Better Winnipeg: Block Parent program looking to bounce back

Once easy to find, Block Parent signs have become increasingly tough to spot in Winnipeg.

There are around 800 volunteers registered today in Winnipeg, compared to 10,000 block parents in the late 1970’s.

“We want the younger families to pick up where their parents left off,” said Ryan Sereda, school resource coordinator for Block Parent Program of Winnipeg.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We want the younger families to pick up where their parents left off," said Ryan Sereda, school resource coordinator for Block Parent Program of Winnipeg.

Sereda has been working to boost the number of Block Parent in Winnipeg. He has created an online map to help people identify streets that have a Block Parent living there.

He is also working to clear-up some misconceptions about the volunteer’s responsibilities.

“A lot of people feel they need to be home a lot, that there’s a big time commitment, but there’s not,” said Sereda.

“The one responsibility of a Block Parent is to make a phone call. If a child ever comes to your door you don’t have to let them in. You never have to leave your house.”

A Block Parent sign has been in Sel Burrows’ window for years. He registered to volunteer after moving into his house in Point Douglas.

“As a child I got chased by a bunch of big kids one time and I went and knocked on somebody’s door and they let me in. I was scared you know. I think I was about ten,” said Burrows.

Earlier this year, in February, on a bitter cold night a call for help landed at “his” own front door.

“I go to the door and here’s a young aboriginal woman holding a child wrapped in a blanket and she says this child is lost,” explains Burrows.

The women spotted a 2-year-old boy wandering in a nearby park at 9:00 p.m. His jacket unzipped, no hat, no gloves and the temperature was minus 20 degrees.

She walked nearly eight blocks to Burrows’s house, remembering there was a block parent home up the street.

“I remember his feet were freezing, we had to sit there and rub his feet. He was crying. And we calmed him down gave him a cookie,” said Burrows.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I remember his feet were freezing, we had to sit there and rub his feet. He was crying. And we calmed him down gave him a cookie," said Burrows.

He hopes others will volunteer too so there’s always someone to help when there’s a desperate knock at the door.

In addition to free criminal background checks, volunteers get a modernized Block Parent sign with special security features, including a serial number and metal strip along the top to avoid any counterfeit signs.