Blog 4

As I said in my previous blog - the town council of Invermere is very "experienced" in life (all 60+ years old) They have a tough time changing. They like to stick to what they believe in, and have a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality. The only way that I could get my idea into the council and maybe plant a seed in there heads, if I could just find someone that loves sports. The values of my community is sports, cooperation and 'closeness' (locals stick together) The business owners all get along and help out each other when in need. I know there are lots of people there that would love to see a rec centre built. There was big change in the council that could go in my favour.

 I recently found out that the President of the junior hockey team there, now sits on the town council. I was ecstatic to hear that! I will be returning back home for reading break and hopefully I can sit down with him and give him my thoughts and ideas.

Even though Invermere is very small and everyone knows everyone, there is still a time of year where Invermere grows to triple its population. 

Invermere is a vacation town, over 50% of the houses there are owned by people that are not locals. They come from mainly Alberta or the US. Most of them are fairly wealthy and live out there for the months of July and August. There are multiple famous people that have houses out there, such as Brett Wilson from Dragons Den, Mike Vernon, Mike Green and John Davidson. Getting any one of those guys to jump on board behind this project would help with persuading the council and maybe they would help out financially. The businesses there are always helping out the community so I would ask them if they would be interested in donating money in the efforts of eventually building a rec centre.

If i want to get this idea out there, I think quantity is better than quality. In the summertime, I am going to get a petition or survey going, with hopes of getting names of people that would like to see a rec centre. Eventually, I would get a "Citizens Board" together and propose a business plan on how/why/where we could build this rec centre.

Cross your fingers.

My Community

The community that I am apart of is the community of Invermere BC.  I was born and raised in this community and I still call this place home every summer. Invermere is located in a the columbia valley; which is right between the Rocky and Purcell Mountains. We have hiking trails and a beautiful lake to fish and boat on.

Sports are a very important part of this community. The community is full of people playing soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf. You name a sport we play it. I love being apart of this community but I feel like we are not living to our full potential. We do not take full advantage of the resources that we are given. Sure we have slo-pitch leagues in the summer and rec hockey in the winter. I would say about 90% of the community either watch hockey or play hockey.

I have 2 CD ideas that I wish our council would look into:

1)

 There are so many athletes that come out of Invermere. NHL goalie Wade Dubielewicz is from Invermere and as well as Olympic skier Manny Paradis. Sure these guys started playing their sports here but they never return here to train in the the off-season because our gym is still in the 1970's era. It is impossible to rent ice in our valley unless you want to play late late at night. I wish there was another ice surface. To enhance the overall quality of life in this town I would propose that the community build a sports complex that has all theses things. Things like a fully functional gym, squash courts, gymnasiums, ice surfaces. To me and a lot of other people in the community, it is a necessity.

2)

The only problem with getting a sports complex (other than the $$ of course) is the people that are on the town council. Each council member is over the age of 60. I don't mean to complain, but the only thing that Invermere has for "community fun" is curling tournaments and fishing derbies. It is impossible for them to adopt the idea Kimberley has with "July-Fest" (www.kimberleyjulyfest.com) I wish that every year we would have a "Invermere Days." Just to show and celebrate all of the great things that we have in our community. Have ball tournaments, wake board competitions, concerts, and yes maybe even a damn fishing derby! For one weekend, let the whole town CELEBRATE together.

Alas, myself and many other people before have tried to get one of these going, but it is just so hard to get the support of the council. They would rather be playing croquet and bingo. ( I am just being facetious about that last point)

Invictus

Nelson Mandella is a man that was in jail for a crime he did not commit. He was battered and bruised and was treated like an animal. Yet, when he was released from prison, he had a positive outlook on life and wanted to make a change in his country. He wanted every citizen to be treated equal. This where step one of the leadership circle takes place, "The agent of change." Nelson realizes that the country is in chaos and wants to be the person to change that. He decides to run for President of S.A. He makes promises to the people if they vote fom him to become president, he will make a change in the community.

After he is elected president, he follows through with his promises and immediately goes to work. He starts by improving the workplace in his own building (step 2. Commitment to continuous improvement) He shows his leadership by getting all of the employees, that work for him, together and tells them that if they do not believe in what he is trying to accomplish, then they do not have to stay working from him at the president office.

To get all of the citizens together and believing that they can make a change, Nelson must find a common interest between the blacks and whites. He decides that he will work with the rugby team on winning the world championships. He realizes that if the team does well, the whole country will jump on their backs and unite together. (Step 3, Big Picture)

Neslon attends every game and speaks at his speeches about the team.(step 4) He encourages the citizens to attend these games and to join together and support the country as the make their push to win the world cup. As the team does better and better the riots and fighting stop, the people starts to unite and become one stable country.(step 5) Joining arm and arm as they fight against racism and violence.

As his presidency nears end, he leaves the country as strong as ever, No longer will there be racism, and the whites and blacks are formed together to make one whole community. (step 6)

Article Review

Karhioo, E. (2009, December ). Reframing physical activity programs for aboriginal communities. Well Spring, 20(6), Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3pKQajHE5jJM2Q5YTYxYjItYjUyNC00ZDM5LTllNjEtMGJhOThlYzllNjNj&hl=en&ndplr=1&pli=1

This article starts of by explaining the importance of health and fitness in the world today. That because of all the fatty foods in our world, obesity is starting to grow more and more throughout our population. The author of this article explains that most of the population is starting to eat healthier, exercising more and starting to join more fitness programs (i.e. yoga, spin classes, running clubs.) With hope of getting their bodies in better shape. While the aboriginal population is more reluctant to join these programs because it either conflicts with their cultural practices or because they do not want to join the program, unless a majority of their peers do. The aboriginal population is "growing 6 times faster" (Karhioo, 2009) than non-aboriginals. Aboriginals are "2-3 times more likely to get diabetes" (Karhioo, 2009). It is important to start community programs that keep the aboriginals active and health conscious. The author gives examples of programs that the aboriginals might want to join and how to respect their cultures, while still adding in the necessary activities.

The main components of this article, is the concern for the health and well-being of the aboriginals. The author stresses that in order to get the aboriginals to join these programs, we must make the programs meet the needs of the community. We need to develop a recreational community that entails all of traditional aspects of the aboriginal culture. The four main components of the aboriginal culture is the health of the mind, body, heart, and spirit. As community developers we need to respect these components and build a program around this.

This article shows that there are numerous different communities out there with different beliefs. It is hard to make one program that will satisfy all the communities out there. It is important to get to know your community before you start to design a rec program for them. There are factors that every planner must investigate and analyze if they want this program to thrive in the desired community.

This article ties right in with community development because it is about encouraging aboriginals to join recreational programs and the importance of developing programs that respect their cultures. The community is the aboriginals, they all have their own beliefs and traditions. Our goal is to get the communities to join these recreational programs in hopes of getting them healthier and also expanding their borders in communication with other communities that are out there.