How has Channel 10 benefitted the residents of Menno Place?
For many of the residents at Menno Place, Channel 10 has been a complete lifesaver! In the past 6 months, there have been 140,404 views of the channel!
Channel 10 is Menno TV as it is affectionately known around the campus. In the year prior to COVID, Telus was contracted to provide TV, phone and wi-fi services for the Apartments. The infrastructure was new (Optik) and the result was that we lost our beloved television station (with Shaw) for a period of time. Telus had to find a way to make it possible for us to re-create the television station. In the interim, many of you will remember that the apartments residents were offered a tablet for watching chapel and other shows online.
Just prior to COVID, the new television infrastructure was set up and we were given the opportunity to create content for Channel 10, Menno TV. All content had to be original, so we were not able to show pre-recorded materials from other sources, such as worship videos.
When COVID shut down the Recreation and Chaplaincy programs, we turned to Channel 10 for a safe answer to how we could connect with residents.
For the first time, we created ORIGINAL programming, including morning devotions, lunchtime announcements, Bingo, Exercises, Communion and a paint-along program that happens each week. In many of these programs, residents are provided the materials (paint supplies and communion cups) to participate. For Bingo, the recreation staff call the numbers while the residents dot their bingo cards in their own apartments. When they get BINGO, they call the Rec staff’s cell phone and the first one to call gets a chocolate bar delivered to their home!
In order to fill the days, our team tirelessly downloaded (with permission) church services from resident’s home churches and uploaded them for viewing on Channel 10. There were 14 churches that became regular programming for the residents each week. Along with this, we had live Sunday Service each Sunday morning led by one of our chaplains
We heard how appreciated this channel is for the residents. We heard that there were more people participating in exercise class than was ever happening in real-life classes
Only recently did we receive information from Telus on the viewership of our very own Channel 10. When you read these numbers, you, too, will see how important the television connection was for our residents – your loved ones! Well done, Recreation and Chaplains!
Take a look at the attached images from Telus showing how very important Channel 10 has been to our residents! The day with the highest viewership in the last 6 months was a day when the chaplains hosted televised communion service.
We are grateful for this amazing technology, for the tech team who set up a brand new system of cameras, computer, software and program uploads. To name a few of the team – David Janzen, Danielle Kinvig, our IT Team at Adaptive, the TELUS team including Susan Law and Christine Lambert. Thank you to the Recreation Staff – Timea Derbyshire and Rebecca Popovici as well as the chaplains – Ingrid Schultz, Ingrid Stahl, John Dyck and Scott McKenzie.
