Month: May 2013

Reg is a 1 year old male. A real beauty. Possible Dutch Shepherd mix….a highly valued dog for police work and search and rescue. Reg a good sized dog and needs manners training. He has been raised an outdoor dog.  A real gentle, fun-loving sweetheart who would make a wonderful pet to someone who has the time to train him… a great agility dog and the shelter thinks one very wonderful pet. Reg is very healthy but would need to be neutered.  Great dog, beautifully coloured.

[…]

It’s a little committee that is hard at work planning a big “July 1st” day for the community.

“We listened to what people told us they wanted last year, and we have tried to include as much as possible,” says Morrisburg’s Canada Day committee member Tracey Veinotte. “I think we have made some nice changes, and nice additions and there will be something for everyone. It should be a fun day.”

Foremost on the list of things to do, is for committee members to get out and about to sell the Canada Day Raffle tickets which contribute hugely to the cost of the Canada Day Fireworks. The ticket sales began this past weekend at Valu-mart and Canadian Tire and will continue throughout the next weeks leading up to July 1st.

Tickets can also be purchased at the Canadian Tire checkouts at any time.

On board to help raise money for the Fireworks which this year have a price tag of $11,300 is Kaylee Morrell and a volunteer committee which is organizing and hosting a Red and White Fireworks Fundraiser dance this Friday night, May 10 at the Morrisburg Legion. Music is by the local band Reckless and the cost is $10 per person.

“We are a small committee of under 10 people, so it becomes very labour intensive to get everything for the Canada Day celebration organized and advertised. When a group like Kaylee’s comes along and offers to help out, it certainly lightens the load. It is a wonderful offer.”

“Their group has done quite a good job in the past organizing and hosting dances to raise money for various causes.”

“We think everyone is the community really enjoys the fireworks, so we think the community is up for supporting the cause whether through the purchase of the Canada Day raffle tickets, attending the dance or both.”

Veinotte also explained that this year, “we are going to try music with the fireworks. Randy Chesbro is setting up a sound system that should be able to be heard throughout much of the park.”

Being revamped and expanded is the Market that was very popular last year. The all-day music in the park at the band stand will also see a few changes, mainly with a few additions to the performers.

Appearing for the first time is a local band, Furious Gord which includes Scott Veinotte, Mario Beriault, Derek Jones and Dan Barkley.

“What is really neat about this is that there is a second band, the Sons of Gord.  These are some of the children of the band members and these talented youngsters (Conor Veinotte, Liam Veinotte, Gavin Veinotte and Joel Beriault) will play fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar. The boys do a show of their own between sets, and we think people will get a big kick out of seeing them perform.”

“Basically we listened to what people said last year and tried to bring them what they want,” says Veinotte of this year’s Canada Day lineup of events. For example a lot of parents wanted something involving the more traditional games like eggs on a spoon race and sack races. So we have the Ontario Early Years centre on board with this.”

“And we have the Willyburg Flyers coming in for a demo. They are thrilled to be included and there are a lot of people interested in seeing them. We have tried to include that kind of thing to make it a little more for everybody.”

The committee is now promoting the very important Canada Day Raffle ticket sales and Dance to support the fireworks.

Please watch for the ticket sellers and support this year’s Canada Day celebration.

[…]

Michael Harvey, co-founder of the Back to Church movement and author of “Unlocking the Growth”, says essentially, “the heart of the “Back to Church Sunday” movement is to get a movement of invitation going. I’m interested in inviting, which is different than bringing.”  He adds that, “It’s okay for people to say yes or no. The problem is, we aren’t hearing enough invitations.”

Harvey’s “Unlocking the Growth” seminar offers ideas for increasing the number of people at church. It is designed to inspire church leaders and lay people to help their church grow and at the heart of the growth movement are invitations to families and friends to come to church.

“It’s so easy to drift away from church these days,” says Harvey. “One day becomes two days and two days becomes two weeks.” He says that after while it has been so long that people find it awkward to return.

“That is why invitation is so vital.”

According to Harvey, research shows that the number one reason people don’t offer invitations is that they fear the answer will be no.

The Back to Church movement began in 2004, and early results were amazing.

Harvey, who on Friday was in his second week of a three week tour which started in Western Canada with stops in Vancouver Island, Edmonton and Winnipeg, then Toronto, prior to coming to Williamsburg, said of the smaller venue “I’m always delighted to visit places like this.”

He explains that the results of the movement are tracked by having churches register. Last September, he says 14,000 churches in 17 countries took part and 200,000 people accepted invitations.

“You can do the math and it’s only about 14 people per church, but it’s a start. We’ve almost convinced ourselves that people aren’t into church, but it’s not true. The welcome to get them past the threshold has got to be invitational.”

In 2004, Harvey gave up a demanding job in London, England to teach church leaders to see new possibilities within their churches. Since then he has spoken to thousands of church leaders and has challenged churches of all sizes to double their congregation in a day.

In addition to the hosting Lutheran pastors, a number of South Dundas clergy accepted the ‘invitation’ to attend Friday’s seminar along with the general public. 

The Seaway cluster of pastors who invited Harvey to speak at Williamsburg included Pastor Norine Gullons of the South Dundas Evangelical Lutheran Parish of South Dundas, Rev. Jo Barkley-Probst of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Riverside Heights, Rev. Bruce Thompson of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Brockville, Rev. Robert C. Wiesner of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Belleville and Rev. Steve Hoffard of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Kingston.

[…]

Public information sessions about the pending consolidation of the Morrisburg and Williamsburg library branches at the Morrisburg location have been scheduled by the SD&G Library Board.

The board met April 25, at the Dalkeith Branch.

In response to the public outcry about the planned closure of the Williamsburg branch that will result from the consolidation, the Williamsburg meeting was scheduled, as promised at the previous board meeting in Chesterville.

The Williamsburg information session will take place May 9, 7 p.m. at the IOOF Hall in Williamsburg.

Another information session about the new branch in Morrisburg will take place May 16, at 7 p.m. The location of the meeting in Morrisburg has not yet been determined.

[…]

“There is something happening here,” said Margaret Lee, at a recent Iroquois and District Business Group open house.

The first open house that the organization has held attracted about 20 area business owners, including some new faces of some new businesses in the area.

Lee, who has a home-based business in Iroquois, has been here since 1965. She said, “There is a renewed zest here that I haven’t seen for a long time.”

“We really have a lot to offer here, people just aren’t aware of it,” said Candace Menges, president of the Iroquois and District Business Group.

She encouraged the business owners on hand to make an effort to know their neighbouring businesses and what they have to offer so they can inform their customers and keep the dollars being spent local.

The open house gave those on hand the opportunity to share with their peers the services they offer, and to talk about the new businesses coming to town such a the new ladies fashion boutique, and the businesses opening under new ownership, including a highly anticipated restaurant.

Dwight Saunders, of Aura, which has businesses in three Iroquois storefronts, shared that they bring about 100 people a week into the community, a number which impressed the event’s guest speaker South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds.

“We hosted this open house to encourage more business support,” said Menges. “We have good membership numbers, 21 last year, but require more physical support to accomplish our goals.”

They too were seeking input to set out goals for the group at large.

[…]

A $25,000 suggestion nearly cost the West End Terrace a pavilion and shuffleboard area.

The subdivision agreement for the West End Terrace, a new 17 home subdivision slated for construction at the west end of Iroquois, was brought to South Dundas council at the April 23 special meeting in hopes of expediting the process to get the development started.

The park area of the subdivision was to include a pavilion and shuffleboard area rather than playground equipment as the single-level homes being constructed are ideally suited for seniors.

Township staff suggested that $25,000 be added to the subdivision agreement to help offset the future costs of maintaining the shuffleboard that would become township property upon completion of the development.

Swank, the developers, were not willing to pay the extra, and pulled the idea from the table. They instead opted leave the required amount of parkland vacant.

When council advised Ron Swank, who attended the meeting, that it would be two weeks until an amended agreement could be approved, Swank was angry about the two week delay, instigated by the municipality.

At the end of the meeting, council again discussed the subdivision agreement. 

They decided to eliminate the $25,000 township imposed charge so that the pavilion and shuffleboard could remain part of the development proposal. 

Council also gave the mayor the authority to sign the agreement to expedite the process.

[…]

South Dundas council held a special meeting April 23 for the sole purpose of coming up with a plan to go forward with new 401, hamlet and facility signs for the Township of South Dundas.

A month ago South Dundas was presented with a new design by the consultants they hired in partnership with South Stormont. 

The consultant was tasked with redesigning the signs to uniformly identify hamlets and facilities while promoting the Upper Canada Region brand across the two municipalities.

While South Stormont council was accepting of the designs, South Dundas council, and the community input they received, were not.

South Dundas council opted to scrap the design, and now are themselves trying to work out what they want.

Nearly two hours of discussions resulted in council sending South Dundas economic development officer Nicole Sullivan back to the drawing board with the task of adding the Township of South Dundas logo to the hamlet signs that were presented by the consultants.

The colour, font and sign shape of the hamlet signs were deemed acceptable. However, council was adamant that a graphic needs to be included for the signs to be eye catching. 

They decided that the township logo should be that eye-catching graphic included on the signs.

Council could not come to any sort of consensus regarding the 401 signs meant to identify the municipality to passing traffic, so they decided, for now, they would not worry about them.

[…]

The $3.5 million, 15,000 square foot Community Care Building that is part of Winchester District Memorial Hospital’s Centre of Excellence for Rural Health and Education, is now open.

Construction was completed, on budget, in less than a year.

April 25, local media were invited to tour the facility that provides a convenient, professional environment for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, Champlain Community Care Access Centre, Job Zone and Ontario Early Years Centre.

The new environment does much more than look professional. Having all of  these services located together at this hub allows each of the agencies to gain a better understanding of the services and resources each offers, greatly benefitting the community by allowing them to get whatever help they need, all under the same roof.

While facilitating and improving the referral process between these agencies and the hospital, the new building has brought forward new opportunities. The health unit has been able to bring in many more services to this satellite location in Winchester. Early Years is working to secure funding to start a youth centre. CCAC is starting a new program to provide mental health nurses for children in schools.

This new building represents a shift in how agencies like hospitals and health units plan to deal with the health of local populations.

“What we do outside of hospitals will help to prevent people from coming into the hospital,” said Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, medical officer of health for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit when the construction of the building got underway last June. “We know that 75 per cent of what makes someone healthy is not physical so putting these agencies in one place makes sense.”

WDMH CEO Cholly Borland explained that statistically, those with better incomes are healthier, those children with a better start in life are healthier and those who are better educated are healthier.

“So this all works together,” he said. “We are fortunate to have all of these agencies located here.

This building is one of the first hub concepts in Ontario.

[…]