The What Matters to Hatters coalition wants to hear from you. (Photo Courtesy Ross Lavigne)

By Chris Brown

What Matters to Hatters wants to hear from you

Dec 6, 2022 | 3:01 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A small coalition of community agencies has come together to encourage and foster hope, resiliency and connection in our community.

Their plan is to shine a spotlight on the great things happening in Medicine Hat.

“We know that there are many great activities, events, agencies, organizations here, and we know that through the pandemic we lost some of those,” says coalition member Michelle Sauve. “We are seeing people coming back to community events. But we’re wondering are there events that maybe people miss that haven’t come back, perhaps people have been to other municipalities and experienced an event they wish we had here.”

What Matters to Hatters is a partnership between Alberta Health Services – Addiction and Mental Health Services, the City of Medicine Hat’s community development department, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Veiner Centre

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Sauve, representing AHS on the coalition, says they want to let people know what resources there are in the community and find connections by breaking down some barriers around talking about challenges and struggles.

To first learn what matters to Hatters, the group has posted a survey to engage residents. The survey is open until Jan. 13 and anyone who fills it out can enter to win a local prize pack.

And Sauve says the coalition’s work isn’t just about larger events and there are many ways to connect and bring positivity, something they’ve done by supporting the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta’s Spread Kindness YXH campaign.

“It’s just offering a smile to a stranger or you know being a snow angel, it might be the importance of shopping local and eating local and how do we support people in our communities,” she says. “So it could be as simple as throwing few dollars in a donation bin, you know, gathering up any unwanted Christmas gifts that you don’t think your family will use and donating those to local charities.”

The results of the survey will be shared with the public and groups and organizations will be able to access the data. Sauve says the community foundation has provided the group support for the survey.

What Matters to Hatters plans to create a toolkit that smaller municipalities can use for themselves and is looking at hosting a conference down the road.

You can keep up with What Matters to Hatters on Facebook and Twitter or by emailing whatmatterstohatters@gmail.com.