Dryden Native Friendship Centre - (File Photo)
The Dryden Native Friendship Centre is celebrating 40 years of service in the community.
“We’ve always been inclusive and we’ve always wanted to look at this pathway to reconciliation and I believe the Dryden Friendship Center is a big part of that within the city of Dryden,” Executive Director, Cheryl Edwards. “We could not run these programs without the amazing staff that we have and the support of the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centers. We’re very fortunate that we have dedicated people to the community of Dryden itself.”
The social services organization provides over 20 programs focusing on things like health, education, transportation, and more.
They are partnered with several organizations including the Dryden Regional Health Centre, the city of Dryden, local First Nations, Dryden Senior Services and more.
“We come from a very humble beginning with the Friendship Center in Dryden,” explained Edwards. “It was actually started in a garage with eight individuals, and you know, when I think about the humble beginnings and zero funding different things like that, they just funded it themselves for Indigenous people to have a place to gather and to meet and to where we are today with so many programs, a number of different properties that we run programming out of. It’s just an incredible journey in (these) forty years.”
