Adam Joiner  Director of Programs | Boys & Girls Club of Ottawa

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“We run a whole bunch of programs—physical activity, health and wellness, creative arts and leadership. The goal is to teach social skills. When the newcomers arrived, we held a fair that saw 60 new families come through our doors. Even with language barriers and the issues they were dealing with, you could see the pressure coming off the families when they realized they had all this support from the community.

It wasn’t just one organization, it was everybody.

There was a young family that came in and they were nervous. The mom walked the little girl to the arts and crafts room and the girl’s face lit up. It was like ‘I can do whatever I want here?’ You could see the mom slowly stepping back and you could feel the relief, that now she can just be a mom and know that her daughter was safe with us. That little girl has been back to the club again and again.

I was so impressed with the amount of support that everyone in Ottawa wanted give. It wasn’t just one organization, it was everybody. Volunteers, staff, organizations, community health centres and recreation centres. Everybody wanted to be a part of it because everyone recognized the intrinsic value of helping people.”

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Many local organizations extended or created new recreation programs for Syrian and other newcomer families in 2016.

Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa
City of Ottawa-Recreation Programs
Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres Ottawa
Rideau Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre
Youth Program-YOCISO