A collective of local government, organizations and caring business owners are coming together to support and learn from the community's ongoing COVID-19 recovery and response. The Your Stories, Our Community project invites Squamish residents of all ages to share stories and experiences that will inform and inspire a series of actions to support residents and build a stronger community.
Residents can submit their experiences anonymously at YourStorySquamish.ca.
“Income loss, loneliness, health concerns, homeschooling, caring for dependents while working, and so much more have contributed to high levels of stress as people cope through the pandemic,” says Jaye Russell, Executive Director of Sea to Sky Community Services. “We know there are many people struggling – some in big ways and others in smaller ways, and we are asking ourselves as a community - what can we do to help? How can we support each other to be more resilient? How can we build back our community in the most thoughtful and compassionate way?”
The first phase of the project invites residents of all ages to submit their experiences via an anonymous online app. All types of experiences are welcome - whether good, bad, happy, sad, uplifting or stressful. The key is that they must be about specific things that residents have experienced.
“We want to hear a wide range of stories – both from your personal, school or work life. Think about those anecdotes and experiences that you would share with a friend on a walk, around a fire pit or with family over dinner, or that you might converse about on a job site, or during a sales call, with a close vendor or supplier, or with work colleagues,” says Mike Coyne, President of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. “When you share your experiences of the pandemic on the app, it asks you a few questions so that you tell us what was most meaningful from your perspective, this helps us see the common threads and themes as the stories come in."
Discreet in-person options are also available for those without access to the internet.
The second phase will involve convening small groups of people either virtually or safely face-to-face. This might be a group of neighbours, youth, teachers and youth organizations, seniors and the organizations that support them, small business owners, or local government, among others, to look at a group of stories shared by the community, work together to make sense of the experiences shared and identify wise action for moving forward. All stories will be anonymous, but the goal will be to identify common elements within the experiences to determine where and how extra supports within the community may be needed.
“Our goal is to identify common threads through hearing from a diversity of voices, especially those we don’t often hear from,” says Maureen Mackell, Executive Director of Squamish Helping Hands. “Some of the identified actions coming out of this may be easy and quick to implement; others may be bigger and require more effort. Some of the actions may be neighbour-to-neighbour; others may require the support of our community agencies or organizations. We all have a role to play in understanding what the community needs, and doing our part to respond.”
The intent is for the outcomes of this program to:
The collective of individuals, organizations and businesses that helped to design this program represent many different facets of the community and include:
Jaye Russell , Executive Director of Sea to Sky Community Services; Maureen Mackell, Executive Director of Squamish Helping Hands; Ashley Oakes, Executive Director of Howe Sound Women’s Centre; Deanna Lewis, Squamish Nation Councillor; Mayor Karen Elliott of the District of Squamish; Kristin Trotter Counselling & Consulting, Mike Coyne of LandSea Camps and President of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce; Kirby Brown of Sea to Sky Gondola and President of Tourism Squamish; Hasrat Grewal Gill, Settlement & Outreach Worker of Squamish Welcome Centre; and Laura Modray, Executive Director of Squamish Senior Citizens Home Society.
“I am extremely optimistic about this process and want to thank the team for their passion, ideas and energy to date,” says District of Squamish Mayor Karen Elliott. “The answers we need as a community to support each other now and into the future are there for us to uncover in the stories and experiences of this pandemic. Hundreds of experiences shared to the app would be great, thousands would be exceptional. I hope this process and the addition of no-tech and low-tech options, helps us to hear from even the quietest or marginalized voices so that we generate a complete picture of impacts, opportunities and challenges. What I love most about this process is that so many organizations are participating in this project and using this data can develop or tailor their own response and recovery plans to support our residents.”
More information and the online app for submitting an experience can be found at YourStorySquamish.ca. The various organizations participating in this project will be engaging with their clients and participants where a no-tech or low-tech option may be more helpful in collecting experiences and stories.
November 9, 2020
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