Go Green at Saugeen

September 23, 2009

Community Foundation Grey Bruce presents the 2009 Environmental Forum – Go Green at Saugeen – to bring together interested parties to address environmental challenges and issues in our area.

The Community Foundation has been challenged by Community Foundations of Canada to create an Environmental Endowed Fund and facilitate a local forum, the Foundation appealed to the community for ideas on what issues were most timely.

With input from individuals, organizations and business, Community Foundation Grey Bruce partnered with Bayshore Broadcasting to organize the Forum which is open to everyone to attend. The Forum has attracted interest from sponsors and noted environmental speakers. It promises to be en event not to be missed.

The Go Green at Saugeen Environmental Form is being held October 23 and 24, 2009 at the CAW Family Conference Centre in Port Elgin, Ontario.

Saturday: all day workshops in the following streams:

* Living Naturally… Preserving Our Land & Our Food
* Greening Our Homes Economically & Efficiently
* Our Precious Water
* Lessons from Nature – An Aboriginal Perspective
* The Green Act and You & Greeen Access Through Technology

Trade Show

Go Green at Saugeen Environmental Forum provides an opportunity for environmentally aware organizations to highlight their products and services. Approximately 200 people are expected to attend and the trade show booths are limited to just 20 participants.

If you have a green business and would like to be a part of the Trade Show, you can find the booth regulations and application form here.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Roberta Brignell
Community Foundation Grey Bruce
519-371-7203
e-mail: cfgreybruce@brucetelecom.com

Written by Deb · Filed Under Business, Conservation, Port Elgin, The Environment, theOwen Features

Saugeen Shores Relay for Life

March 20, 2009

Dear Editor,

Exciting news!

The plans for the first Saugeen Shores Relay for Life are well underway. This fundraising event is being held this June 26th and promises to be a wonderful and memorable event for both participants and spectators.

The Bluewater District School Board and the Town of Saugeen Shores have been most generous and accommodating in getting this event from an idea to reality. We are also very grateful to our local police and fire departments for their impute and support as well.

The Relay for Life for those that may not be aware is a 12-hour moonlit walk. The funds raised from this event go to the Canadian Cancer Society for Cancer Research, however that is not the only objective of this event.

This relay is about remembering those we’ve lost to this horrible disease. Honouring survivors, those that have fought the fight against Cancer and won, and those who are currently fighting. And it is about also thanking and recognizing those that have provided or are providing care to someone with Cancer.

Utilizing the track at Saugeen District Secondary School, individuals on teams of between 8-12 people will be walking between 7pm on the 26th of June and 7am the following morning. Each team will be provided with a campsite and are encouraged to decorate it.

The first lap of the track is reserved for our Survivors and Caregivers. Anyone diagnosed with Cancer is considered a Survivor, whether the bad news just came yesterday or many years ago. Survivors for this event will be provided with their own tent in which they may meet and greet with other survivors, relax and have a bite to eat.

Many generous sponsors have stepped forward already to help us put on this event. We’d like to thank and recognize our major sponsors to date. Our Event sponsor is Bruce Power.. Miller Insurance is our Survivor sponsor. The Port Elgin branch of the TD bank is our Luminary sponsor. Other Major sponsors include Port Elgin HomeHardware, the Lakeshore Recreation, 98The Beach (Bayshore Broadcasting), The Shoreline Beacon, The Wismer House, The CAW Family Education Centre, Legault’s Your Independent Grocer, as well as Trish Bernard together with McIntee Real Estate.

Miller Insurance has generously agreed to be our Survivor Sponsor and the CAW Family Education Center has generously agreed to provide the meal.

After this first lap of Survivors and Caregivers, all other walkers are encouraged to join in. Any team should have at least one member walking throughout the event.

At dusk, there is a candle lighting ceremony. This is a most inspirational and moving ceremony. Candles placed in white paper lunch bags are placed around the track. These candles, called Luminaries, are lit in memory of someone who has lost the fight against cancer OR in honour of someone who is fighting.

The Port Elgin Branch of the TD bank is our Luminary sponsor, and Luminaries will soon be available to purchase at the TD branch, or at Miller Insurance in Southampton. Luminaries may also be purchased on-line at: www.cancer.ca/relay

Courtesy of the Wismer House, a free meal will be provided to all relay participants, as well as breakfast the next morning thanks to Lakeshore Recreation.

Our organizing committee has met several times already and not only do we already have 13 teams already registered, but we have a wide array of bands and entertainment arranged to perform throughout this event. Even if you can’t participate, please feel free to drop by and listen to these entertainers.

Anyway in which anyone would like to participate, whether that be by joining us as a Survivor, a walker, a volunteer, or a business who would like to make a donation to our silent auction, please feel free to call one of our event chairs or check us out at www.cancer.ca/relay

See you June 26th, 7pm at SDSS

Celebrate Remember Fight back

Sincerely,

Nancy MacLeod 519 797-3355
Trish Bernard 519 389-9192
Rona Cobean 519 389-4954

You can find this and many more events at FindItGreyBruce.com

Written by Deb · Filed Under Community, Events, Guest Post, Health, Port Elgin, theOwen

Maude Barlow in Owen Sound

September 13, 2007

Maude Barlow, the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians , Canada’s largest public advocacy organization, will be speaking Thursday September 20th 7pm, at the Bayshore Arena on “Our Environment and the Great Lakes”.

A recipient of Sweden’s Right Livelihood Award (the “Alternative Nobel”) and a Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship, Maude Barlow is the author of sixteen books, including “Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World’s Water” and most recently ” Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Fight for the Right to Water”, as well as last year’s bestselling “Too Close for Comfort: Canada’s Future within Fortress North America “. She is also the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which works to stop commodification of the world’s water. She is also a director with the International Forum on Globalization, a San Francisco based research and education institution opposed to economic globalization; fellow with the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies; a board member of Food and Water Watch, the national US organization fighting for corporate and government accountability as it relates to food, water, and fishing; and a founding member of the European-based World Future Council.

The event is being presented by the Canadian Federation of University Women, Owen Sound & Area Club, and is being sponsored by The Georgian Bay Garden Club, Green Party Candidate Shane Jolley, Lawyer and Mediator Kerry J. Lee, and Lawyer Glenna McClelland.

Tickets are $30/person or $25/person for a group of 5 or more, and can be picked-up at:

Owen Sound

Downtown Bookstore—945 2nd Ave. E
DIA—854 2nd Ave. E
Owen Sound library

Wiarton

W. McKenzie Pharmacy—698 Berford St.

Port Elgin

Cathy’s Flowers—683 Goderich St.

Meaford

Muxlow Pharmacy—54 Sykes St.

Many thanks to Jeff for putting together this article. And many more thanks to the numerous individuals who have contributed their thoughts/ideas/and articles over the past few months. If you have something you would like to discuss with your community, please drop us a line.

Written by Ryan · Filed Under Port Elgin, theOwen

United Way Helping Kids Go Back to School!

August 15, 2007

This press release was provided to us by Francesca Dobbyn of the United Way. Thanks Francesca for sending this in! If any of you have any events you would like promoted on theOwen.com, just contact us!

Cartoon Backpack As more and more of the costs of public and secondary schools are passed on directly to the family, more and more working and low income families are having a hard time in September. Many students go to the first day of school empty handed. I’m sure you can imagine the teasing and bullying that happens when a student shows up without the supplies required by the school board.

In August every year the United Way appeals to the community for donations of back to school supplies so that we can ensure that children arrive at school fully supplied.

The United Way will be at Wal*Mart this Thursday Friday and Saturday, 11am – 8 pm as we attempt to fill a school bus full with back to school supplies.

Supplies can also be dropped off at ‘98 The Beach in Port Elgin, The Bruce Power Visitors Centre, The Coast in Kincardine, and the United Way office in Owen Sound.

This is the third year for our program. In 2005 we gave out 250 fully stocked back packs, in 2006 the number jumped to 355 and currently, our request list is at 450 and is anticipated to reach or surpass 500 this year.

The United Way funds 17 agencies that run 18 programs throughout Bruce and Grey counties. We use these agencies to reach families. The agencies approach their clients and generate a list of clients in need. We are supplied with the age and gender of those hoping to receive a backpack. Once our appeal to the community is issued, generally through radio advertising paid for by a retail sponsor, then we receive requests directly from families. These request are vetted and filled on a first come first serve basis, pending the availability of supplies.

We seek both donations of actual back to school supplies as well as cash donations. High school students need scientific calculators, French-English dictionaries as well as math sets. These items tend to be costly and our donors will maximize their dollars with 99 cent crayons rather than $10 calculators. So we use cash donations to fill the gaps in the donations. Despite the generosity of our community we purchase a lot of the supplies needed.

All of the donations stay within Bruce and Grey counties. Community support of this program is essential for its success, so please consider donating materials or money to the United Way donations bus up at Wal*Mart this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11am to 8pm.

Written by adam · Filed Under Community, Port Elgin, Press Release, theOwen