Victoria Health and Wellness Fair

[Aaron]

Hi Everyone,

Long Post Alert!

I am organizing the Victoria Health and Wellness Fair which will be a community engagement event for the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society (VIRCS). I have been on their Board of Directors for about 10 years...

The date of the event is August 20th... yes the same date as Tour De Victoria, I do not have control over the date so there is no use in complaining about that to me ha ha! So any of you who can put that detail aside please read on to check out the amazing progress we have made so far, and take some time to investigate the interesting possibilities for Volunteering or participation. There are endless possibilities where the club could offer real benefit and give in a meaningful way to people not yet familiar with the club.

The main goal of this event is to provide a welcoming event where the clients of VIRCS can mingle in a relaxed and safe environment with large groups of people who do not identify as newcomers. It will be a One-Day-Fair on the 1000 block of North Park Street with a focus on Health and Wellness. This Fair will focus on all aspects of Health and Wellness including Mental Health. We expect to have all forms of indoor and outdoor physical activities, diet, healthy household products, along with all forms of Mental Health and Wellness such as positive psychology, counseling, personal growth showcased in one form or another.

There will be a trade show section where local purveyors of health and wellness products can sell their products or services. At the other end of the Fair we will have volunteers giving demonstrations of different physical activities focused on Health and Wellness at an information resource section. (bicycle riding and maintenance lessons, yoga lessons, Running workshops, positive psychology lessons, etc). In this section of the fair there will nothing for sale, only representatives and literature about all forms of Health and Wellness where individuals can meet with a health and wellness expert and ask questions. In between these two areas we will have an international (and healthy) Food Fair, this will be awesome.

I have already done a tremendous amount of background work for the event, and we are now at a point where things are becoming well defined. We have raised over $10,000 for facilitation so it will be a sizable event as it stands, but I am still raising funds... I imagine it will be a pretty cool day to be a part of. I have begun approaching large numbers of community partners and participants. Currently we have had commitments of participation from:

BDHQ-Body Dynamics
2% Jazz Coffee
Family Services of Greater Victoria
Oddfellows Victoria
Cycling BC
North Park Bikes
North Park Community Association
Alasaly Law

We are also pretty sure BC SPCA will be there hosting an adoption clinic... you now... puppies and stuff, super cute and fun for kids!

We have our website up and running at www.victoriahealthandwellnessfair.com We also own the .ca domain but it is not running yet, should be up soon... the .ca domain will help with SEO and location identification with google.

Our Facebook page is:
https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaHealthandWellnessFair
It would be great if you could like the page to get it a bit more recognition from Facebook, the Instagram account is still in the works... Christina is working on that now.

At this point we are most interested in finding people to volunteer and for people to spread the word about the trade show, the spaces are $500 each and I believe that is affordable compared to other way-less-cool events So if you want to get involved let me know, and please share the web address with anyone who you think might want to be a sponsor, trade show participant, or present in our info sessions section.

Call me any time with questions... Aaron 250-361-6986

[JamesB]

Hey Aaron - I’m going to use your first name here as I do know you quite well and on an awesomely personal level - but please pass this along to the rest of the board and crew at VIRCS … You had me at “Puppies”!!

Seriously … Puppies!? Oh my, that may well help me expedite around the TDV.

Truely, VIRCS does something incredible. I’ve seen it first hand and it’s definitely not easy. Helping someone - or more often a Family - transition from “newcomer” to “non-newcomer” is massively challenging and represents an act based more in community spirit and simple humanity that far exceeds any other I’ve ever witnessed or participated in. Totally AWESOME. … Personally, I would propose that the Puppies know this!

So count me in PLEASE/S’IL VOUS PLAIT/POR FAVOR.

Tripleshot is indeed about community too. I think you’ll find many people here who like me might recognize that they too were once in transition - in my case, as a TML Fan and someone who’s cell phone starts with 416, that “transition” might still be in progress so I can relate. My point is TS has both community muscle and diversity muscle to flex here for sure.

While I look forward to participating in the day-of events, I’d love to get involved in whatever way VIRCS might need to maybe set up and organize some bike maintenance stuff where we don’t just learn about maintenance but maybe about the “how to” in different languages… ?! I think the smile you see on people’s faces when they ride bikes though is of course universal and seems to transcend any barriers be they cultural, social or economic or other. Yeah, this really makes sense to me.

Well done Aaron/VIRCS. YES to community spirit and YES to riding bikes!

[masada]

Hi Aaron and all,

What amazing work! Sadly, I'm unlikely to be able to help out the day of but would be interested in helping out with any behind the scenes stuff leading up to the event if/as needed.

Michele

[Aaron]

Thanks Michael (and James!)

Yes there will be plenty of back-end helping opportunities! So thanks for the offer. Our current focus is to find awesome participants for our Trade Show and our Infomation Sessions... if you can think of anyone to contact great. Also we will definitely need some volunteers to help manage communications, so the we don't end up burdening the staff at the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society (VIRCS).

[JamesB]

Helluuu again Beautiful TS Folk … at a sun-filled lunch today with Aaron and Christina, I agreed to coordinate things for them here on the TS front in terms of communicating with TS and helping to put TS volunteers to work in the most appropriate manner.

The big need right now are names/volunteers for simple rides we’re planning at below C level and maybe simultaneously at the C level. Very little elevation or distance and likely at least in part within protected bike lanes. Cycling BC will be on site and we’re hoping that TS will be based out of (under) one or two TS canopies (hopefully available for that day, but yet to be confirmed).

The idea is not so much to adopt any responsibilities we don’t already as members of TS and/or as a Club. So rather than fix someone’s bike, we’d rather help them do it themselves. Same goes for escorting them on a ride.

As the event runs from 11 am to 4 pm and will be on a closed section of the street (a whole block-length actually), our idea is to have two TS jerseyed folks answering questions under the canopies while one or two might be offering tips and loaner tools for maintenance. As this is happening, we’d also like to propose to have 2 TS jersey wearing members escort a ride down the street to BHP and back at: 12 noon; again at 1 pm and again at 2 and 3 pm.

TS has community spirit and wonderful people from all ages and walks of life. We’d really like to showcase this on this of all days. So if you identify as a newcomer or recently integrated newcomer, You might in fact have more in common with the VIRCS Family we’re trying to welcome and help feel and find a sense of belonging here in beautiful Victoria.

Feel free to respond here or find me during a ride, at coffee or on Spond.
In case you have language options or a background that might lend itself to our audience better than the average Canuck might, feel free to self identify for us. Either way, we need You and would be very grateful for your help and participation.

Thanks and Happy Long Weekend Victoria … and TS!

[Aaron]

Hi everyone! I thought I would put a little update here, things are moving very quickly and in a positive direction!

To give some perspective on how great things are going I thought I would give an updated list of Our Community Partners! Everyone on this list is participating in the event in one form or another...

Harbour Cats
Victoria Royals
Victoria Ballet Academy
Float House
BC Gym
Oasis Society for Spiritual Health
Gradually Then Suddenly Counseling
Your Place Music
2% Jazz
Cycling BC
Tripleshot
Running Room - New Balance
Andrew Beckerman Fund (Victoria Foundation)
Family Services of Greater Victoria
Oddfellows Victoria
BDHQ - Body Dynamics
North Park Bikes
Lalli Care Pharmacy
Re-Buy-Cycle
North Park Community Association
Alasaly Law
City of Victoria
More to come…

We still have a little over 10 tradeshow tables to sell, these are $500 each. If any of you know local businesses that are in the area of Health and Wellness, including Mental Health etc. please feel free to pass my contact info along (cell 250-361-6986). We're trying to find participants who are "close to home" so that we can maintain a positive and Cooperative environment.

Aaron.

[JamesB]

Does TS own any canopies that aren’t permanently committed to the Youth program - aka might be available for us to use at this VIRCS grass roots community initiative on Sat, Aug 20th (same day as TdV where one would expect the other canopies to be in use)…?
… If not, any chance we might consider earmarking some budget $ as this amazing club keeps growing in both members and incredible events

[JamesB]

Update and Reminder - to please join us Saturday, Aug. 20th from 11 am to 4 pm
VIRCS Health and Wellness Fair @ 1004 North Park Street

Come take a sweet E-Bike for a test ride (Partnered with OBB);
Sample some amazing eats; Make newcomers to Victoria/BC/Canada feel just a bit more at home in our beautiful CRD;
See what CWA (Cycling Without Age) is doing here locally with their 3 tri-shaws; or just take in a yoga class, the sights and smells of a vibrant community initiative being supported by a number of fellow TSers.

We are now quite settled for Volunteers, but if you’re interested, please reach out to me - James Barry - or Aaron Hall to find out more about what we’ve got going on. We really hope You can join us (as a volunteer or not) on Aug 20th to support what we hope will become an annual event.

[JamesB]

We’d LOVE to see You and Yours this Saturday anytime between 11-4 … North Park Street just off Cook.
It’s a Free Community Health and Wellness Fair that if YOU come, is sure to be a success!

All the info and details are here on this string. 100% volunteer initiative.
It’s about community coming together to support those making tough transitions really.
You’ll see a heavy influence by bikes at this … because everyone smiles when they ride a bike and it’s a natural icebreaker for bigger social or community challenges.

VIRCS Community Health and Wellness Street Fair
Saturday, Aug 20th from 11 am to 4 pm
1004 North Park Street