Community Village and Grande Prairie Volunteer Services Bureau officially open new classroom

Several charities and sponsors stepped up to help foot the bill including the County of Grande Prairie and the Rotary Club of Grande Prairie.

The County of Grande Prairie ended up putting over $20,000 towards the new room.

The Community Village is already home to several classrooms that are used primarily by Grande Prairie Volunteer Services Bureau.

Hywel Williams, facility manager for Communty Village, was one of the key figures who helped get this new classroom built, he says there is a lot of features that community and volunteer groups will be able to use.

“I think it’s going to be used a lot. What it contains is state of the art projectors and infrared technology. People that utilize classrooms a lot have the latest tools at their disposal. We also have a very good video conferencing system that not for profits and social service agencies can use at a reasonable price.”

Minister Aheer told EverythingGP that its great to see the Volunteer Service Bureau to have a new classroom like this.

“Volunteers are the heartbeat of these communities, absolutely nothing gets done without them. They know and understand what is needed in these communities.”

“Places like this and being able to build spaces like this really gives a space for people. They are providing services, they are making sure that the volunteers are there, they have information for people, all of that stuff. I feel pretty proud to be here.”

Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, a 45-60-minute meeting took place inside the room with Minister Aheer.

Included in the meeting was Carol-Anne Pasemko, the Executive Director of the Volunteer Services Bureau, Reeve for the County of Grande Prairie, Leanne Beaupre, Grande Prairie City Councillor, Eunice Friesen and several other key names from various organizations around the Peace Region.

Meeting taking place inside the Grande Prairie Volunteer Service Bureau between Minister Aheer and members of the City and County of Grande Prairie and various other organizations. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing.

The meeting led by Pasemko, gave Aheer some background and details regarding what the Bureau does year-round and about how big of an impact they have in the community.

Members of the meeting also stressed to Aheer the need for more funding, as COVID-19 has stretched the funds and workload for many volunteer organizations.

Minister Aheer spoke after about what she took away from the meeting.

“The biggest take away is that all of us in this province and globally are really going to have to work together to leverage the dollars that we have. Its really tough times for everybody and with COVID, its had an impact on absolutely everything.”

“To see organizations like this to be able leverage the dollars that they have is really impressive. And its just going to be about how we collaborate and find different cooperative organizations to work together, because there’s never been a more important time where you have corporation, public sector, private sector, everybody working together to really make sure that organizations like this have sustainability.”

Minister Aheer will stay in Grande Prairie for September 26, she is going to be attending the Caribbean Fashion Show as well as visiting some other organizations within the city and she will also be touring around with Minister Tracey Allard.

by Shane Clausing

Community Village and Grande Prairie Volunteer Services Bureau officially open new classroom

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