5. Renfrew Park Community Centre: Culturally Relevant Safe Food Handling Workshop for Older Adults

Organization Information

Organization Name

Renfrew Park Community Centre

Mission and Vision of Organization

Renfrew Park Community Centre (RPCC) is jointly operated by the Vancouver Board of Parks & Recreation and the Renfrew Park Community Association (RPCA). RPCA Mission Statement We aim to assist in developing and fostering community spirit and involvement and to work closely with the other groups in the Renfrew-Collingwood Neighbourhood. We aim to provide cultural, intellectual and physical activities through affordable recreation and leisure. Vancouver Park Board Mission To provide, preserve, and advocate for parks and recreation services to benefit all people, communities, and the environment.

Guiding Principles + Values

We conduct ourselves based on these six values:

• Responsiveness - We are responsive to the needs of our citizens and our colleagues.
• Excellence - We strive for the best results.
• Fairness - We approach our work with unbiased judgement and sensitivity.
• Integrity - We are open and honest, and honour our commitments.
• Leadership - We aspire to set examples that others will choose to follow.
• Learning - We are a learning workplace that grows through our experiences.

Contact Information

• Primary Contact Person(s): Albert Lee
• Email: aswlee@myself.com
• Phone: (604) 257-8388
• Address: 2929 East 22nd Avenue, Vancouver BC, V5M 2Y3
• Website: https://www.renfrewcc.com/

Preferred Method of Contact

• Best method(s) to contact: Email, For most communication, email is preferred. For complex conversations, in-person meetings are best.
• Best day(s) to contact:Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays
• Best time(s) to contact: Mornings, Afternoons

Project Description

Context: What challenge or issue does the project aim to address?

Renfrew Park Community Centre opened in 1963 and offers an active complex of facilities to serve the growing Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood. It is jointly-operated by the Renfrew Park Community Centre Association (RPCCA) and the Vancouver Park Board. Renfrew-Collingwood is home to the city’s highest population of children and youth and fastest growing seniors population. Numerous languages are spoken throughout the community and its ethnicity is celebrated through a variety of diverse and vibrant cultural events.

As part of a wide compliment of community programs for older adults in the neighbourhood, the RPCC Chinese Seniors Group meets on Friday afternoons from 1:30 - 3:30pm. Friday activities vary widely and include guest speakers, workshops, and more. RPCC and the Chinese Seniors Group are working to support healthy and engaged lifestyles for local seniors, including ideas and resources to inspire healthy home-cooked meals. This project addresses the need for a workshop that offers up-to-date safe food handling information, with a focus on home cooking (e.g. safely storing leftovers, safe defrosting, avoiding cross-contamination), with the workshop offered primarily in Cantonese so that the content is easily accessible for the program participants.

Main Project Activities

The students will work with the community partners to develop and deliver a safe food handling workshop. The workshop is to be offered on a Friday afternoon in March. It should consider: Up-to-date food safety information Specific food safety considerations for older adults Culturally competent facilitation, including culturally relevant food examples Language accessibility

Expected Project Deliverable(s)

One safe food handling workshop for older, Chinese-speaking adults, including audio-visual aids and/or handouts as appropriate

Student Assets and Skills (preferred or required)

• Cantonese fluency is an asset (at least 2-3 group members should be fluent in Cantonese)
• Knowledge or interest in the importance of food safety
• Knowledge or interest in translating complex information into accessible formats
• Competency, empathy, and interest in working with older adults

Student Assets and Skills (to be developed through the project)

• Cantonese fluency is an asset (at least 2-3 group members should be fluent in Cantonese)
• Translating complex information into accessible formats
• Competency, empathy, and interest in working with older adults
• Facilitation and public speaking skills Creativity (e.g developing audio-visual materials)
• Knowledge about the importance of food safety in the older adult population

Are there any mandatory attendance dates (e.g. special event)?

• Group members must be available to facilitate the safe food handling workshop on one Friday in March (1:30pm - 3:30pm)
• Specific date to be decided with community partner and student team

Is a criminal record check required?

• Yes

If a criminal record check is required, when should the process be initiated?  

• The student team should collect all group members' full names and submit them in one email to Nick Fong at nick.fong@vancouver.ca in order to initiate the necessary paperwork. This step should be taken as soon as possible once groups are assigned.

Project Location

• 2929 East 22nd Avenue, Vancouver BC, V5M 2Y3

Preferred Days of Week and Hours

• Flexible

Related Community Service Opportunities for Students

• There are many volunteering opportunities at RPCC, and other opportunities to volunteer with seniors in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood. Please ask!

Required Reading

Project/Partner Orientation Materials

Students should review these materials prior to the first partner meeting:

• Food Safety Resources (Province of British Columbia)
• Food Safety for Older Adults (Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education)
• Food safety for adults ages 60 and over (Government of Canada)

Additional Project/Partner Orientation Materials

The following will be provided at the first community partner meeting:

• Building tour and volunteer orientation