Skip to content

Once Upon a Creek

Roberts Creek

The Roberts Creek Community School is looking for a baby who hasn’t been born yet.

Community School coordinator Sheila Wilson explains that the baby they are searching for will be born sometime this summer, perhaps in August, and will become a star in the Cedar Grove and Roberts Creek elementary schools Roots of Empathy program. 

“Our baby should be two to four months old in the fall and will participate in the program sometime this September, October and November,” Wilson said. 

Roots of Empathy is a program tailored for grades kindergarten to 7. The baby, with mom or dad, will visit a chosen classroom nine times over the course of the 27-week program. The children watch “their” baby grow. They take pictures and ask questions. The baby visits are the highlight of the program, Sheila says. The program, meant to teach social and emotional skills, originated in Ontario and is now taught in countries around the world.

“The kids love it and the baby becomes a star,” Wilson said. “Some kids you wouldn’t think would be very empathetic are surprisingly warm and caring.”  

Interested parents-to-be should contact Wilson at the Community School, 604-885-3481. 

Preparations for the Roberts Creek Earth Day Festival (Sunday, April 22, noon to 5 p.m.) are almost complete, said organizer Graham Starsage. 

There’ll be workshops, local vendors and more than 50 organizations at the pier, as well as the ever popular bike tune-up crew offering free spring tune-ups.  At 10 a.m. before festivities begin, the Hall will host a special Earth Day ceremony, “a gathering  of meditation, sound and prayer.” At noon, the official welcome at the pier will be extended by shíshálh elder Xwu’pa’lich and emcee Jena Eros. 

New to Earth Day this year will be the Repair Café, to be held at the Hall from noon to 4 p.m. Bring any small appliance – a broken lamp, toaster or iron you’d otherwise have to throw away – and the Repair Café experts will supply tools and know-how to help you fix it. On your way from the Hall to the Pier, don’t forget to stop in at the Roberts Creek Library’s Earth Day book sale to buy a book or three and, just around the corner, at the Community Gazebo, pop by the RC Healthcare Auxiliary’s plant and bake sale. 

See you there. 

Send news about your Roberts Creek organization to Joy at [email protected] before noon Sundays.