Chestermere Cares

With the snow now falling and that crisp smell to the air, it’s hard to believe that just four months ago Chestermere was dealing with the worst weather related disaster in its history. Homes, streets and business flooded as the perfect combination of rain, no power and a stalled weather system slammed our community.
Anyone who knows Chestermere knows that in instances of emergency, our community always bands together and takes care of its own. Whether it be a huge dump of snow, a daycare facility closing or even a flood, neighbours and even complete strangers begin offering help to those in need. That is exactly what happened in the July flooding.
In response to the floods experienced in the City of Chestermere in July 2015 an ad hoc group of community organizations, in partnership with the Human Services Advisory Board, and including local school boards, community groups and relief agencies came together to form Chestermere Cares.
Donelda Laing, Community Services Director with the City of Chestermere says, “The main purpose of Chestermere Cares is to understand and respond to some of the emotional impacts of the flood. Learning from other communities that have experienced events, Chestermere Cares is looking at what resources can support residents and how we can access some of these resources for Chestermere residents”.
Over the next few months you will see more information from Chestermere Cares as they provide training and workshop opportunities to the community as well as working closely with the Family & Community Services team at Chestermere Municipal Office. A few that will be coming up are:
• EPrep – Emergency preparedness for families, how you can be better prepared physically and emotionally for an emergency event that effects your home
• Grief and Loss: there are many losses that impact families, including emergency events such as the flood
Many residents are finding that in the initial crisis of the flooding, they were in ‘fix it mode’, but it’s over the course of the passing months or those firsts that come up and precious belongings were lost that people are finding they were more affected by the flood than they thought. The Chestermere Cares group is proving to be a very helpful resource for those, no matter in what degree, were affected by the July flooding.
If you’d like to connect with Chestermere Cares you can e-mail them at chestermerecares@chestermere.ca or if you