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Chilliwack poised to welcome a Syrian family Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
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The new #ShareChilliwack video created for Tourism Chilliwack features beautiful and inspiring vistas of the region to attract visitors from Greater Vancouver and Washington State. INMIST MEDIA HOUSE PHOTO
Stunning video of Chilliwack goes viral Jennifer Feinberg The Progress It’s not really surprising that Tourism Chilliwack’s new #ShareChilliwack video went viral. It offers stunning aerial views of Chilliwack, as well as heart-pumping scenes of white water rafting, hiking, mountain biking, and more. The video has managed to take on a life of its own, earning thousands of views after the official launch at this week’s Christmas breakfast, said Vanessa Oddy, Destination Marketing Manager with Tourism Chilliwack.
“We’ve had a phenomenal response, which is excellent for the community,” she said. “It’s changing the perception of Chilliwack.” The video artfully produced by Inmist Media House for Tourism Chilliwack will be used to target the tourist market from greater Vancouver and Washington State. The breakfast crowd of more than 200 were blown away. And that’s exactly what it might take to change the perception that Chilliwack is somewhere that people “drive” through to get somewhere else, she said. Within a few days, the video
netted more than 26,000 views, 800 shares with a reach of 95,000. “We are monitoring the video success hourly and we are thrilled to see the community pride and local engagement,” said Oddy. They titled the video, ‘Push Past The Noise, See What Nature is Hiding,’ to entice people to check it out. “It puts you in the moment of finding Chilliwack. Once people do, they’ll want to stay and visit,” Oddy said. More than a year ago, Tourism Chilliwack launched the #ShareChilliwack campaign to get folks to “share”
what they love about Chilliwack with friends, families and followers on social media. “We want to share Chilliwack with the world and make it easy for businesses to share our community with their clients. “From a tourism perspective, it’s all about emotionally engaging our potential visitors and to give them a sense of urgency to travel now,” said Allison Colthorp, Tourism Chilliwack’s Executive Director. To see the video find this story at www.theprogress.com jfeinberg@theprogress.com twitter.com/chwkjourno
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A Syrian refugee family could be arriving in Chilliwack in time for Christmas. Rev. Karen Medland of Carman United Church said six local churches have joined forces to make it happen under the aegis of the Eastern Fraser Valley Refugee Committee. “We’re poised to do this. Things are happening really fast right now,” she told The Progress. The committee unites reps from Carman United, Chilliwack United, Agassiz United, Rosedale United, Mt. Shannon United, and Christ Lutheran. They have pledged to “walk with a Syrian family” for an entire year — and could be connected with one in as little as 48 hours. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a family arriving in Chilliwack at Christmas?” she enthused. Rev. Medland, who is relatively new to Chilliwack, has ample experience from her work at First United Church in Kelowna, where they successfully welcomed the latest Syrian family this summer, sponsoring seven families in total. “I am an immigrant myself so I know what it is to come to a new country with resources. It was hard for my family to settle in Canada as immigrants. “But it’s way harder as refugees.” The Syrians would be from the initial group of rigorously screened 10,000 refugees that Canada has pledged to take, with a total of 25,000 by the end of 2016. So why did they decide to join forces as a committee? “You get a stronger sense of community doing it that way,” she said. But they’ll also have access to more resources. They have about $10,400 coming with $5,000 from Rosedale United, and another $5,000 from the Toronto Conference. The urgent task is finding an appropriate rental home.