My Calgary

If Christine isn’t spending time with her family she is finding ways to make her community a better place to live. See the events and functions Christine is a part of in support of community living. Come back to visit this page and find out what else Christine is up to. Also look at her “Property Page” on Facebook for other great stuff.

Christine at the 2012 Crossroads’ VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION Night with MLA Moe Amery receiving recognition for community involvement.

With Moe and Alderman Andre Chabot drawing for volunteer prizes.

 

 

 

 

2012 CROSSROADS COMMUNITY CLEANUP

 

 

 

This was the forth year for the clean up in Mayland Heights and Vista Heights and as usual it was a great time of a full day of volunteers helping out their community with the assistance of Waste and Recycling Dept. at the City of Calgary. Photos L-R Mary Hajdu and Mike’s Amazing Spice Chef – Mike Proskow; Packer Trucks with Andrew and Jack; Christine Ordze; Larry Leach heading out for pickups; Mike at the BBQ; Tony Wooster’s truck heading out; John Estabrooks, Shannon Keetch, Christine Ordze and Richard; Volunteers in the “Free Store”

 

2012 CALGARY STAMPEDE

L-R Representing Crossroads at the 100th Stampede Parade with Trustee Sheila Taylor; The Princesses from Kelona, Keesha, and the Spirit of the Lake Float; Christine Stampeding with RBC Vicky Mayorga and Lucia Bermudez

CROSSROADS COMMUNITY EASTER EGG HUNT

This will be the second year that Christine has hosted the Easter Egg Hunt for the Crossroads Community.

What a blast the kids had finding all the treats the Easter Bunny left them. A quote from Christine, “Those kids were like lions after the last  piece of meat in Africa!” Looking forward to next year!

CALGARY STAMPEDE PARADE 2011

This year for the Calgary Stampede Parade, the Federation of Calgary Communities (FCC) asked to be part of the parade. There are 148 community

associations in Calgary with over 20,000 volunteers that help out throughout the year, so this is an important part of what represents Calgary!The FCC was fortunate to find the position in the parade as Pacers, enlisted to keep the entries at an equal distance from start to finish. It was a very early morning, and an interesting experience being behind the scenes with over 700 horses and 4,000 people along with 140 volunteers to make it a great parade.The excitement on the grounds had already started before we got to our positions with Kate and William there to start the parade. Even though I didn’t have the chance to see them, it was truly a treat to be amongst the cowboys and cowgirls, magnificent horses and wagons, floats and all of the Parade entries and see the smiles that it brought to several thousand spectators. Yahooo!!!! Photo: Pacing entry “Pioneers and Descendants”

CROSSROADS PRESCHOOL DEATH BY CHOCOLATE FUNDRAISER

Since 2006, the Crossroads Preschool has put on their biggest fundraiser, Death by Chocolate. For this event only women are invited and enjoy everything about chocolate accompanied by fancy cocktails, entertainment and a silent auction. This year since my youngest is in the preschool program I had the opportunity to help out at this event along with some very amazing and generous ladies whom I’m fortunate to get to know. For the fundraising part, there were about 100 items up for the silent auction and a weekend trip to Emerald Lake, BC. Many businesses in the Crossroads community donated items including myself for the auction and door prizes. This year I was asked to paint a toy box for the event and was glad to find the time to do it. At the end of the night it fetched $110, so I  was quite happy with that.The interest in this inner city preschool is a good indicator of the changes in this area and the surrounding communities. More families are moving in with school aged children adding weight to the beginning of a community cycle.

2011 Toy Box “Paper Bag Princess”                                                                           2012 Toy Box “The Lorax”

MAYLAND HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY
PARENT COUNCIL

Public schools are a very important part of a buyer’s decision for choosing their neighbourhood they’d like to live in. In fact, the National Association of Realtors conducted a survey and found out that it was one of the top four deciding factors.Back in December 2010 the Mayland Heights community came face to face with a possible English program closure in Mayland Heights Elementary. Pamela Halla, Chairperson, and myself, as Key Communicator for the schools Parent Council, with the assistance of Larry Leach who is the Publicity Director for Crossroads Community Association and a parent at the Belfast School in our community got together and developed a plan to increase enrolment and keep the program.We used brochures, community newsletters, street signs and even billboards to advertise our school and to gain support from the public. After much publicity through various media, input from the community and participation from parents of the community schools we were able to sway the Calgary Board of Education Trustees and were given the opportunity to promote our school and keep it open.

The following is various articles involving our fight to keep our school:
Parents Flight Program Closure Using an online petition and writen petition, although not recognized by the School Act as an official petition, held it’s weight along with other information gathered by parents and community members.
Parents Opposed to School Closure – Calgary Herald Part of the process for a CBE accomodation recommendation is to host a public meeting in the area of concern. Attendance was a must to show support for the community school. I was very encouraging the amount of people who attended and tough questions they asked the CBE panel. We had a packed house with people who knew their information.
Ad Campaign Give School Program Second Chance This was truly a difficult and trying process since very few (approx. 1 in 30) schools avoid closure but somehow we were successful!
Aging Schools Face Cuts This is a good article on what is happening to inner city schools and how the school system isn’t working with the community or the City.
Photo: Christine and Pamela Halla (Mayland Heights Elementary Chairperson)

CROSSROADS COMMUNITY CLEAN UP

In 2009 Christine has started and continues to organize the Crossroads Community Clean up and with the help of many generous residents this has become a worth while and appreciated event.

Photo: With Hal at Calgary’s Waste and Recycling,
Tony Wooster Community Pres. and Alderman Andre Chabot