The final notice has been received and the Helping Hand, a mission of the Pentecostal Church, has until October 17th to vacate its location in the old Morrisburg High School, where it has been a source of clothing for those in need for the past 11 years.
Unfortunate, but true, the Helping Hand used clothing depot, answers a very big need in South Dundas and the surrounding area with an average of 2000-2,500 visitors benefiting from it each year.
The fact that the Helping Hand has to vacate is not a surprise as they were put on notice way back in 2009, that they were in their location on a monthly basis. With the upcoming renovation to the historic high school building to house an expansion to the St. Lawrence Medical and the South Dundas Municipal offices, the monthly basis has ended and the Helping Hand is closing.
The problem is that since they were put on notice of the eventual loss of their location they have been unable to find a new location that would be rent-free, or at the very least, very cheap.
“We have a lot of people not happy about it,” says Pentecostal minister, Rev. Duncan Perry. “But we can’t afford to go somewhere else. We have a couple thousand dollars (donations) a year coming in, but that is not enough to rent.”
“We don’t want to locate in the mall, and the only other building in town is the former St. Lawrence Parks building.”
According to Rev. Perry, that building is in such poor shape it is no longer an option, and he understands the Food Bank will replace the County Library in its lower level arena location should the library move to the high school, once renovated.
“I was really hoping they (municipality) would give us half of the bottom of the arena,” says Rev. Perry. “But I understand that it is going to the arena staff for a workshop/storage. It would have been a perfect fit for us.”
“We’ve been open for 11 years, and we are averaging 2,000 to 2,500 people a year. The $2,000 we receive in donations (goodwill donations from those who benefit from the Helping Hand, and donations from the community) is put back into the community.”
Recently, money was donated to the Breakfast Programs at Seaway High and Morrisburg Public Schools. “We’ve also given a lot to the Food Bank over the years.”
“People have come to us and told us that if we weren’t (Helping Hand) here, they didn’t know what they would do. The clothing donated to us is top notch and we made a decision at the start, that if we wouldn’t wear it, it wouldn’t be used.”
“One lady has been using it over and over through the years to clothe her children.”
“Those are the kind of stories we hear every week.”
“It is really amazing what we have done locally, and we’ve sent truckloads of clothes overseas when we couldn’t handle it all.”
The Helping Hand is run by volunteers and there is no charge for the clothing, although visitors can make goodwill donations.
“We have helped people from all over. We wish we could keep it open, we really do. It’s too bad, and I understand the town doesn’t have the money for a building.”
“I do believe the number of working poor is getting larger. It’s unfortunate we need a place like this but we do. If there was a place found, we wouldn’t even think about shutting it down. If they would reconsider letting us share with the Food Bank that would be ideal.”
That, however, according to Rev. Perry, is not an option at this time, and the Helping Hand is preparing to close by the October 17 deadline. Arrangements have been made for representatives from Agape in Cornwall to visit the facility, with the hope that they will be able to take the clothing.
Located at 40, Fifth Street West in Cornwall, the Agape Centre runs a Food Bank, Soup Kitchen and Thrift Shoppe.
South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds says he is appreciative of the service the Helping Hand provides to the community. “It’s unfortunate, but hopefully they will find somewhere in the community.”
Byvelds confirmed that the long-term plan is for removal of the former Parks building. “That building is done, and we are only spending what we have to, to keep it going.”
He says there has been some discussion of moving the Food Bank to the arena location, but the discussions are very preliminary and nothing is decided and nothing can or will be decided until the final plans are in place for the high school.
Those plans, are for the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic to occupy the first floor (ground level) and the municipal offices to occupy some or all (if necessary) of the second floor. Once these two entities are accommodated then the remaining space, including the third floor, will be considered.
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On February 11th, the Morrisburg and District Leos held a food drive at Riley’s Valu-Mart in the Morrisburg Plaza. The Leos, a youth division of the local Lions Club, “has been a group for almost two years now,” said Katie Prevost (right), President of the Leos. Both Prevost and Leos Secretary Sheldon Dunkley (left) arrived at the store before 8 a.m. in the hopes of collecting as much money and food for the Dundas County Food Bank, as possible. “People have been donating a lot,” said Prevost, “they’ve been really generous.” Someone even donated $100, said Dunkley. In total, the Leos collected 203 items and $447 for the food bank. According to Prevost and Dunkley, the Leos keep very busy fundraising, doing clean-ups and helping out wherever they can. Their next big project? A talent show in March. Prevost said the group is looking for anyone between the ages of 7 and 18 to sign-up for the talent show. Contact the Morrisburg and District Lions Club for more information.
On Friday evening, around 7 p.m., fire broke out in one of the townhomes on Victoria Crescent in Morrisburg.
According to South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services chief Chris McDonough, both the Morrisburg and Williamsburg stations were dispatched to the call.
“Upon fire crews arrival, there were flames and heavy smoke coming from the rear of the home. The crew began an aggressive attack on the kitchen area.”
“The fire crews did a excellent job of extinguishing the fire and ensuring the damage did not spread to the adjoining units on either side,” said McDonough.
He also informed that there were no injuries reported and that damage is estimated at approximately $40,000.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
It’s that time again! The summer has flown by and the 2013-2014 school year is here! Tuesday, September 3rd marked the first day of this school so hopefully everyone was prepared…staff, students and even the parents!
Hi, my name is Shannon van Moorsel, and I am a grade 12 student here at Seaway. I love to be involved in things going on around the school such as the sports teams, activity days and Student Council. I am a proud Spartan!!
Before school had officially started, there were already many exciting things going on at the school. For the second year in a row, a group of grade 12 students, including myself, took part in a two-day training course to be Link Leaders for the upcoming school year.
Link leaders are the mentors for the grade 9 students joining our Seaway family. Link leaders ran the grade 9 orientation day on Thursday, August 29th to welcome them and hopefully break the ice for their first day of high school.
Many thanks to our great teacher supervisors of the Link leaders, Heather Thompson and Lilace McIntyre!
Along with the Link leaders, we also have a new group put together by Lindsay Waddell and Rodney Benton called WEB, “Where Everyone Belongs” consisting of grade 10 students who are mentors for the grade 7 students who are entering Seaway Intermediate. They also had two days of training and ran grade 7 orientation on Wednesday, August 28th.
Seaway is a busy place and activities start right away. The first sports to get underway are girls’ basketball, boys’ volleyball and cross country. Sports teams are a great way to be involved with your school and are also a lot of fun! Be sure to listen to announcements and make it to the tryouts!
I hope everyone enjoyed a fun, relaxing summer and are ready to get back into the swing of another school year!
Now, how many days are there until the Christmas Break??!!
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