Welcome!

Hey there Cole Harbour/Westphal! My name is Trish Purdy and I would like to introduce myself as your newly elected District 4 Municipal Councillor. I have been married 23 years to my husband Ken and we have lots of kids. Three are biological and three God has given us over the last 10 years. We have been blessed with a large, diverse and wonderful family. And of course, our dog, Molly. I have spent the last 26 years of my life in the health and wellness industry in various roles; fitness instructing, personal training, wellness coaching, senior fitness, and spent a few years managing the fitness department at CHP. I may already know a lot of you from my 26 years as a fitness professional at Cole Harbour Place. And some of you probably know a few of my kids (Octavia, Caleb, and Riccardo) through teaching your kids how to swim and/or CHP Day Camps! During my years as a fitness professional, I have wellness coached in HRM for a company based out of Ontario (EWSNetwork).  I am thankful to be able to call our community home for 20 years.

During this time I took 10 years to complete my BA in Psychology at Saint Mary's University as money was tight and I was busy. Four years ago I started my Master of Divinity at Acadia while working full time with the intention to redirect my efforts into community ministry of some sort. While I am finishing this degree (almost done!), I believe my education has helped to equip me for community leadership and service. This position as councillor for our community is an amazing opportunity to use the passion and skills and education that I have for people and collaborate with people, businesses, organizations and government for our amazing community. 

We have also been privileged to have hosted international students through various programs for over a decade. We never proactively sought to host kids, it was asked of us to fill a need as there were not enough home stay families for all of the students in our school! I am so glad we said yes!  It has been a very rich and sometimes challenging experience living among many different cultures and personalities! Some years we have crammed more kids in our house than sardines in a can! I've never been good at saying no to a need. The most extraordinary reward from that fulfilling experience is that our family has gained three 'forever' kids!! (Sadly, one was not available for this family photo as he was out of the country.)

Ethical and responsible leadership are core values that will define my role as your councillor. I am  a hard worker and am no stranger to stress. Giving up is not an option, and I have a track record to show that when the going gets tough, I keep moving forward.  I consider it a privilege to run for the opportunity to be your councillor. Whatever it takes,  I will give everything I have to earn your vote today and to keep your vote tomorrow.

For our community,

Trish