Community Connections
unified Website
and social media
Project brings
People together in
vulcan County
Many people live in rural communities
for a more affordable lifestyle, slower
pace of life, and a safe place to raise their
children.
Whatever the reason, one of the biggest
draws to living in a small community is
being close to neighbours — but this is
also a challenge given the time and travel
factors. This is the reality of living in Vulcan
County, a massive area that encompasses
more than 5,400 sq. km of land — an area
roughly six times the size of the entire City
of Calgary.
To bring County communities and
the people within them closer together,
representatives from the Vulcan Business
Development Society (VBDS) recently
devised a process by which all County
communities would be connected by
a unified social media, website and
community relations strategy.
The Community Foundation of
Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta
awarded the first grant from the Henry
S. Varley Fund for Rural Life to provide
start-up funding to assist with the
project.
“We know that people make major
decisions based on online impressions
and information,” said Marilyn
MacArthur, the Manager of the Vulcan
Business Development Society.
“We wanted to ensure that people
who visit or consider a move to our
County — no matter where they choose
to live or work within it — would see not
only consistent information, but know
that they would have access to the same
level of online services available in a
larger centre.”
Anneke van der Merwe, her husband
Frans and their children represent a
new generation of County residents.
Originally from South Africa, they traded
a lifestyle just off the coast of the South
Atlantic Ocean for life in Canada. Moving
first to rural Saskatchewan in 2011, they
subsequently settled in Arrowwood in
2014 to be near Frans’s worksite at the
Mossleigh Parrish and Heimbecker crop
services centre.
“When you decide to move to a new
place (or country) the first thing you do
is go online and see what you can find
out about the place you’re moving to,”
van der Merwe said. “We are happy that
Arrowwood has the school, park, library,
skating rink and other businesses. It
makes it easier to live in a smaller town
when these services are closer or more
available, but it was very difficult for us
to find these places online
conveniently.”
“The idea of bringing
even more information to
people through the County
would be great because it
would be useful to know
what societies and/or
community organizations
exist in the district.”
A
10
Under the unified web
system, MacArthur said
each community has the
flexibility to show and tell
about its unique features
and services while being
part of the County as
a whole – something
she believes will serve
the county’s nearly
7,000 residents and 15
communities well into the
future.
henry S. Varley Fund
for rural Life
Rural communities are benefitting from
the $4.4 million estate bequest of Bill Long,
a rancher from the Fishburn district south
east of Pincher Creek.
Bill was born in Fort Macleod in 1934 and
was an only child, as his parents passed
away tragically in a car accident in 1935. He
survived the accident and was raised by his
mother’s family, the Varleys, on their ranch
south east of Pinche