HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2004-09-23, Page 14Treasure Valley
Crocus
Naked Ladies
are coming
at 38929 Belgrave Road
and 39721 Amberley Road
Potted blooms for sale
Treasure Valley Crocus
357-2697
NEWS RELEASE
On Tuesday, September 14, Huron County
Council agreed to support Zurich's Blue
Water Rest Home with redevelopment of
their Long Term Care (LTC) beds by
acting as guarantor for the mortgage that
the Home for the Aged would have - to,
undertake to meet its project
requirements.
Blue Water is a charitable, non-profit,
community-operated Long Term Care
facility that opened in 1966. Its 65-bed
operation was designated by the Ministry
of Health and Long Term Care in 2000 as
a split "D" and "C" facility, one of a very
small number of Homes in Ontario to
receive such a designation. Under.
Ministry guidelines the Home is required
to redevelop the "D" beds in order to meet
current standards for LTC facilities.
However, since only 34 of the beds were
designated "D", the Ministry funding
available for the Home was inadequate for
the scale of the project. Although Blue
Water has never operated with a deficit,
the Board and Administration was
challenged to produce a financially viable
capital plan. Much of the existing amenity
and service space dates back to the
original building, and the Home is
challenged with redeveloping much of its
infrastructure with little equity and
inadequate capital funding.
Blue Water presented a number of
redevelopment scenarios to Huron County
Council. They agreed that Blue Water's
continued presence in Zurich is
fundamental to maintain the necessary
number of LTC beds for Huron, and for
the Home to continue to be a strong
employment and economic force in the
southern part of the County. As well, the
County, through downloading of social
housing responsibilities, also oversees the
September 17, 2004
operation of 34 seniors apartments that
are part of the Blue Water corporation,
and already carries a contingent
responsibility for those units.
There are still a number of approvals to
come from the Province before Blue Water
can proceed to redevelop, and the County's
support for the Home is conditional on
those approvals being received along with
other conditions being met. For example,
Blue Water is asking that the provincial
capital funding that would normally flow
after project completion be provided up
front to provide necessary equity for
lenders. Blue Water is also requesting
access to a mortgage at the lowest possible
interest rate.
Huron County Warden, Bill Dowson, said:
"The County's support for the Home
hinges on a number of conditions being
met to our satisfaction, and the County
acknowledges that there are numerous
hurdles yet to come for Blue Water before
the province will allow the project to go
ahead. However, we're confident that they
can successfully meet the challenges, and
Queen's Park will view our support as an
important contribution. It's important
that all residents of Huron have equal
access to quality Long Term Care across
the large area we have to cover."
Blue Water Rest Home Board Chair,
Brian McHugh, said: "One of the
conditions that we will be fulfilling
quickly is to ask our membership to
approve the addition of two County
representatives to our Board. We welcome
their experience and wisdom as we
proceed with the next steps in this large
and complex undertaking, and we are
extremely grateful to County Council and
the County Administrative staff for all
their support."
For further information on this release, please contact:
Bill Dowson, Warden, The County of Huron, 1 Court House Square, Goderich, ON N7A 1M2
Tel: (519) 524-8394
Martha Craig, Administrator, Blue Water Rest Home, RR#3 Zurich, ON NOM 2T0
Tel: (519) 236-4373
PAGE 14 THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2004.
Groups work together to Drive Away Hunger
behind it (the project.) Some people
in our community don't have a lot to
eat and this is a great way to help
them," said Mitchell.
So, together with Rob Snell of
Grey Central Public School, they
organized a collection box in every
room from kindergarten to Grade 8
at both schools.
"Whenever we can, we try to give
our students the opportunity to be
good citizens and understand the
important values of helping others,"
said Mitchell.
The students from Grey Central
Public School collected 326 pounds
of food and the students from
Brussels Public School collected 364
pounds of food plus $95 in cash
donations.
Initially, the tour was planned as a
project that would lead up to the
FCC's national promotional
campaign designed to inspire others
from across the country to give.
"It's a perfect fit," said John Ryan,
FCC's president and CEO. "Our
community investments are directed
towards organizations that matter to
our employees and customers.
Dale's involvement in this tour is a
great example of the caring people
Continued on page 15
Group effort
Students from Brussels Public School joined Dale Snider's
fight against hunger through his Drive Away Hunger
campaign where he travelled by tractor to various towns,
collecting food and cash donations to help feed the hungry
in Huron County. With a food box in every room, students
from kindergarten to Grade 8 managed to collect 364
pounds of food plus $95 in cash donations. (Elyse DeBruyn
photo)
By Elyse DeBruyn
Citizen staff
A Kitchener-area man took to the
roads last week in an effort to fight
hunger and bring awarness to food
issues in the region.
Building up to World Food Day,
Dale Snider, the Listowel' district
manager of Farm Credit Canada
(FCC), launched a Drive Away
Hunger tour on Sept. 13, rolling
through several communities in mid-
western Ontario over a period of
eight days. -
Snider drove a tractor pulling a
flat-bed trailer full of food donations
that he collected on his winding
route which began at the FCC office
in. Listowel.
"It's the world's largest shopping
cart," Snider joked. "I just wanted to
do something to support agriculture
and bring awareness to the hunger
issues."
His goal was to pull in over 20,000
pounds of food or cash donations for
local food banks. FCC agreed to
match the first 10,000 units collected
towards the tour's goal.
In an effort to get local business
involved. Snider approached MDL
Doors in Brussels to make a
commitment to his cause. MDL
Doors supervisors who thought it
was a great project for , the
employees to get involved in.
Supervisor Gary McNevitts
devised a plan to divide all
employees into two teams. Each
team member was able to purchase
"squares" on a board for $5 and then
through the process of elimination,
one winner per team was
determined. The two winners
received a day off with pay on the
Friday prior to the Labour Day
weekend in September.
Employees raised $670 which was
then matched by MDL Doors
president Mervin Lichty, making a
grand total of $1,340.
Taking the money to Brussels
Foodland, Stroops Meat Market and
Smiths Packaging, MDL Doors
employees received extra donations
and price breaks to purchase food for
the food bank. MDL Doors
committed to 500 pounds of food,
but went well over their goal.
On Sept. 15, Snider stopped at
MDL Doors to collect the donations.
He said, although he was only two
days into his tour, he already had
2,646 pounds of food. He said it was
about a 50/50 split between food and
cash donations.
"I'm stunned. I didn't think I
would get this much so fast," said
Snider.
After only the second day, the
truck carrying all the food that
Snider collected, was full and had to
be dropped off at the Salvation Army
in Listowel. The next drop-off was
the Wingham Salvation Army.
Salvation Armies throughout the
region welcomed the donations and
properly distributed them
throughout the region.
After his stop at MDL Doors,
Snider continued on to Brussels
Public School where more donations
were waiting.
Marie Mitchell, a teacher at the
school, said she saw an ad in a local
paper and decided to drop into the
FCC office and talk to Snider.
"I agreed with the philosophy