$48 million renewal of EODP announced

The Morrisburg Pentecostal Tabernacle’s Reverend Duncan Perry and wife Sandra, will be heading to Africa on October 12th along with 14 volunteers from other Pentecostal Churches.

According to Perry, this particular trip was organized by Sandra Gill, the Women’s Ministries Director for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.

He told the Leader that Gill “has done several of these trips (and she) does them once or twice a year.”

Gill is the one responsible for bringing Perry and his wife together with the other 14 travelers, of which there are five couples and four women traveling solo.

Perry shared that  going on a mission has been “something (he’s) wanted to do for a number of years.”

He “likes exposing people to missions.”

“Our congregation is very mission minded. We give a fair chunk of change to missions every year.”

Perry’s group will be heading for the Villages of Hope (VOH) – Malawi in Lilongwe where, according to the VOH website, “over one million children (age 0 – 17) have become orphaned” as of 2009.

Perry said that HIV/AIDS is responsible for the large numbers of orphaned children.

Malawi, also known as the “warm heart of Africa,” is a country in the southeast of Africa bordered by Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique.

The VOH “provides the children of Malawi with food, shelter, health services, and education.”

To go on this mission, the group was expected to raise $6,000 and Perry says they’ve actually raised $10,000, so they will “be able to do more than (they had) anticipated.”

Perry told the Leader that there are “no administration fees” and that “all” of the money will go straight toward helping the children of Malawi.

In addition to money, Perry and his group will be taking along things like clothes, tools, food, and even Tim Horton’s coffee.

While there, they will be doing a host of different things including house repairs due to termite damage, painting, windows, installing new screens, and fixing playground structures.

In addition, the women will be working in the schools and ministering to the women of Malawi.

At present, Perry says there are “about twelve missionaries” in Africa. “One, (a woman from Ottawa), is in a very remote part of Kenya.” He says “she hardly ever sees anybody.”

Perry has tremendous respect for those full-time missionaries who volunteer for these stations, saying  they’re “the heart of God. They’re amazing people.”

As for Perry himself, he says that this trip is “going to be an eye-opener.” He believes that his “outlook on life is going to be drastically changed.”

He even talked of doing missions once or twice a year following retirement.

Perry explained that while this trip happened to be planned for Africa, it just as easily could have been  planned for one of a number of other mission countries, like India or El Salvador for example. He shared his wish to do mission work in India.

To get ready for this trip, the group had to be immunized against yellow fever, typhoid, Hepatitis A and B. In addition, they will have to take malaria pills and “travelers diet” pills while there.

The group will arrive back in Canada on October 28th.

Perry promises to take lots of pictures to share upon his return.

[…]

The average South Dundas residential property owner can expect to pay about $35 more in property taxes this year when the counties and education components are included.

An average South Dundas residential property is valued at $178,641.

Recent United Counties of SDG budget deliberations resulted in a $23 typical increase to the Counties levy and now South Dundas has agreed to a $12.19 increase to the average South Dundas residential property owner. The education component has been reset to offset the phase-in property assessment increase.

South Dundas council was asked by South Dundas treasurer Shannon Geraghty at the March 17, regular council meeting to clarify the intent of recent budget deliberations. 

Although South Dundas deputy mayor Jim Locke didn’t want to see anything less than a 2 per cent increase in taxes paid by the average residential taxpayer, the majority of council agreed that a 1.5 per cent dollar increase would be sufficient for 2015.

With the proposed increase, South Dundas will collect 6.54 per cent more money ($342,000) from taxes than it did in 2014.

During budget deliberations, South Dundas council had cut enough from the budget to put South Dundas in a position to collect 2.26 per cent more money ($118,200) than the previous year.

In that case, the average residential ratepayer would have been paying less than last year, according to Geraghty. 

“It is more financially responsible to collect a little more this year, than to wait and have to collect even more next year,” explained Geraghty, who expects that more debt will be incurred as projects like the industrial park expansion and waterfront projects progress.

Now, by council opting to go with the 1.5 per cent average tax increase, they will have more money to put back into the budget. For now, their intent is to hold the extra funds in reserve.

Last year South Dundas collected $5,231,000 from taxation. This year, they will collect $5,573,000 from taxation.

According to the treasurer, the municipality continues to maintain healthy reserves.

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Let the Canada Day Celebration Continue…Raffle Winners Named

This year’s Canada Day Celebration in Morrisburg was a huge hit that was topped off with a spectacular fireworks display. Thanks to the generosity of a number of business owners in Morrisburg, and the support of the community who purchased tickets, the Canada Day organizing committee was able to raise between $4,000 and $5,000 through a Canada Day Raffle which helped to offset the $10,000 cost of the display. Contributing enormously to the success of the raffle are the merchants pictured who generously donated gift certificates for their stores for the raffle prizes. They are, back l-r, Gurcharn Cheema of Ultramar Gas, Michel Proulx of Canadian Tire, Riley Hatherall of Valu-mart, Ken Rundle of Giant Tiger and Lloya Sprague of Home Hardware. Pictured front centre with her grandson Lincoln is Canada Day Committee representative Linda Robinson. On the left is Muriel McLean top prize winner of a $700 Canadian Tire gift certificate and on the right is Les Marshall who won a $100 gift certificate from Ultramar. Len Bellamy won a $500 Valu-mart gift certificate, Janice Casselman a $200 Giant Tiger gift certificate and April McKay a $100 Home Hardware gift certificate. “Our merchants are always so very generous,” said Robinson as she thanked each of them for their donations. “I have heard nothing but compliments about the fireworks. Their contributions, along with the support of the community helped to make the fireworks possible. The park was packed all day. ”

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