Community Living Month

Celebration

October 7, 2009

The History of Community Living Month

Building on an idea first conceived by members of the Victoria Association for Community Living, BCACL launched a community development initiative called "Celebrating the Spirit of Community Living" in 1996. This project encouraged members of community living associations and their community partners to plan events during the month of October which would celebrate the gifts and talents that people with developmental disabilities bring to their communities. The project generated great enthusiasm and the idea began to expand. Inspired by the tremendous success of others, organizations across the province and country began to adopt October as a time to celebrate community living.

It is now an annual tradition for municipalities throughout the province. The BC government and the Canadian Association for Community Living have joined with us to proclaim Community Living days and weeks during the month of October.

The BCACL Board of Directors first endorsed October as Community Living Month in June 1998. Designating the whole month for celebrating Community Living enables groups to choose days or weeks during October that best suit their community, or to host events throughout the month if they wish.

During Community Living Month, various Nanaimo agencies host an annual celebration to kick off the month. That celebration consists of a Kickball Tournament, a BBQ, a Dunk Tank and the creation of art murals. Agencies hosting the event are Nanaimo Association for Community Living, Ladysmith Community Link, Explorer Day Program, Skanna, Claytree and Nanaimo Supportive Lifestyles. Funds donated at the BBQ, Dunk Tank and raised from the sale of the previous years art murals go to a different local charity each year. That charity is chosen by vote of participating agencies and is not related to services for people with disabilities specifically, but rather our community as a whole. It is a chance for people with disabilities to show that they are valued, contributing members of their community and we have raised money for Haven House and the 7-10 Club over the first two years.

The event is open to the public and we also encourage participation from the secondary schools in the central island region. It is a day of fun, celebration (and often inclement weather) where we invite our community to enjoy a day where we promote the ideals of Community Living. Thank-you to our sponsors, Quality Foods for the BBQ, and Nanaimo Minor Baseball for providing umpires!

This years event will be held on September 29th at Gyro Park on the corner of Wentworth and Kennedy Street from 10 am to 2pm. For poster click here. Community members are most welcome to come out and join a team for kickball. BBQ hosted by NACL, dunk tank by Explorer, music by Skanna and Claytree will host an event as well. Ladysmith Community Link will be hosting their annual community art project.

Game Schedule:

Diamond 1(A):

10:00 am Nanaimo Supportive Lifestyles vs CLBC

11:00 am Skanna vs. CLBC

12:00 pm Skanna vs. Nanaimo Supportive Lifestyles

1:00 pm Final game for Kickball Cup

2:00 pm Trophy Presentation, pictures

Diamond 2(B):

10:00 am Claytree vs. NACL

11:00 am Claytree vs. Explorer

12:00 pm Explorer vs. NACL

Congratulations to Skanna as the winners or our third annual Kickball Cup.

Kickball Tournament:

Thank-you to all the teams at our third annual Community Living Day Event.

Nanaimo Association for Community Living
Community Living British Columbia
Skanna
Explorer Day Program
Claytree
Nanaimo Supportive Lifestyles

A special Thank-you to Quality Foods for sponsoring the food for the BBQ and to NACL for doing such a great job keeping everyone fed.

Nanaimo Supportive Lifestyles Ltd.

225-285 Prideaux Street, Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada V9R 2N2
Telephone: (250) 753-0332

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Site Last Updated August 15, 2007