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Free workshops to teach new life skills

Fernie’s Christ Church Anglican is offering a series of basic life skills workshops, taught by local experts in these areas.
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Rev. Trevor Freeman and Cindy Corrigan of Fernie Anglican Christ Church are organizing a series of do it yourself life skills workshops this May and June.

Learn a new life skill this spring – and pass on your own skills to others.

Fernie’s Christ Church Anglican is offering a series of basic life skills workshops such as car maintenance, home maintenance, finance and taxes and plumbing, taught by local experts in these areas.

The program is named after the proverb, “Give a person a fish and they will eat for a day, teach them to fish and they will eat for a lifetime.”

The free workshops will run every Sunday afternoon from May 13-June 24 2-4pm at the Christ Church Anglican hall and are open to anyone – not just church members.

One of the organizers, Cindy Corrigan said the idea of sharing individuals’ skills came up when the church was brainstorming ways for its members to give back to the whole community.

“We realized this was an opportunity to teach some really basic life skills to people by taking some of the talents of people here in the parish and sharing them with others,” she said.

“Most of the sessions are being run by members of our church, but some are just members of the wider community who have a special skill that they want to pass on.

“The program will cover an introduction to the topic so that people can then go on and learn more themselves if they want to.”

Rev. Trevor Freeman added: “There is a gap in the transmission of these skills these days – people are increasingly educated but they don’t know how to do basic home maintenance.”

“Lately we are more likely to pay people to fix things instead of learning how to do it ourselves, which means the skills are no longer being passed down from generation to generation.

“If you do want to learn these things, it is harder to find someone who can teach you, so our idea is to give the community a chance to spend time with people who are knowledgeable, and pick up information that they can use to expand their own knowledge.”

Trevor added: “There is no obligation on people who attend these courses to join our church – our outreach work isn’t about getting a return.

“If you do decide you like our church and want to come to a

service, we would welcome that, but there is no self-serving agenda here.”

The church members had so many skills to share that a spring and fall program has been planned – fall topics will include basic sewing and cooking on a budget. The organizers are also looking for other community members who would like to teach a two-hour workshop on any topic.

The spring schedule is:

• May 13: Basic car maintenance

• May 20: Basic home maintenance

• May 27: Gardening and composting

• June 3: Exercise

• June 10: Outdoor appreciation

• June 17: Basic finance and taxes

• June 24: Basic plumbing

 

Each workshop is free and materials will be provided. Workshops are suitable for all ages and experience levels. Pre-registration is recommended – call 250 423 6517 or email christchurchfernie@gmail.com

The church is also now on Facebook under the name Christ Church Anglican Fernie.