My family and I were in Canmore this past weekend to enjoy a change of scenery from our

basement TV room. It was warm and sunny, contrasting with the snow-capped peaks visible

from town. In a way, that scenery speaks to the change of events we are witnessing right now. It

is still winter, but spring is looking at us from around the corner. The snow is melting, the sun is

getting a little warmer, and vaccines are rolling out. Maybe, please and thank-you, perhaps our

pandemic weary souls are seeing some hope?

As I write this, the Government of Alberta just announced a full transition into Phase 2 of the

new reopening plan. That means our community centre is able to open up to more activities

again. This is great news! Something we have been waiting a long time to hear. We certainly

look forward to adding more activities and programs as we can with this re-opening.

Even if there is still some uncertainty to what the next few months will look like, one thing for

certain, is that our community engagement is still strong. We put out a soft call for donations on

our website to help fund our ice rinks for the season, and wow the community sure stepped up!

Our goal was a lofty $1,000 to help with maintenance of the rink and some needed repairs to

our equipment. That goal was achieved and then some with the community generously donating

$1,125 towards our rink maintenance. Our community cannot be thanked enough for their

selflessness in helping us reach our goal. This will certainly pay off next season.

As I look back to the first few months of the year, there was a lot of uncertainty in what the future

would look like. Hopefully with this transition into spring, the vaccines, and hopefully, a more

stable reopening, we will have more stable steps forward.

I sure hope that the next few months bring some continued positive news. And that we can start

to come together as a community and give each other the human support that we have all been

missing, and craving lately.

Stefan Bell