Sounds like a challenge
We found a perfectly good hacky sack while out cleaning. I'm not good at hacky sacking.
I’ve been mentioning something called the Edmonton Community Challenge, so I figure I should explain that in a little more detail.
How about right now, does that work for you? Good.
The Edmonton Community Challenge is a collaboration of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues (EFCL) and the city’s Next Gen Committee. The EFCL is the group that looks over all of the city’s 150 community leagues, leading them, guiding them, helping them out. Next Gen is a committee made up of 18-40-year olds, with the aim of attracting and retaining young, creative people in Edmonton.
They’ve teamed up, and secured $15,000 from Boardwalk Rental Communities and Telus, to get the city’s community leagues competing. Also part of the team are The Works Art and Design Festival, Capital City Cleanup, Bikeology Festival, Edmonton Bicycle Commuters, and Youth Emergency Shelter Society
The $15,000 prize, to be awarded July 1, will be for a capital project. Looking at some of the bio information from the leagues you can see where that would go. Some are talking parks, others playgrounds, and some (like my own team from Strathcona Centre) would use the money at their community hall.
There were also prizes handed out at the kick-off breakfast, and somebody is going to win an iPad, also July 1. AN iPAD!
It’s a great idea from the NextGen/EFCL braintrust. They had another good idea last year, teaming up to connect younger people (18-40) with their community league. It was a great mixer and probably helped people even realize we had community leagues. If you don’t know which league is yours, check here.
A morning event is only as good as its pancakes.
The challenge is the best part though. There are plenty of ways to get community leagues to compete for money. You could have them submit applications, write pitches, etc… but this is all about community spirit.
The events include the pancake breakfast (Points just for eating pancakes!), a neighbourhood cleanup, collecting food for the Edmonton Food Bank, collecting recyclable bottles and cans to be turned into cash for the Youth Emergency Shelter Society, tuning up and donating bikes, attending the Bikeology Festival, building a canned good sculpture, and, the best of all, a photo scavenger hunt.
Our teammate, Gord, is high-fiving Councillor Don Iveson because high-fiving every councillor is part of the scavenger hunt.
More than 400 people, from 21 neighbourhoods, will be competing in some or all of those events. We’ll be the ones snapping photos of ourselves outside of libraries and pleading with you to let us take your bike in for a tune-up.
If you want to see what people cleaned up, or what kinds of scavenger hunt items we’re seeking, you can search “yegchallenge” on Flickr.
Already, I’ve been having a great time. I’ve met neighbours, and community-minded people, and I’m experiencing aspects of Edmonton I may not have. I mentioned that I kicked around the Norwood and Sprucewood neighbourhoods, during Heart of the City on the weekend, and it was because of this contest.
-
I went back in time to clean up Whyte Avenue. Actually, that's just Eric, our team's leading cleaner.
I also got up early Saturday, which doesn’t always happen. And I helped clean up a couple blocks of Whyte Avenue. I like things tidy but I’m not normally the guy out cleaning up, not even during Capital City Clean Up events.
So I think it means the plan is working.
Also, I’ll take your canned goods, old bikes, and bottles and cans.
Get your Twestival on
Tonight is Twestival Local!
Don’t have any idea of the gibberish I’m talking about? Check this.
Now that you’ve got some idea of what it is (a get together of Twitter folk, to raise money for a local cause) you’ll know tonight’s event is a fundraiser for the Youth Emergency Shelter Society, as voted by Edmonton tweeters. This is a local version of Twitter’s fundraiser for charity: water from earlier this year, which was a world-wide effort.
Buy your tickets in advance here. You can also get in at the door, and you can also donate more money if you’d like.
For all of Edmonton’s Tweetups, follow the edmontontweetup account on Twitter.
