Nanton Builds a Playground and Connects a Community

Early ACE Communities work in Nanton identified that while there were a lot of strengths in the community, efforts weren't always connected and coordinated.

That changed on Saturday, June 19th when over 300 volunteers came together to build a playground after connecting with ACE Ambassador Ian Hill and being awarded assistance and support from his Let Them Be Kids initiative.

"It's wonderful to see a community come together like this," said Mayor John Blake. If we can build a playground, what can't we do if we put our collective energy to work! This was a ground up program," said Blake, with people identifying a need, and getting it done."

After the build, the park was dedicated in a moving ceremony as being "Where kids should come to play," with a memorial to the children of the community who have died. As each child's name was read, a balloon was released.

Robyn Todd, master of ceremonies for the event, noted that Saturday would have been Nathan Hornburg's 27th birthday. Hornburg was killed in action in Afghanistan in
2007. A memorial tree has been planted in his honour and each year on June 19th, flowers will be planted at its base. A soon to be built nearby skateboard park will be named in Nathan's honour.

Children participating in the event were each given balloons, which were released following the dedication.

The ribbon for the ribbon cutting was made up of paper hands, made by students at A.B. Daley School, and cut by Livingstone-Macleod MLA Evan Berger, Blake, and members of the Nanton Children Society.

For the full story see their video at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ltbk---nanton

Bake it Don't Fake It!!

Check out this innovative project by Chestermere - one of our ACE Communities! "Bake It Don’t Fake It" is a fun, creative opportunity for everyone to come and learn an old fashioned skill in a new way! Bring your family, make up a baking team and learn how to bake a Red Ribbon Apple Pie—for FREE!

All you bring is your enthusiasm and a few kitchen tools. Chestermere Ag Society and ACE Communities will provide the ingredients & a videographer to record the successful pie making for a webcast.

Learn the skills of making FLAKY pastry for FREE and then enter the Chestermere Country Fair Red Ribbon Pie Contest in September 17^th for prizes and more!

This pie making workshop happens Friday August 20^th, 7 to 8 pm, doors open 6:30pm at Chestermere Regional Community Centre, 201 W Chestermere Drive, Chestermere, Alberta (Multi Purpose Room). Please Pre-register by Friday August 13^th, by phone or e-mail 403 272 7170 x 223 or accounting@chestermerecrca.com

Any questions call Grannie Jen ( Pie Coach) at 403 272 3764

Didsbury Finalizing Their ACE Initiatives

Didsbury is leaping forward with the plans for their ACE initiative. Essentially, they will be focusing on three components:

-communication, which includes the two way communication between organizations and the community as well as communication and collaboration between organizations

-youth, which includes consistent and safe places, reliable mentorship and varied activities such as sports, arts, cooking, lifeskills, leadership, etc.

-volunteerism

Currently, they are developing a survey via survey monkey to determine what mechanisms the community is using to communicate and to discover if they are missing key mechanisms that the community would prefer, such as community event signage.

They also have a new collaboration between the town and a local youth serving organization. There are many exciting ideas and opportunities in this collaboration.

They also have a new commitment from the town to support a web based volunteer bank once it is established. They are proposing a contract position for the creation of the volunteer bank and for training town staff in the maintenance of the bank.

Way to go Didsbury! Can't wait to see how it unfolds....

Youth and Gardening in Sylvan Lake

Gardeners come in all ages and abilities and that is proven in Sylvan Lake. The local ACE group approached the Youth Advisory Council on how to build volunteerism and leadership with youth. The Youth Advisory Council decided on the goal to build a garden in the high school court yard. After that, the garden concept has "blossomed" to other schools and the focus is building vegetable gardens on school grounds.

The vision for the school gardens is that students will care for the indoor garden pots and outdoor gardens during the school year. Students can continue to care for the gardens after the school year with the assistance of several community groups, including the Youth Advisory Council. The seed funding that Sylvan Lake will receive through the ACE Communities initiative will be divided amongst the participating schools for building supplies.

Coupled with an even wider vision, the school gardens project aligns with the Municipal Sustainability Plan of Sylvan Lake including sustainable agricultural practices and opportunities to grow and purchase local foods.

Students will learn how to plant, care for plants, weed and a whole host of other gardening skills. Becoming knowledgeable about food security is foundational to the process. The food will be used in a number of ways including the food bank, good food boxes, home economic classes, breakfast and lunch programs, and community dinners.

Aside from students being encouraged to volunteer and be leaders, both students and community members will be more actively engaged in the community in a very creative way.