Ladysmith United Church has planned a “care-a-van” event for Thursday, July 1.
The church has been doing the “care-a-vans” since the beginning of the pandemic as a way to show essential workers that the community cares about them.
“Having seen the birthday drive-bys that started back then, the congregation decided to create “care-a-vans” to meet that need. It only took the success of the initial care-a-van to let them know that this would be a good thing to continue,” Rev. Deb Hinksman said.
Since then, the care-a-vans have taken on themes like St. Patrick’s Day, Grads and Dads and now Canada Day. Hinksman said that the Canada Day care-a-van has been planned for months, but with the recent discover of unmarked graves at residential schools across Canada, Hinksman and the church have decided to downplay the Canada Day theme.
“Because this is still our pastoral care-a-van and not a Canada Day celebration, we will still have the drive by on July 1st. The Canada theme will be lessened. We are intentionally adding extra care, to acknowledge and be sensitive to the most recent revelations by wearing orange shirts and more,” she said.
Each person participating in the care-a-van is asked to remain with their family bubble in their own vehicle. Participants will gather at the Ladysmith Secondary School parking lot on July 1 beginning at 11:30 for a departure time of noon.
“When you arrive, please drive up and get in the queue and participants are asked to please stay in their vehicles. When the care-a-van gets started, all are asked to follow at appropriate driving distances and speeds and the route will end back at the school parking lot. The route will be posted online to let people known we might be in their neighbourhood,” Hinksman said.
If you would like more information about this event, please call Deb Hinksman at 778-674-4948, or email revdeb.unitedchurch@gmail.com.