I'm so excited about our winter fun day here next week, although the lack of snow may make some of our events a little difficult (snowball rolling contest??) We have a fantastic snow hill though, thanks to the arena guys and the town guys, so make sure you bring those toboggans!

We have lots of fun free events and activities lined up for the month of February! Why not try something new this winter - speed skating, ringette, curling, zumba, snowshoeing, yoga, tuff n up boot camp sessions and more are all offered for free either over the course of the month or on our family fun day on Feb 20th! If you're not sure if you'd like to sign up for an upcoming session of zumba, yoga or the boot camp, why not come and try it out for free during February! Check out the schedule for dates and times of the free sessions:
http://www.nivervillerecreation.com/family-fitness-month.html

We're pretty excited over at the rec office! Our idea for an accessible playground and natural playground area for phase 3 of the Hespeler Park improvement project were approved by our board, and by Town Council. Not only that, but Investors Group approved our grant request and will be providing funding of $5,500 towards this project! We're in the process of applying for a Community Places grant and will be looking at other sources of revenue as well. If you work for a company that provides funding for community projects, please keep us in mind!

Round 2 of voting starts on the Aviva contest today. Our submission had almost 300 supporters last round, so PLEASE vote every day! We can do this! With that many supporters voting every day we can achieve 4,500 votes in round two, which should easily put us into semi finals (And how fabulous would it be to have a $100,000 to invest into a natural, INCLUSIVE and ACCESSIBLE playground at Hespeler Park?)

Niverville Recreation and Wellness is starting up a new project called the Community Volunteer Network. We are working to bring local organizations and event planners that need volunteers together with people from the community who want to volunteer.

We are looking for organizations to register their Call for Volunteers and community people to register as potential volunteers specifically outlining their areas of interest and availability. With the information from organizations and community members, we can begin matching volunteers with potential placements.

With this initiative we are is striving to meet three goals: One, is to make it easier for volunteers to find places where they want to give their time and to open the door for people who have thought of volunteering but weren’t sure where to go. Two, is to gather together the places in our community that need volunteers. The third goal is to highlight and celebrate the commitment of our community volunteers. Many of the great events, services, projects and programs our community offers happen because of volunteers.

As this is a new project, any feedback/suggestions are welcome as to how we can make this even more successful. Please contact Robyn at Recreation@whereyoubelong.ca

Fall sure seemed to swoop in suddenly, but no complaints here after the beautiful summer we had! Our fall programs are off and running - the first cooking class is full, photography is full, mommy and me boot camp has 16 participants (well, about 40 if you include the kids! lol), zumba is running again on Saturdays (not the 24th though!). Yoga evening class and lunchtime class are both ones that you can drop in to for only $12.

The Imagine Run is this Saturday! While I won't be running in it, I will be volunteering during it and I'm looking forward to it!

We had our first sports equipment sale this evening (there's still half an hour left). A huge flurry of activity and people during the first 35 minutes saw almost all of the shoulder pads, knee pads etc sell, but not a single skate (or pair!). No one needs skates? :)

Summer camps start next week and we can't wait! Our summer camp leader, Melanie, has been working very hard to come up with some really great activities and games to keep the kids occupied every day each week. We do offer half day options, just contact me for details!

On June 21, 2011, the Manitoba government launched a new interactive online health assessment tool exclusively for Manitobans.  Health e-Plan is designed to support Manitobans to live well and make healthier choices.   Please see the attached factsheet entitled, Health e-Plan Get connected to your health.

After completing a comprehensive online questionnaire, users will receive a personalized profile that identifies where lifestyle changes could help to reduce health risks. The assessment also helps users determine their readiness to change, set goals for improving health and provides guidance for making changes to support better health.  A unique feature of Health e-Plan is My Wellness Connections, a customized set of links that direct users to resources in their region based on the results of the assessment. 

Visit www.manitoba.ca/healtheplan  to access Health e-Plan. 

As a recreational professional, you have been identified as someone that would benefit from this assessment tool.  By blending provincial, regional and local resources, we can create supports to increase physical activity in our communities. 

We encourage you to spread the word about Health e-Plan through your network, and to help you do so we have developed the attached factsheet.

For more information, to request hard copies of the factsheet, or to provide feedback about Health e-Plan, please contact healthe-plan@gov.mb.ca.

Hope you all get a chance to get out and enjoy the nice weather while it's here!

It's the May long weekend this weekend, YES!!! I can't wait for 3 whole days off work, to get out quadding and play in the rain. I'd prefer no rain, but if that's what it's going to do, so be it! I'm from BC so I'm used to the rain anyway, haha.

I wonder what this weekend will bring?
- A certain announcement about a certain hockey team? (Darn, that's not til Tuesday.. or wait.. when? what?)
- The sharks being knocked out by Sunday? ;-)
- NO rain, so everyone can camp and garden and do other lovely outdoor stuff in MB sunshine?
Well, whatever it brings I hope that you get a chance to enjoy it. Have a wonderful weekend!