Give a little, get a lot
Rachel Clark had spent months planning, fundraising and dreaming about volunteering in Africa, but the morning she was to start work at a Kenyan orphanage, she laid in bed scared to go.
“I had waited all this time and yet I had all these doubts, like ‘can I really possibly do something, can I truly make a difference?’”
Clark recently returned to Elmira from working at the Sidai Children’s Rehabilitation Centre in Ngong, about an hour outside Nairobi. …Read more
Coming out for the woodwork
If you’re looking for that one piece of odd fitting furniture but can’t find it anywhere, then the Wilmot Seniors Woodworking and Craft Club (WSWCC) in Baden is quite possibly the place for you.
A popular venue for creative seniors with a penchant for woodworking and other crafts, the shop also offers custom services.
Irvin Jantzi (left) and Harold Erb work on their projects at the Wilmot Seniors Woodworking and Craft Club. Residents of Wellesley and friends for some 60 years, Jantzi and Erb enjoy coming to the club for the fellowship and wealth of knowledge shared by its members.
“Sometimes people come in with a plan for something that fits a certain spot in their house and they can’t find it; well, we’ll make it for them,” said the club’s past-president, John Gruhl, noting that such custom projects help support the operational costs of running the facility and also offer an inexpensive alternative for customers. Products made there are also sold at Herrle’s Country Farm Market in St. Agatha.
A unique facility, offering retired seniors ages 55 and above a place to work with wood and other materials, the Wilmot Seniors Woodworking and Craft Club last week received a $6,779 funding grant through the federal government’s capital assistance …Read more
An ill wind blows through sap festival
A gentle breeze can add to the springtime ambience of the unofficial harbinger of spring, but there was nothing genteel about the weather that greeted visitors at last weekend’s Elmira Maple Syrup Festival. The event’s 45th year was met with nasty morning winds.
“It was definitely a disappointing start to the day – it was pretty brutal,” said festival chair Lavern Brubacher.
Valentin Szalay (from left), Lisa Szalay and Jenni Ziolkowski show off their pancakes before digging in.
“I thought we had endured all kinds of weather but that was a little new twist to everything again. The temperature and the climate wouldn’t have been much of a stumbling block, I don’t think, but that wind was really hard on our vendors,” he said, noting that some 30 vendors were unable to set up in the morning as the wind wreaked havoc on their tents and displays.
The poor conditions took a toll on attendance numbers, which were much lower than in previous years. Brubacher estimated between 35,000 and 40,000 people attended the festival Apr. 4, down significantly …Read more
Vehicle fatality
A delivery driver was killed on Tuesday afternoon as a result of a vehicle collision involving a tanker truck and a cube van on Floradale Road near Church Street West. John Leblanc, 34, of Ayr, succumbed to his injuries after the delivery truck he was driving crossed into the path of a milk tanker. Air ambulance responded but Leblanc was pronounced deceased at the scene. The other driver, a 57 year old Cambridge man, was not injured. Police investigated the scene and determined that poor weather and road conditions were major factors in the collision. No charges have been laid.
Local egg farmer gets crackin’
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Bruce Weber might not be able to answer this particular philosophical query, but chances are he’ll be able to answer any other questions you might have about chickens and their eggs.
The Elmira egg farmer has just launched a tour across the province, speaking on behalf of the Egg Farmers of Ontario (EFO) and providing youngsters and curious consumers about the ins and outs of all things related to chicken eggs.
Elmira’s Bruce Weber is touring the province to educate Ontarians about the value of chicken eggs.
“Bruce is a wonderful spokesperson: he’s so passionate about what he does and he’s so proud to produce eggs that people enjoy eating that it’s a pleasure to have him be an ambassador and go across Ontario and share his passion and what he knows about eggs,” said Janet Hueglin Hartwick, director of public affairs for the Egg Farmers of Ontario.
Having kicked off his annual egg education tour, Weber will be travelling to fairs and events across Ontario talking with consumers and students about eggs and egg farming. His goal is to explain how fresh …Read more
Dognapped? Doggone! Dogged search. Dog back!
All’s well that ends well. After a frightening experience that took a little dog a distance far beyond what its little legs could cover, Alma’s Grose family – dog and all – is reunited once again.
After nine days of uncertainty following a break-and-enter into their home that resulted in the disappearance of their beloved pooch, Troy and Aleasha Grose are now resting easy with their beloved Bichon Frise, Chloe.
“It was pretty rough. It was nine days … it takes its toll on you,” Troy Grose said in an interview after his two-and-a half-year-old dog was found in Brantford.
Troy and Aleasha Grose’s dog went missing for nine days after their home was broken into, eventually showing up at a vet clinic near Brantford. What happened remains a mystery.
“She’s adjusting – a little tired still but she’s doing quite well.”
The dog disappeared on Mar. 18 during a daylight break-in at their home. Several of their possessions, including tools and a 2002 Kawasaki 650 ATV, were stolen. But as the Groses took stock of the missing items it was the disappearance of Chloe that hurt the most – the stolen material possessions meant nothing next to the loss of their dog.
They contacted police and then immediately launched what they would later call “the search of our lives.” …Read more
A pitch for mathletic prowess
Known locally for his budding soccer skills, Elmira’s Amitan Pope is also very proficient in mathematics. Which skill set gets top billing depends on who you’re asking.
As far as his teachers at Park Manor are concerned, the Grade 6 student is as much a mathlete as he is an athlete.
To them it’s no surprise, then, that the 11-year-old fared so well at a mathletic competition hosted last weekend by the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) at the University of Guelph.
Amitan Pope, a Grade 6 student at Park Manor PS in Elmira, took top spot in the junior category of a competition organized by the Professional Engineers of Ontario.
“Very early on it was obvious that [he] enjoyed math and is quite good at it,” said Ted Frey, a Grade 7 teacher at Park Manor and Amitan’s enrichment contact.
Both the Waterloo public and Catholic school boards were invited to participate, sending their leading candidates to the math competition for junior (Grade 6 and under) and senior (Grade 7 and 8.) students Mar. 28.
The event had a TV-show feel to it as students used “clickers” instead of paper to submit their answers. Questions relevant to the field of engineering were asked. …Read more
New WICC building named after Joyce Gladwell
The Woolwich Counselling Centre (WICC) held its grand opening last weekend in the newly-named Joyce Gladwell Building. Gladwell was surprised and delighted by the announcement, which her family managed to keep a secret from her.
“I have secured a place in Canada, in Elmira, which I never imagined, and I’m dumbstruck,” she said.
Joyce Gladwell (middle) was surprised to find the new home of the Woolwich Counselling Centre would be named after her, a recognition of her years of involvement dating back to WICC’s founding. With her at the opening ceremony held Mar. 28 were her husband Graham and executive director Gerlinde Petz.
The announcement was made by Joyce’s husband Graham, who offered some reminiscences of the early years of the centre.
The Gladwells arrived from England in 1969 to an Elmira that was very different from today.
“There was no Tim Hortons and no McDonald’s and the industrial lands to the east were Earl Martin’s farm,” Graham said. “There were no community services, no organized daycare, no recycling and particularly no …Read more
Vandalism has The Gardens eyeing surveillance
After several acts of vandalism on his business property the owner of The Gardens in Elmira is working with another local company to make the scenic space more secure.
Last week the garden portion behind Mooder Horticultural Inc., the design and project management firm on Dunke Street, was broken into by unknown suspects. The perpetrators broke into a storage shed housing plants and supplies and threw them outside the building.
While he wants to keep The Gardens open to the public, Doug Mooder is taking steps to tackle the acts of vandalism inflicted on the Elmira site that showcases his landscape designs.
Though this is not the first break-in to occur at The Gardens, owner Doug Mooder is now looking to add video surveillance equipment to the site.
“I have to. I’ve got two kids at home: I can’t be sitting down here babysitting the place all the time,” said Mooder.
The Gardens is a plot of landscaped land featuring stonework, ponds, trees, shrubbery and creeks located behind the company’s office. An interactive outdoor space that offers potential customers a virtual display of the firm’s services, it also offers local residents …Read more
Eyes on our feathered friends
On a trip to Alaska shortly after finishing high school, Mark Bauman noticed a little grey bird hopping around in a mountain stream. It was a nondescript bird, a bit fatter than a sparrow, but it wasn’t anywhere in his bird guide. Bauman was intrigued and bought another guide, where he learned it was a Dipper, a bird that walks on riverbeds and dives underwater in search of bugs and fish eggs.
Mark Bauman will be leading a birdwatching hike in April, just one of the events planned for Woolwich’s Healthy Communities Month.
That little grey bird turned Bauman into a dedicated birdwatcher. He has a life list of birds he’s spotted that reached 500 this year and includes exotic species like painted buntings from Florida, trogans from Costa Rica and todies from the Caribbean.
But Bauman does most of his bird watching closer to home. His house in St. Jacobs is a stone’s throw from the Health Valley Trail, and he has a backyard list of birds, spotted within half a kilometre of home, that numbers 154.
“I just think how fortunate we are to be able to walk five minutes from our house and be …Read more
