Winter 2021 Edition of the CLBC magazine “Celebrate Diverse ABILITIES”

Message from CLBC’s CEO: Facing challenges together

As we move in to this new year, the world and our lives look a lot different than they did one year ago. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has presented all of us with challenges over these past many months. While there is positive news with B.C.’s vaccination rollout now underway, it is still very important that we continue to do everything we can to keep ourselves and others safe. For many of us, this has meant we need to find new ways to help us remain strong in the face of ongoing challenges.

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Community Living BC Updates

In this edition of CLBC News, we share information about: the new Minister responsible for CLBC, our new Executive Director of Indigenous Relations, recently announced provincial funding that will help the people CLBC serves return to work and resources to stay informed and connected.
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Resilience is in my blood
by Lara Gunkel (Burnaby)

I come from a family of resilient women. One day I hope to write a movie about my life story. The title would be Triple Endurance because of how strong I am, because of how strong my mother was, and because of how strong her mother and my father’s mother were.
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Baking up something new
by Jake Webster (South Surrey)

I am 23 and I live in South Surrey with my mom, dad and sister, and my dog and cat. I really like hanging out and talking with my friends and going on adventures with my community support staff from Semiahmoo House Society. I am proud of my landscaping job. I do lawn and garden work. I also enjoy the recycling work I do with my friend Dylan. But I can’t do most of these things right now because of COVID.

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The Anti-COVID Warrior
by Michael Cooper (Shawnigan Lake)

When the pandemic started almost a year ago, all our activities came to a grinding halt. Linda, my home sharing provider (I like to call her my foster mom) and I were spending a lot of time indoors. We started taking karaoke drives to other towns like Port Alberni, Nanaimo and Sidney.

During these drives, one of the things I love to do is wear my outfit. It helps my anxiety and makes me feel confident. Linda called me the “Anti-COVID Warrior.”Click to read more

Drawing on my talents in challenging times
by Mike Meier (Prince George)

I started MEIER COMICS because I wanted to break new ground by creating the type of comic books I would want to read and by doing it in my own way. I also wanted to contribute to the local economy in my own little way as MEIER COMICS is all about convincing people to support local businesses, large or small, and even home-based like mine.

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Feeling welcome and included during COVID
by Denise Dai (Coquitlam)

At the start of the pandemic, staying connected was hard. I felt a little bit confused because I could not go out like I used to. I needed to learn new ways to work toward my goals and stay connected.
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Talking it out
by Penny Soderena-Sutton (Prince George)

I work as a Self Advocate Peer Liaison for AiMHi in Prince George. My job is to help make people’s lives better by talking and sharing and being there for them. I listen and talk about whatever is on people’s minds. Right now, because of COVID, people have more time and we are talking about stuff that people don’t always get to.
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