Crafts, s’mores and jumping castles helped fill the room with smiling faces in celebration of National Child Day.
The YMCA hosted an array of activities Nov. 13 at the Vanderhoof Gospel Church in honour of children everywhere. They will also do the same on Nov. 22 in Prince George, said Stephanie Mikalishen, camp and events co-ordinator.
“National Child Day is November 20 and this year’s theme is ‘Childs right to play,” she said.
The United Nations dedicated the day to children to recognize the rights of children globally. In light of this, the YMCA held the free event with help from child-care and recreational teams who operated various activity stations including a large bouncy train, face painting, crafts and snacks.
“We did the event last year as well so this is our second time but it will now be an annual event,” said Ms. Mikalishen, who mentioned they will also be bringing out a team to celebrate Healthy Kids Day in June.
There are various child care and recreational programs currently being offered by the Vanderhoof YMCA. They include two new free drop-in art programs; Little artists for ages 3-5 runs on Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m starting Nov. 29 at the Vanderhoof Library and Arts Club for ages 6-12 runs on Thursdays from 5 p.m.- 6p.m. Starting Nov. 27 at the Vanderhoof Library.
A free parent-and-tot group already runs at the Vanderhoof Gospel Church Mondays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and two new active programs, Active Start for ages 3-5 and Get Active for ages 6-12, will be starting over the next few weeks. A seniors fit class will also be starting in upcoming weeks.
Lynette Mikalishen, director of childcare for northern BC, says that she hopes to continue working with the District of Vanderhoof and people of Vanderhoof to meet the needs of Vanderhoof.
“We realize that the needs of Vanderhoof are not the same needs as Prince George. We were called Family YMCA of Prince George but now we are called YMCA of Northern BC.”
For a monthly source of information, the YMCA of Vanderhoof has a newsletter that people can look for by visiting www.NBCY.org or email Stephanie Mikalishen at stephanie.mikalishen@nbcy.org.