The grant was used to provide fun, engaging activities for children and youth in Sunshine Valley (Hope) and to connect with them to find out what types of activities they might be interested in doing through the community recreation centre moving forward.
Our main activity was to put on an event which included opportunities for children and youth to play in the outdoor playground, engage in outdoor games such as giant Connect 4, corn hole tossing, and volleyball, as well as arts-based activities such as drawing and colouring their favorite things about Sunshine Valley. They also filled in the sentence ‘Sunshine Valley is….’ to go along with their art work, and had the opportunity to fill in a feedback form where they could share what types of events and activities they would like to see moving forward. We plan to incorporate the suggestions that we got from the feedback forms into future event and activity planning.
In addition to our original plan for this event, a community member was able to get 3 bouncy castles and a on loan for the day, and so these were available for children of different age groups to use, and proved very popular.
The event was open to everyone and attracted children who live in Sunshine Valley year-round, as well as those whose family have cabins here, and those who were staying at the nearby campsite. Young people therefore got the opportunity to meet and play with other children they did not know and potentially make new friends. Two youth who are year-round residents came forward to volunteer for the event and another youth who is also a year-round resident has joined them in offering to volunteer to help with future events. We also had 2 younger children who helped make and serve popcorn, and they also said they would like to get involved with organizing and helping at any future events.
The children and youth who attended were very appreciative of the free event and the opportunity to connect with others in a fun and inclusive environment. Parents also noted appreciating the fact that there was music and other activities for parents to do while their children were entertained.
We were lucky in that the weather was perfect for the day which ensured we had good attendance. A lesson learned would be that we might need a ‘Plan B’ for any future similar events if the weather is too hot, too cold or too wet. Some of the activities we included would not have worked as well indoors, and it may have been more intimidating and less inviting for children and youth who are not familiar with the recreation centre to walk into the space.
