Francophone groups serve up food and info about their services

Local Journalism Initiative
Aug 12, 2020  •  August 12, 2020  •  2 minute read
Ludger Cloutier, a volunteer with the Centre Culturel La Ronde, mans the grill during Monday's barbecue jointly hosted by La Ronde and Centre de santé communautaire. Dariya Baiguzhiyeva/Local Journalism Initiative
Ludger Cloutier, a volunteer with the Centre Culturel La Ronde, mans the grill during Monday's barbecue jointly hosted by La Ronde and Centre de santé communautaire. Dariya Baiguzhiyeva/Local Journalism Initiative jpg, TD

Centre Culturel La Ronde and Centre de santé communautaire de Timmins teamed up to host a community barbecue Monday.

The event provided an opportunity for both organizations to showcase and promote their services.

More than 30 people attended.

“We were able to launch our programs to the community and this is a great partnership to do that for the first time, so that’s really exciting,” said Lisa Prevost, community development coordinator for the francophone community health centre based at Timmins Square.

For the month of August, Centre de santé is offering a walking club that will meet at Gillies Lake every Wednesday and Friday, and a social club on Aug. 13 and Aug. 20.

The organization will also be hosting a SafeTalk training to help community members recognize people who have suicidal thoughts and connect them to help and resources. The event will take place on Aug. 27.

La Ronde took the opportunity to unveil its new programming set to launch next year.

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“We’re hoping it’s going to be back to normal but we don’t know, so we may have to repush again to next year or modify,” said Lisa Bertrand, executive director of the francophone cultural centre. “But we wanted to show what we have in stock. There might be changes. That’s why we waited until January.”

The programming is expected to kick off at the end of January with workshops from a non-profit group Prima Danse. Participants will be able to rehearse with professional dancers and then present what they’ve learned at a show.

There is also international night which La Ronde is hosting in February in partnership with Collège Boréal and the annual Bonhomme winter carnaval.

“We’re super proud of this programming,” said Bertrand about the list of events they have lined up extending into next spring.

Events will be open for anyone to attend.

“We want to create a lot of different partnerships,” Bertrand said. “It’s for our members but we do invite all cultures, the whole community, to come out and see these shows.”

– Dariya Baiguzhiyeva/Local Journalism Initiative Reporter