The Building Capacity Project Newsletter
As April showers morph into May flowers and tangible signs of new growth and opportunity seem to pop up everywhere, the Building Capacity Project is excited to announce a number of exciting events amongst our partners.
NORTH WEST DEMENTIA WORKING GROUP TURNS TEN
Over 80 people gathered at Thunder Bay’s Urban Abbey on April 28th to mark the tenth anniversary of the North West Dementia Working Group, Canada’s most well known dementia advocacy organization. Past and present members of the NWDWG were in attendance alongside participants from “Dementia Café: A Place to Belong”, special invitees from Lakehead University, and CERAH staff and researchers.
And, of course, there was cake!
Also, Dementia Garden Committee Members took the opportunity to officially announce their dementia day program, “Dementia Gardens: A Place to Grow.” This exciting initiative will focus on outdoor native plant gardening for people living with dementia and their families including the incorporation of an outdoor day program or green care farm for people living with dementia. As NWDWG member Bill Heibein said in his event remarks, “As I continue to own and operate a 150-acre farm operation, I applaud this new garden project and its purpose of getting people with dementia outside and playing in the dirt.” The committee hopes to expand the program to include special community and family days as well. Check out a video of the program vision here.
DUNBAR RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION KICKS OFF NEW PARTNERSHIPS
Dunbar Residents Association is working through some new community initiatives in partnership with the Alzheimer Society of BC and Vancouver Public Library to build out more dementia-inclusive programming in the neighbourhood. They’ve been consulting with the City of Vancouver’s Seniors Advisory Committee as well as a local Dunbar neighbourhood-based seniors’ group to identify needs and priorities, and they plan to tap into other local grassroots networks to build momentum and reframe dementia as a community issue, rather than something people face alone. Stay tuned to hear more as they go.
DEMENTIA CO-CREATION ACADEMY
One of the BCP’s newest community partners, Dementia Co-Creation Academy, has hit the ground running with 26 dementia-related workshops on the calendar over the next while starting with the “Hi-Five Club.” This lively gathering will be held the third and fourth Saturdays of May and June and will include fun, joy, art, games, storytelling, physical therapy, presentations and more.
You’ll find a complete list of DCCA event dates, locations, and topics fro the year here.
And you can view their website here.
SOUTH GRANVILLE SENIORS CENTRE HOSTS FIRST SPANISH SPEAKING CAFÉ
At the end of April, SGSC welcomed the local Latin community for their first Spanish-speaking Happy Memories Café. Participants and program facilitators thoroughly enjoyed their time at “Happy Memories Café" and are excited the event is scheduled to run once a month going forward. Happy Memories Cafe was born from the desire to create a welcoming space where people with dementia, their families, and companions could come together to enjoy, learn, and create lasting memories together.
For more information, please contact Spanish Outreach Coordinator Danna Garcia.
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