Kristina Kindree has been elected as the new President of the Cochrane Immigrant Services Committee (CISC).

She has called Cochrane home for the past five years but has hung her hat in several places across the globe before planting roots here.

"I was born and raised in Thailand," explains Kindree. "I lived in Thailand until my early 20s, then we moved to Australia, and we lived in Australia for about five years before we moved to Canada."

Having started off fresh in a new country more than once, Kindree knows all too well the challenges that many newcomers are faced with and she has plenty of firsthand experience to bring to the table.

"It's hard enough for newcomers to come into a brand new town, especially if you don't speak English as your first language," explains Kindree. "To try and get around and figure out how to do things can be pretty challenging."

Kindree says it didn't take her long to settle in and feel welcome in Cochrane and she's looking forward to helping other newcomers with the resources they need for a successful transition here.

"When we first came out to Cochrane we just fell in love! It didn't take us long to decide that this is where we want to move and raise our family," recalls Kindree. " We love it here, it's just small enough that you can still feel that sense of community."

During CISC's January 20 AGM, all board positions were up for election. The full list of newly appointed board members are as follows: 

President - Kristina Kindree;
Vice President - Candy Weisner;
Secretary - Jessica Ingard;
Treasurer - Marggie Marks;
4 x Directors - Paul Singh, Caroline Barclay, Jana Husmann and Jaya Dixit.

Kindree says that there are still plenty of volunteer opportunities with CISC, including three Ambassador positions. Anyone who is interested in learning more can contact CISC here.