Seaway students take their message to the streets

The fourth annual Jumpstart Day held at Morrisburg’s Canadian Tire on Saturday, May 26, has once again helped to ensure that no kids will miss out on organized sports in Canada.

This year the Morrisburg store, owned by Ninon and Michel Proulx, was able to raise $2,068.11 for the cause.

“All of the money we raise with the Jumpstart program comes back into North and South Dundas to help out our local kids,” said Ninon Proulx. “This year again our entire staff got behind the effort.”

The Jumpstart program, which was supported on May 26 by most Canadian Tire stores across Canada, is designed to help kids get involved in organized sports. Research indicates that one in three families cannot afford to enroll their children in organized sports and recreation in this country. 

With its One Million Red Balls  campaign, Canadian Tire asks shoppers to donate $2 for the purchase of a red ball, the national symbol of child’s play.

“This fund raiser really helps our local kids,” Proulx said. “Many sports cost more than many parents can afford on their own. Some kids would not have the opportunity to take part in sports without these funds.”

The store offered a raffle for a patio set valued at $470, and two beautiful planters. The furniture was won by J. Manneck, the planters by ticket holders Thompson and Adrian.

Tribeck Inflatables were set up to amuse small visitors while parents shopped. Fiona Carr of the Ontario Early Years operated a crafts and colouring area where children could make paper bag puppets, and  take part in other activities. The Morrisburg and District Leos club was also on hand to run a barbecue for shoppers. 

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“We’ve talked about being open and fair so much that we thought we should go back and look at our procurement policy,” said Clerk Brenda Brunt at the March 6th South Dundas council meeting.

Brunt presented council with a recommendation to amend the procurement policy in an effort to “change some of the wording to ensure it was an open, fair, and transparent process.” 

Council agreed. Councillor Archie Mellan said, “I think it’s a very good document.”

The submitted report stated that seven “principles will be upheld to ensure the process is objective, accountable and fair.”

The principles are as follows: 

• “The underlying concept of procurement shall be to obtain the best quality of goods or services at the lowest possible price;

• The process shall be fair and the policies shall apply equally to all bidders;

• Procurement decisions shall be made in an unbiased manner without influence of personal preferences, prejudices or interpretations;

• Purchasing ethics, or moral principles or code, shall be respected and followed by personnel who are responsible for buying goods or services;

• There shall be clarity and disclosure in arriving at procurement decisions;

• Environmentally friendly procurement shall be encouraged, as will group purchasing across departments, with other municipalities and/or organizations, when beneficial and practical;

• The lowest or any tender shall not necessarily be accepted due to non-compliance with criteria set in the tender document.”

[…]

New welcome gardens, which have been installed at Iroquois and Morrisburg, will be complete this week.

“The project was ‘grew’ from the feedback that the Municipality collected during last year’s community strategic planning process,” said Nicole Sullivan, South Dundas economic development officer. “Residents identified a desire for greening/gardening at the gateways and centres of activity. Welcome gardens were one of the suggestions made to accomplish this goal.” 

The gardens have been designed to be attractive year round, explained Sullivan and Erin VanGilst, the Master Gardener who designed and planted the gardens. VanGilst runs Create It! Garden Design & Instillation from her home in Williamsburg.

The gardens feature a mixture of perennials that bloom in the spring (Daffodils), summer (Hydrangeas, Daylilies) and fall (‘Autum Joy’ Stonecrop, ‘Karl Foerster’ Grass). There are also shrubs such as a Service Berry  that were chosen specifically because their branches are colourful year round. 

Each garden also has “structural” elements that will give its shape definition throughout the year including rocks and evergreens. 

In Morrisburg, three Serbian spruce trees have been planted, while in Iroquois, the buoys have been integrated into the design. 

The Iroquois design is representative of a seaside garden, where stones are being installed to represent the stream and the plants, the waves, explained VanGilst.

“To add an extra element of interest for the public, we’ve also integrated a number of plants that are historic to the area including Lavender ‘Munstead Old English’ and Bluewood Asters,” said VanGilst. 

“To identify these plants, we used a list of the area’s heritage plants that the Carman House Museum had compiled to help with the gardening of their Heritage Garden,” added Sullivan.

The cost to have the gardens designed and installed as well as purchase all the plants was just over $13,000, less than the $20,000 budgeted for the project. “We used compost and rocks that the Municipality already had which resulted in some of that cost savings,” noted Sullivan. “The gardens were designed to have minimal ongoing cost with all of the plants being perennials.  

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