SISTARS

The Grand Opening Celebration will be held on June 21 at 4:00, with a tour, speakers, food and more. Check out the wonderful, light and airy childcare space. (The Barber House opening will be a separate event.)

Aug 10/10 - Construction is underway on our new daycare building and the Barber House seniors centre!

The Phoenix Rises! - Barber House will be Renewed - I think the image of a phoenix rising from the ashes may be a bit overdone (possibly a semi roasted phoenix?)

We in the Point, and particularly the local group SISTARS are not unused to setbacks. The roof of Barber House is literally “toast” and the second floor has been destroyed. However we already knew we had to replace most of the roof and planned to remove the second floor. (Read full article)

SISTARS - (Sisters Initiating Steps Toward A Renewed Society) is a Community Economic Development Co-op that was founded by a group of inner city women mostly from Point Douglas, for the purpose of removing economic, social and bureaucratic barriers to women's self-empowerment. The women saw the need to bring some hope and a future to Point Douglas, which was suffering from urban decay and neglect.

SISTARS membership is open to males or females, but it has been mostly our women who felt that by creating a central “HUB” they could create a centre of energy, which would form a nucleus for the rebirth of Point Douglas.

As is the case with so many grass roots projects, the toll on the participants was enormous; but we honour the efforts of former board members, all volunteers who gave so freely of their time and energy.

SISTARS had a magnificent vision for their HUB. Wins Bridgman was hired to proceed with a visioning and consultation process, which included the dreams and wishes of our local community, including the school children. All of this was documented and still exists.

Bringing the HUB to reality proved to be more of a nightmare than a dream. Unsophisticated inner-city women were pitted against the complexity of bureaucracy. The initial vision for the HUB included a daycare that would also double as a training place for local women to start a future in child care work. The original plan included a community wellness room, a Laundromat, a coffee shop and more. There was also a component of SISTARS that hoped to provide affordable housing for residents

SISTARS, working with the Filipino Seniors Centre, has a daycare in the basement of the hall. In the daytime the main hall is a study and lecture hall for Red River students who are taking their early childhood education. Family Services and Housing (FSH) have provided support and helped the fledgling daycare grow in a less than perfect environment.

SISTARS faced a number of set-backs with staffing issues and board changes. SISTARS found the business of being landlords very difficult and frustrating and they finally sold off their last property to a new home owner in Point Douglas.

After a long and difficult struggle SISTARS is once again working with Wins Bridgeman, although currently our goals are far more modest. We are building an excellent daycare, with a small community-use room. We are also planning as a second stage to join the daycare to Barber House, for which we hope to obtain Heritage and Legacy grants to restore it to its former charm.

Barber House is the oldest remaining building in Winnipeg; it will be a brilliant tourist destination. The plan is during the day the children will use the area as a large-muscle activity area; in the evenings the historic old building will be available as a rental for small groups or receptions.

The struggles of Barber House have been an epic of survival. At one point the old home was almost restored due to the unflagging work of many local people. All the love and work that went into the restoration was destroyed by silly vandals who torched the building, but the grand old place was just too tough to burn down.

I think that SISTARS sees the recovery of Barber House as a metaphor for Point Douglas; as Barber House is restored to its old beauty so will our community rebuild itself. What an amazing juxtaposition; the oldest house in Manitoba nurturing the need of our youngest community members.

To find out how you can support or join SISTARS, contact any of the Board members:

Angel Peterson - chair   942-1904
Sandy Dzedzora - co-chair   943-0815
Barb Matheson - treasurer   285-7101
Chris Burrows - secretary   956-4090
Ko'ona Cochrane - Red River College Liaison   586-7122              top

The voting members of the board are: Angel Peterson- chair; Sandy Dzedzora-co-chair; Barb Matheson-treasurer; Chris Burrows- secretary; Ko’ona Cochrane-Red River College student and rep.

SISTARS board members despite ill health and/or challenging work schedules are staying the course. The new Eagle Wing Childcare Centre is planned to be part of a complex including the historic old Barber House as a Community Use room.

It was decided by the board to review the two firms that had been involved in designing the new daycare; BIOS, and Wins Bridgman Collaborative Architecture. The original community consultations and design were done by Wins Bridgman Collaborative Architecture. Michael Robertson had been the project manager; the remaining members of the earlier board could not understand what had transpired between Wins and Michael and why we were now involved with BIOS.

The board decided to ask each firm for an evening presentation. BIOS and Wins Bridgman Collaborative Architecture both gave very thorough, impressive and professional presentations.

The five members of the board later convened to consider, evaluate and decide upon which architectural firm to hire. After some discussion, the general opinion was that the Wins Bridgman Collaborative Architecture design proposal was closer to the wishes of the community as expressed in the earlier consultations. We also thought that Wins Bridgman Collaborative Architecture had the most experience and an excellent reputation. Sandy and Angel who were the original board members felt strongly that we should try to stay true to the community’s vision. Eventually we all agreed to come to a consensus and ask Wins Bridgman Collaborative Architecture to help us build our dream.

One of the pluses of the Wins Bridgeman Collaborative Architecture team was that they offered us a brilliant and charming young woman, who would literally nursemaid SISTARS through all the bureaucratic difficulties we were about to face.

Without Marcella, I doubt we would have come a quarter of the way that we have come. We have had to work with various agencies of government at the Provincial level and the City level.

We now have an agreed upon design and have moved into the interior design drawings. All the funding for the core building is in place.

One of the exciting concepts that we are working on is linking Eagle Wing Childcare Centre with the Barber House through a concept called a “playtrium”. This will be a play area for large muscle activities for the children, and a community use room.

All of the funders are enthusiastically supportive of the process to this stage. Time line plans indicate we will begin construction this coming spring.

The board is focusing on ensuring that this wonderful childcare centre will be built in Point Douglas in the coming year.

We are building a “best practice” childcare centre. Fortunately for the first stage, which is the childcare centre, we have full funding in place, which was needed prior to the City handing the land over to us.

The SISTARS board is extremely grateful and encouraged by the tremendous amount of help and good will that has been extended to them by the many agencies of government involved. We particularly thank our daycare director Crystal Henderson-Thomas for the practical experience she shared with us all at design meetings.

Eagle Wing Early Education Centre
Nursery, Pre-School and School-Age Day Care

END OF YEAR NEWSLETTER!

Our 2^nd Holiday Feast was a GREAT SUCCESS because of all the hard work that our volunteers and staff put forth. No matter how large or how small your contribution was, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Please remember to ensure that your child has a coat, ski pants, boots, mitts and toque to wear outdoors. We participate in outdoor play and/or walks up to -24c. It is very important that children get fresh air at least once per day if weather permits. The Koats for Kids program phone number is 586-5628.

VOLUNTEERS: Our pre-school program has had the pleasure of play time and ‘work’ time with Brenda’s daughter, Crissy, and Manjeet’s daughter, Shubleen. Both girls are currently attending high school and require a certain number of volunteer hours throughout their schooling which must be completed prior to graduation in Grade 12. Our children (and staff!) are fortunate enough to have Crissy and Shubleen volunteer here when they are able. Crissy and Shubleen will be posting their own ‘introduction’ in the near future.

SCHOOL-AGE: Our school-age program will be exploring the wild and crazy adventures of The Arctic. If you have anything to contribute, please do so!

PRE-SCHOOL: Our pre-school program will be enjoying adventures “Around the World”, so watch for activities each week in your January calendar.

THANK YOU TO:

· All of you who contributed toward our Holiday Feast

· All of you who brought in goodies, treats or toys for our children

· All of you who gifted staff with your kind words, Holiday Season greetings and/or gifts. We really appreciate your thoughtfulness – it means a lot to us!

· Elias and Sabrina’s Mom for volunteering her time each and every morning

· Crissy (Brenda’s daughter) for volunteering at the pre-school centre

· Shubleen (Manjeet’s daughter) for volunteering at the pre-school centre

· FSGW (Ben and Adio et al) for always accommodating our centre’s needs

· RRC Dale/Karen and students for their time and wisdom

· Martha/Tanya of The Family Centre for their invaluable H.U.G. Program

· Staff who consistently contribute some of their own supplies to assist in enhance programming for all of our children

· CMC members who volunteer each and every month

· Sistars members who volunteer each and every month

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Thur Dec 31 New Year’s Eve – Centre closed at 1 pm sharp

Fri Jan 1 CENTRE CLOSED

Mon Jan 4 Arctic Adventures @ school-age; The Ukraine @ pre-school

Tue Jan 5 Norquay Noon dismissal

Wed Jan 6 CMC Meeting – advise office asap for childcare, please!

Thur Jan 7 Kristos Rodyvsya – Ukrainian Christmas