Recreation Opportunities for Children (ROC) Eastman is adding staff to better serve more remote communities in the region. 

Executive director Moni Loewen says through special programming during the pandemic, they realized a need to better connect with more communities. 

“So, we decided to add staff specifically to two of those areas for now,” she says. “One is the Powerview-Pine Falls area, and one is the Sprague-Vita area.” 

ROC Eastman began operations in 2009 and Loewen says they have served around 800 children since that day. 

She is excited to connect with more families in more communities. 

“Both are really quite remote communities in their own unique ways,” Loewen says. “And definitely some families that would benefit from some of our ROC supports.”

Two women pointing at the sporting equipment inside a trailer.ROC Eastman travels to various communities to distribute sporting equipment to families with no fee or registration required. (Photo Credit: roceastman.ca)

 During the summer of 2020, ROC Eastman added activity kits to their supplies to offer families. At that time, traditional forms of recreation were mostly closed due to the pandemic. 

Loewen says there were a few grants that came through, allowing the organization to spend a bit of money to create the kits. 

They also reached out to various people in different communities and asked for help connecting with families that might benefit from additional support. 

It was then that Loewen and her team realized some communities were under serviced. 

She hopes to continue expanding the team over time, which will help make their services more accessible to more children.