WESTLOCK — The Westlock and District Chamber of Commerce welcomed the Westlock Library and the Westlock CONEX coalition Sept. 17 for the chamber’s monthly meeting.
While Westlock Library board chairperson, Kathy Kieser shared information on the library’s five-year plan of service, Westlock CONEX coalition members Michelle Rigney and Erin Chapotelle shared some information about the coalition and what they do, including their goals and community events they’ve held this year.
“The mission for the Westlock CONEX is to build community and family capacity through collaboration and engagement,” said Chapotelle.
The Westlock Community of Networking Excellence (CONEX) coalition today aims to create and support healthy drug and alcohol-free events in the community, encourage intergenerational collaboration, coordinate and share meaningful resources and promote and sustain the coalition.
Each year, the organization receives funding in the amount of $5,000 through Alberta Health Services community capacity grant, which they put towards activities and events, such as a pop-up park party that was held earlier this summer and a community scavenger hunt, that was held in February.
“We tried to showcase some of the green spaces within Westlock, as well as some of the agencies, resources, different places that families and community members maybe didn’t know about or might want to know a little bit more about,” said Chapotelle, noting the pop-up party was also an opportunity to share positive, social messaging.
This year, the Westlock CONEX coalition also assisted with the blanket exercise during the Town of Westlock’s annual Day of Truth and Reconciliation event Sept. 19, and have provided ongoing cooking programs for youth, as well as brought in and shared display boards provided by Alberta Health Services, titled ‘addictions don’t discriminate’. The boards detailed personal stories of the journey taken by people with addiction and how it changed their lives and their families.
“It was just another way we could talk to the community and raise that awareness around alcohol and drug addiction,” said Chapotelle.
