Non-Profits

CHEP

The corona-virus crisis has cultivated a new vocabulary to support people’s efforts in responding to our “new normal” across the globe. How do we talk about the impact of lost jobs, business and school closures, and limited services on food security in our own community and already vulnerable populations when we can’t share space for conversation or host the many committed volunteer’s that are core to our operations?

For over thirty years, CHEP has worked with children, families, and communities to improve access to good food and promote food security. Like many during the pandemic, we navigated a learning curve in working out how to leverage digital tools to re-imagine ways to connect, provide, and continue to create awareness for our many programs and services. Much loved events like Seedy Saturday and the Empty Bowls Fundraiser plus our Community Kitchen Program moved online where our staff’s perpetually expanding skillset and efforts are on display through public content made available on our YouTube channel.

Currently, we are eagerly directing energy towards the upcoming growing season and rethinking a safe and impactful “new normal” for our established urban agriculture internship, the askîy project, where Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth come together to learn about growing, harvesting, and social enterprise including our mobile community markets operating through July and August. www.chep.org

CNIB

CNIB and Vision Loss Rehabilitation Saskatchewan work collaboratively to educate employers on hiring individuals with sight loss and working with our talent pool on job readiness skills including career counselling, job search, employment skills workshops, technology training, interview skills and mentorship. From early ages, we work with our participants through Kids Camps and Employment Bootcamps to enhance employability skills and promote independence. Our CNIB Talent Pool has grown by 90% this year given the pandemic and we have individuals at all skill and experience levels looking for an opportunity to showcase their talent. Through our Come to Work program, CNIB reaches out to prospective employers to talk about the benefits of hiring an individual with sight loss, such as retention, dependability and out of the box thinking. If your business is interested in exploring this opportunity, please reach out to CNIB and we would be happy to discuss our programs with them. For more information on Come to Work visit: https://www.cnib.ca/en/programs-andservices/work/im-looking-work-come-work/ about-come-work?region=sk or contact our Saskatoon office at 306-374-4545. www.cnib.ca

Gabriel Dumont Institute

On March 22, 2021, The Métis Nation— Saskatchewan Education Minister, Dr. Earl Cook, announced the successful search for a new CEO of the Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI). Lisa Bird-Wilson has been named to the top job after long-serving CEO Geordy McCaffrey announced last year he will leave to pursue new opportunities.

Lisa is a familiar face within the Institute, the community, and the province. She started her career at GDI in 1997 and has taken on a variety of leadership roles. In 2011, she published An Institute of Our Own: A History of the Gabriel Dumont Institute. As a Saskatchewan Métis and nêhiyaw writer, Lisa’s work has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies across Canada. Lisa is also a founding board member and chair of the Ânskohk Aboriginal Writers Circle as well as the founding president of the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network.

“I’ve seen first-hand the incredible impact GDI has on Métis students’ lives,” said Lisa. “I also appreciate the background and history of the struggle for Métis education in Saskatchewan. I’m thrilled to help carry forward, and build on, the Institute’s important legacy.”

Lisa will enter the new role effective April 19th with a short transition period to June 18th, when she will take over the helm as the new CEO of GDI. www.gdins.org

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