What does it mean to be included? It’s a question that Community Living Huntsville wants people to consider during May for Community Living month.
Staff, volunteers and community members were on hand today (May 18) to celebrate inclusion at a flag-raising ceremony in Huntsville’s Civic Square. The Community Living flag will fly on Town Hall as a reminder that every resident of our town deserves to be treated equally.
“One of the important things about celebrating the work of Community Living and the work they do is celebrating what Huntsville already is, and that’s an inclusive, engaged, caring community where we work hard, we play hard but we also care about our neighbour and we see our neighbour as our neighbour – nothing more, nothing less,” said Mayor Scott Aitchison. “We are all God’s creatures on this earth and we all matter and Huntsville I think is one of those places that really embraces that.”
Following the flag raising, the group shared a video about Don Eagles, who many will remember as the man who kept Huntsville’s Main Street clean even if they don’t know his name. (Read about Don on Doppler here.)
“Every year, we hope (the flag) will have more meaning to more people,” said Cathy Stroud, Executive Director of Community Living Huntsville, adding that as they do more events in the community, more people become aware of why inclusion is so important.
In addition to flying the flag at Town Hall, Community Living Huntsville’s building will be aglow with the organizations colours – blue and green – in keeping with the theme of the month, “Shine a Light on Community Living.”
Community Living Huntsville invites all community members to attend one of its upcoming inclusion tours to learn more about the work they do to support people with developmental disabilities. The next three are on May 25 from 4:30-5:30pm, June 1 from 4:30-5:30pm, and June 14 from 8:00-9:00am.
They are also presenting “Being Realistic Isn’t Realistic—A Different View on Disability and Autism” on Thursday, May 26 from 7:00-8:30pm at Huntsville Public Library. The speakers, Norman Kunc and Emma Van Der Klift, are advocates within the disability rights community and use humour to drive social change. Norman was born with cerebral palsy; Emma was recently identified as having autism. The event is free to attend.
Community Living Huntsville recently held an Investing in Inclusion breakfast, attended by more than 200 community members. Event organizers aren’t releasing the official fundraising total from the breakfast just yet, but said it was very successful and they are thrilled with the commitment local community members have made in support of inclusion. The funds raised will support community members who are falling through the cracks because they are ineligible for provincially-funded programs. Learn how you can Invest in Inclusion here.
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Debbie Kirwin says
Mayor Aitchison hit the nail on the head. Huntsville is well known through out the province as an inclusive community . Well done Community Living, sorry I missed today’s event.