Echo Society celebrates grand re-opening

Last Wednesday, the Echo Society, combined with Whitecourt’s Chamber of Commerce Meet and Greet, opened its doors to host its grand re-opening celebration. The event brought a great mix of about 100 people from business and chamber members, parents, clients from Echo, and many dignitaries to congratulate the Echo Society on its achievement.

It has been a long time coming for the Echo Society to have a place they can truly call home, a place of their own. As renters, owning a property has been a goal of the society for the past several years, and the financial leap to purchase a building came earlier this year. The society is now the proud owner of the building located on 50 Avenue across from Furniture Den. With two tenants already leasing parts of the building, it will help offset some of the monthly costs.

Thirty years ago, the Blue Heron Support Services was born, and 21 years ago, the name changed to what it is today, the Echo Society. The society has grown in leaps and bounds during this time and came full circle as Blue Heron started in the back of the building we just purchased. “It’s so ironic,” said Executive Director Louise Meier.

Mayor Chichak said, “The Echo Society has accomplished so much in our community from empowering people with disabilities to become self-sustaining and contributing members of our community. They should be extremely proud to have provided the tools to improve self-esteem and confidence in their clients. I’m very grateful to the levels of government and the funding provided through the Community Enhancement Grant which allowed the society to get where it is today.”

MLA Martin Long was present for the grand opening and received a tour of the new office space said, “The whole idea and layout inside are fantastic. The Snoezelen Room is excellent and beneficial to all the public after a stressful day at work or suffer from anxiety. It’s just phenomenal they provide this room for their clients who may need to get away from what’s going on in their lives. The society members are genuinely compassionate and caring people, and it shows.

Meier will not take credit for any of the society’s success and attributes it to a group effort of board members, and staff members including the considerable support of the senior leadership team Sandra Harris, Natalie Jendrick, and Bev Foster. Meier added, “Everybody has played his or her part in making this the organization that it has been and what it can become. Our vision is to be the leaders in providing excellence in disability services. This can be from paperwork to services, to clients in the community, or whatever the role may be. It’s about being the best at doing that.”

The Echo Society has ideas in the works for future opportunities that will help clients prosper. It will be working with Alberta Health Services and learning to prepare healthy food with cooking in the kitchen, learning money management, and getting more involved in the community through various activities and exercise incentives.