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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-09-14, Page 38 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, September 14, 2016 United Way of Grey -Bruce backpack program 'successful,' co - Denis Langlois We did well for donations. Owen Sound. Owen Sound Sun Times We had great volunteers. The Huff said people can still community outreach was call the office at 519 -376 - About 2,100 students - great towards us," he said 1560 or stop in at 380 9th St. from kindergartners to sen- Thursday in an interview. E. to request a backpack iors in high school - will head As of midday Thursday, until Friday. back to classrooms in Grey- about 2,000 stuffed backpacks The agency is also continu- Bruce next week with a new had already been delivered. ingto accept donations, which backpack and school sup- They included 705 for chil- will help next year's campaign. plies thanks to a campaign by drengoing into kindergartento The backpack program the local United Way. Grade 3, 485 for intermediate- started in 2005. The agency William Huff, project co- level students and283foryouth gave out 250 backpacks to ordinator for the United Way in Grades 7 and 8. More than children in need that year. of Bruce Grey's backpack 500 high school students will The number of requests program, said this year's 12th also receive astuffedbackpack. jumped to 288 a year later annual drive was a success. About 100 backpacks were and to 544 in 2007 before sky - "We gave a backpack to still waiting to be picked up rocketing to 1,639 in 2008. everybody that wanted one. at the United Way office in Over the last few years, Wild for the Arts returns to MacGregor Park The Friends of MacGregor FoxWayLoop, allowing artists jewelry, quilting, weaving, Point Park are gearing up for of all disciplines the opportu- and woodworking. Written the return of the Wild for the nity to share, display and sell works include poetry, fic- Arts Festival, Sept. 17-18, 2016 their work in an outdoor envi- tion, and non-fiction. at MacGregor's festival to cel- ronment surrounded by The program also includes ebrate nature as a source of MacGregor Point's beauty and Children's Storytelling, chil- creative inspiration. landscape. dren's activities, Interpretive The festival grounds have Visual arts include paint- programs and an Artist's moved to the Nippissing ings, drawings, photography Adventure Trail and drop-in Campground at the newly and sculpture; stained glass, workshops. electrified campsites in the decorative art, pottery, A barbecue lunch will be demand has remained at between 2,000 and 2,400. Huff said there are a lot of people to thank for making this year's campaign a success. That includes the many volunteers who stuffed back- packs or drove them to agen- cies throughout the region. He also thanked 211, which took orders for the backpacks, as well as Staples in Owen Sound, which was the site of this year's Stuff - the -Bus drive. Huff said the United Way received enough money served both days. Sept. 17 at noon, the perfor- mance stage features 'R.I.P. Trout" with their upbeat jazz and blues. That night the golden oldies will be offered bu "May Contain Nuts' Sept. 18, the classical woodwind sounds of the "Southwinds Quintet" will offer lunch hour Goderich residents have a message after witnessing rescue in Grand Bend Laura Broadley Goderich Signal Star William and Emsie Wil- liams wanted a good dinner and walk on the beach last Wednesday night. They made the decision to travel to Grand Bend instead of their usual walk along Goderich's coast. The Williams were just nwmo NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION finishing dinner by the beach around 7:30 p.m. when they noticed an SUV with two jet skis attached attempt to get close to the beach. The group of three people; an older man, a younger man and a younger woman, eventually gave up trying to get the jet skis close enough to the water. William and Emsie were SOCIETE DE GESTION DES DECHETS NUCLEAIRES confused, and asked them- shore that she probably selves why the group was wouldn't get in too much attempting the go in the trouble. The younger man water when the waves were joined her, and then quickly so rough. So rough, in fact, swam out further before the that no one was on the pier woman joined him. as usual at that time because It wasn't five minutes later the waves were splashing when the Williams heard, over the pier constantly. "bone -chilling screams." The The woman decided to go swimmers had been pulled into the water to have a between the north and south swim, close enough the piers and were struggling to NWMO Learn More Centre Everyone is welcome. Drop in and learn more about Adaptive Phased Management (APM), and ongoing work in the area. APM is Canada's plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is working collaboratively with Huron -Kinloss to consider the project and advance preliminary assessment studies. The Township of Huron -Kinloss is one of nine communities involved in this learning process. ordinator says through donations to cover the cost of this year's pro- gram. He said he's also happy with the amount of supplies that were donated. Organizers of the local back- pack ackpack program say it enables children from low-income families to have the same start at school as other students. Francesca Dobbyn, the exec- utive director of the United Way of Bruce Grey, has said she has been told by countless teachers how the program has assisted children in their classrooms and reduced poverty based bullying. entertainment. The Sandcastle Theatre Group will perform Peter Pan and the Pirates Sept. 17 and offer an Improv Work- shop on Sept. 18. The popular Campsite Studio Tour takes lets you visit over 18 artists of every discipline all weekend from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. stay above water. It was then that the Wil- liams witnessed something they said they wouldn't soon forget; about six people ran to the swimmers' aid. Six stran- gers dropped what they were doing to help people in need. Someone grabbed a life preserver ring that was on the pier and threw it out to the struggling couple. The rescu- ers were able to pull the man to safety, and pulled the woman to safety soon after. Within five minutes of hear- ing the calls for help, the cou- ple was safe. By the time para- medics arrived, the couple was already out of the water. "People responded quickly instead of wondering what to do, or where to go," William said. "I think that saved their lives," he added. Emsie said she was so Rob Gowan/Owen Sound Sun limes Backpack campaign co- ordinator William Huff poses earlier this summer with some of the backpacks and the supplies that have since been delivered to children in need as part of the United Way of Bruce Grey's annual backpack program. Submitted MacGregor Point Provincial Park offers a free Wild for the Arts weekend Sept. 17-18. fearful for the couple's lives, and was thinking to herself at the time that she was about the witness two peo- ple drown. "Everything went so fast," she said. But thanks to the quick - thinking and courageous bystanders, the couple's family won't be without their son and daughter. The rescue inspired the Wil- liams. With everything nega- tive going on in the world right now, they were reminded that there are people in this world willing to help others in times of great need. They wanted to share that message with the community. William and Emsie said they also want to encourage people to use their better judgment when water condi- tions are not appropriate for swimming. 1 NWMO Learn More Centre (Huron-Kinlos�j 46 Queen St., Ripley ON (across from Lewis Park) 519.386.6711 Wednesdays Thursdays Fridays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Photo courtesy of Emsie Williams Members of the public pull a man out of the water at the Grand Bend beach on Aug. 31, 2016. The man and a woman were saved by bystanders after they became overwhelmed by the rough waters and called out for help.