Dec. 8, 2021
Bashaw is a small community of around 875 residents. Nestled right in the middle of Camrose County, Ponoka County, Lacombe County, and Stettler County. As such, residents of our community and surrounding area, access services within Bashaw & District Support Services (BDSS). BDSS has a number of programs under its umbrella to take care of the ever-changing needs of our clientele. They run such programs as Daycare, Preschool, Foodbank, Santa’s anonymous, Family & Community Wellness, Meals on Wheels, and the Navigator program to name a few. Most of these programs speak for themselves, however, the Navigator program is fairly new to our services.
The Navigator is specifically designed to help all clientele access the services that they need. They help access websites and forms as well as find programs and funding that may be available to assist clients. If they require assistance filling out those forms, they assist with this also. Essentially, they navigate them to where they need to be whether it is counseling services, benefits programs, adults advancing education, etc. It is extremely important to them that all clients are serviced to the best of their ability so that no one falls through the cracks. This can be essential on the preventive end of things.
"We have chosen the Navigator program specifically because it deals with a wide variety of clients and is set up to help the most vulnerable of clients at their worst. The program is put in place to “navigate” clients to the support and help that they require in order to keep a bad situation from getting worse. The Navigator connects with counsellors, funding programs available to client, as well as the RCMP if necessary. The workers involved in the program work with the clients to determine their needs and assess what is needed to best support the client and then help them to navigate to the appropriate support systems. This is essential for early detection and prevention in our area. It is a fairly new program that BDSS has undertaken but has shown great results thus far.
Western Financial Group in Bashaw has chosen BDSS for other programs in past years, such as funding to provide seniors with a Twinkle Tour of the lights at Christmas. Due to Covid, this wasn’t able to take place in 2020. BDSS is currently working on putting something in place to utilize the funds this year for that purpose. We have provided support to the Bashaw Sports and Culture program through BDSS to provide funding to Youth for activities such as Music lessons, Sports programming and Arts. We have also supported the Meals on Wheels program through BDSS.
BDSS offers so much to our community and surrounding area. It is an essential service on so many levels and there are so many programs that require support that do not qualify for Government funding." Western Financial Group Bashaw Team.
"BDSS is a Charitable Organization and therefore we rely on funding. Receiving funds means that we are able to continue to offer these important services and supports to clients. Given the size of our community, it is very taxing on businesses and community members for constant donations and annual fundraisers. With sports groups and school fundraising, we are essentially all trying to pull from the same pot. We are extremely grateful to be receiving funds from Western Communities Foundation through Western Financial Group in Bashaw." Kathy Berry, BDSS
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