Apryl Veld
Ominica Express
Thanks for being so kind in welcoming me to your community. It’s only my first week and already I’ve met a lot of really excellent people.
I’ve also absorbed how much people appear to care about their communities in the Nechako Valley.
I see what it means when people say “hi” to me though they don’t know me from Adam, and where civic pride means people volunteer, and work hard to build the economy, the streets are litter free, yards neat, and hope for a good crop or rich vein of shiny metal flickers from people’s eyes.
It’s like being in my own home town again – a small south interior town about the size of Fauqier, only bigger and more exciting.
Yes, I’ve heard how much Hannah will be missed. I miss her already!
“You’re the new Hannah,” one gentleman said, or as someone else put it, “you’ve got big shoes to fill.”
Indeed, I should hope to be able to, though to hear Hannah’s taste in shoes, admittedly my footwear will be much flatter and closer to the ground.
My intent will be as is expected: to serve as your voice and your sounding board. And you’re right, I don’t know diddly-squat about this area; the closest I have lived to it is Prince Rupert, though that is way on the other side of the Ominecas and the Hazeltons, and they’re tall!
But that’s why I need you to share with me what is on your mind, what you think is news. It feels like things are happening here. That’s what people are saying: that the region is on the edge of a growth spurt or even an economic boom. And if not, the glue that has held things together during this global recession will likely continue to, and improvements that are taking place, the duck feet paddling furiously beneath your calm surface are important in itself. It is what must be inspiring the hardest hit to keep going in spite of it all. It would seem you keep supporting and applauding one another’s efforts. This can make some towns insular and even self-righteous, but I have not felt that; some other placid confidence seems to be at work.
I look forward to meeting more of you, of hearing what you have to say, good news or bad, and I welcome suggestions on what needs improving, what is being done well and all that’s in between, In spite of being one of B.C.’s oldest agricultural settlements, you must have a youthful spirit, and I think I can live with that.
