On behalf of the Board, it is my pleasure to provide you with a report detailing the activities of the Sandstone MacEwan Community Association’s 2024-25 year.
I am happy to say we had an extremely productive year on the SMCA Board.
We had a fantastic turnout for our inaugural Skate with Santa party at the pleasure rink in December. We had been collecting skates and fit roughly 40 people with skates. “Santa” was one of our regular volunteers, who arrived in the back of a pick-up truck, much to the delight of the families. Santa skated around the oval and the kids followed him like he was the Pied Piper! Thanks to Jenn Bidlake-Schroeder, Sharon Mazurkewich, Carolyn Gomez, Willa Wu and Trevor Bacon for getting everything ready. Also, our special thanks go to Brad Becket and Joe Wesnick for having the rink ice in pristine condition. We are planning this year’s skate and Santa is happy to return for another year on Saturday, December 13th at Sandstone Park.
We were delighted to have our rink grand opening in January and many community members attended to see us cut the ribbon and enjoy a skate. We had an individual who provided a donation tell us he was a retired NHL scout, who learned how to skate on an outdoor rink. He said he was very proud to contribute to the rink that will provide entertainment for the next 25 years. Carolyn and others did a great job organizing the event, along with the sponsors and community partners.
This past May we were busy with our community clean-up and Beddington Heights Community Association (BHCA) joined us again. We had great volunteers assist us, including the 224 Sandstone Valley Scouts. Thank you to Willa for organizing the event once again.
The SMCA Board partnered with MacEwan businesses (including the MacEwan Dental Centre and Brixton’s) to host a Stampede pancake breakfast. We anticipated there would be roughly 400 people and over 1000 arrived! The volunteers did what they could to keep-up, including buying more supplies, but ultimately, we ran out of food. Will Shephard-Cross was the entertainment and received many accolades. Carolyn and Jenn were the leads on this massive event and we can’t thank them enough for their efforts.
Karen had another productive summer at the community gardens and once again all the beds were utilized by community members. Karen continues to engage community members in developing the area to support families with fresh vegetables.
The combined SMCA and BHCA garage sale this summer was a big success with a significant number of households participating. Thanks to Willa for helping make this a successful event.
Yoga classes continue to be popular at The Salvation Army Berkshire Citadel Community Church in both the Spring and the Fall. There is a consistent weekly group averaging about 20 yogi’s. We have been fortunate to benefit from grants to pay for the instructor and the gym and Sharon continues to take the lead with this initiative.
This Spring Jasmine Mian announced she would not be running in the Civic Election. Councillor Mian was an excellent advocate for Sandstone and MacEwan and we have her to thank for getting us over the last $300k hurdle to have the rink build. The SMCA Board cannot thank her and Sarah Parchewsky enough for their continued support. We would like to welcome Andrew Yule who will be stepping into “very big shoes”.
The SMCA has started hosting movie night at the Berkshire Citadel Church and we will continue to build on this initiative.
Tonight, we are officially saying ‘goodbye’ to one of our Directors, Jennifer Bidlake Schroeder. Jenn has been an invaluable Director, and we will miss her on the Board. Having said that, we are not going to lose one of the best volunteers we’ve had! Jenn has kindly agreed to stay on as a volunteer and assist us in realizing the new building at the hockey rink.
It has been my honour to be the Sandstone MacEwan Community Association’s President for another year.
Thank you. Does anyone have any questions?
Sue Coatham
President SMCA
2024-25
