The first thing Cassandra Groen did when she took on the role of Director of Recreation Services was listen. Her focus, she says, has always been on the community development aspect of recreation and she wanted to make sure that the services she was offering and the programs she was running were meeting the needs of the community. While that can take the form of needs assessments and surveys, her preferred method is to attend other community events and talk to people one on one.

One new initiative she has already kicked off is Dish and Dine, which addresses food security with a collaborative cooking program that shares recipes that use the most common food bank ingredients. That’s not just staples, either; she worked in partnership with the local food bank to learn what was most commonly available in this location specifically to tailor the program to local needs. Another is the Silver Club Initiative which partners with three other local organisations to facilitate social programs and recreational activities for seniors.

One activity that Groen would like to see in the future is a program that features cultural sharing through food. It’s an idea that has come up before in the context of Indigenous Culture Day and the idea of a two-way - or more-way - sharing opportunity. 

“Reconciliation can be seen in many different ways,” says Groen, who is Indigenous herself. “There’s many different acts. There’s many different pathways you can go. But one of the ones that I’ve found the most impactful is sharing culture. We share and you share. It’s a give and a take. We both want to just embrace each other’s cultures.”

Groen’s dream project would be an indoor community gymnasium which could accommodate volleyball, the town’s new number one request, and basketball as well as other activities. With the schools being as overpopulated as they are, indoor recreational space can currently be hard to come by.

Removing barriers to recreation, whether those are economic, physical, or otherwise, is another goal of Groen’s. Ultimately, she sees recreation as something that gives people not just something to do but a community sense of belonging.

“I strongly believe that people should have hobbies outside of their job. It gives them a sense of purpose. Your job isn’t your identity. You need to be able to do other things as well, and that’s where you connect with yourself and with others. It’s really a sense of belonging and sense of purpose. [That’s] what leisure does.”