Tag Archives: Community

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Many religions practice fasting, and a local Muslim group is hosting an event to talk about it

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Host: Leah Gerber

Fasting is the topic up for discussion at an upcoming multi-faith celebration at the Kitchener City Hall Rotunda this coming Sunday, March 9. The InterFaith and Multicultural Flavours of Iftar event includes a panel discussion on the role of fasting in various faiths featuring leaders from Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Jewish traditions. There will also be a discussion about how fasting and Iftar a celebrated during Ramadan around the world, the keynote speaker Imam Aizaz Khan of the Baitul Islam Mosque in Vaughan. The event is capped with a meal featuring local caterers showcasing food from cultures around the world. 

Radio Waterloo spoke with organizer Nabeel Rana and local Imam Fatir Mahmood Ahmad who is speaking on the panel, both of the local Ahmadiyya Muslim community that is hosting the event. They spoke about the importance of fasting for physical, moral and spiritual health, as well as their hopes the event will bring the community together. 

Anyone interested in learning more or attending the event is encouraged to connect with baitul.kareem.mosque@gmail.com

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News -2025-02-19- Non-partisan pre-election forum to focus on building local community power

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CKMS News -2025-02-19- Non-partisan pre-election forum to focus on building local community power

dan kellar
Kitchener, ON – Ahead of the provincial election and in the midst of several overlapping social, environmental, and economic crises, the Social Development Centre of Waterloo Region is hosting the first in a series of community discussions centered on building local community power. 

The first event, called Cutting Through the Noise: A Forum for Building Community Power, is happening on Friday February 21st. Describing the impetus to organise the event’s webpage reads “history has shown us that social change is possible”.

David Alton, the facilitator of the event told CKMS News “I don’t want any political party to think they just get the vote of people in waterloo region, they have to earn it”

This show features an interview with David Alton, the lived expertise program facilitator at the Social Development Centre of Waterloo Region, and the facilitator of this first event which runs from 7-9pm on Friday, February 21 St John the Evangelist Anglican Church, on Duke St in downtown Kitchener.

 

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Compelled to craft: more people turning to arts programming after the pandemic

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Host: Leah Gerber

Since the pandemic, recreation managers across Kitchener-Waterloo are noticing a sustained increase in the number of people participating consistently in arts and crafts programming. Radio Waterloo spoke with programming managers for the City of Waterloo, City of Kitchener and the Kitchener market, who all had similar observations: Whether it’s for seniors during the day, the general public in the evenings, or the delivery of solo crafting kits to peoples’ homes, more and more people across both cities seem drawn to taking up a craft in the last two years since programs started opening up after the pandemic. While some thought an interest in crafting might be temporary, the trend seems to be growing, not shrinking. 

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Rink volunteers are needed at the City of Kitchener. If you can brave the cold, it might be for you.

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Host: Leah Gerber

There are about 25 neighbourhood rinks throughout Kitchener, and they are all run by volunteers who go out in the darkest and coldest time of night to keep the rinks clear and flooded. It’s not a glamorous job, but Chris Letizi, a volunteer rink coordinator for the rink at the Stanley Park Community Centre, says the role a rink plays in fostering community by providing a place for kids and families to get out and skate or for groups to play hockey, is worth it. He says finding volunteers willing to come out and do the work to keep the rinks operating is a problem all across the city and hopes more people will pitch in to share the load. Josh Joseph runs the Love My Hood program with the city and says the outdoor rink program is a decades-old program that could not run without volunteers.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Local student meal program and school sound alarm on inadequate budget for feeding hungry kids

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Host: Leah Gerber

Nutrition for Learning has been serving food to kids in Waterloo Region for about 30 years. This school year was the first they were unable to fill all the food needs of their schools. CEO Erin Moraghan says they need about twice the budget they have to meet the demand. 

Vanessa Haffner, an educational assistant and the volunteer coordinator for the program at Centennial Public School in Waterloo, speaks about her first-hand experience trying to stretch the budget to meet the need. She and principal Stephen Sherlock speak about the difference the food makes for the students and the program’s importance. 

Haffner says food insecurity in schools is a real issue that can go unseen by the larger community. “If you’re not within the school walls and seeing every day what our students are coming with for lunch, it’s easy to miss. And I think sometimes our community doesn’t realise how many students are coming to school feeling hungry.”

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

CKMS News -2024-08-25- Paddle Palooza serves a pickleball festival in downtown Kitchener

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CKMS News -2024-08-25- Paddle Palooza serves pickleball festival in downtown Kitchener.

dan kellar
Kitchener, ON – The 1st annual Paddle Palooza Pickleball Festival is taking place in the public space in front of Kitchener city hall on August 27th. A friendly tournament with local politicians and small businesses will open the festival, followed by a few hours of open community play. The festival will wrap up with a tournament for professional players in the evening. The pickleball courts will be temporarily set up on the drained out splash pad and right out on King St which will be closed for the day. 

This show features an interview with Julie Doherty, the Sport Development Coordinator at the City of Kitchener who speaks about the pickleball festival and other efforts the city is taking to promote the growing sport.

Paddle Palooza will also have live music, local merchants, and coaches from the local pickleball advocacy organization Pickleball of Waterloo and Wellington Region (POWWR) to provide basic instruction or advanced tips to anyone interested. The event is free to attend and is scheduled to run from 2-8pm.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Local Residents Challenge Waterloo Region on Noise Data

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The recent expansion of Highland Road West in Kitchener has increased noise pollution, significantly impacting residents who live along the road between Ira Needles Boulevard and Fisher Hallman Road.

Residents raised concerns about noise pollution and how it is measured at the Regional Council Planning and Works Committee meeting in early June.

Despite residents’ complaints and self-initiated noise-blocking measures, Regional staff insist the levels in this area do not exceed thresholds. Staff have said they will continue to rely on theoretical models that predict noise levels and that live noise tests are not routine due to precedent, policy and budget constraints. The residents, on the other hand, argue that the models are flawed and real-time noise data and live noise studies would provide a more accurate reflection of the situation.

Regional Councillors asked questions of both sides, eventually agreeing to draw up a motion to conduct live measurements in the impacted neighbourhood, with further discussions planned for the next Regional Council meeting.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Wordsworthy Literary Award marks 40 years of independent bookselling in Waterloo

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MP Holmes
Waterloo, ON

To commemorate its 40th anniversary, the only independent bookstore in Waterloo, Wordsworth Books, has revived the Wordsworthy Literary Award. The award, presented for the first time in several years, recognizes outstanding literary contributions from Canadian authors and is intertwined with the bookstore’s history.

One of the owners of Wordsworth Books, Mandy Brouse, explains why the award has been revived and how it connects with the store’s history. Over the past 40 years, Wordsworth Books has weathered the challenges to its business, including recessions, the ION LRT construction, and the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the loyalty of its customer base.

The winner of the 2024 Wordsworthy Literary Award will be announced at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 11 at the store’s Uptown Waterloo location.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Recycling and giving back — celebrating Earth Day in Waterloo Park

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

Amid bursts of hail, rain and snow, Earth Day celebrations in Waterloo Park included collecting e-waste to raise funds for the Tune Up the Playground project. The Earth Day event, organized by Friends of Waterloo Park, also featured sunflower seed planting, a park clean up and community organizations, such as the KW Library of Things, that promote the sharing and repairing of consumer goods.

While the amount raised was still to be determined, the goal of the Tune Up the Playground project is to install interactive musical instruments in Waterloo Park to promote creativity and community engagement.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

CKMS News -2024-04-09- Local climbing gym fights a developer and displacement

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CKMS News -2024-04-09- GRR at City Council

MP Holmes.

Kitchener – For the second time in as many years, Grand River Rocks, a climbing gym in Kitchener, Ontario, is fighting to stay in business due to urban development plans.

At the Kitchener City Council Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee meeting on Monday April 8, the owners of Grand River Rocks expressed concerns over a lease they signed without knowledge of redevelopment plans. Council has been asked by the developer, the Falco group, to approve the project that would see more than 1000 new residential units on Victoria Street North, and if that approval is granted, the gym would need to relocate.

The Kitchener city councilors questioned the gym’s decisions and proposed collaborating with developers. They deferred the decision to allow more time for debate.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Blooming roadsides restore habitats for pollinators

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

A few years ago, it was common for car windshields to be spattered with bugs after a drive in the country. According to Jennifer Leat of the Pollinator Roadsides Project, that’s not happening so much anymore. There are fewer bugs, and fewer bugs equals fewer pollinators.

A community driven project to help pollinators will be happening on Saturday April 13 to restore habitat corridors for pollinators by planting pollinator-friendly native plants along roadsides.

Backed by a grant from the Region of Waterloo’s Community Environment Fund with support from volunteers and sponsors, the Pollinator Roadside Project seeks to increase biodiversity, support pollinator conservation, reduce maintenance costs, and control water runoff. The project also hopes to set a provincial and national precedent for prioritizing sustainability in roadside plantings.

Jennifer Leat, Lead of the Pollinator Roadsides project talks to CKMS about the project and the importance of pollinators.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

Stories of Hope: Community-Led Food Assistance Programs in Waterloo Region

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

In the last three months of 2023, food assistance programs in the region marked almost a 50 percent increase in usage compared to the same period in 2022. In those last three months of 2023 alone, almost 15, 000 unique households accessed a food assistance program, a 43 percent increase over that period in 2022.

These numbers are from the Food Bank of Waterloo Region  and they highlight the surge in demand for food and the growing issue of food insecurity within our community.

However, amidst these challenges, there are stories of hope and compassion emerging through community-led initiatives that are making a difference in the lives of those in need.

These initiatives include the Tiny Home Takeout and Food Not Bombs, which are both operating on shoestring budgets with a crew of volunteers and demonstrate the power of grassroots movements in addressing basic human needs.

CKMS has more on this story

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Funding cuts, negligence and broken promises have pushed a successful community program to the brink of survival

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

 

The Male Allies program in Kitchener Ontario played an important role in understanding the sexual assault charges levied at Hockey Canada, but now the program is struggling amidst funding cuts and unmet promises.

Run in conjunction with the Sexual Assault Support Centre Waterloo Region, the Male allies group and its sports-focused program remains an important component  in preventing gender-based violence. The program is supported by community foundations, including Rangers Reach, the community foundation of the Kitchener Rangers hockey team, but without stable operational funding, the positive impact of the training sessions on young athletes is in jeopardy.

CKMS talks to Jacob Pries, the  project facilitator of the Male Allies program, and Craig Campbell, the executive director of Rangers Reach.

 

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

“No St. Patrick’s Day during Genocide” places focus on Palestine

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

A group of local Irish community members is asking the public to support and advocate for Palestinians this St Patrick’s Day. The group hopes to draw attention to the current deteriorating situation in Palestine.

Justine Rogers Basan, an organizer of the event, explains how the day will highlight the genocide in Gaza and the historical solidarity between the Irish and Palestinian people and draw parallels between the oppression experienced by both communities. The organizers of the event have called for a ceasefire, a Canadian arms embargo, and an end to the occupation in Palestine.

“No St. Patrick’s Day during Genocide” will take place at Waterloo Town Square on March 17 at 11 am.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Irish Real Live Festival focuses on alternative ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

March 13, 2024

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up — and with it, a whole bunch of stereotypes about Irish culture. The organizers of the Irish Real Life Festival in Kitchener wants to move beyond the usual narrative towards a deeper understanding of Irish culture in the broader world.

The eight-day festival is in its 9th year and celebrates all elements of Irish culture and not just those which, in 2019, led to a party that at its peak saw 33,000 students converge on Ezra St in Waterloo.

The Festival kicked off last weekend in Kitchener amidst local and international tensions. Organizers of the Irish Life Festival spoke with CKMS News about how they are working to expand people’s understanding of the Irish story by, if not detaching it from the association with heavy drinking, at least showcasing another side of Irish culture.

Within this year’s program, various events draw on Irish storytelling, spirituality and history to demonstrate similarities between different cultures and how, even in the face of war, peace is possible.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News – 2021-08-09 – Working through hesitancy to bring residents together at the Waterloo Night Market

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Host: Krista Henry

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on how people live their lives. How we work, shop, conduct business and experience entertainment have been transformed. As we continue to emerge from long-periods of restrictions, organizations such as the Uptown Waterloo Business Improvement Area are trying to re-ignite the passion for coming together again for events that bring people together in a real way. Tracy Van Kalsbeek executive director of the UWBIA speaks about bringing people back to uptown.

Events are vital in the country’s economic recovery and the mental wellness of countless community members. However is there hesitancy in going back to normal with events? We explore the importance of such events and speak with Waterloo resident Sarah about comfort in participating in the community as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.

You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca.

 

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News – 2021-06-15 – Waterloo Region Weekly Roundup – A Better Tent City update

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Host: Melissa Bowman

Today’s Waterloo Region Weekly Roundup episode focuses on two weeks of discussions at Woolwich council regarding the possibility of A Better Tent City moving to a new proposed location on Spitzig Rd.

A Better Tent City is the community of residents currently housed in tiny homes at Lot 42 in Kitchener. They must find a new home by June 20th and have found a willing landlord through the Hamilton Diocese with their land on Spitzig Rd. Tune in to hear more about the proposal, thoughts from residents who support this and those who oppose it, and also the discussion among councillors.

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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of  this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.

You can  follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News – 2021-05-10 – Waterloo Region Weekly Roundup

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Host: Melissa Bowman

This episode of the Waterloo Region Weekly Roundup has us planted firmly in Wilmot township. First, we’ll hear from the April 26th Wilmot Council meeting and learn about the First Peoples Group, the Prime Ministers’ Path project, and the discovery of several ‘white lives matter’ posters in the township.

I’ll also share some updates about the Anti-Racism rally held on May 9th at Baden’s Castle Kilbride, in reaction to the discovery of those posters.

download audio of this episode

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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of  this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.

You can  follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca

 

In Conversation With Rashmi

Ivy Friedman & Steve Singer

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A wonderful and an important conversation with Ivy Friedman & Steve Singer speaking everything about the importance of building strong communities, the ongoing urbanization and isolation. They shared the work they have been doing and strategies and suggestions for building communities in the neighborhoods. From how to engage and encourage community involvement and participation to the importance of volunteers within communities and having younger generations involved to lead.

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In Conversation With Rashmi

Peggy Dietrich & Kira Burt – In Conversation with Rashmi

Poster 8'11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Peggy Dietrich, the idea for “The Women in the Moon” came suddenly. What she quickly scribbled has now turned into a children’s book that explores and celebrates the ties that bind women
While the book is the brainchild of Dietrich, it was a family affair. Her granddaughter, Ali, did the illustration for the book. The idea of the moon connecting people is inspired by her relationship with her grandchildren. While it is a children’s book, Dietrich said it speaks to women of all ages as well. We, as women, can join together to form a healing community throughout the globe. We just have to look up at the moon and believe in ourselves, says Peggy Dietrich who wrote The Women in the Moon

Kira Burt, has worked at the library for 3 years as a Children’s Programmer. She has worked with kids of all ages from preschool to teens for many years and continues to enjoy it. An outdoor person, she has always enjoyed cycling and being outside and was one of the first to volunteer to be a rider for the Book Pedaler. The Book Pedaler is all about getting out into the community and meeting people where they are. We also want to be an active and engaged part of the community, says Kira Burt

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the In Conversation With Rashmi podcast!

In Conversation with RashmiSee all In Conversation with Rashmi shows!