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The Times Advocate, 2008-04-30, Page 66 Times -Advocate Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Opinion Forum News LETTERS TO THE EDITOR • LETTERS TO THE EDITOR • LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Hike for Hospice coming up On Sun., May 4, thousands of Canadians representing more than 100 communities across Canada will partici- pate in the fifth annual Hike for Hospice, a national awareness and fundraising event supporting hospice palliative care. The VON Palliative Care Volunteer Program (VON PCVP) is pleased to be hosting the official Hike site in Exeter at the MacNaughton Trail. Last year, participants at the Exeter site raised community awareness and $3,000 for both the palliative care and bereavement ser- vices available through VON in the south of Huron County including Bluewater and Grand Bend. One hun- dred per cent of the funds raised remain in our commu- nity to service the programs that VON offers. According to VON PCVP advisory chairperson Marion Snow, "The purpose of Hike for Hospice is not only to raise much needed funds for this not for profit agency, but also to raise awareness of professional and volun- teer caregivers who care for others at the end of life and offer support to those who are bereaved." The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) reports that unfortunately less than one quar- ter of Canadians who need hospice palliative care ser- vices have access to them. It is estimated that each death in Canada affects the immediate well being of an average of five other people, or more than 1.25 million Canadians each year. Hospice palliative care programs allow patients to gain more control over their lives, man- age pain and symptoms more effectively and provide support to families and caregivers. Life is a series of moments. Quality of life defines the moment and is never more important than during our final days. When that time comes you can be informed and in charge. The Hike will take place from 12:30 - 2 p.m. at MacNaughton Trail with the Exeter Community Band entertaining from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. There will be chil- dren's activities and a barbecue by donation. Pledge sheets are available at the VON office by calling 235- 2510, by e -mailing pcvp.vonph@hay.net or at Scotiabank in Exeter. Please come out and bring the whole family for a Hike and support a worthwhile cause. KIM WINBOw, VON Palliative Care Volunteer Program Bereavement Consultant Keeping Exeter clean Last Tues., April 22 (Earth Day), I witnessed more than 500 students and teachers from Precious Blood School, South Huron District High School and Exeter Public School as they canvassed the streets of Exeter in search of garbage. They found lots of it and lugged it to a dump truck as well as a recycling bin. They even tackled the railroad track area and the riverbank, as well as parks and parking lots. I want to publicly thank each one of them for cleaning up our town. After a long cold winter, it was a dirty job, but someone needed to do it. Now let's all continue to follow their good example and keep it looking great' Thanks to all three schools for a job well done! DIANNE WAUN, Exeter Can't be thanked enough Someone once observed, "Those who can, do. Those who can do more, volunteer." Those may not be my words, but they certainly express my sentiments. Every year during National Volunteer Week the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) makes a special point of celebrating volunteers for the tremendous difference they make to the organizations and the communities they serve. As chairperson of one of Canada's leading grant -mak- ing foundations, I feel strongly about the importance of volunteers. OTF's board of directors and our 16 grant review teams — more than 300 people in total — show remarkable dedication to serving their communities across the province. Volunteer time is unpaid time, and that makes it espe- cially valuable. I wish to thank OTF's Grant Review Team in Grey, Bruce, Huron and Perth for its continued hard work and dedication under the skilled leadership of chairperson Kathleen Pletsch. It's reassuring that there are so many others also giv- ing their time and talents to the community. Last year, in the Grey, Bruce, Huron and Perth areas alone, more than 4,200 volunteers contributed over 158,600 hours of their time to support organizations that received funding from our foundation. If we translate their efforts into value, it comes to almost $2.7 million of giving! All of us are touched and enriched by the work of vol- unteers, whether we volunteer ourselves or benefit in some way from the volunteer work of others. So take a moment during National Volunteer Week, April 27 to May 3, to thank volunteers for generously donating their time, talents and passion to countless causes across the province. Thanks to their commit- ment, our communities and our province are better places to live. HELEN BURSTYN, Chairperson, Ontario Trillium Foundation Our "carbon footprint" In reflecting on the recent Earth Day events there were a couple of things I wanted to share. One is the opportu- nity that we have in Huron County to engage as a com- munity in designing a sustainable future for our area. As part of its five-year review of the County Official Plan the planning department is seeking our ideas for a Sustainability Plan for the county. There are public meetings coming up where we can share our ideas of what a sustainable future could look like where our eco- nomic, environmental and community needs are in a healthy balance. More details can be found at www.sus- tainablehuron. ca and if you can't make it to a meeting there is also a short set of questions you can submit either by mail or e-mail The second thing I wanted to share was my personal experience trying to follow my own advice on sharing rides. Last October I traveled to the Peak Oil Conference in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and was able to co-ordinate it with three rides. An acquaintance was going to Philadelphia a few days before and I was able to visit my mother in a nursing home there while I waited to catch a ride from that area with a couple going to the confer- ence. I was able to catch a ride back to Ontario with other conference attendees. To make it work I had to slow down a little and mesh my schedule to other peo- ples — but I found this was good. It also meant that in addition to saving several tanks of gas and their associ- ated emissions I got to visit with people and have an enjoyable social time rather than a solo driving marathon. More recently I accompanied Don Campbell as he did Principal's message EXETER — One of the events we look forward to at this time of year is the annual school show, and it is rapidly approaching. This year's production, "Our Town," by Thornton Wilder, will be performed from May 6 to 9 in our small gym. Director Beth Jantzi and her cast and crew have been rehearsing and preparing for months for this well known classic. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and tickets, which are only $7, can be bought in the main office at the school. This will be an excellent opportunity to see and hear the dramatic talents of many fine young actors, and we encourage you to come out and show your support of our dramatic arts program. The School Council's final community forum of the year will take place May 5. This one will be a departure from past forums in that it will take place in the afternoon and the audience will be students rather than parents. The topic this time is "What I Wish I'd Known," and we have invited graduates who have gone on to college and university to come back and speak to South Huron students who will be heading to post -secondary education this fall. Our goal is to have the grads share their experiences and make our current students more aware of the challenges and opportunities they will face when they head off to college or university. While we believe that we (the school and parents) do a pretty good job of preparing students for the post- secondary world, some lessons, both good and bad, can only be learned through experience. We also think that recent grads may have more credibili- ty with our students than some of us who attended college or university many years ago. The goal of this session is to have the speakers share the lessons they have learned, to offer some tips and pointers, and perhaps help some of our present stu- dents avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that sometimes happen at college or university. If three presentations around Ontario. I knew I could trav- el with him but at the end of the time I would be in Lindsay (a four hour drive from home). Should I take my car and follow along so I'd have a vehicle when we fin- ished? I decided not to take the car but see if I could use public transit or hitchhike home from Lindsay. This decision allowed me to visit as we drove across Ontario. It let me have a nice time with friends in Lindsay where I stayed overnight before hitching home. It was a lovely day and I had three very pleasant rides which confirmed my desire to trust in the kindness of strangers — they also got me home eight hours sooner than my back-up plan of bussing into and out of Toronto. Most recently I hitched a ride with the facilitator to an Environmental Farm Plan session in Clinton. Again, I had to mesh my schedule — and I did rush over to meet her but then the rest of my ride was an enjoyable visit and I had some time to relax and work on another pro- ject as we had arrived well before the start of the ses- sion to allow her to get set up. What I'm finding is that sharing rides is not all loss of convenience and mobility — it does involve some but it increases sociability, reduces stress and isolation and makes a real contribution to letting me help reduce my "carbon footprint" while still participating in activities. None of us can do everything to solve our environmental problems but each of us can do something to help. I'm finding that it can be enjoyable. Tony McQuail, Lucknow Communities in Bloom Recycle Ask a person what he or she is doing to help the environment, "I recycle" will likely be the answer. There may be steps further up the waste manage- ment hierarchy, but recycling is the most famous. It is fashionable to use a Blue Box or recycling depot; people take pride in diverting goods out of garbage bags and away from landfills. The terms recycle, recyclable, and recycled have become household words. but when asked what hap - mil pens to the material that is collected for processing, "I am not exactly sure" would be the response. Bei 1'cw't- OfIti Recycling is the separation of materials for use as raw materials in manufacturing, to meet market demands. There has been a boom in the number of people, municipalities, and businesses involved in this form of waste reduction. Unfortunately a lot of unan- swered questions have arisen, such as: How is the material separated?; Do markets for the materials exist?; What do the little symbols and numbers on the bottom of containers signify? For more informa- tion on recycling go to The Bluewater Recycling Association www.bra.org Knowledge is the key to success in any endeavour An old adage states "a little knowledge is a dan- gerous thing." Everyone knows about recycling but few people understand recycling. By taking a closer look at what really happens after a Blue Box or depot cart is emptied, the entire process will be more effective. Coml i B le Bloom this proves to be a worthwhile forum, we may consider offering it every year. The forum will be open to Grade 12 students who have applied to college or univer- sity and will take place in the cafeteria in last period on Mon., May 5. One of our speakers will be speaking to us via the Internet from Rotterdam, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we won't have any technical difficulties. We encourage the students who will be attending this session to come prepared with any questions they may have about post -secondary education, whether they be about finances, independence, having a roommate, workload, or any other aspect of college or university life. More information about this forum can be found on the SHDHS website at: www.shdhs.ca/ This week we have also entered into the election campaign for next year's Students' Council. Campaigning will take place throughout this week, with the election May 2. Congratulations to Leanne Hoffman, who was selected earlier this month as the Student Senator for SHDHS. She will meet regularly with senators from the other high schools in the Avon Maitland District School Board to discuss issues and provide the student voice to the trustees of the school board. Two of the senators were chosen last week as student trustees and they will sit with the elected trustees at regular school board meetings. Finally I would like to remind parents that the Semester Two Mid -Term Report Card was distributed in last period last Friday. If you haven't seen it yet, you may want to ask your son or daughter about it. For this report students were required to complete a Response Form on which they were to comment on their academic progress this semester and on their goals for the year. This form must be signed by a parent and returned to the school to be placed in the students' Ontario School Records. The dead- line for this is May 9, and we appreciate any assistance parents may offer in getting this task completed. JEFF REABURN PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE