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Community BBQ in Dashwood

About 100 families signed up for the Emergency Preparedness Program
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At the sixth annual Dashwood Community BBQ

Susan Mohan

Special to The NEWS

The sixth annual Dashwood Community BBQ was recently held at the Dashwood Community Park on Centre Road. The BBQ was sponsored by the Little Qualicum Neighbourhood Breakfast Group and local Emergency Preparedness Program.

At the BBQ, there were kids, family activities and a local band which made the event lively and welcoming for all ages, playing and visiting together. Activities began with water balloons and sponge tag, big bubble demonstration, parachute  games, free play with ladder ball, football and croquet.

This year, with new families moving into the area is fast becoming a great place to live, being so accessible to Qualicum Beach,

The first BBQ that was held in this area had very few residents gathering together, but the whole community has since grown considerably and the BBQ, and especially our annual Christmas Pot Luck dinner has grown from 28 people to about 100 people. New friendships have begun, and inter-generational neighbourhood support is increasing.

We now have a positive move in going forward with any plans that we might have to make many of the new residents feel at home. You may find children and teens playing on the basketball court, or, alternatively playing on the swings or walking on the cedar chip trails with their parents or friends. We would very much like to have a few benches to sit on while in the park watching our dog walkers etc. but and with many new residents our dreams will come true.

Several years ago, we were encouraged to form an Emergency Preparedness Program, much to the delight of the Emergency Preparedness Provincial program in Nanaimo.

The program included finding out about the locals and whether there are nurses, fishermen, horse owners, trucks or house responders who could help during any emergency which are all very necessary for any emergency. At present there are approximately 100 families signed up with a very solid email base with which to contact families.

The Dashwood community consists of two areas of the Island, from the Little Qualicum River Bridge to the Dashwood Fire Hall and beyond.

The Dashwood Community Park sits in the centre of Dashwood in Area G, but has sadly been overlooked in the past, mainly because Area G covers such a large split area including French Creek and San Pariel.