means that whatever may unfold will have great community pride and ownership.

Busy Kitscoty

If people think small rural communities are slow and sleepy, they have not been to Kitscoty!

Kitscoty is a village where several organizations are active and involved in the community. Residents have many options available to be active, creative, or engaged. Lately, the community is working towards pulling together and bridging the gap between youth and seniors. At the community meetings youth, seniors, and the "in-betweens" discuss ways to bridge this gap and identify community needs. The discussions are always rich and meaningful and it is amazing to see how much people care about what happens inKitscoty.

The resources that are in place in Kitscoty help create a sense of community; a place where residents can stay, play, and be active. An arena, seniors' centre, community hall, two schools, and several more amenities all make-up an excellent infrastructure for the community. The numerous volunteers, passion, and vision that residents have for their community are what is building the foundation for great success in Kitscoty.

ACE Youth in Drayton Valley

Cameron Sault, ACE Youth Coordinator met with the Drayton Valley youth group called Rokkit. A mixed group of about 15 youth, youth workers, and parents met and developed a Vision, Purpose/Mission, and Outcomes for their Wake-o-thon. They'll meet again
on February 26th at 5pm for their next meeting which will consist of planning actual programs/activities for the first half of the meeting, and Advertisement/Rules and Regulations for the other half of the meeting. Way to go Rokkit!

ACE Communities Celebrate Ignite Tour

ACE Community leaders and coaches did a fabulous job of pulling together the ACE Launch Tour with Ian Hill to ignite and generate enthusiasm. 

In LEDUC COUNTY this article here shows a map done by young students to reflect their ideas for developing an ACE Community. At the Leduc meeting students also made placemats with drawings to show how ACE could impact their community.

Following the SANGUDO launch, 40 people came to help set up for their Christmas Blitz…more help than before. They were looking for leadership and wanted to be part of the team.

Over 50 people signed up for the next ACE Community Gathering, 12 people joined the Economic Development group, 28 people want to be involved with the sports ground project, and 21 people said they would help with whatever was needed.

Mayor Susan Samson in SYLVAN LAKE thanked Hill and said, “I’m inspired beyond belief to think we’re all going to do this together."

A comment from ECKVILLE..."In today's busy world it is often hard to find the time to collectively focus on our communities - but it is so important. We have lots of enthusiastic community members. Our committee is really looking forward to ACE evolving in Eckville".

And, a powerful testimonial from a participant in the OKOTOKS session, "Ian: know that you made something of a difference for this one person. And that's a start. And this thought too: "I may be old but I haven't lost my capacity to learn from others".

Another ACE Partner Community Leader shared the following, "The opportunity, support from ACE, and the buy-in from the community has made this a great experience for us! I really feel like it is gaining momentum and it's exciting to see, I think the timing was right... our community is ready for change and the events we have done are bringing out different types of people every time and people we don't ordinarily see out... it's great!! Thanks for enabling and supporting us to be able to do this!!"

Ian’s message about RELATIONSHIP MARKETING was used by the majority of communities and many learned that while it may take time to talk one-to-one to personally invite their participation, people respond. Posters don’t work, phone calls do!