Elmo from Sesame Street is part of the session Saturday aimed at kids whose loved one may be incarcerated. (Submitted photo/Canadian Families and Corrections Network)

By Glenn Hicks

Strengthening Families

Sesame Street characters in P.A. to help kids

Nov 14, 2019 | 1:22 PM

The characters of the much-loved Sesame Street shows are in Prince Albert on Saturday for an important learning initiative organizers hope can help some of the many children in and around the city affected by crime within the family.

The free event, at the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library, is being run by Canadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN) in partnership with Parkland Restorative Justice and will offer numerous fun learning resources Sesame Street has developed. These are aimed at helping children who may have a loved one in the prison system deal with the challenges and emotions they are going through.

The initiative called Strengthening Families Affected by Incarceration Day, is into its 12^th annual edition in Canada but is coming to Prince Albert for the first time. It will offer various Sesame Street activity stations involving talk, song, reading, writing and play. Cookie Monster and Elmo will be there of course.

“The resources from Sesame Street kind of normalizes things for kids about what it would be like to go to a prison to visit a family member,” Heather Driedger, the director of Parkland Restorative Justice told paNOW. “It can help them deal with the trauma they might be experiencing and feelings they may be experiencing not having that loved one around.”

CFCN estimates 560 children in the local area are dealing with having a family member incarcerated and the loneliness, shame, anger, and grief that goes with that. As one of CFCN’s partners, Sesame Street has developed a multimedia resiliency initiative called Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration. All kids, not just those who have someone in prison, are invited to attend the free event.

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“It’s a community-building session and hopefully the kids are picking up things through these activities and resources,” Driedger said. “And whether or not they have someone who is incarcerated, they can carry that information with them.”

The event has funding from the Prince Albert & Area Community Foundation and Affinity Credit Union.

It runs Saturday at the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library, from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter :@princealbertnow