‘Fired up’ for Pumpkinferno

Upper Canada Playhouse continued its decade-long tradition of assisting local charitable organizations with their valuable community work by do-nating an entire performance of one of their shows.

On Saturday, August 27th, some 18 organizations were giv-en tickets to the matinee perfor-mance of Not Now, Darling. The organizations included: Prescott Anglican Church of Canada, Galop Canal Revitaliza-tion Project, South Dundas Park Pals, South Dundas Chamber of Commerce, Friendly Circle Seniors Club, St. Mary’s/St. Ce-cilia’s CWL, Dalhousie Mills United Church, First Student Canada, SDG Cornwall Shriners Club, Community Living Dundas County, Avonmore Fair, Lake-shore Dr. United Church, Morrisburg Lutheran Church, Happy Face  Nursery School, La Leche League Canada, Dundas County Food Bank, Centretown United Church and MS Society.

Over the past 10 years The Playhouse has been pleased to contribute over $60,000 in tickets in support of the many different charitable organizations who in turn offer a wide variety of ser-vices to the local community.

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“That’s the amazing part,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds, “that there are some more young people coming along.”

Byvelds was referring to what he said was a 10 per cent increase in population for the 0 to 4 age group in South Dundas, as outlined in Statistics Canada’s Census Profile for South Dundas.

While base numbers were released earlier this year, a breakdown of gender and age groups was released only recently.

Where we’ve grown the most, Byvelds pointed out, is in the 60 to 75 age group. “They see something they like and they move,” he said, suggesting that the change does present some challenges.

“We’re getting older. The median population has increased,” he said. In 2006, the median population was 43.6 whereas in 2011 it was 47.3. “We’ll have to see how we work with the numbers and how we go from there.”

He pointed out that there is an encouraging increase in the population of those in their 20’s, but lamented the loss of “some of those in their 30’s, in their prime employment years.”

The population of South Dundas, according to the Census Profile, has grown 2.5 per cent in the last five years. The breakdown in gender put females ahead of males in South Dundas by 185 in 2011.

While the majority of the population, 84.9 per cent, was aged 15 and over in 2011, there were 1,640 children aged 14 and under in South Dundas. Of those between the ages of 15 and 19, there were 695.

In 2011, the breakdown in population in South Dundas according to age was as follows: 945 people in their 20s; 1,025 people in their 30s; 1,600 people in their 40s; 1,715 people in their 50s; 1,695 people in their 60s; 930 people in their 70s; and 540 people in their 80s.

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Some 20 plus programs and services available to residents of Dundas County will be the highlight of a Dundas County Fall Wellness Day coming up on October 3.

Jointly sponsored by the J.W. MacIntosh Seniors’ Support Centre in Williamsburg and Carefor/Nor-Dun Seniors’ Support Centre, the Wellness Day will take place at the Support Centre located at 4324 Villa Drive in Williamsburg, from 1-7 p.m.

“We are seeing new seniors, who are becoming senior age and others who are new to our area,” says Janet Levere, Executive Director of the J.W. Mac-Intosh Seniors Support Centre. “There are a lot of support groups available to people living in Dundas County, and we want to make people aware of them.”

“It is not just the services provided at the J.W. MacIntosh Centre, but services that are available throughout the community that we will be highlighting.”

“For instance the Hospital (Winchester District Memorial) has a diabetes committee that goes out to the community. They are going to be here. Fire safety is another important issue for everybody,  and the O.P.P. will be here to do a talk on fraud.”

“We are really hoping people will stop around, pick up some information, ask some questions. We have it scheduled from 1-7 p.m. for those who work.”

A large number of organizations will have booths including the Alzheimer Society, Canadian Hearing Society, CNIB, Parkinson Society, Community Care Access Centre, Daniel’s Funeral Chapels, Dundas County Hospice, Dundas Interagency, Dundas Manor, EOHU, Elder Abuse Prevention, the Hartford Retirement Centre, Linking Hands/House of Lazarus, Naomi’s Family Centre, Ontario Works/ODSP, Royal Bank, SD&G Library, WDMH and Williamsburg Non-Profit Housing.

The organizers, J.W. MacIntosh Support Centre and Carefor/Nor-Dun will also both be available.

Throughout the day presentations will be made addressing various topics such as medications, pole walking, legal matters such as Power of Attorney, housing, Alzheimer disease, diabetes, community support services, fraud prevention, fire safety and preventing falls.

Transportation to the event can be arranged by calling (before October 1st) the Hartford Retirement Centre (613-543-3984), the J.W. MacIntosh Seniors’ Support Centre (613-535-2924) or the Nor-Dun Seniors’ Support Centre (613-774-6109).

“We have a South Dundas Advisory Committee made up of seniors and various representatives and putting on a day such as this has come at the suggestion of this group,” explains Levere. “We get calls from new people all the time who aren’t aware of what’s available in Dundas County.”

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