Lacombe and District Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) held its annual general meeting on April 22, celebrating a year of program growth, increased community engagement, and planning for the future.
“It was a great night,” said Crystal Zens, executive director of Lacombe FCSS. “We had about 30 to 40 people in attendance, and it was a strong turnout with support from Lacombe City Council, our staff, and stakeholders.”
Zens noted the agency has seen a significant surge in demand for services and programs. One of the year’s major accomplishments was completing a community-wide Social Needs Assessment in partnership with the City of Lacombe.
“That is a road map for the next few years,” she said. “We’ll be creating and filling those voids of things that the community identified as missing in preventative services.”
Among the year’s highlights was a successful expansion of senior programming, thanks to funding through the provincial Healthy Aging grant.
“We were able to expand our senior services to encompass more opportunities for seniors to live in their homes longer and get connected more with the community,” said Zens.
She pointed to popular programs like Golden Adventures, where a local bus service takes seniors on monthly field trips, and a snow removal initiative to assist those unable to access that service on their own.
“The priority of those programs is aging in place,” she added. “And we were also able to bring more services to the County of Lacombe.”
Looking ahead, FCSS is excited to continue its quarterly “Super Clinics,” which bring hard-to-access government and nonprofit services directly into the community.
“Instead of going to Edmonton or Red Deer to access those services — for legal IDs, problems with taxes and things like that — those agencies come and do a pop-up shop in our building,” Zens explained.
The summer season will also bring an expanded focus on youth programs, including teen trips, summer day programming, golf tournaments and family-friendly community events like the returning Lunch Box Theatre.
“We always look forward to summer,” Zens said. “It’s a favourite time of year to work more closely with the youth in our community.”
FCSS also welcomed a few new board members ahead of the AGM and has one position currently open.
“Our board is very healthy,” Zens said. “This fall, we’ll begin developing our new strategic plan to align with the Social Needs Assessment. It will be great work done by our board and our team.”
Zens expressed her gratitude for ongoing community support.
“We’re really the little engine that could,” she said. “We do a lot with community dollars to help people in need in Lacombe.”
Sign up to get the latest local news headlines delivered directly to your inbox every afternoon.
Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@centralalbertaonline.com.
CentralAlbertaOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the CentralAlbertaOnline app.