The Community Foundation of Medicine Hat and Southeastern Alberta is proud to announce the first in a series of 2009-2010 Vital Activities, a spin-off of its Medicine Hat’s Vital Signs publication.

“Waste Not, Want Not: Recycling in Medicine Hat — the who, how, when and what’s next!” will take place on Thursday, November 19 from 12 – 1:30 PM in the Honor Currie Room in the Medicine Hat Public Library. Attendees are welcome to bring their own lunch.

Panel members include Ed Jollymore, manager of solid waste utilities for the City of Medicine Hat, Randy Bray, operations supervisor at REDI Enterprises, and Raeann Torrance, owner of local curbside recycling company Down To Earth Recycling.

“Our moderator will ask our panel members questions related to the present and future of recycling in Medicine Hat,” said Jennifer Thompson, community impact coordinator for the Community Foundation. “We hope to give the public a better idea of how we can improve recycling in our area and perhaps glean an idea of what local recycling might look like in the future.”

This “Vital Munch” will also include a new component: interactive questions from the online community. Using the library’s new wireless internet service, Thompson will be online to write live “tweets” from the event on the foundation’s Twitter account (@cfmh). Followers can be part of the discussion by responding to tweets or even tweeting their own questions to ask the panel. Questions can also be directed to jennifer@mhcf.ca.

“We are proud to introduce this new interactive component of Vital Munch,” Thompson said. “We realize that many people would like to come but are unable to. Now, everyone who is interested in recycling in Medicine Hat can join us from their computer or mobile device. We hope this leads to an even more significant conversation.”

Questions that the panel will address will cover issues such as: improving recycling, how recycling works, the carbon footprint of recycling, how to make recycling easier for everyone, and thoughts on the future of recycling in Medicine Hat.

Two more Vital Munches are expected to be held in early 2010 on various topics. All Vital Munch topics are based from the Vital Signs report and what issues community members have indicated they would like to bring to the forefront in the community.

Vital Activities such as Vital Munch are the “so now what?” of the Vital Signs report. Vital Activities help us answer some of the questions that arise with the results found in Vital Signs each year: questions such as “what’s my community doing about this,” or “what can I do to make a difference?” Various Vital Activities are found within the report as well as in other Community Foundation publications.

No reservations are necessary to attend the November 19 Vital Munch. For more information, contact Jennifer Thompson at (403) 527-9038 or jennifer@mhcf.ca.

CFMH