Volunteering to Create Bonds in Your Community
by Lisa Scale
Good things are happening in Riga, with the largest influx of families, up to 43 now, since the first eight families arrived in 2017, things are starting to evolve. With only one Community Service Provider in Riga and over 100 members and families, it takes volunteers to make it happen. In Riga, we are thrilled with the outpouring of support from spouses and CAF members to help run or host events to keep our families busy while enjoying their OUTCAN. Events like the Welcome BBQ, Teen Board Game Challenge and most recently, a Craft Morning would not be possible without helpful members from the community.
A great example of this was the October Craft Morning, which was held for the spouses while the children were all in school. Hosted by Denise, who did an amazing job of creating beautiful crafts for everyone to enjoy. A station was set up to create a choice of 3 different greeting cards, everything you needed was included in each bin as well as an example to follow. If that was not enough, Denise was there to help step by step so the end result was something to be proud of. Denise had another craft area set up to create personalized heating pads, she went above and beyond providing different material to suit everyone's tastes, the rice and a choice of scents to embellish the heating pad with. Others brought their sewing machines to the event so that many could be worked on at the same time! Those more experienced sewers helped those who were not familiar with the sewing machines, so everyone left with beautiful heating pads.
The room was filled with laughter and stories as well as plans for the next event! This was a great example of people coming together to share their expertise, resources and even share rides to ensure those who wanted to come were able to. Life in a foreign country does not have to be isolating, with volunteers jumping in to help create an atmosphere of camaraderie, life abroad can be exciting, invigorating and fun!
