Over the past 10 years that the Wellness Almanac has been working away, posting and sharing news and updates designed to celebrate community, build a stronger sense of place, and deepen our understanding of colonization, racism, reconciliation and right relations, the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation has been a quiet champion of this work.
While the blog and it’s tentacles (instagram, Facebook, twitter, Sharing Circles, Climate Squads) have been supported by core annual funding split between the Lil’wat Nation, Village of Pemberton and Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation was responsible for the initial seed funding to create a communications plan and resulted in the website. Recently, the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation gave the Wellness Almanac support to explore what we could do to support mental health, and that enabled us to run last year’s Active Hope Climate Squad as a pilot project, which we’re exploring ways to build out and make available specifically to frontline care workers and non-profit folk. Learning The Work That Reconnects and combining it with nature therapy and small group support turned out to be an enduring way of supporting mental health and community resilience, with positive ripple effects. This year, we’ll be rolling out a Rumbling towards Reconciliation initiative designed to bring us into conversation with each other to work out how we can sit with hard things and support each other into bringing forth a world in which we are practicing Nuk̓w7ántwal̓ – helping each other to find the way.
The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation has supported so many community initiatives I’ve completely lost count – their fingerprints are everywhere and executive director Mei Madden is so devoted to her work that I have come to call her the fairy godmother for the corridor.
This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation’s, TELUS Winter Classic event.
The organization was a real rescuer through the pandemic, funding so many initiatives to keep people afloat. If you’re in a position to give back and keep the goods moving forward, then sign up. Register a team for your organization as a way of recognizing staff or hosting clients.
If you’ve been desperate for a chance to dress up, this is your time.
There are many ways that people can support, from registering a team, to donating auction items, purchasing event tickets to the Winetastic and Submerse Gala, or becoming a sponsor.
The TELUS Winter Classic is the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation’s largest fundraising event of the year, and probably the single most significant event in the social health of our communities, in terms of impact.
Tickets and more info at https://whistlerblackcombfoundation.com/pages/telus-winter-classic
The Wellness Almanac 