Building bridges between all communities
Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/306072
MAY 2014 • PAGE 13 Easyfinancingavailable, greatselectionofbothnewandused, hugeselectionofparts, yourallpurposedealer. Shane Lachman (204) 895-8882 shane.lachman@canamrv.com www.canamrv.com Last March 2013, Neechi Commons opened up on Euclid and Main Street, at the door step to Winnipeg's North End. The incredible development of this social enterprise has been an exciting one to watch over the years. Already a whole year of relationship building and generating great business! It's inspiring watching how community can come together and share successes! This past few months with so much going on at Neechi Commons it's hard to decide what to share. Let's start with here and now at Neechi Commons the joint Supermarket, Arts Store, Restaurant and Catering. Weekly specials have been posted and circulated through local newspapers like Grassroots News, North End Times and of course lots of social media networks of Facebook, Twitter, emails and once again flyers are being delivered door to door throughout the north end. All these efforts from staff and community it really has been a great start to a successful year of social enterprise development. Events flow continuously at Neechi Commons and the Arts Store Neechi Niche, social media has played a huge role in the success of the many events hosted throughout the year. March saw the creation of two prominent national art work installations being hosted at the same time. The first called the TRACE Project has been ongoing since early February and by mid-April completed 10,000 clay beads needed for the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Kchi Miigwech/ekosi to Rebecca Belmore's,whoisAnishnaabe from Ontario for all your dedication and sharing such an incredible achievement with our community. The other national art project originates from Edmonton, Alberta where Cree artist Dawn Marie Marchand prepared an installation for the final National gathering of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set for the end of March. Her installation is called "A Place to Hang Your Stories". A group of former Residential school students and other family members set up half day workshop to allow Winnipeg participants to create a 'brick' for the wall art installation. Art participants created over 100 paper stories to commemorate the legacy of Residential Schools. Marchand received over 1,700 bricks from across Turtle Island for the art installation. She is currently setting up the installation in cities throughout Canada and expected to bring the 10' x 10' art display to Winnipeg sometime in August. Come 'N Eat Restaurant is a busy place and has become one of the favourite community digs for the likes of the Aboriginal Youth Opportunities Leadership team (AYO), Aboriginal Circle of Educators (ACE) and the weekly Anishinaabe Toastmasters group. Things like the weekly "AYO Language Hour" hosted in partnership with Neechi Niche is held each Tuesday at 4pm right after school. Althea Guibouche the famous "Bannock Lady" of Got Bannock? can be found at Neechi Commons regularly as she sets up Thursdays feeding the hungry right across the street at Dufferin and Main Street. March 20, 2014 Neechi Commons celebrated our first year open, a 39" flat screen TV free draw garnered over 2000 ballots in just 6 weeks! So much has contributed to the great success over the year where many challenges were faced, a great deal of kinks worked out that has brought the worker owned store to a place of prominence as well as a future looking to be filled with so much more. Lots of great memories of last summer's Friday Farmers Markets, a September night of film in the parking lot, line ups for Sunday Brunch, receiving wild blueberries by the truck loads, thousands upon thousands of bannock baked and sold, Neechi Commons has seen a fantastic start to many more years of community building! Come on out to join the Neechies as we celebrate our great success! Ko'ona Cochrane Neechi Commons - Here to Stay! Produce Manager Iain Brynjolson with fresh local blueberries. www.RunningDeerResources.com RELATIONSHIPS EMPLOYMENT COMMUNITY and INDUSTRY Running DeerResources AboriginalEngagementSpecialists STRATEGY ENGAGEMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH Building between your Using our to secure new Working To learn more visit us at to promote OPPORTUNITIES TOGETHER