The Grande Prairie Coffee Club celebrated its sixth anniversary at the end of March with a celebration at Teresa Sargent Hall.
Partygoers included members, friends and family, caregivers, and support staff. Long-time member and Lead Facilitator of the Coffee Club Soleil Molloy says the six-year mark is quite meaningful to her, and everyone involved as it represents the continued growth of the organization.
“I’m just fortunate to always have been a part of it,” she says. “We emerged from a small study room to one of the training rooms to now, Coffee Club is held in the Teresa Sargent Hall twice a month and we’ve seen upwards of 80 to 120 people.”
Molloy says Coffee Club started as a way for adults living with disabilities to connect with one another in a social setting. She says the comradery that members find in the club is “extremely beneficial” as a lack of social opportunities was a significant problem in Grande Prairie before the club’s inception.
“We’re all about community inclusion, making friendships, and natural connections, it’s been really lovely the result of coffee club, now I have 80 to 100 friends that I’ve met with my time at the coffee club and it’s nice for us all to keep an extra eye out for each other in the community,” she says. “Reflecting back on the six years, it’s really been a fun time getting to meet lots of new people, seeing all kinds of different successes, getting to know people’s families, and from that as well, we’ve been able to initiate some different types of programming.”
The club has continued to grow, and more opportunities such as summer barbecues and adult-friendly dances are scheduled throughout the year.
