Synergy youth programs have not skipped a beat with their first pilot virtual session taking place on Tuesday, March 17th. Since then, they have been able to meet virtually with all of their youth groups regularly (YELL, SHOUT, Friday Fam) with the exception of the school programs – they are awaiting connection with school administrators to hopefully begin those programs virtually as well. Staff are calling or video-chatting with each individual youth participant and/or their parents to keep their connection strong and to offer resources as needed. The Synergy team feel deeply honoured to be able to maintain our relationships throughout these unprecedented times.
Their collaboration meetings (ie. Langdon Community Collaborative and Chestermere Area Mental Health Coalition) have been postponed but they are determined to set those up virtually as well. Synergy is in close contact with their Not for Profit partners through weekly facilitated virtual meetings. They are also consistently reinforcing the messages as stated by Alberta Health and the Chestermere Emergency Management Agency (CHEMA) as well as role modelling social distancing practises wherever and whenever possible.
Synergy started a social media campaign the week of March 16th that focuses on positive messages that spark joy and valuable resource information. YELL is currently planning for the same, from a youth perspective, as per the request of CHEMA. The concept of “Synergy” has never rang more true than now: we are all in this together.
On March 23rd YELL led volunteers to complete a food drive that collected almost 500 pounds of food and over $200 in cash for the Chestermere Regional Food Bank. The SE Rocky View Bank’s shelves are currently full, but they have offered the same efforts to them, should they require our support in the future. Donors were asked to place donations on their front steps and volunteers were provided routes for pick ups in their own vehicles. They then brought all the food back to our van where it was unloaded and taken to the Food Bank. This plan allowed for excellent social distancing and worked very well – Synergy was delighted by the outcome.
Although their office doors are locked to the general public, the Synergy team continue to have one individual in the office everyday with the others working from home. Counselling services are very much available – accessible by phone or video conferencing as well. Synergy will be rolling out additional connection opportunities over the weeks to come.
The Centre for Community Leadership has been professionally ‘deep-spring-cleaned’ so when they are able to re-open the doors, it is in ‘like new’ condition for program and service delivery.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions you might have or if you are aware of a youth or community need that Synergy might be able to help with. 403-212-0242 extension 1 or involved@yoursynergy.ca For more information: www.yoursynergy.ca
