New Leaf Cafe Grand Opening

New Leaf Café opens at Parkstone Enhanced Care (156 Parkland Dr in Halifax), operated by Shannex Inc.  On Tuesday December  15, 2009  Joyce Ballem, member of the Resident’s Council at Parkstone cut the ribbon officially opening this New Leaf Café – the fourth community café operated by New Leaf Enterprises – the job skills & adult training center program of Easter Seals Nova Scotia.

“New Leaf Cafés give our clients the opportunity to be independent, to learn something new every day, and be contributing and valued members of our community. We are excited to be opening at Parkstone Enhanced Care and look forward to fostering new relationships and learning from one another.” says Veronica Dale, Manager of New Leaf Enterprises.   As Joyce puts it, this initiative is about “community helping community.”

The Resident’s Council at Parkstone was instrumental in seeing a New Leaf Café in their residence. Shannex invited the Resident’s Council to select a retail venue of their choice. Ballem said the reason they chose New Leaf Café was because of a very positive experience she has at New Leaf Café at the Rehabilitation Hospital on Summer St and because she figured staff and residents both would appreciate a café venue.

“Everybody wanted it, everybody supported it. We went to all (194) residents to see what everyone wanted, and they all wanted a New Leaf Café. We wanted it for our staff too, they are part of our family.”  – Joyce Ballem