September 2020
Over the last month the Society, working in cooperation with the Park Board, has made significant progress toward opening some doors at the Kerrisdale Community Centre.
Programming and some support staff, and approved safety plans, are now in place to allow us to deliver a number of programs in priority areas.
Facility access and services have been approved by the City in support of the following initiatives:
- Eight outdoor adult recreation programs that will run through to October 9th in Centennial Park (behind the centre)
- Little Owls Preschool begins operations on Sept. 14.
- Priority seniors programming starts between September 11th and September 17th.
- Take out seniors’ lunch services begins on September 15th, with sit-down meal services starting on September 21st.
- The Kerrisdale Community Centre will offer personal training services in the fitness rooms starting in mid-late September.
The Park Board will offer seniors swim sessions starting September 14th and aquafit classes starting on October 13th at the Kerrisdale swimming pool.
Details of programs offered, pricing and registration for each of these program areas are available at www.kerrisdalecc.com. Preregistration and pre-payment are required for all programs.
For each of the program areas noted, detailed safety plans that comply with provincial health guidelines have been developed and implemented to ensure social distancing or alternate COVID-19 controls are maintained. The Society is very thankful to our recreation supervisor and programmers for their dedicated work in establishing and achieving approval for mandatory safety protocols.
Unfortunately, programming without significant COVID controls will likely not be available until well into next year. The Vancouver Park Board has set out strict guidelines for the number of people that can be in the Centre at any one time and the cleaning protocols that must be observed. The Park Board is also requiring that more supervisory staff be in the centre. These measures greatly add to the expense of providing programs. We hope that, with time, we will all learn to navigate the necessary precautions while still providing the array of high-quality programs that Kerrisdale is noted for, but it won’t be soon.
To help the Society stay relevant to our patrons and to offer employment opportunities to our valued instructors, the Society is undertaking an initiative to offer online programming services. A variety of online programs provided by many of our long-time instructors will soon be available through the Society’s website. The online programs will be listed on the Programs and Registration page of the website beginning September 18. Additional new online programs will be added during September and October, so look again if you haven’t found your favourite instructor.
Sincerely,
Robert Lockhart, President
Kerrisdale Community Centre Society