Month: May 2012

 

These days the work of volunteers is what keeps many organizations and agencies going and events happening.

Last Tuesday, May 1, the J.W. MacIntosh Seniors’ Support Centre in Williamsburg took the time to say thank you and honour the many volunteers who play a huge role is what the centre is able to offer.

Janet Levere, Executive Director of the Williamsburg Non-Profit Housing Corporation, kicked off the celebration with a warm welcome and thank you, “for the many hours of hard work and commitment you have given to our community seniors, frail elderly and adults with disabilities so they can continue to live at home.”

Levere also thanked the volunteer members of the board of directors of the Corporation which leads the organization.

She pointed out, “it is not only us who recognize your value. The Ministry of Health and the Champlain LH1N are recognizing the importance of the work that community support services provide. They are directing more funding towards non-urgent transportation so seniors and others can get to their dialysis, to medical appointments and to adult day programs. This is one way to prevent health crisis.”

She also said that more wheelchair-accessible vehicles will be available in the five counties.

Levere congratulated the volunteers, who, for the second year, recorded over 7,000 hours of volunteer service.

“In fact our statistics tell us it was 7,661 hours. Your support is never ending, and new volunteers are always being recruited and trained so we don’t overload you.”

The volunteer hour breakdown shows that 73 persons received 2,607 meals during the year, and 337 seniors enjoyed 4,284 dinners.

A total of 120 clients were supported with 3,146 one-way trips and 93 people benefited from 457 foot care appointments. Another 17, enjoyed 505 units of the adult day programs.

Some 2,728 hours of volunteer work were provided for fund raising,  to the craft group, social recreation, and exercise programs. 

“In total 517 people were served during the past year by our volunteer support services and our paid employee services,” said Levere.

As for the paid employee services, Levere released figures that showed after discharge from Winchester District Memorial Hospital, 54 persons were supported by the Going Home program, while 93 more Going Home referrals were directed to other community support area service agencies located Metcalfe, Ingleside, Finch and Russell etc.

Nineteen clients were supported under the Assisted Living Service, just one short of the funded 20 spots, and 29 clients were served under Supportive Housing Services.

Fifteen seniors benefited from the Respite Apartment located at the Williamsburg centre, and 44 clients used the Respite Service program in their own homes.

[…]

 

Two World’s One Price!  That is the theme running through Parks of the St. Lawrence attractions for 2012 with the roll-out of a new Reciprocal Program.  

The new offer (based on a buy-one-get-one of equal or less value principle) aims to boost value to guests with added experiences by providing a free admission to Upper Canada Village with the purchase of a Fort Henry admission – and vice versa.  Or it can be redeemed for one of the day-use/beach areas at the campgrounds.  

The free visit can be used anytime throughout the regular season for regular day programs at the heritage attractions or at day-use/beach areas at all Parks of the St. Lawrence.  

Plus at time of check-in, campers to Parks of the St. Lawrence campgrounds along the St. Lawrence River will also receive two free passes to visit either Upper Canada Village or Fort Henry.

Upper Canada Village is opening this Saturday, May 19 and will remain open until October 7. 

Visitors can join in the opening weekend celebrations on Sunday, May 20 as the Village celebrates Queen Victoria’s birthday with music, a militia muster, patriotic speeches, fire engine trials and 1860s athletic games.  

The Village will be decorated in an array of colour and patriotisms with flags, bunting and decorations.   Guests can even help out with the Village’s ‘Queen’, a hand-pumped fire engine and indulge in a piece of birthday cake.  

Other upcoming events include the Heritage Plant Sale May 26-27, Sheep Shearing Weekend June 1-4, Medieval Festival June 9-11 and the Fantastic Fibres and Quilt Show June 16-17.

“The 2012 season is one of exciting rejuvenation for all of our attractions and experiences,” says Darren Dalgleish, CEO of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission. “The past three years has represented an unprecedented level of investment in our product and visitor experiences of over $40 million dollars.”

“The new Commission-wide reciprocal program and lower admission pricing in some areas will assist in creating value-added family experiences while stretching our guest’s vacation dollars.  We clearly have the best attraction deal in the province this season and anticipate it will translate into more eager guests through our gates.”

“Most of our guest experiences are delivered through our staff and professional interpreters,” says SLPC marketing director Bryan Mercer. “They are an integral part of our experience-based products.  We’ve launched a new promotional campaign this year centered around visiting our many sites and meeting our front line staff.”  

“These are the key people that truly make our guest experiences memorable and become the centre of thousands of guest photographs each year. Our entire team is excited to see just how many guests recognize them from our ad campaign!” 

Along with a schedule of themed weekend events and activities, Upper Canada Village is adding some exciting new experiences. 

Starting in June, visitors can take a ride in an open air, Vintage biplane in their choice of the Village Tour or the Seaway Tour.  

The shorter Village Tour for $79 per person will fly over the Village, Upper Canada Golf Course, Crysler Park Marina and area.  The longer Seaway Tour for $120 per person will also take in the Long Sault Parkway, Lost Villages and the St. Lawrence River.  The price includes admission to Upper Canada Village and a souvenir scarf.  As spaces are limited, reservations are recommended.

Campgrounds – Opening May 18

A number of significant investments have been made throughout the parks system to improve the services and amenities available to campers with all improvements aiming to make the camping experience memorable and enjoyable.  

These improvements include: The new reciprocal program;  new improved and quicker check-in process to campgrounds on the Long Sault Parkway; New registration buildingis at five campgrounds; over 100 amp campsite upgrades at McLaren campground; new theme playground equipment at several beaches; two new camper cabins at McLarne Campground; new washroom/shower/laundry facility at Ivy Lea Campground

Upcoming events include the ”Thunder on the River” Hydroplane Races at Mille Roches Beach on June 2 and 3.

Camping reservations can be booked online 24/7 or by calling the Customer Service Unit.

Upper Canada Golf Course

With spring arriving early this year, Upper Canada has been open for several weeks already.  Conditions are superb!  

New membership categories have been introduced which provide great value and flexibility to players of all levels.  

A “Pay-as-you-go” membership option for just $250 (weekdays anytime and afternoons only on weekends /holidays) plus $20 per round is the perfect option for someone with limited time or who would like to try Upper Canada before committing to a full membership.

Upper Canada has been selected as the host site for the Canadian Tour professional golf event The Great Waterway Classic in 2013.  The Chase the Dream qualifying event for the 2012 Classic will be held at Upper Canada on June 3, 2012.

The clubhouse dining lounge was completely renovated last year and the club has taken over the operation of the food and beverage services and is offering a new menu at golfer friendly prices.  

Tee off times can be booked up to 14 days in advance either online at “www.UpperCanadaGolf.com” www.UpperCanadaGolf.com or by calling 800-437-2233 or 613-543-2003.

Crysler Park Marina

Demand for dock space at one of the region’s favourite marinas continues, and Crysler Park Marina recently underwent yet another dockage expansion adding 44 slips plus a 175 foot long finger dock to accommodate larger boats, more transient traffic and seasonal boaters.

[…]

 

“We just try to fill in gaps and respond to needs as they arise,” said Cathy Ashby of the Glengarry Inter Agency Group Inc (GIAG).

The Ontario Early Years Centre (OEYC), with locations in Morrisburg and Iroquois, is a government funded program that falls under the ‘umbrella’ of the GIAG.

“It’s an umbrella organization with a volunteer board,” said Ashby. GIAG is based in Alexandria, but has expanded outward to include other areas in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.

According to Ashby, GIAG “applied to be the lead organization for that (OEYC). We became involved in child care helping out the Morrisburg District Cooperative Preschool.”

“Instead of cancelling the Iroquois School Age program, we’ve carried on. The Learning Centre now has four school age child care programs.”

According to their website, GIAG was established in 1976 as a “non-profit community organization” whose goals include increasing visibility, excellence, continuity, and program development.

Some of the services offered under the umbrella of the GIAG are: the Ontario Early Years Centre for SD&G; the Learning Centre for SD&G; various youth programs in Glengarry and Dundas; employment services for Glengarry; and, seniors’ programs for North and South Glengarry. “It is an unique agency whose programs span a lifetime.” 

“People across SD&G and the GIAG are truly ‘Together on life’s journey,’” commented Ashby.  

[…]

 

“This maze will take you through the thoughts, feelings and emotions of our clients who are attempting to secure food, shelter and finances.”

On May 9th, at the Civic Centre in Iroquois, the Dundas Interagency Committee sponsored a Homelessness Maze.

The event was organized to give workers in the social service professions an opportunity to experience what their clients might experience and to provide a clearer picture of the hardships and frustrations they face daily while attempting to secure food, shelter and financial assistance. 

According to Julie Graham, a member of the Dundas Interagency Committee and a health educator and promoter for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), this was the second time the committee has run this event. 

“We had hosted our first in 2009 and it was quite the success thanks to the Canadian Mental Health Association. So, we asked them to come out again this year to  host one in South Dundas,” she said. 

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) of Champlain East organized and led the ‘maze’ at the May 9th event.

Kim Height, team supervisor in Cornwall for the CMHA, introduced the idea of the Homelessness Maze to the area four years ago when she created her own version of the maze in Cornwall.

Since then, she has led two maze events in Cornwall, one in North Dundas and, now, one in South Dundas. She was first introduced to the idea at an event in Toronto.

The idea, said Height, is to “instill compassion” in service agency workers and to give them the opportunity “to really experience what it’s like to be somebody searching for those services.”

Some of the agencies participating in the event were: Job Zone, Health Units in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark and Eastern Ontario, T.R. Leger, Ontario Works, the House of Lazarus, various ministries, Cornwall and Area Housing Authority, South Dundas Township, North Dundas Township, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, the Williamsburg Non-Profit Housing, and the Legal Clinic.

According to Graham, the day began with groups meeting outside the Iroquois Civic Centre  where they received their information package. 

Each group, whether it contained four, five or six members, received one package with details of the “character” they would be playing. 

Graham’s group of five were “pretending” to be a woman with two small children.

Height explained that the “characters” were chosen from the vulnerable sector or the high-risk population.

The maze portion of the event required each group to navigate through the various agencies as the character (client profile) they were given. 

In order to replicate the difficulty faced by those attempting to access help from one agency to another, barriers were set up. Finding and even getting to each station was a challenge.

In addition, there could be significant wait times, mimicking the reality many of their clients face daily.

“We’re making it difficult for them,” said Height of the participants in the event. “We’re asking them to work as a group and then come back and talk about their emotions.”

“If they’re experiencing this within an hour, then imagine someone living with this,” she said of the frustration some of the participants were exhibiting.

Graham pointed out that “it is not clear-cut, there’s lots of red tape. It’s not easy to acquire the basics that a human being needs.”

Mark Snelgrove, CMHA employee in charge of this year’s Homelessness Maze, pointed out that “we get as many of the real service providers – actual people with the actual knowledge – as possible.” 

He was referring to the many stations set up throughout the maze, including the food bank, Ontario Works, the landlord, the legal clinic, social housing, the bank, the resource centre, and the detention centre.

Snelgrove said “there’s a detention center for breaking the rules.” Graham had already been to the detention center once for breaking a rule.

Following the maze, which took approximately two hours, the participants were given the opportunity to come back together to discuss their experiences.

The main question they addressed, said Graham, is “What are some of the issues our clients are facing?”

Participants were given “the opportunity to suggest some potential changes to make it a bit more user-friendly,” reported Graham.

“It’s all about feeling the real experience that our clients would experience,” said Snelgrove. 

“It’s to remind people of the human side: everyone who comes through has a story and everyone is an individual.”

As to the success of the event, according to Graham, “this one exceeded the first.” 

Height added that “as for the comments I’ve been hearing, it’s working as successfully as it did the first time.”

Ben Macpherson, representative for the Township of South Dundas, said, “I was one of many who helped put the day together and also participated in the event.” 

“We had a very good turnout of 64 people across a variety of agencies. It was a great way to see the difficulties and frustrations that people face when dealing with the organizations that were represented,” he added.

After receiving the information package and before beginning the maze, the May 9th participants were treated to a one hour presentation about the 211 Ontario service.

According to their website, www.211ontario.ca, 211 Ontario “provides information and referral to community and social services in Ontario.”

[…]

 

Fresh out of the garden and fresh off the farm, Sheldanna Farm will be sharing freshly-made goods at several local farmer’s markets this spring and summer.

Ann-marie and Sheldon Hollister of Ingleside started their farm as a hobby several years ago. It wasn’t until recently that they decided to make this a full-time ‘job.’ In fact, running the farm is a family affair with the couple’s three children helping out as well.

The 22 acre property includes five acres of gardens with sheds and pasture for an assortment of wildlife, two trails through forest which includes a tree house in an actual tree, and, of course, a home.

The Hollisters have called Sheldanna Farm their home for seven years. According to Ann-Marie, “we started out with just chickens and a garden. I just kept adding.”

Currently, the Hollisters have an assortment of projects on the go as well as a list of things they want to try.

With several fields filled with gardens and a new outdoor greenhouse and indoor greenhouses, the couple is preparing for an abundance of fruits and vegetables this year. In addition to selling their fresh produce, the Hollisters will use some to make jams, jellies, and preserves.

In addition to the abundant plant life on the farm, there is quite an assortment of wildlife, including goats, pigs, chickens, hens, roosters, ducks, rabbits, pigeons, turkeys (soon), and, of course, a cat and a dog.  

Not all animals on the farm will become meat for the table. Some of the goats will produce milk, which will then be used to make butter, yogurt, cheese and even soap. 

Another goat, the first of its kind to come to the farm, will produce wool, which Ann-marie intends to “learn how to spin, but that’s a winter project.”

Sheldanna Farm has two kinds of pigs, pot belly and the average meat pigs. The two pot bellies are rescues who live on the farm for no other purpose than just ‘to be’. 

For now, the three meat pigs, soon to be joined by three more, will be able to live happily in a field of their own in amongst the trees, not far from the garden fields.

As a “big animal person,” Ann-marie has gone out of her way to ensure that all the animals will live their lives in clean, happy conditions. According to the Sheldanna Farm brochure: “We take great pride in our animals and believe that they should live the best life they can before it is their time to give back to us.”

The meat chickens are permitted to grow naturally, rather than being rushed as so many others are in similar situations. They’re given the room and space to live and grow without being confined like most chickens bred purely for meat.

The laying hens, who had originally been permitted to roam the property freely, have recently been penned up in a large area due to unauthorized hunting by local foxes.

Of their almost 50 chickens, the Hollisters lost 25 to the hungry foxes. On May 10th, Ann-marie and Sheldon picked up an additional 15 hens and are expecting to get another 20 in the very near future. They buy their hens as day-olds to prevent them from being de-beaked, a common practice that Ann-marie believes is inhumane.

Due to the recent fox activity, the Hollisters secure all of their animals in their pens at night.

The laying hens are not the only birds laying eggs right now. Sheldanna Farm is also home to several different kinds of ducks, two of which are staying close to their nests. 

In addition to meat chickens and laying hens, the couple have decided to add six turkeys to the mix. If all goes well, they’ll probably continue farming turkeys.

In addition to your average farm animal, Sheldanna Farm is home to a new pair of pigeons who, according to Ann-marie, mate for life. 

There are also a hand-full of rabbits. Some are from a line originally raised for meat, while others are from a line of domestic pets. 

Ann-marie has also bred her lionhead rabbits, a domestic rabbit, for their babies, which were in turn sold to pet stores.

In addition to produce, meat, and animal by-products, Ann-marie makes a line of gluten-free baked goods, freshly made for the day they’re sold. She began this venture after being diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity. And, like most everything else she does on the farm, she learned by researching, reading and doing.

With the production of so much of what the average family would buy at the grocery store, the Hollister’s actual grocery bill is minute. According to Ann-marie, some months they spend anywhere between $200 and $400 per month for five people.

They even make their own maple syrup. Unfortunately, they can’t produce enough to sell, but they do have enough to satisfy the needs of their young family.

In fact, that is precisely why they’ve decided to pursue this lifestyle, said Ann-marie: to be together as a family and to provide for their family’s basic needs. She pointed out that farming on this scale is not a way to get rich, but to cover the basics.

As for how they market their many products, it’s through hard work, persistence, and getting out there and getting known.

At present, they have permits to sell their products at various farmer’s markets throughout the area. On Thursdays, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., they will be in Morrisburg. On Fridays, they will be in Long Sault from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. On Saturdays, they will be in both Iroquois, from 8 a.m. until noon, and in Chesterville, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. They will also sell on-farm on Saturday afternoons from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

In addition to farmer’s markets, the couple is also part of the North Dundas Community Cooperative, a not-for-profit service whose mandate is: “Linking members of the community with local food producers and artisans, to provide healthy choices and showcase talent.”

Also, Sheldanna Farm is a registered Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. According to the Ontario CSA directory, “CSA farmers receive a set fee (from you – the consumer) prior to the start of growing season. In return, you receive shares (produce) in the farm’s bounty and you also share the risks due to weather and other factors beyond the control of the farmer.”

For those participating in the Sheldanna Farm CSA, baskets can be picked up at all farmer’s market locations or on-farm. Ann-marie pointed out that those who pick up their baskets on-farm have the opportunity to switch out whatever vegetables they don’t like for more of another. 

The Sheldanna Farm CSA serves Ingleside, Long Sault, Cornwall, Morrisburg, Iroquois, Winchester, Chesterville, Ottawa and area.

In an effort to market their farm and its many products, the Hollisters plan to participate in as many community fair events as possible. They were recently invited to participate in Morrisburg’s Canada Day festivities.

To learn more about Sheldanna Farm, the Hollisters invite the public to visit.

Sheldanna Farm is located at 4957 Aultsville Road, Ingleside.

[…]

 

Amidst all the beautiful blooms in the Garden Centre at the Canadian Tire Store in Morrisburg on Friday, there was a little Christmas gift-giving going on. Pictured above, centre, Canadian Tire’s Ninon Proulx (left) and manager Christine Thompson present a cheque for $570 to Dundas County Food Bank board member Brian Cox, left, and vice-chair Terry Triskle (far right). The very much appreciated donation came about as a result of gift card stocking holders that were sold at the store for $2 apiece during the Christmas season. This comes at a great time said Triskle in thanking the store and the customers who supported the campaign. “Pretty much, anytime from February through May, we don’t have a lot coming in. Food or cash is always welcome,” he said. The Dundas County Food Bank has locations in both Morrisburg and Winchester and collection boxes for non-perishable food donations in various locations in both South and North Dundas. Cash donations are always most welcome and are used to purchase perishable food items that are included in the food boxes, along with regular items when the Food Bank stock runs out.

[…]