Parkland Cares is a community-based organization of families and neighbours committed to helping others.
“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in”.
~Unknown
Parkland Cares and Bonavista Cares have been brainstorming new ways that our communities can reach out under the new COVID-19 restrictions. It is challenging for all of us right now, and yet we want to help.
In September, we redirected some collected backpacks to the Deer Park United Church (DPUC). Usually, we would have been assembling Back Packs for Kids through the Calgary Board of Education (CBE). However, the CBE has replaced this program with an on-line donation platform. We were able to make a $100 donation to this new program.
We also received $220 in grocery gift cards to support the Sharing Depot at a Deer Run elementary school which provides snacks to hungry children. We will check in with them over the course of the year to see what they need topped up on their shelves.
Big shout out to the Bonavista and Parkland Community Gardens that donated just over 200 lbs of fresh produce to the food bank this year! Amazing!
This Fall/Winter we will focus on a few main initiatives:
- DPUC-Food Relief Hampers Volunteer Sign-up (Thursdays all year) Check out the sign up list online: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050f4aafab2da4fd0-dpuc
- The Veteran’s Food Bank Drive (September 27 to October 12)
- Usborne Book Fundraiser to support child literacy in our community (October 15-November 15)
- Girt Card Collection for local schools with at risk families (December 1-15)
More information will be posted on our Facebook page and by email.
Please contact us if you have ideas for ways to encourage strong community connections, or if you would like to help us with any of our planned events.
We are hoping our next planning meeting will be Tuesday, January 12, at 7:15 at Park96 or by Zoom. We would love to see you there.
