To quote the chickadee, “Spring’s Here!”
Welcome to Sherwood Heights, The Trees, in Spring. The plants are springing back to life, the birds and wildlife are returning to our area, and the sound of seasonal allergies can be heard echoing throughout our community streets. Isn’t it marvelous?
That being said, the SHCL kicked the season into high gear by hosting our first-ever Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast. It was accompanied by the 2nd Annual Plant and Seed Swap all of which was hosted at the Sherwood Heights Park and Rink on Sunday, May 14. The event was held in cooperation with the Strathcona County Museum & Archives, the Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association, Salisbury Greenhouse, Modern Keepsakes, Ravenwood Music Festival, with the help of Strathcona County all in the hopes of raising awareness and support for the Strathcona Food Bank to help support food security within our neighborhood. It was attended by 70+ people and included a card making activity and seed-planting activity so that all mom’s, or that someone special, could receiving a meal, a card, and a gift on Mother’s Day. We also made some new loveable friends and were given awesome entertainment by Sherwood Barks Disc Club; a friendly competition showcasing talented four-legged friend’s disc fetching ability, when we unknowingly set up shop in the area next to them.
All-in-all it was a wholesome way to spend a few hours together as a community and we want to thank everyone that participated by showing up to support us or by volunteering at the event. Many hands make less work and our volunteers went above and beyond to problem solve and provide a great event.
The breakfast was entirely funded by-donation with no admission cost. It was a social experiment to try a “pay what you can afford or don’t pay at all” mentality. The results were that we were able to raise around $300.00 for our league and will be doing an event such as this again really soon. It was an incredible success and we enjoyed the “it all comes out in the wash” feeling that the event imbibed.
Prior to the Mother’s Day Event, and by popular demand, we co-hosted a “Learn to Macrame” event with The Knotty Jungle teaching 11 of our attendees how to create their own macrame feather wall-hanging. The evening was a complete success with lots of smiles and laughs. It was hosted at the Strathcona County Museum and Archives and we were surrounded by artifacts making the event unique, challenging, and entertaining all at once. We have already received requests to do it again, so we will see what we are able to do.
We have many more events coming down the line, including a Learn to Crochet Class and Super Smash Bros Tournament at the Museum, and lots of collaborations so keep posted to our website and social media if you want to find out what we are up to. It’s changing all the time, we are a VERY busy small group of volunteers. We can always use help, so if you are interested in volunteering, we would love to meet you. Send us an email or come to our monthly meeting at the museum and get to know us. It’s a great way to meet your neighbors and make new friends in the area.
Also, if you are looking for an easy way to help us out without having to spend any time at all, you can purchase a $25 annual household membership. It’s a great way to help us fund more and more activities and
services. As our way of trying to make it worthwhile for you we will give your family discounts off admission prices at our paid events and perks/discounts at local businesses, organizations, and supporters.
It must be spring too because our list of friends is growing! We have added Lead Head Lures to our list as well as Modern Keepsakes! (Details coming soon). Our current vendor of the month is Oxygen Fitness and Yoga, where they have offered 10% off of their Drop-In Classes, All Punch Card Passes, and Yoga Mat Purchases. A BIG thank you to them for their support, they are a fantastic group to work alongside. We also have our previous vendor of the month AnyTing Yoga that will give you 15% off their classes AND we have our oldest friend Real Men Barbershop that will give you 20% Off of Haircuts! All you have to do is flash that membership card!
Finally, please communicate this information with your elderly neighbors or those that may not have the privilege of technology. We always want to thank those that print off our newsletters to deliver to their neighbors or share our posts and information with their networks. It helps to give everyone the opportunity and ability to participate to whatever level they are comfortable.
Once again, thank you for all of your support so far.
I’ll see you around the neighborhood.
-Ehren Ackerman, President of the Sherwood Heights Community League