City and FCSS to celebrate National Family Week

For 35 years, Canadians have come together during the first week of October to celebrate and promote the importance of families with National Family Week.

This year’s theme is “Stronger Together: Building Family Resilience” and The City of Cold Lake and Cold Lake and District Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) has planned several COVID-friendly activities the whole family can enjoy.

“Now more than ever, we need to appreciate the people in our lives, build connections that last and encourage resilience,” said Kim Schmidtz, Manager of Cold Lake and District FCSS. “Strong families are the most fundamental units of our society. The pandemic has really put into perspective the importance of building resiliency and strong family bonds.”

Instead of in-person events and gatherings this year, Cold Lake and Lakeland-area families are encouraged to register for a free Family Week kit, through FCSS. The kits come stocked with a week’s worth of activities to help build relationships and foster inclusion and belonging.

“There’s something for everyone and every member of the family can participate in each activity,” said Schmidtz. “We have a family bingo game, tips for starting conversations, physical activities and even a couple of arts and crafts projects like rock painting and building your own family yard sign.”

National Family Week runs October 5-11, 2020 and there are a limited number of Family Week kits available. Interested families are encouraged to register online by clicking on the National Family Week banner at www.coldlake.com. FCSS staff will arrange for kit pick-up between September 28 and October 2.