WHERE DID THEY GO AND WHAT IS HAPPENING?

It is July 8th – half way through 2019. Hard to believe. Six months have gone by in a flash. But we have been busy.

You may have asked, “where did they go? They are not in their old office.” Our board of directors decided in January that we would move our location. A wonderful spot opened up on Main Street. It was bigger, brighter and street level. We were excited. So we started to pack and found things that surprised us. We found documents from 1978 – the first year we were open. We found things that will probably be in an antique shop soon – like a floppy disk. Remember those?? We had 7 huge bins taken away for shredding. We were at 347 Sherbrooke for 17 years – and after the bins were taken away, we realized that we were hoarders!! Most days it was fun to pack and see things from the past. Other days it was hard, “should we keep this?? Call Jane and see what she says.”

We moved to 175 Main Street East – with a few glitches but we were officially moved in before the long weekend of May. I am forever thankful for a staff that was flexible and not afraid to lift a box or clean up a mess. We really do have a great staff. We finally are settled into our new space and sometimes, I feel I have to pinch myself to make sure this is real. The space is beautiful and we are having a great time meeting neighbours and decorating our new space. We even have a vault – and no, we do not put learners in there when their homework is not completed!!! The learners seem to like the new space and I hope they feel welcome.

Well, if a move wasn’t stressful enough, we had another change. After 13 years of volunteering and teaching, Maureen officially retired. It was a difficult couple of weeks because we all realized that this was a big change. Maureen has done a wonderful job of creating a GED preparation class that produced successful graduates. She has had a part in helping over 70 students obtain their GED certificate. We already miss her special vocabulary “dodad etc.” But we are happy for her in that she can spend some much deserved time with her family.

As hard as it was to say goodbye to Maureen, the transition was seamless. Deanna, our Mattawa instructor for the past 5 years, has stepped into Maureen’s shoes. Deanna is a very good teacher and we are looking forward to what she will give to our students.

So, where are we?? We are downtown North Bay, by the new nurse practitioner’s clinic. Our surroundings look different and some of the staff look different but nothing else has changed. We are still working hard to “strengthen our community…one learner at a time.”

Drop in an see us sometime!!