Madagascar Dinner raised funds for school project

 

The very newest features coming to the Morrisburg Waterfront are canons folks. That’s right canons…but probably not the kind you are thinking of.

With the completion of dotmocracy done with area children at the end of the school year, the selections for the Splash Pad coming to the Children’s Park in Morrisburg have been made and included among the elements are some “water-spraying” canons.

In fact the water canons ranked number one in the children’s selections.

On the design front, the Playground planning committee is looking at the potential layout for the splash pad that will include something for everyone and that will fit in with the current playground structure.

A Splash Pad is a zero depth aquatic structure which combines water movement–flowing, spraying, jetting and misting–for kid’s play.

There is no standing water, no lifeguard requirement and minimal water consumption.

Splash Pads provide safe alternatives for small children, non-swimmers and those times when there are forced beach closures, which as a general rule occur every summer at the beach in Morrisburg.

And with the design work well underway, the very important work of continuing to raise money is about to go public.

Since the original playground build, the playground committee and the community have quietly gone about raising money for the splash pad. The total is now sitting at $116,000.

The targeted amount is $200,000.

To date the committee has prepared numerous proposals for available grant money, and they are now working on ways to engage the general public.

It is hoped the community will now jump into the Splash Pad Project with donations and events to raise the required money. Every little bit will help.

Coming up during the Tubie parade, the community is invited to donate to the Splash Pad Float, which will be easily recognizable as it will be carrying a whole lot of “little splashers”.

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With food bank usage reaching unprecedented levels, the cost of food rising, and the ongoing project to move the Morrisburg location of the Dundas County Food Bank, the new board of directors have turned their focus to increasing donations.

Food bank volunteers stepping down from the positions they held with the food bank, reiterated the fact that donations need to be the boards focus going forward, at the organization’s annual general meeting held March 9, at the Hartford Retirement Residence in Morrisburg.

“I have projected an increase in donations, as the board hopes to encourage more as they go forward,” said Dave King, who will be stepping away from his duties as treasurer.  

Last year, just over $96,000 worth of monetary donations were received by the Dundas County Food Bank.

“I must emphasize the importance of our donor base,” said Alvin Runnalls, in his last report as chair of the Dundas County Food Bank. He too will step away from the DCFB. “Everything hinges on donations of cash and food from corporations, business organizations, service clubs and many individuals. We are extremely thankful for the generosity.”

While the money donated amounted to $96,000, the value of the food that went out the door to families in need was $173,343. 

That food was included in 2,063 boxes of food that fed 6,231 people over the year, 40 per cent of whom are children. 

Of the families who received food items last year, 36 per cent receive disability income, 24 per cent Ontario Works income, and 18 per cent fall into the category of working poor.

According to Judy Hilson, coordinator for the Winchester location of the food bank, the value of food is up about three per cent over the previous year, while the total amount of food distributed was about 14 per cent more than last year.

About one-third of food in the food boxes distributed is purchased from the food budget. The other two-thirds are food items donated to the food bank.

Last year, $60,000 was budgeted for food purchasing, but $73,600 was spent on food. With the 14 per cent increase in food bank visits seen over the last year, the food purchasing budget was increased to $80,000 for 2015. 

The Morrisburg food bank location continues to see its numbers rise at a faster pace than Winchester. About 58 per cent of food boxes were distributed from the Morrisburg location.

Work is progressing on the renovation of the food bank space at the Morrisburg arena. According to Brian Cox, who delivered the building committee report, the move into the new space is likely to take place towards the end of May. The Municipality of South Dundas has arranged an interest free loan for the food bank for the renovations.

“Our client base has grown substantially over the past year and we project the same increase this year,” said Ian McKelvie, DCFB administrator. “If we are to overcome deficits in the future, we need to become more assertive in our fundraising efforts.”

Following the AGM, the 2015 board of directors was elected. The executive includes, Terry Triskle, chair, Jim Millard, vice chair, Celeste Guse, secretary, and Wendy Weagant, treasurer. Directors are Terry Green, Laura Harbers, Bill Steele, James Tripp, Arie Vandodewaard, Jim Wilson and Joanne Havekes.

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 “These men cared nothing about what we thought. I know that there was not one of them in that unit who, if given the command, would not have immediately beheaded us.”

Former Special Envoy of the UN, Robert Fowler, kidnapped in December, 2008, in Niger, by an affiliate of al-Qaeda, was the guest of the Canadian Club of Morrisburg and District, on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. A large crowd was on hand.

The former diplomat was Canada’s longest-serving Am-bassador to the United Nations. He acted as foreign policy advisor to three prime ministers and, in 2011, was named Officer of the Order of Canada. 

At the time of his abduction, Fowler was posted to Niger as a Special Envoy to Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. His task, in the increasingly unstable, desperately poor nation of 18 million, was to try and find a diplomatic resolution to the “low-grade” rebellion of the Taureg people. During three trips into the Taureg territory, he and his colleague, Louis Guay, had convinced the rebels to agree to sit down. What they could not move was the government of then president Mamadou Tandja. 

Fowler now believes that Tandja harboured private ambitions to continue to rule Niger, depending on an ongoing state of “civil unrest.” It is Fowler’s stated contention that the president “arranged to send our itinerary to al-Qaeda so that these people could come after us.”

They were ambushed by men  armed with Kalashnikovs on a highway well inside the capital region of Niger. 

This was the start of a terrifying off-road journey into the desert as the kidnappers fled back to their desolate campsite, ironically nicknamed Camp Canada.

“The commander of our kidnappers, called Omar One by Louis and me, demanded our papers (probably to be sure they had got the right men). Louis produced his passport, but I had absolutely no papers on me. Omar furiously exclaimed that it was illegal to travel in Niger without documents,” Fowler told the audience sardonically.

Every day, the captives lived with the very real fear of being beheaded on camera. Hauled into a tent on two occasions to make  videos, Fowler quietly recalled looking around “for plastic. The kidnappers don’t want blood getting on their few possessions.”

The gang ranged in size. But there were never fewer than three rifles aimed at the hostages.

“These were fundamentalists of the most extreme kind. Omar often told us, “We fight to die. You fight to go home to your families. How can we lose?” They were kidnappers and killers, but utterly dedicated to their cause. They absolutely believed in Jihad, absolutely believed that the moment they died, they would sit in paradise by rivers of milk and honey,” Fowler said. 

“They exist in a 7th century bubble, but are festooned with 21st century cell phones and weapons. They hate democracy, liberty, freedom. 

And any Muslim who espouses a view contrary to theirs is an apostate and should be assassinated.” 

Sweltering in 52 degree Celcius heat, deprived of even basic resources, Fowler and Guay struggled to keep up each other’s spirits. They had no idea if anyone was even looking for them.

Fowler later learned that president Blaise Campaoré of Burkina Faso, through his envoy Mustapha Chaffi, had agreed to take on the complex negotiations for their release. (“Ironic,” Fowler commented, “as I had, the year before, called Campaoré an ‘international criminal.’”). Also stepping in to help was Baba Ould Cheikh, envoy of Mali’s president Touré: Cheikh made 11 perilous journeys into the rebel region on behalf of the Canadians. 

“The government of Canada swears it did not pay any ransom for us,” Fowler said. “But al-Qaeda does not carry out humanitarian acts, such as releasing hostages. I truly do not know what was paid for us or to whom. Apparently it was ‘enough.’ In a way, I do not want to ever know.”

Finally turned over to the “good guys” after 138 days of captivity, Fowler said that he took five showers and still felt sandy. He also drank three cokes. “But I knew I was truly free when I asked for a beer, in a Moslem country, and eventually someone produced a room temperature LaBatts 50.”

Fowler, who is now with the University of Ottawa, was a riveting and thoughtful speaker. His address obviously struck a strong chord with the audience. 

He was asked, at the end, how he and Louis Guay, stayed sane.

“We had these rules,” Fowler explained quietly. “No “what ifs.” No talking about bad stuff after lunch. And, if one of us fell into despair, the other was to haul him out of that pit.”

[…]