Residents of Wetaskiwin are getting a unique chance to engage with their community service providers in August.
Bridging the Gap festival, happening on August 10 from 11 am to 4 pm at Jubilee Park, is “an opportunity to network and an opportunity for the people in the community to see what’s available for community services," says Damion Jones.
Jones is the executive director of the Breaking the Chains Coalition, a roughly three-month-old nonprofit that provides day programming for individuals at the Hope Mission shelter. The coalition program brings interested folks from the shelter to Water Works Studios on Wednesdays for programming. According to Jones, those programs lead to many productive conversations about local services and how to bridge the gap between them. It is what inspired him to host the Bridging the Gap festival in the first place.
"We wanted to throw an event in the summer where we can showcase stuff that we are doing but also bring it into the community and have some of our participants from the shelter give back to the community as well," he says.
Local community service providers, as well as a few from out of town, will have information booths set up throughout the day. There will be speakers presenting and live music as well as a showcase of local vendors. The festival will get started with a pipe ceremony at 10 am.
Organizers hope that a fun day in the park will lead to connection, community, compassion, and realizing our shared commonalities. Jones wants people to leave the event knowing what types of services are available to them and with a newfound empathy for all types of community members.
“We’re just trying to get the community engaged and compassionate," he says. "We just want to start there.”
Bridging the Gap will be free to attend and is possible with support from Wordly Vibes, Water Works Studios, Mankind Project, Eclectic Witch Inner Circle and Next Gen Employment.
