Links for Service and bulletin and Text of presentation
Slide Background: James, Laura. Sermon on the Mount, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57891 [retrieved February 6, 2023]. Original source: Laura James, https://www.laurajamesart.com/collections/religious/.
Yolande Parsons is a community-builder who believes in the strength of diversity. She functions from the premise that everyone has a purpose and offers a unique contribution to a team or community. As a visionary and strategic thinker, Yolande takes a vision and turns it into reality through in-depth research and excellent follow-thru. She is an inspirational leader who thrives on building relationships while adding value to those with whom she connects.
Yolande immigrated to Winnipeg in 1982 from St Vincent and immediately got involved in the Black community, beginning with the St. Vincent Association of Winnipeg, the Martin Luther King Celebration Committee, and the Black History Committee. For six years, she co-hosted the Community television show “In Touch with the Caribbean” and was a frequent emcee at many community events. In 1985, she was crowned “Miss Cari-Cana” representing the Caribbean Pavilion at the Folklorama Festival of Nations that year. She also served as the Winnipeg Black Community’s Youth Representative for International Youth Year (1985). Yolande was a staunch advocate for the Winnipeg Black community throughout her time living in Winnipeg, helping to organize and mobilize support around Black issues of the day, such as marches and efforts in support of Nelson Mandela’s release.
In 1990, Yolande was part of a group of community leaders who were invited to coordinate a national awareness around the AIDS crisis that was rampant at the time. The group became the National Black Committee on Aids (NBCoA) and launched a nation-wide effort, through funding provided by Health Canada, to educate the Black community on the risks associated with AIDS. It was through that work that she met and married her husband and moved to Ontario where she continued her work in the Black community, like the NBCoA, the Canadian Sickle Cell Society, and the National St. Vincent & the Grenadines Association.
Yolande has a degree in Management from the Phoenix University as well a certificate in Event Management from Algonquin College and a diploma from Heritage College & Seminary in Christian Education. She came to faith as a teenager through her High School’s Inter-School Christian Fellowship program and attends Arlington Woods Free Methodist Church where she sits on the Board and leads the Women’s Ministry. She presently works as the Spiritual Care Coordinator at Algonquin College where she also teaches a course in the Event Management Program.