Historic Article

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

LITE helps spirit burn bright

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 11/30/2005 5:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Since Lydia Sicotte first moved into a North End housing development five years ago, she says her neighbourhood has started to change.

With more community-based programs and initiatives Sicotte says there's less violence and the neighbourhood is moving in a positive direction.

"I've seen so many changes," says Sicotte, who is the president at the Indian and Métis Friendship Centre. "It is positive and there is a lot of positive things happening here."

Last week, the Indian and Métis Friendship Centre hosted Local Investment Toward Employment's (LITE) 11th annual wild blueberry pancake breakfast, in support of inner-city residents, business owners and food banks. On the corner of Dufferin Avenue and Robinson Street in a community with a notoriously bad reputation, hundreds of residents, volunteers and citizens from across Winnipeg gathered to prove that the situation is far from bleak.

"Often, there's this negative stereotype that the North End is a very bad place," says Brendan Reimer, co-chair of the event. "And what this does is show there's a lot of life here."

In 1994, LITE began working with community partners in the North End, like North End Housing Project and Neechi Foods Community Store, to support core-area businesses and provide jobs for inner city residents.

The pancake breakfast kicks off LITE's holiday fundraising campaign, which has already raised $15,000 . Although LITE has been struggling with a drop in funding this year, this year's fundraising goal is $100,000.

Reimer says the event provided job opportunities for crafters, musical entertainers and caterers from the North End. He says the annual event shows how the community is taking steps to renew itself, and gain the skills and confidence to become more economically independent.

"They want a place to participate and feel good about where they live," he says. "They're not waiting for people to come in, they're taking charge themselves."

Janice Houle, a student at Urban Circle, says the breakfast gave her school an opportunity to sell Christmas crafts and raise money for their upcoming Grade 12 graduation.

She says it's the second year she's been involved with LITE, and says it helps bring people from across Winnipeg to the North-End community.

"I think it brings everybody together," she says. "It lets them see it's not just one area."

As rows of tables are packed with people indulging in their homemade pancakes, Sue Hudson takes a break between bites to share what keeps her coming back to the annual event.

Although she now lives in River Heights, Hudson worked in a North-End resource centre as a community worker for several years, and says she's watched the fundraiser blossom from a small group of dedicated community members to a large-scale event.

Hudson says LITE gives the North-End community a chance to renew itself, and says watching the high level of community spirit is amazing.

"The North End always struggles for renewal and this is testament to the spirit of renewal," she says. "It really is the spirit of Christmas. It's helping people become independent and proud."

Reimer says unemployment is one of the area's major challenges, and that residents are working together to find a solution.

"They're taking charge and creating initiatives that are turning the community around," he says.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 30, 2005 $sourceSection$sourcePage

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