QuarantEAFy Day

 Wednesday of last week was EAFy Day. I'm sure I've covered it the past two years, but EAFy Day is an annual team building event at Extend-a-Family. Each year has a theme. Last year was Choose Your Own Adventure, and the year before was Choose Your Happy. Clearly leaning into the value of honouring choice.

Normally, because of my unorthodox work schedule, I'm not able to join committees, and we usually try to keep each of them limited to one WALES member. However, this year, because of COVID and the complications surrounding hosting an event like this, there were fewer volunteers to help organize it than usual. This, combined with my schedule being changed so drastically, and because this specific committee had a finite end date, allowed me the opportunity to sign on.

We chose our theme this year to be QuarantEAFy Day, because we've all been caught up in quarantine. We were initially upset because we usually host the event at a location outside our office, and the venues at our disposal were all closed due to COVID, despite our numbers being allowable based on the social gathering rules at the time. We wound up hosting the event in the office parking lot.

This turned out to be well-received, though. See, usually the day is an opportunity to get out of the office, but this time the office is where everyone has been held back from. It was like coming back home.

That being said, there were some people who didn't feel comfortable joining us in person, and so we made sure to offer remote options. We hosted Jackbox games online (a casual online game platform that has become popular for people who want to socialize while in quarantine), and we had a livestream for people who wanted to participate in either yoga or Thai chi. We also covered our morning press conference on a live stream for people who wanted to participate remotely. This was done in the style of a Doug Ford press conference. I was the Minister of Schedules and Logistics.

Obviously, for everyone that chose to celebrate in person, we had physical distancing and sanitization procedures in place. We even supplied everyone a mask with our agency logo on it.

I wound up in charge of mini golf, axe throwing, ordering lunch, and some public communication pieces. Axe throwing turned out to be pretty popular, and for lunch, we had EVO boxes. These are some kind of classy gourmet lunch boxes. Here, take a look at the menu:

https://www.evokitchen.com/menu/gourmet-boxed-lunches-2/

I got the antipasto platter with assorted crackers, artichoke and asiago caponata with pesto crostini, fresh fruit, summer berry snack, and San Pellegrino.

It was pretty good! Although the artichoke and asiago caponata was a little overpowering. In a strange coincidence, everyone who got the antipasto platter wound up sitting with each other.

I thought I would have to be on-site all day, but turns out, committee members are allowed to partake in activities. In the morning, I did a mural art walk in downtown Kitchener. It was cool, because I've spent a lot of time there, and I've seen most of the murals, but usually I'm in a rush or I'm distracted. It was cool to learn about the background and attention that's put into so much of what's around me. It was kind of like getting a tour of our own neighbourhood, but by someone who knows it better than you.

It was good that we celebrated when we did, because this week our Prime Minister officially declared that we are, nationwide, in the second wave, and the Premier of Ontario has put provincial restrictions on social gatherings that wouldn't have allowed for EAFy Day to happen.