Local Newspaper Raises Awareness of Assets
Following the “Everyone’s an Asset Builder” workshop, the local newspaper owner, Bill Johnston, promoted the assets in his weekly paper, The Four Town Journal. For five months he published “150
Ways to Show Kids You Care” and “40 Ways Anyone Can Build Assets” on the front page of his weekly newspaper.
Local Schools Promote Assets
The assets are also being encouraged by the schools in our area. Good Spirit School Division, which includes Langenburg and Churchbridge schools, has set up a “Caring and Respectful Schools” committee that meets regularly. Local student and staff representatives participate. Principal Alisa Leidl, in co-operation with the Sunrise Health District, will be administering the “Attitudes and Behavior” and “Me and My World” surveys to establish a local data base at Churchbridge Public School. “Having data from the community helps to make the need for building assets real,” says Leidl, whose recent master’s thesis, “Encouraging Resilience” was based on data compiled in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan. Mick Parmar, the principal at Langenburg High School, has launched the “Eagle of the Month” program. A senior and a junior student who exemplify the assets are honored each month at a school assembly. Each young person is presented with a certificate and a fifty dollar voucher or cheque which has been donated by a local business or organization. The local paper publishes a picture and a brief description of the way the student has built assets in school and community.
Future Plans
Family & Friends Community Foundation’s Little Red Car committee is dedicated to building assets in co-operation with other agencies, community organizations and schools.
