Ben Calf Robe Society celebrates 25 years of serving the Aboriginal community in Edmonton

The Beb Calf Robe Society is an Aboriginal not-for-profit social service agency providing services for children and families. In 1980, a group of concerned citizens began to look at Native Education in the City of Edmonton and discovered some 80% of Native Children di not complete high school. They decided that the answer might lie in funding a school for children where they felt accepted and culturally comfortable thus encourageing them to remain in school and complete their grade twelve. With the collaboration of the Catholic School Board, the Ben Calf Robe School was created. 
In June of 1981 the Ben Calf Robe Society was established to act as a support system for the school, providing counseling programs and general assistance. Over the years, Ben Calf Robe Society has gradually assumed a broader role in the Aboriginal Community, helping children and families not only through the school but from the larger Edmonton area as well. Our fundamental beliefs reflect those of our namesake, Ben Calf Robe, a Blackfoot Elder, a survivor himself who worked to bridge the gap between the white population and the Aboriginal people. He had a strong belief in combining the power of education with traditional Native culture.
Over the years, Ben Calf Robe Society has responded to the needs of the Aboriginal community taking on providing a wide range of programs funded by all three levels of government. Today the Society continues to support the Schoool and to provide services through its In Home Family Support, Awasis, and Foster Care Programs,(provincially funded), Amiskos and Mooswa Youth programs, Health for Two, Head Stat, and Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training, (federally funded), Traditional Parenting, Literacy and Youth Intervention Programs, (municipally funded), and the Delaire Breakfast Lunch Program, (funded by United Way). These services have primarily focused on the needs of the Aboriginal children and families whose lives have been affected by dysfunction, abuse, adictions, poverty, isolation from their culture and unemployment. The Society has bridged the gap, which has been greatly needed in the Aboriginal community, offering a wholistic approach with a rich cultural environment. We provide services to new-borns through to adults in a variety of ways. 
There were several events throughout 2006 our 25th  year to celebrate this special time. The events in Winston Churchill Square and throughout the city were a huge success.

Shane Yellowbird from Hobbema has been climbing the charts with his hit "It's All About You" His new CD is available everywhere and is selling like hotcakes especially since winning 3 awards at the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Awards in Winnipeg. Congratulations Shane....