HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-06-04, Page 1As part of National Hunger
Awareness Day on June 2, Huron
County celebrities will be living on
only food and personal supplies that
would be provided from a food bank.
National Hunger Awareness Days
is an initiative organized by the
Canadian Association of Food Banks
to raise awareness of the impact of
living with hunger.
The Huron County Rural Food
Banks challenged several high-
profile residents to live for two days
with only supplies from their local
food bank.
They will be journaling about their
experiences in an on-line blog at
ruralfoodbank.wordpress.com
The public is encouraged to visit
the blog throughout the two days.
The public figures who are taking
on the challenge on June 1 and 2 are:
Shawn Loughlin from North Huron
Citizen, Huron County Warden Ken
Oke, board of health community
member Rosemary Rognvaldson,
Seaforth Business Improvement
Association member Cathy
Elliott, The Bull’s Joey Martin, The
One’s Dave Newman, CKNX’s Phil
Main, The Beach’s Kristylee Varley
and Ally Anderson, Huron
Expositor Editor Susan
Hundertmark.
Over 7,000 people and families
used food banks in Huron County in
2005, the most recent year in
available data. Huron County Rural
Food Banks message is that no one
chooses to be hungry.
With two key school closure-
related decisions looming in June, the
Avon Maitland District School Board
learned last week it will lose one of
its nine trustees.
But Clinton-area resident Shelley
Kaastra, representative for Huron
East/Central Huron, which includes
Grey Central, Brussels, Seaforth,
Clinton, Hullett Central and
Holmesville Public Schools along
with Central Huron Secondary
School in Clinton, vows to remain
around the table for those decisions,
before resigning effective July 1.
“It wouldn’t be fair to ask someone
to step in at this point,” Kaastra said
in an interview Monday. “I’m still
thinking over how I feel about (the
potential school consolidations in
Exeter and Wingham) and I’ve been
gathering information for a year. You
can’t expect someone else to get up to
speed that quickly.”
Kaastra is a key figure behind
Friends of the Community, a private
organization that operates a food
bank and, until recently, a transitional
home for homeless youth in Clinton –
in buildings owned by the
organization. She’s resigning her
position as school trustee to devote
more energy to Friends of the
Community.
“Because we’re a private
organization, we don’t have any
funding on an ongoing basis,” she
explained. The transitional home was
operating thanks to federal
government funding but, due partly to
the expiration of that funding and
partly to issues of government red
tape, it’s currently not open.
A one-time school council chair,
Kaastra first began attending every
Avon Maitland meeting when her
home community school in
Holmesville was threatened with
closure in 2001. In 2003, she was
elected as trustee, and returned
following the 2006 election. Her
current term expires in November,
2010.
According to board chair Jenny
Versteeg, board policy and provincial
legislation set out three options for
Kaastra’s position: fill the vacancy
through by-election, appoint a
replacement, or leave the position
vacant.
Versteeg commented that the by-
election option is unlikely because “it
would probably . . . be too
expensive.” Leaving the position
vacant is also unlikely because
“there’s so much work (for trustees).
Everybody’s doing this in their spare
time . . . We really need to fill this
position.”
That leaves replacement by
appointment, which Versteeg
suggested would occur after trustees
conduct a search and interview
prospective candidates.
The chair cautioned, however, that
none of this will be confirmed until
trustees have the opportunity to
discuss the options.
“It’s too bad,” Versteeg said of
Kaastra’s decision. “We’ll miss her.
She’s a very effective trustee.”
“Although it’s good for Shelley
that she’s pursuing something she
feels is important. When you see
someone follow their heart like that,
you just kind of have to sit back and
take notice.”
According to Kaastra, “some
people think there are no homeless
people in Huron County but I can tell
them differently. We’ve had 17
people go through the transitional
home since it first opened in
September, 2007.”
Asked if she could point to any
success stories that keep her passion
alive for helping troubled youth, she
said, “there are lots of success stories.
But you learn to measure success
differently.”
“With young people who are
keeping so much inside, any little
reaching out or any little wanting to
talk is a success.”
She added that one young person,
living on their own since they were
13, is now 19 and has their own
apartment. “That may not sound like
a lot, but it’s huge in their world.”
Versteeg expects the Avon
Maitland position to be filled by
September, 2009.
County celebs try
Food Bank fare
Mine now
Logan Grubb of the Teeswater area couldn’t wait to get home to enjoy the purchases he made
at the St. John’s Anglican Church yard and bake sale on Saturday morning, part of the village-
wide event in Brussels. The five-year-old is the son of John and Tracey (Finch) Grubb. (Vicky
Bremner photo)
The Lions Clubs of District A9
held the 35th annual convention,
May 8-10 in Sauble Beach.
Lion John Stewart from the Blyth
Lions Club was elected to the
office of District A9 first vice-
governor.
Stewart takes office on July 1 for a
one-year term and the following
year assumes the position of District
governor which is the highest office
in the District.
Stewart, who has been a member
of the Blyth Lions Club for nearly
35 years, is the first member of the
Club to hold the offices of vice-
governor and District governor.
Stewart says that as vice-governor
he will be a member of a number of
committees as well as being
assigned certain duties by the
governor.
The year will be a learning year
where he will receive the necessary
training to become District
governor.
District A9 has 46 Lions Clubs
and five Lioness Clubs. It covers an
area from Mitchell to Orangeville to
Thornbury to Lions Head.
Also at the convention Stewart
was presented with the International
President’s commendation. Signed
by International President Al
Brandel, it states, in part, “You are
hereby commended for
distinguishing yourself as an
everyday hero by creating miracles
through service.”
Stewart was one of only three
Lions in the District to receive this
recognition.
Kaastra resigns from Avon Maitland board
CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 4, 2009
Volume 25 No. 22NEWS- Pg. 7Grey students publishpoems EDUCATION - Pg. 9East Wawanosh students’work chosen for booksACHIEVEMENT- Pg. 6Local’s ‘creation’featuredin truck magazine Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 PAP Registration No. 09244 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Stewart named
vice-governor