Editor, The Times:
North Thompson Aboriginal Sharing Centre will host a giant flea market on Saturday, Aug. 27, from 11 until 4. There will be awesome deals and money raised from the centre’s tables will go for future children’s events.
The Sharing Centre serves the North Thompson Valley, Mclure to Blue River. It is support by Aboriginal Engagement Success by 6 in Barriere and Clearwater, Yellowhead Community Services, United Way of Kamloops, and many local businesses. The centre is run by volunteers (we could use more).
The center’s focus is Aboriginal, but it is open to all who would like to learn about and help celebrate our Aboriginal peoples. It is also a place to come share the culture, history and the ways of the Aboriginal people.
What is an Aboriginal person? These are defined as persons of First Nation, Métis and/or Inuit descent.
What is important, traditionally, to the Aboriginal people? It is not about ‘putting on a show.’ It is more than workshops or selling things. It is bringing back the traditional values – core family values. This Sharing Center is for all people of the North Thompson Valley to find out about the rich and diverse culture that we share.
Our focus is on the values of raising children in a traditional way. By spending time in an unstructured yet wholesome way, we hope to set the example to all. The elders in a traditional family share the stories of their lives and the stories that their grandparents passed down, teaching life lessons in a very non-threatening and easy-to-remember way to the young ones. Helping them to develop their own skills and becoming aware of and proud of their culture and their heritage, true, but also opening up their minds to the responsibilities we all have towards the earth and the many other creatures that we depend on. We offer people an opportunity to give workshops, sell authentic First Nations items, even support other local artisans who would like to sell quality products on a consignment basis.
The center is open 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Stop by the Sharing Center and let us know what you would like to see happen. Call us at 250-674-3703 or email cindy.w@yellowheadcs.ca
If you are interested in being involved with Success By 6 or would like more information, please give one of the SB6 coordinators a call – YCS at 250-672-9773, Clearwater YCS at 250-674-2600, or the Sharing Centre at 250-674-3703.
“Let us put our minds together and see what kind of life we can build for our children” ~Sitting Bull
Cindy Wilgosh
Success By 6
Aboriginal Coordinator
North Thompson Valley
