It’s Community Disability Workers Appreciation Week in Alberta and the Lacombe Action Group kicked off the week with a hot dog lunch on Tuesday afternoon. (May 23, 2023)  

“This really is an unseen job, but obviously not unvalued or unappreciated. These workers are some of the most compassionate, committed, kind people you'll ever meet, and they really support individuals in our communities, to have a great quality of life,” said Trina Kennedy, Professional Development Coordinator.  

This is the first Community Disability Workers Appreciation Week in the province and Kennedy says it’s important for disability workers to feel valued this week and is looking forward to celebrating for years to come.  

“We did have to see a wage increase the workers were incredibly thankful for that, but you know more than that I think people just wanted to acknowledged and appreciated.” 

The lunch was well attended by Action Group staff and clients. City of Lacombe Mayor, Grant Creasey and Councillor, Cora Hoekstra attended the lunch to celebrate local disability workers. Following the lunch there was a Walk-A-Thon at the Research Station.  

This week the Lacombe Action Group will be hosting a variety of fun activities to celebrate our local Community Disability Workers including a scavenger hunt, and a poster contest. Throughout the province Action Groups will be putting their own special spin on the celebratory week. There are over 15,000 Community Disability Service Sectors workers in Alberta being celebrated this week.

“Each work site is doing just a special kind of team building. Some are doing a potluck, some are doing barbecues, and teas. So that's lots of fun stuff planned,” said Kennedy.  

The Lacombe Action Groups offers support to children, youth, and adults with disabilities.  

“We have family support programs and youth programs in home, family support, employee programs, and residential. That's really the bulk of what we do.We own Castaways so lots of people from Lacombe are familiar with Castaways... [We do have] the learning circle. That's a program that will run here at the office individuals come and they participate and they learn lots of great skills and have lots of great fun and experiences,” explained Kennedy.  

Community Disability Workers Appreciation Week is happening until May 28th.