The Citizen, 2019-01-10, Page 3THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2019. PAGE 3.
OPP charge over 500 drivers
Ansley’s essay to be read in Italy this July
Reaching in
The Blyth Atom broomball team took on their counterparts from Seaforth on Saturday in Blyth,
with the locals coming away with a 3-0 win. (Hannah Dickie photo)
Mikayla Ansley of Blyth has won
the Lions Clubs International’s
Multiple District A peace essay
contest, meaning she will represent
the area at the world competition this
July in Italy.
Ansley first won the competition
in District A9 last year, which is
comprised of local counties east to
Orangeville, but was announced as
the Multiple District A (Ontario and
Quebec) winner late last year.
Her District A9 win earned her
$100 in prize money, but with her
Multiple District A win, Ansley has
won $1,000 and a chance for her
essay to be crowned the best in the
world.
The competition, which was
spearheaded by Lions Clubs
International several years ago,
invites students between the ages of
11 and 13 with visual impairments to
write an essay on their answer to
peace. This branch of the
competition was established as an
answer to the organization’s peace
poster competition but for students
with visual impairments.
Ansley and her family have now
been invited to be part of the
Multiple District A convention this
May in St. Catharines. There, she
will be presented with her $1,000
prize and she’ll read her essay at the
youth luncheon.
The essay, entitled “Kindness
Matters”, details Ansley’s battle with
bilateral retinoblastoma, a rare form
of ocular cancer that caused her to
lose her left eye and most of the
vision in her right.
Ansley said many people were
very kind to her family at a time
when both of her parents, Mike and
Katie, had to quit their jobs to take
her to the hospital on a regular basis.
“I’m so thankful to all the people
that held our hands through it all, by
donating toys, blankets and money
so that this family could stay on our
feet,” she wrote.
She also details the steps she’s
taken to pass kindness on in recent
years, whether it’s a fundraiser at her
school, writing letters to world
leaders or simply exchanging a
smile. Ansley wrote that the smallest
acts of kindness on a daily basis can
change the world.
Ansley’s journey in the
competition began through her
father, Mike, who is a member of the
Blyth Lions Club. Long-time
member John Stewart informed
Mike of the competition, specifically
aimed at children between the ages
of 11 and 13 with visual
impairments.
From there, Mike and Katie
mentioned it to Mikayla and she was
immediately interested, although she
says she has never considered herself
much of a writer.
Mikayla has won numerous
awards for her public speaking
achievements over the years, a forum
she says she much prefers. With her
limited vision, she said, the physical
act of writing or typing on her iPad
can be exhausting.
However, she committed to
writing about a topic she’s
passionate about and asked her
father to proofread the essay for her
before she submitted the essay late
last year.
Before Mikayla turned the essay
over to her parents, she said she was
confident she had done a good job,
knowing it was a good opportunity
to get the message of kindness
across.
When Mikayla found out that her
essay had triumphed at the local
level, she was really happy with her
success, but she said she was truly
over the moon when she found out
about winning the competition at the
Multiple District A level.
She said it is “such a happy
feeling” to think that her essay will
be read at the Lions Clubs
International event in Milan, Italy
this July. That, in itself, she said, is
prize enough for her and she’s very
happy to think of how many people
she’ll be able to reach with her
message as a result.
The Festive RIDE campaign
resulted in OPP officers removing
539 alcohol/drug-impaired drivers
from roads during Festive RIDE
stops between Nov. 23, 2018 and
Jan. 2, 2019.
An additional 384 drivers were
issued warn range suspensions for
having a blood alcohol
concentration in the 0.05 and 0.08
range.
Officers conducted a total of
10,270 RIDE stop events throughout
the province during the campaign,
marking the first time the number of
OPP RIDE stop events exceeded the
10,000 mark.
During the previous (2017/18)
Festive RIDE campaign, the OPP
charged 587 drivers with
alcohol/drug-impaired driving,
issued 366 Warn Range Suspensions
and conducted 9,830 RIDE stops.
Tragically, there were 42
alcohol/drug-related road deaths on
OPP-patrolled roads in 2018.
The OPP is reminding drivers that
as of Dec. 18, 2018, police can
demand a roadside breath sample
from any lawfully stopped driver
without first having to suspect the
motorist has been drinking.
Under the new legislation, drivers
impaired by alcohol now also face
higher mandatory minimum fines
and higher maximum penalties.
‘Kindness Matters’
By Mikayla Ansley
Kindness is a simple but powerful
thing. It can be as small as a smile
or a wave, or as big as sponsoring a
child. Even if you don’t realize that
you are doing it, that can still make
someone’s day. Kindness matters
more than you think.
My name is Mikayla and I have
been legally blind since the age of
two. I had a rare cancer called
bilateral retinoblastomoa, which is a
cancer that affects both of the eyes.
Because of that cancer I had to lose
my left eye and lost most of my
vision in my right eye. It was this
tragedy that taught me the lifeline of
kindness. How to be thankful for
what I have instead of wanting
more. During my cancer journey,
my parents had to quit their jobs and
be at the hospital with me all the
time. I’m so thankful to all the
people who held our hands through
it all, by donating toys, blankets and
money so that this family could stay
on our feet.
It is because of that experience I
am on a mission to change the
world with kindness, by helping
others through their dark times like
they helped me through my cancer.
In the past, I have written a letter to
the minister of Australia in hopes I
would change his decision of not
allowing the refugees in to his
country. Taking their sanitation,
food and water away from the
refugee camps so that they would
leave his country is intolerable.
Hopefully my letter was the
smallest bit of a difference, people
like that need to change. Also I
organized a fundraiser at my school,
to buy teddy bears for the orphan
and abandoned children in Haiti.
Because I believe every child
deserves something to hold on to
and love.
I know that the world needs more
of that kindness, to live in peace and
friendship, without war or abuse.
For everyone to believe they are
truly safe and happy. Sometimes
life can be tough and you might feel
like the whole world is against you,
believe me as a stubborn legally
blind girl it has happened more than
once. If you just keep being kind to
one another, it can make yours and
everyone’s world brighter. If the
whole world was filled with smiles
and laughter, everything would be
great. One day everyone will
believe in their hearts, that kindness
really truly matters.
Big winner
Mikayla Ansley of Blyth has been a noted public speaker in
recent years, however, with her first foray into the world of
essay writing, she has triumphed in the Lions Clubs
International’s peace essay competition. (Denny Scott photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
A New Year’s Resolution
(Matthew Henry)
“My times are in Your hand!” Psalm 31:15
Firmly believing that my times are in God’s hand, I here submit myself and all my
affairs for the ensuing year, to the wise and gracious disposal of God’s divine
providence. Whether God appoints for me...
health or sickness,
peace or trouble,
comforts or crosses,
life or death--
may His holy will be done!
All my time, strength, and service, I devote to the honour of the Lord Jesus--and even
my common actions. It is my earnest expectation, hope, and desire, my constant aim
and endeavor--that Jesus Christ may be magnified in me.
In everything I have to do--my entire dependence is upon Jesus Christ for strength. And
whatever I do in word or deed, I desire to do all in His name, to make Him my Alpha
and Omega. I have all from Him--and I would use all for Him.
If this should prove a year of affliction, a sorrowful year to me--I will fetch all my
supports and comforts from the Lord Jesus and stay myself upon Him, His everlasting
consolations, and the good hope I have in Him through grace.
And if it should be my dying year--then my times are in the hand of the Lord Jesus. And
with a humble reliance upon His mediation, I would venture into the eternal world
looking for the blessed hope. Dying as well as living--Jesus Christ will, I trust, be gain
and advantage to me.
Oh, that the grace of God may be sufficient for me, to keep me always a humble sense
of my own unworthiness, weakness, folly, and infirmity--together with a humble
dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ for both righteousness and strength.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Remember that your life is short, your duties are many, your assistance is great, and
your reward is sure. Therefore faint not, persevere in ways of holiness--and Heaven
shall make amends for all!” Thomas Brooks
A Grace Gem
Submitted by: Immanuel United Reformed Church,
Listowel, ON 519-291-1956