Bringing back Rainbows

Reaching for Rainbows slated to resume in September

It has now been over a year since the Reaching for Rainbows program was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Picton, the program aimed to help vulnerable girls ages six to nine change their trajectory in life by providing a nurturing environment where they could learn new skills and develop relationships. The after-school program, running four days a week, had been operating for over eight years and focused on learning through play, fostering friendship, creating a welcoming environment, and allowing the girls to learn and explore at their own pace. Another critical part of the program was providing a nutritious and healthy meal, with plenty of time to chat with their peers as well as with the volunteer helpers. The program has been sorely missed by everyone, and is scheduled to restart in September at the beginning of the new school year. In preparation, Emily Pennington has been hired as the executive director of Reaching for Rainbows and has been tasked with ensuring the program will operate safely and effectively, and find ways to sustain the program on a long-term basis.

Pennington is the mother of two young children, and she and her husband operated a food business in Toronto for eight years. She took responsibility for marketing and communication, and after moving to the County three years ago was looking to become involved in working with children in the not-for-profit sector. “I found this opportunity with Rainbows and it was perfect for me and exactly what I wanted to do,” she says. “These children often don’t have a voice and can easily slip through the cracks, and if we are going to support the community and the families of these girls then we have to advocate on their behalf. There needs to be resources in place to support them. We can’t have a healthy vibrant community without supporting the most vulnerable among us, and that’s often children. And if we don’t step in and give some resources then we’re really doing a disservice to the whole community. These children are the future and they deserve a place at the table, deserve to feel they belong and are being given a chance to thrive. Committing to these girls for four years and working through their challenges and identifying their needs is imperative to help them becoming healthy and involved citizens in their own community.”

A new program coordinator will be hired in May, with whom Pennington will work to ensure the program meets all COVID safety protocols and conforms to public health mandates. The program has been licensed by the Ministry of Education and its core values of giving the girls individual attention and helping them develop relationships will remain unchanged, but will be iteratively modified as necessary. An essential part of Pennington’s work will be fundraising to ensure the long-term stability of Reaching for Rainbows, and one project already underway is a fundraiser by Grant Van Gameren of Harry’s Charbroil to raise $50,000 from now until November. By coincidence, Van Gameren is well known to Pennington and her husband, as they all worked in the Toronto food industry. He had wanted to help a local charity, as he had done while in Toronto, and was directed to Reaching for Rainbows. This past weekend he had a donation box at his Harry’s Charbroil food truck located at the Waupoos Pub, and offered to match $1,000 in donations. “A little bit from us goes a long way for charities. This weekend we’re matching up to $1,000 in donations. We’re going to be working for the next six months supporting this with a goal of raising $50,000, which is what they need to start running their program in the new school year,” says Van Gameren. Harry’s Charbroil will be at the Waupoos Pub this coming weekend, and will move to its summer and fall location at Cressy Mustard after that. Reaching for Rainbows is looking to refresh its branding, and Van Gameren is asking parents to encourage their kids to design a new logo and bring the drawing to his food truck.

Reaching for Rainbows is looking forward to welcoming back its girls in the fall. “The main priority for us is opening the program with COVID safety measures in place, and keeping the core of the program while bringing in new strategic partners to enable us to have sustainable fundraising. We’re trying to raise $150,000 to enable us to have the funds in place to run our program as well as looking at how we can be more of a resource to families,” says Pennington. “There’s been lots of interest from Native groups and academics talking about how Rainbows could be utilized in other communities, so we can be a model for other communities that could benefit from a similar program. It’s amazing to have this kind of partnership because it gives us sustainability and enables us to focus on what more we can do to help, within our community and beyond.”

For more information or to make a donation, please visit reachingforrainbows.com. Reaching for Rainbows is also looking for a treasurer for its board. Please email info@reachingforrainbows.com for more details.