DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION
At 27 years old, Vanessa Sanderson has been a recreation worker in Fort Resolution for more than 13 years.
Vanessa Sanderson is a recreation programmer with the Hamlet of Fort Resolution. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo |
Sanderson, who is one of two recreation programmers with the Hamlet of Fort Resolution, began working part-time after school as a teenager for what was then the settlement council.
"I started when I was 14 years old," she recalled.
Back then, she would remain after class at Deninu School to run activities for young people at the gym.
"I used to stay at the school right 'til 11 p.m." she said.
In the winter, she would help oversee skating at Lakeview Arena.
About eight or nine years ago, Sanderson, a member of Deninu Ku'e First Nation, was hired for a full-time position as one of two recreation programmers for the community and has been working there ever since, except for taking a year and a half off when she had a baby.
However, recreation was not her original career goal.
"Ever since I was five years old I told everyone I'd be a teacher," she said, although she no longer has that as a plan. "I'd rather be in recreation."
When she started working in recreation, she liked playing sports and coaching, she explained. "So recreation is the place I wanted to be."
Her job with the hamlet involves helping to organize and run many things - sports, Halloween activities, events for New Year's, skating and sliding parties, and much more.
Sanderson and the other recreation programmer, Wanda Balsillie, also co-manage the Fort Resolution Youth Centre, which opened about two years ago.
The new youth centre has been a significant addition to the community.
"The kids enjoy it," Sanderson said. "They love it."
The youth centre is making a difference for young people, she added. "I think it helps them stay out of trouble and they have somewhere to go. Some kids don't have anywhere to go after school. If their parents are gone or something, they have the youth centre to come to, somewhere to keep warm or just to keep busy, or sometimes to just do homework."
There are a number of activities to keep them busy - watching movies, learning computers, playing board games and video games, talking with each other, colouring and more.
There was no youth centre when Sanderson grew up in Fort Resolution.
"We had no place to hang out," she recalled. "It was either go to the community hall, where people used to play cards, or just go hang out at a friend's house. I don't think the gym was open when I was that young."
One of the main activities for Sanderson and Balsillie each year is helping to plan and organize the Fort Resolution Spring Carnival, which is set for March 21 to 24 and is celebrating its 51st year.
Sanderson helps organize several of the events, such as the youth and adult talent shows, pancake breakfasts, fun bingos and the crowning of a carnival king, queen, prince and princess.
The carnival also includes events organized by others, such as dog races, a volleyball tournament and a new ice fishing derby.
One of Sanderson's long-term goals is to work with other agencies to open a camp on Moose Deer Island.
"I want all of us to pitch in and get this place going so kids have some hunting and trapping in the winter. In the summertime, take them out on the land to bring them hunting," she said, noting there was such a camp on the island when she was younger.
Sanderson said she has enjoyed her many years in recreation, especially being able to work outdoors. "You get to do different things and go places and meet other people, and just do activities with the kids."
