Connecting new with knew at Whistler Welcome Week

 Winter’s coming. So are winter’s new Whistlerites. And with that comes an opportunity for all of Whistler’s citizens to get involved in wishing well these Whistler workers from around the world.

As a four season destination resort, Whistler’s heart is our permanent citizens, but the blood that keeps it pumping is a fresh-faced flock of temporary, transient and telltale transcendental residents who come here every winter to live, work and play in our home. Whistler Welcome Week is a great opportunity for the heart of Whistler to get our new blood pumping in the right direction.

Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) is hosting their sixth annual Welcome Week from November 10-15, 2008. Beyond bonding long term residents with newcomers, goals for Welcome Week include making newcomers to Whistler feel welcome and valued in our community and to orient them to available social services and organizations. Each event during the week focuses on providing fun, inexpensive entertainment and meals for young adults and gives them an opportunity to get to know each other and what Whistler as a community has to offer. 

“Welcome Week provides our new residents with something beyond the façade of Whistler, beyond the mountains and into living rooms and dining rooms through interaction with real families and real Whistler people,” says Claire Moses, WCSS Community Youth Outreach Worker. “These young folks clearly start to see what’s really behind everything in this town.”

The Jill Ackhurst Community Welcome Dinner is the Welcome Week event that brings together over 500 newcomers and 200 locals. Each table at the dinner is hosted by two or more locals who are joined by six newbie Whistlerites. The idea is for locals to welcome and help guide newcomers as they learn about Whistler’s community.  The dinner is held in the main ballroom at the TELUS Whistler Conference Centre and is organized by WCSS with support from many generous local companies and organizations including Tourism Whistler, Whistler Blackcomb, LUNA, the Whistler Chamber of Commerce and the RMOW.

“For locals, the takeaway is this event brings them back to why they came to Whistler in the first place,” Moses says. “You can get that tangible sense of excitement, the passion that these young folks bring to Whistler is something we all share. Sometimes it gets lost once you’ve been here for a while.”

WCSS is seeking volunteers for the dinner on Thursday, November 13. Approximately 200 people are needed to be local table hosts for dinner beginning at 5 p.m. During dinner, ten people are needed to help run dishes to the kitchen, wash dishes in the industrial washer and refill water jugs.  The third group of volunteers will be responsible for taking down and putting away all equipment used during dinner.

As a further commitment to highlighting “local” at the dinner, Astrid’s Fine Foods will be organizing a menu of all local food for the second year in a row. By showcasing the development of the Whistler2020 Food Strategy and task force, Astrid Cameron Kent of Astrid’s Fine Foods, says we can connect Whistler with our newest citizens through their stomachs.

“We hope these new young Whistler folks can be proud of coming to, and being part of, a community that is committed to local food and food security,” she says. “People who have lived in Whistler for 20 years do not really know the value of having the farming community of Pemberton as a neighbor. In a way, we get to connect all locals, longtime and new, with beautiful local food at this dinner.”

To learn more about Whistler’s on the ground actions to support Whistler2020 go to Whistler2020.ca..

SIDEBAR:

2008 Whistler Welcome Week Schedule of Events

Nov 10th: Pancake Brunch, Firehall 10-noon. Snowboard Movie Premier, Rainbow Theatre 7pm

Nov 11th: Remembrance Day

Nov 12th: WERC Job Fair,Telus Conference Centre, 11-4pm

Scavenger Hunt House BBQ noon - ?

Nov 13th: Jill Ackhurst Community Welcome Dinner, Telus Conference Centre 5pm

Nov 14th: Moist, The Pool Party. Meadow Park Sports Centre 9pm-midnight

Nov 15th: Zero Ceiling Rummage Sale, Telus Conference Centre.