Month: May 2012

 

“Heart disease kills one in three people,” said Lynne Groulx, program coordinator for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. “More women die of heart disease than all of the cancers put together.” 

Groulx passed along these statistics to riders as they prepared for their ‘Big Bike’ ride on April 30th. The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s ‘Big Bike’ fundraiser came to Morrisburg for the day on Monday, complete with  the massive 30-seat bike.

Stationed at Canadian Tire in Morrisburg for the second year in a row, the ‘Big Bike’ went out five times on Monday. The first ride, organized by Community Living Dundas, raised $814.51. The second, organized by Beavers Dental, raised $2,230. Canadian Tire family and friends took the fourth ride of the day bringing in $677 toward the cause.

The third and fifth rides of the day were both organized by Barbara Scott on behalf of the South Dundas Chamber of Commerce. According to Scott, finding people willing to join the fundraiser was a simple matter of asking: “I hit Facebook, email, phone, doors… it’s just knocking on doors and saying we need help.” 

The first Chamber ride included RBC, the Upper Canada Playhouse, W.C. Robinson Plumbing and Electrical, the Hartford Retirement Centre, and Tim Cassell – Independent Insurance Provider, as well as Chamber members. The group raised $3,417.

The second Chamber ride included Scotiabank, the Basket Café and Gift Shop, South Dundas councillor Evonne Delegarde, and other Chamber members. They raised $3,630.05 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s research.

With the five rides combined, the Morrisburg event brought in $10,768.56, approximately $3,000 more than last year’s total.

According to Groulx, the Morrisburg total brings the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s ‘Big Bike’ fundraiser much closer to their $55,000 goal. As of April 30th, Groulx estimated that they are sitting at approximately $37,000 in total so far.

According to Groulx, the ‘Big Bike’ visited Akwesasne on April 27th, Cornwall on April 28th and 29th, and then Morrisburg on the 30th. The ‘Big Bike’ then traveled to Embrun on May 1st. The final destinations include Rockland on the 3rd, Cornwall high schools (La Citadelle High School and St. Joseph’s Catholic Seconday School) on the 4th, and finally, Vankleek Hill and Alexandria on the 5th.

[…]

 

Gay Rust, Worthy Matron of the Moonlight Chapter #224 of the Eastern Star in Iroquois, completed this year’s ‘special project’ last Thursday night when she made a total of $1,500 in donations.

This year’s project, which she worked on with Worthy Patron Jack Tousaw of the Friendly Brothers Iroquois Mason Lodge #143, was to “help women with cancer.” 

“Our goal was to raise money for the local community, and we also wanted to honour the memory of Friendly Brother Gary Richards.”

Three donations of $500 each were presented to the Dundas County Hospice represented by the organization’s secretary Marilyn Boissonneault, the Winchester Hospital Heelers represented by Heelers captain Carole Hall and to Mason’s Worshipful Master Ron Cowalchuk in memory of the late Gary Richards who was a  Master Mason and a member of the Eastern Star.

Gary’s widow, Kay Richards, joined Master Cowalchuk to receive the memorial.

“We try very hard to integrate with the community and be part of the community,” said Cowalchuk. “We try to stand as an example for the young people. Brother Gary was a very important part of our community. He was a strong person with good ideals. We are constantly remembering and missing Gary, and I am touched to receive this on behalf of the Lodge. We appreciate everything the Moonlight Chapter has done, and we will find a way to put a memory together to remind us of Gary as we go forward.”

On behalf of the Dundas County Hospice, Boissonneault thanked the Moonlight Chapter.

“Even though it is our 20th anniversary this year there are still people in the community who do not know that we exist or what we do,” said Boissonneault of the Hospice that provides a range of services in the home of a person/family facing a terminal illness.

Boissonneault outlined that the Dundas County Hospice has trained volunteers who go into the homes, bereavement counselling programs and an equipment loans cupboard.

“We have a whole lot of stuff for people who need it, and all of our services are free to residents of Dundas County who are facing a life-threatening illness. At any one time, we can have as many as 65 clients.”

Boissonneault also pointed out that because the Hospice receives, only about one third provincial funding, it relies heavily on the financial help of the community.

“This donation is going to go a long way in helping someone have an easier time in a very difficult time in their lives.”

Carole Hall too thanked the group and explained that the Winchester Hospital Heelers are a group of individuals, many of whom are cancer survivors, who are dedicated to making a difference to the lives of cancer patients and their families.”

To date the Heelers have raised more than $525,000 through their participation in the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation’s  60 km Walk Weekends to End Breast/Women’s Cancers which began in 2006 and ended in 2011.

While 25 per cent of the funds they raised went to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, 75 per cent of over $392,000 was returned to benefit the Winchester District Memorial Hospital cancer program.

“This money is financing the purchase of a new digital mammography machine that offers the newest technology in the prevention and early detection of breast cancer,” said Hall.

She explained that with the end of the Ottawa walk last year, the Heelers committed to continue their efforts. “Our current goal is to raise another $125,000 by September 8, to pay the outstanding balance on the digital mammography machine.” 

To do so, the Heelers have received the blessing of the Winchester District Memorial Hospital Foundation which will organize an event/walk this fall, “Heel ‘n Wheel for Local Cancer Care”.

The Heel ‘n Wheel walk/bike event, officially launched this past Friday, will take place September 8, 2012, with starting points in seven of the Heelers’ hometown communities including Morrisburg and South Mountain. (See related story in this week’s issue).

The entire Winchester Hospital community is being invited to participate and support the September “Heel ‘n Wheel”.

“We are good people here in the Eastern Star, and we will go farther and faster into the future now, knowing we have touched people,” said Rust following the presentations.

[…]

 

The huge success and popularity of the South Dundas Dog Park in Morrisburg has not come without a few glitches, says Park Pals committee co-chairs Tracey Veinotte and Janeen Wagemans.

Even during the coldest days of the past winter, Wagemans estimates a minimum of 20 dogs and their owners visited the park each day and on summer evenings last year it was common to see upwards of 20 dogs, at one time, enjoying the park. 

“It is good that we have the traffic,” says Veinotte. “But it’s chewing the land up, so our agenda right now is ‘how do we keep it nice?”.

Earlier this spring volunteers roped off the heavy traffic entry area in the park for large dogs, planted grass seed and added fertilizer to assist the grassed area to recover.

Although the original park design called for more bricking in the entry area, there was not enough money available.

“Wendy (Montreal landscape architect Wendy Graham who designed the park) also pointed out that in the first year or two we would see what needed to be done, so that is what we are now seeing,” said Wagemans.

The current plan to alleviate the ‘wear’ problem is to dig down and add crushed stone in a semi-circular pattern out from the gate entry and around the landscaping rocks where the dogs and their owners tend to gather. An additional set of three rocks will be added farther away from the entry in a effort to move some of the congestion from the affected area.

The Park Pals committee has also identified the need for drainage, a watering system and lighting. 

To put these needs in place they have launched a Mother’s Day Draw which they expect will be their final ‘major’ fund raiser.

“Our donation box had been broken into twice so we are hoping the light will deter that,” says Veinotte, with Wagemans pointing out, “The money is  removed from the box every day, and although we are generally only talking a couple of dollars here and there, it is a nice contribution.”

In addition, park users who work have expressed the need for lighting in the fall and early winter, when darkness falls early before they are able to get home from work and get their pooches to the park.

Veinotte and Wagemans and several of the original Park Pals committee members (Willie Harper, Barb O’Neill and Sandra Van Allen) are delighted with the use the park is getting from local dog owners and especially people from Iroquois, Williamsburg, Winchester, Ingleside and Long Sault on a regular basis. In addition, there is the travelling public that searches out the park.

“I didn’t really believe a dog park would draw people in, even though all the literature said it would,” said Wagemans. “I thought, oh yeah right, but there are actually quite a lot of people coming in.”

The Park Pals committee is once again looking for the support of the community, especially dog lovers and dog owners, for their upcoming Mother’s Day raffle.

Tickets are $5 each and there are six prizes up for grabs. The top three prizes include a new IPAD 3, a $200 Canadian Tire Gift Certificate and a $100 Riley’s Valu-mart Gift Card. The draw will be made Sunday, May 13 at the South Dundas Dog Park and the Park Pals will have the tickets for sale this coming weekend at Valu-Mart and on the Mother’s Day weekend at Canadian Tire.

Any park users who could help with ticket sales over the next couple of weeks, or ticket sales or projects (maintenance) in the future are invited to contact either Veinotte or Wagemans.

The Park Pals are estimating that they need approximately $7,000 to complete their work plan which includes about $1,900 for irrigation, $1,800 for gravel and $3,300 for electrical. They are hoping to raise $2,000 towards the final project from the draw.

“If we can get it set up correctly, our goal is to have it a maintenance free park,” said Wagemans.

Once maintenance free, the Park Pals committee will continue to hold their annual Duck Draw to raise money for minor expenses, such as the cost of the waste collection bags and water.

“If we don’t do all the crazy things we do to keep the dog park the way it is, then I’m afraid it is not going be as nice in the future,” says Veinotte. “We absolutely appreciate that the area is very special to a lot of people and we want to keep it looking the way people are proud of it.”

[…]

 

Renovations to the old Morrisburg high school will soon begin and when finished there will be lots of changes taking place.

On April 26th, South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds confirmed that once renovations are completed, the Morrisburg branch of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Library will be moving to where the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic is currently located.

“It would go into the old clinic, but only part of that,” said Byvelds.

The move was “something that we, the township, decided on quietly. Bill (McGimpsey) wanted to go forward and make this a story.”

Byvelds was referring to SD&G Library System chair Bill McGimpsey’s recent announcement of the move in Cornwall’s Standard Freeholder where he was quoted predicting that Morrisburg is “going to have the highest traffic library in the whole system.”

Byvelds commented that this is a good “opportunity to flash some new ways of doing library (service) and getting people out.”

He also confirmed that the Dundas County Food Bank has been offered the use of a good portion of the library’s current location, once the library has moved.

“It’s been offered to them,” he said. “They seem enthusiastic. We’re not 100 per cent sure how much of that space they need. We were going to use some of that space for Donnie’s (Lewis) recreation.”

He explained that Don Lewis, manager of recreation, would use some of the space for storage  purposes.

As for the main section of the old high school, the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic will use the first floor, municipal offices will be stationed on the second floor, and the third floor will be used for the mayor’s office, council chambers and various meeting rooms.

“We’re going to try to make the space usable,” said Byvelds of the plan for the third floor.

As for what will happen to the municipal building on Second Street, “the old parks building will come down,” confirmed Byvelds.

And, once the building comes down, he said “we’ll see what  we need.” He confirmed that a parking lot is one option being looked at, but not the only one. The possibilities are many and the decision has not been made.

[…]