Fossil Fair for Kids!

Our next group event is:
Fossil Fair for Kids!!The Victoria Paleontology Society is hosting its 15th Annual Fossil Fairon March 26-27th at the Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary (3873 Swan Lake Rd)
The Fair has a display of diverse ancient fossil animals and plants, including:dinosaur bones, corals, mollusks, insects, giant palm leaves, and more!

This Fair is educational and open to the public! Children can do these activities: sandbox fossil dig, fossil scavenger hunt,fossil coloring, rubbings, and more!
Date for our group: Saturday, March 26th. Meet at VIRCS at 10:30am (or, if you prefer to drive, meet us at the Fair at 11am) to take the bus.Fair is Free of Cost for us!
Please, let me know if you are coming, and how many persons you will be! Also, ask your family match if they are interested and plan to join!
Thank you,
-- Francina Potes

Program Coordinator

Cultural Bridging Friends Program

Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society

637 Bay St, 3rd Floor. Victoria BC

(250) 361-9433 x.242

francina@vircs.bc.ca

New I-Plan-It session has begun

It’s a new year and the new session of I-Plan-It has started this January. Our combination of employment, life skills, language learning, and one-on-one counseling service for newcomers, aged 15-25, has been extremely popular, and has already helped dozens of people get first jobs, find first apartments, start their own bank accounts, , and more…

Our I-Plan-It programs are always a huge success and could not be possible without the support and time of our dedicated volunteers!! Thank you

School-based programs closed for the summer

It is that time of year when all of the grade schools are shut, and children are free to delight in summer. For VIRCS, that means many of the Enable and I Plan It program services will be closed until the end of August.

Services that are closed for the summer are:

• Homework Club
• Conversation Club
• Youth Activity Night
• Life Skills Workshops
• Social Night
• Sparks

Services that continue throughout the summer are:

• 1-on-1 Tutoring (existing matches only)
• Strides Summer Camp
• I Plan It Youth Employment Coaching

Thank you everyone for your help, and we hope to see you all again in September!

Update: I-Plan-It program for young adults

I-Plan-It is going strong! Our combination of employment, life skills, language learning, and one-on-one counseling service for newcomers, aged 15-25, has been extremely popular, and has already helped dozens of people find first apartments, start bank accounts, get first jobs, and more.

For the new year, we are still searching for some positive male role models to work with newcomer youth aged 15-25, as part of our social night on Thursday evenings, and life skills workshops on Saturdays.

For more information, contact me!

I-Plan-It Program Changes

I-Plan-It is also going strong, thanks to a great team of volunteers and staff, but there has been a minor change in scheduling. Starting next week, the I-Plan-It ESL classes will be from 6 to 8pm every Tuesday, instead of 5 to 7pm as in previous weeks.

I-Plan-It Program Update

The new I-Plan-It Program for Young Adults is off to a great start, with almost every part over-booked with young newcomers!

This program offers many of VIRCS' services in a new format specifically for the needs of newcomer youth who are planning and starting their lives after highschool.

This month, we are still looking for Conversation Buddies for our Monday evening Conversation Club, as well as 1-on-1 Tutors.

I-Plan-It program for young adults update

We have completed the recent info sessions, and are starting the I-Plan-It activities this week! The first few weeks of activities will concentrate on participant assessment (seeing what people
need), and volunteer training. There are four volunteer roles in I-Plan-It:

• Conversation Club Buddy
• ESL Class Assistant
• LifeSkills Workshop Assistant
• Activity Night Leader

To learn more about these, please contact me.

I-Plan-It Volunteer Info Sessions

I-Plan-It Program For Young Adults - Volunteer Info Sessions

For all of you who would like to Volunteer for our new I-Plan-It Program as Life-skills Workshop facilitators, Activity Night Leaders, or ESL Classroom Helpers, we are having an Info Session next Thursday, July 16th, from 5pm to 6:30pm at VIRCS. This is a great chance to meet the new staff, ask questions, and sign up to volunteer. We will be having a second Info Session on Monday, July 27th, from 6pm to 8pm at VIRCS. These activities will start in August, and run on a four-month term.

I-Plan-It Program for young adults Begins

We are also beginning VIRCS' Young Adults Program May 1st, including life skills classes, conversation clubs, ESL classes, a newsletter, and more. We will need volunteer help for many aspects of this program, so if you have a passion for working with young adults, contact me to learn more.