Every day I am meeting more people!  The area surrounding St. Anthony is incredibly well served when it comes to community services.  I still have lots of people to meet, but here are a few of the people who will be working with us this year.

Social Rec Connect is a group that helps kids get connected to social recreational opportunities in the community.  They are affiliated with Christie Lake Kids and they offer an incredible service to the kids in our area.  It makes such a huge difference if kids are connected to their community recreational programs.

I think this group has lots to offer our community and I am hoping that they will be able to use some of our vacant space here in the school this year.  Any program that makes a real effort to connect kids to their community really has to be supported.

The YMCA offers an after-school program to around 30 of our students.  This includes homework help to families who are interested.  The spots in the program can be subsidized if needed.  The program will be coordinated this year by Allison Cunningham.  They will use the gym daily and have a permanent room for all of their activities on the third floor.  The YMCA will also be offering the Y Kids Academy again at St. Anthony.  This is a terrific program that encourages junior students to become more active and adopt a more healthy lifestyle.  I am so excited to have this program at our school!

Young Rembrandts is a great program that will be offered after school here at St. Anthony.  The program has worked with the YMCA before and we are looking forward to them setting up shop here at our school.  Subsidized spots will also be available for young artists who would like to take part.  These folks run a very organized program and their instructors are excellent.  They too will be located on the third floor, right next to the YMCA!

I met Cori Thompson-Smith, the coordinator of Children and Youth Services today.  The Centre runs a wide variety of programs for all ages.  They run Headstart Nursery Schools, playgroups, a clothing cupboard and parent support to name just a few.  You can see the incredible range of programming here.  I am sure that we will be doing lots of creative work together this year to better serve our community.

So – these are just a few of the groups that will be working with us this year.  There are more, but this is enough for one post.  I really see that St. Anthony is a hub for the community.  We offer facilities for Dalhousie Day Care, the YMCA, soon hopefully Young Rembrandts and Social Rec Connect and we want to do more.

If you have ideas, please let me know!