Wetaskiwin pitches in for Sign of Hope

'Friend-raisers' help local group raise profile of CSS

- photo supplied A Family Day 'friend Raiser' at Lake Park is but one of the Wetaskiwin events that raises the profile of the Sign of Hope.

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Wetaskiwin

Catholic Social Services’ annual Sign of Hope campaign officially kicks off Oct. 23 but in the Wetaskiwin-Camrose region it’s almost a year-round event.

The region organizes several awareness events for Sign of Hope throughout the year to prepare the community for the actual campaign, which this year started in September.

The goal for the 2008 campaign is $85,000 and as local Sign of Hope coordinator Sheila Cole puts it, “We are off to a great start.”

The campaign raised over $4,000 through a Filipino Fiesta put on by the Filipino community at the Moose Hall Sept. 26. Some 250 people attended the event, which consisted of typical Filipino dishes and entertainment.

And on Oct. 16, a Boston Hope Party is slated for the local Boston Pizza Restaurant, whose owner, Dave Dowler, is chair of this year’s Sign of Hope campaign.

The event was to run from 11 a.m. until closing. Last year the campaign raised $3,000 through the event, during which Sign of Hope volunteers help serve food to restaurant patrons.

Cole said 10 per cent of the day’s sales, 20 per cent of pizza sales and 100 per cent of tips go towards the campaign. “The servers give up all their tips that day.”

In addition to helping serve food, volunteers explain the campaign to patrons and sell pizza slices made out of paper for $2 and $20 each.

“If you buy a slice, you put your name on it and then we put it up on the wall,” Cole said Oct. 13. “So we try to sell as many paper slices as possible and decorate the whole restaurant and the lounge.”

A similar Boston Hope Party is held in Drayton Valley every November.

The Sign of Hope campaign provides funding for social programs that aren’t covered by the government. Last year the campaign raised $85,000 in Wetaskiwin.

Different events

“In Wetaskiwin we have different events that run different times of the year,” Cole said, referring to awareness campaigns or “friend-raisers” held by CSS to promote the Sign of Hope and the different programs offered by CSS.

Sheila Cole

One is held each year on Family Day in February. The event is free to anybody and everybody and is held at Lake Park. “And we provide free hot dogs, donuts, coffee and hot chocolate,” Cole said.

“So we encourage families coming out together, celebrating together the day. We don’t raise money that day. It’s awareness and friend-raising. We make people aware of who we are and what we do.”

Rotary Club

The Wetaskiwin Rotary Club also takes part in the event.

“So alongside the Rotary Club we provide all the food, sleigh rides, face painting, different activities and all the free food,” Cole continued. “The point of this (Family Day) activity is awareness for the Sign of Hope; and it’s bringing families together, encouraging families to come out as a unit.”

And for more than 15 years now fairways and greens of Montgomery Glen Golf and Country Club were full of golfers July 11 as part of a Catholic Social Services friend-raiser.

Like the Family Day event, the golf tournament is not meant to raise funds for the campaign but to raise awareness.

“It’s to build awareness and do as much as we can to get the word out,” Cole said. “We have a lot of community donors because we raise awareness about the campaign (throughout the year).”

Sign of Hope dollars go mostly toward family counselling services provided by CSS in the Wetaskiwin-Camrose region.

CSS also offers residential programs for mentally challenged people.

“We have children’s homes, we have outreach programs that allow people to live in the community with support and we have host families that take in clients with mental challenges,” Cole said. “We have 19 residential programs that we operate. Four are children’s homes and 15 are for the mentally challenged people.”

CSS has more than 120 staff in the Wetaskiwin-Camrose region.

Russ Kyba, current chair of the CSS board and a Wetaskiwin resident, said the purpose of the Sign of Hope Campaign is to provide funding for programs that are not funded by the government.

One such program — apart from counselling — is the Fetal Alco hol Spectrum Disorder program, which provides direct support, community outreach, advocacy and information sharing to assist children and families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

This program also provides training and workshops to other professionals, agencies and organizations about FASD.

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter