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‘Walking Through Rimbey’ continues to inform the community

Pastor Marco Ste Marie launched the project aimed at building connections earlier this year
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Pastor Marco Ste-Marie spearheaded the Walking Through Rimbey series earlier this year, and it’s brought not only a sense of fulfillment to him, but also proven to be a rich learning opportunity as well. photo submitted

Rimbey’s Pastor Marco Ste-Marie has thoroughly enjoyed producing his ‘Walking Through Rimbey’ series where he connects with a range of local agencies and organizations.

It’s not only a way for him to help spread the word about these organizations - it’s also provided plenty of personal fulfillment along the way.

The Rimbey United Church pastor launched the project back in February, and it consists of sitting down with various agencies in town to learn more about them and then to share the videos on social media.

Ste-Marie said it’s a way to build awareness about these agencies and services and also hopefully to help them tap into fundraising possibilities as well. The episodes are available to view on each of the organization’s Facebook pages as well as that of Rimbey United Church.

Examples so far have included the local library, FCSS, the Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Ste-Marie has explained that it’s not a project that has been spearheaded by the church; but from his own involvement in town.

“What I want to do now is kind of a two-part series - I want to interview all the people that are looking to be elected as councillors for town council, and also the two mayoral candidates as well,” he explained. “I want to do a short interview with each of them and then do a follow-up once they get elected as well.”

He also had a few further agencies lined up to interview, but the pandemic altered that timeline somewhat.

The last one in the series that was completed was with the local Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Rimbey Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rimbey later held a fundraiser in partnership with the Rimbey United Church.

Proceeds will help cover costs of some fall programs, such as regular after-school programming, and ongoing mentoring programs as well.

”It went really well, we were really happy with it,” said Ste-Marie of the carwash fundraiser.

“On the day of the fundraiser, we received $1,100 from the car wash. We had cars lining up for hours, so it was pretty amazing!

Ste-Marie said quite a few volunteers from the church were also onhand to lend a helping hand.

“It was a lot of fun.”

For Ste-Marie, the whole Walking Through Rimbey project has, as mentioned, been a lot of fun but also something of a learning experience.

“When I did the interviews with the Adult Learning Society, I was not aware of everything they did. It was very satisfying for me to get to learn more and also to be able to give them the platform so they could say, ‘Here is what we do’.

“It’s been such a beautiful journey for me to get to learn about all of these different agencies for sure,” he said. “What I also like about it is to see how passionate all the leaders are - they all have that in common. They are absolutely passionate about what they are doing,” he added. “And they want to share it - it’s really amazing.”

As to the ongoing mission of the church, Ste-Marie said he’s interested in doing some sort of podcast on a weekly basis focusing on a range of subjects. “I would like to have different guests as well for discussion,” he said. “That is something I’m working on.

“We’ve also been also holding services ever since we’ve been able to do so,” he said, adding that services are still available to view online as well. “The church is going strong for sure. The pressure that COVID has put on the congregation has really (brought) out the best in them,” he added. “There have been some great ideas, and they are willing to just go ahead and try something new. I’m pretty amazed.”

Meanwhile, Ste-Marie has also encouraged other non-profits to reach out to him if they’d be interested in being featured on ‘Walking Through Rimbey’. Folks can email Ste-Marie at pastormarcostemarie@gmail.com.