Sometimes people just need a little helping hand, and a local community outreach group is working to provide that support.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we sat down with Jasmine MacLellan, organizer behind Collingwood Cares Community Outreach.
Q: Do you live in Collingwood? For how long?
A: I have resided in Collingwood for nearly 16 years.
Q: What brought you to Collingwood, and when?
A: I moved to Collingwood from Stayner in 2005 after my eldest son was born. I had resided there for three years.
Prior to that, I lived at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto.
Q: When did you decide to start Collingwood Cares Community Outreach? Why?
I think it’s been four years now since I started the outreach.
I started it because there was a great need and I was already doing a lot to assist the community with various outreach endeavours conducted by others. I decided it was best to streamline what I was doing, so it was easier for people access help.
Q: Can you briefly describe the assistance you provide?
A: Collingwood Cares Community Outreach runs coat drives, clothing drives, and helps promote local family/charity/community-related events.
We prepare backpacks filled with back-to-school supplies for kids.
We do work for the local homeless, by preparing care packages for them, and preparing biweekly homemade dinners for the Out Of The Cold Collingwood program.
We also provide recommendations to other community organizations.
Q: What were your expectations when you started this group?
A: The need has always been great in Collingwood and as the years roll on, especially now with COVID-19, the number of people contacting us for varying types of assistance has risen tremendously.
Q: Is there anything that you've seen in your time helping people in the community that has surprised you?
A: What never ceases to surprise me is the unwavering kindness and generosity of our community members!
When a call is put out on our Facebook page, we rarely have an issue rallying the troops to assist with the cause of the hour.
Q: What are your interests outside of the outreach?
A: I am a mother of two boys: 15 and nine years old.
I am a part of the Collingwood Historical Society (CHS), not only due to my passion for all things historical but also because of my Blue Mountain Pottery obsession and collection. I have the privilege of displaying some pieces at the Collingwood Museum, as well as presenting for the CHS at the Collingwood Museum last year.
I’m also on the board of the Collingwood Agricultural Society and run the baby show at the Great Northern Exhibition.
Q: Is there anything you could use help with from the community in order to help fill requests?
A: We are currently seeking 12 new 10-litre Rubbermaid square/rectangle containers with lids.
We will also be seeking people to sponsor families for Christmas soon. Details to follow in the next couple weeks on our Facebook page.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every Saturday. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
