Photo: County staff Joe Gallivan and Anne Marie Young outline the goals of the Sharbot Lake CIP at a public meeting held on March 8 to gain public input into the plan.

Judging by the close to 50 people who attended a public meeting held at Oso Hall on March 8, it looks as though both the county and township have been given the stamp of approval to forge ahead with the Sharbot Lake Community Improvement Plan. Attended by numerous local business owners and residents of Sharbot Lake and the surrounding area, the meeting included a short presentation by county staff members Anne Marie Young, Manager of Economic Sustainability and Joe Gallivan, Manager of Sustainability Planning. They outlined the goals of the CIP, which are mainly to encourage and stimulate economic development and community revitalization through financial incentives and funding programs for community projects. Possible projects highlighted included programs to facilitate facade and other structural improvements to commercial and other buildings, improvements to public recreation areas, downtown and waterfront revitalization projects, as well as improvements to street infrastructure and parking improvements. The township plan hopes to facilitate and encourage community change by focusing on local initiatives and priorities, and by creating partnerships between the private sector and community groups.

Central Frontenac CAO Shawn Trépanier, who led the public input section of the meeting, clarified that at this point in time the county has earmarked $70,000 in funding for the plan, with another $10,000 from the township. The $80,000 total he said could likely be doubled by accessing additional funding from other sources.

Following the formal presentation attendees weighed in on their priorities. Though the specific projects have yet to be determined overall there was a general consensus of the need for improved parking in the village, more commercial space, street improvements to Elizabeth Street, increased signage to draw people to the village and its businesses, and improved website visibility. Other suggestions included making Elizabeth Street one way, increasing seniors' housing, attracting business owners to vacant buildings, increasing public seating at recreational sites and offering recycling bins, to name just a few.

Sandra White, co-owner of the Sharbot Lake Country Inn, hopes to see some type of matching grants or interest-free loans that would help business owners wanting to make improvements. “If there was additional funding available that would help us to make enhancements or modifications to our business, that would be a great help and a great incentive,” she said.

Karen McGregor, co-ordinator at the St. Lawrence Employment Center in the village, said , “Signage is absolutely critical. We really need to get some signage out at critical points like at Highway 7, the 509, towards Ottawa and on 38, and under each sign to have a directory listing of local businesses.”

Township CAO Trépanier was pleased with the turnout at this first public input meeting for the Sharbot Lake CIP. “The turn out was better than expected and there was a lot of consensus and positive feed back about the plan, so now it is just up to us to get all of our ducks in a row, “ he said. “We are hoping to have a plan in place by September and our next step is to gather all of the information gained here and bring it back to the public to finalize the priorities we want to set. Then we will take the plan to the township for approval and start the actual CIP process. Hopefully by late fall we will have the funding programs in place and start making the funds available.”

North Frontenac discusses septic inspections

Dave Cook and Ed Gardener of KFL&A Public Health attended the meeting to discuss discretionary sewage system maintenance inspections. The difference between mandatory and discretionary is that mandatory inspections are only required where there is a municipal water system, and there are none in North Frontenac.

However, the Ontario Building Code also provides the framework and process for a municipality to develop discretionary septic inspection programs, for which they can pass by-laws "with some teeth", in the words of Dave Cook. He said the township can designate systems in certain areas or over a certain age to be part of the program.

Councilor Fred Perry asked if, since many cottages take their water from lakes, those lakes would be considered a municipal water system.

Dave Cook replied that they would not be, since the health unit recognizes that lakes are subject to contamination from more than human sources - e.g. from animals, etc. and people drawing water from lakes simply have to treat their water.

Perry also asked if anything could be done about cottages that have privies or that discharge grey water into lakes.

Cook replied that privies are not dangerous, as the waste is solid. He said that grey water contains mostly organic matter and some chemicals and should go into a leaching pit, but it is also not as big a concern as water-borne sewage.

He said the health unit finds that a lot of the problems with older cottages are being caught now because people are doing renovations and upgrades. However, he cautioned that council would have to be very careful and very specific about starting a program - once they start they have to continue. North Frontenac has about 4000 septic systems and it would be hard to tackle them all. The inspections have to be funded in some way.

Mayor Clayton asked if the township could put some legislation in place now to cover the possibility that one of its hamlets might put in a municipal water system in the future.

Ed Gardener replied that such a system would have to be inspected after it went in, so putting legislation in place now would be redundant.

Cook and Gardener said people don't realize that it's possible to put in a system that is legal, but still pollutes because of problems with bedrock, etc.

The township will facilitate a meeting between Public Health and Mississippi Valley Conservation, who presently does the township's septic re-inspections.

Better late than never: A belated retirement gift was presented to Courtland Kelford by Mayor Bud Clayton. Mr. Kelford was the road superintendent for Palmerston, North and South Canonto prior to amalgamation and retired in 1998. However, he was not recognized for his service back then and Mayor Clayton has wanted to rectify that for some time.

Addington Highlands request to use NF Hazardous Waste depot: Council approved in principle a request from Addington Highlands Township to let its residents use North Frontenac's Household Hazardous Waste depot. Several councilors expressing the feeling that neighboring municipalities should work together to help each other. However, North Frontenac would require an amendment to its Certificate of Approval, which could cost around $4,700 and they would also have to calculated the cost of hiring additional staff.

Firefighters' fundraising: Fire Chief Steve Riddell had sent an email to council updating them on the Clar-Mill firefighters' upcoming fundraising activities. The proceeds would go towards a set of tracks for the Clar-Mill ATV and towards new self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).

Mayor Clayton pointed out that if council agrees to the activities it is also agreeing to the tracks and SCBA, as the money has to be spent on what it was raised for. He said that since the township has not yet passed its core services bylaw, it is not known whether core services would include ATVs, or ATVs with tracks.

Councilor John Inglis said that the core services bylaw is catch-up legislation; that the departments have been buying trucks and equipment all the time without it. After some debate about the merits and safety of tracked ATVs, council deleted the mention of tracks and approved the fundraisers.

Tipping fees are going up: to $15 for box springs or mattresses, $20 for sofa beds, and $5-$25 for carpets depending on the size. TVs and other electronic waste will be free after the township gets its e-waste bins in place in the near future. The bylaw approving the change will be passed at the next council meeting.

Canada Day celebrations: Paul Thiel, a member of the audience, reported that he had attended a meeting on organizing township-wide celebrations for Canada Day. The idea is to have celebrations in different places - Snow Road, Plevna, etc. The meeting was organized by resident Amber Lemke for March 9, but attendance was low because of bad weather. However, Thiel said that many good ideas were brought up nevertheless - dances, games for children, contests, fireworks, etc. Another meeting will be called soon.

Changes to fishing regulations: Several members of council expressed their intention to attend a public open house on changes to fishing regulations, which will be held on Monday March 19, 6-9pm at the Northbrook Lions Hall. The proposed changes will be for walleye and bass.

Concerns for pedestrian safety: After the meeting, members of the audience were asked for comments, and Russell Gray brought up concerns about pedestrian and bicycle traffic on the roads. He was concerned about people walking in the same direction as the traffic with earphones on. The township will mention the concern to the local lodges and resorts.

Photo: Seed swappers at MERA Sulyn Cedar, Lori Beckstead and Karen Rodgers

Doctor Peter Bell of the Sharbot Lake Family Health team has been interested in the way people lived in eastern Ontario ever since he opened his medical practice over 40 years ago.

During that time he has developed a large collection of antique items, including not just furniture but tools, stoves, and other implements as well. All in all it makes up enough antique objects to fill a house - but where to get a house?

About four years ago he found an answer to that question. On a property at the junction of Brooke Valley and Strong Roads, there was a log home that dates back to 1840. The owners of the property, Bob Argue and Cheryl Nash, were building a new home and they had no need for the old one, so they put out the word they were willing to sell the old McConnel homestead.

Peter Bell bought it and then the work started in earnest. Not only were the logs removed and marked, but many of the stones that made up the massive hearth in the home were pulled apart and marked as well.

David and Jeff Hamilton began working on the project, and it has taken four years to move the house and put it back together. A number of elements, such as windows and doors, had to be sourced, and the log walls and hearth reconstructed. Dry wall was used for interior walls in place of the lath and plaster that had been in the house.

The house is larger than many of the time, 1,000 square feet on the ground floor, with a high ceiling (10’) and a second story above. It made for quite a large home. It includes a main room, parlour, small bedroom and kitchen on the bottom floor and bedrooms above.

The fireplace, which is an old style cooking fireplace, is different from what is found in most log homes in the region, which were built a little later on and generally include more efficient heating sources like box stoves and cook stoves.

Most of the work on the main floor has now been completed and it has been fitted out with furnishings that have been found over many years from sources all around eastern Ontario. However, they all seem to fit into the available spaces in the home as if they have been there for 175 years.

This weekend, as part of the Frontenac Heritage Festival, the home will be open to the public between 10 and 3 on Saturday and Sunday. Pam Giroux, decked out in heritage dress, will act as hostess, aided by Tilda Bron, and Martina Field will drop by to entertain on the fiddle at times.

Weather permitting; a horse-drawn wagon will be available near the Trans Canada Trail at the top end of Fall River Road to bring people to the house in style. The wagon rides are scheduled for every half hour from 10 until 2:30.

Editorial by Jeff Green

The recently released census results that show a population decline in Frontenac County is bad news for the region, particularly because permanent residents are the mainstay of the local economy.

Most of our businesses are devoted to building and fixing houses, delivering services to the people in those houses, and where possible, feeding and selling products to the 26,375 people who live in Frontenac County.

With the exception of some farmland in the south end of the county, and a few logging operations in the north end, catering to the seasonal and permanent populations is all there is to Frontenac County economy.

Fortunately, the permanent population is augmented by at least as many seasonal residents, but as local retailers in particular know full well, ten months of shoulder seasons between a July 1 to August 31 high season is a very, very long time.

The latest census is only one piece of information, and other factors suggest the situation is better, particularly construction activity, which has been steady since 2006, and in 2011 was very strong in South Frontenac ($30 million) and Central Frontenac ($8 million).

Information about poverty rates and aging, and unemployment are not so positive, particularly in the north end of the county.

Another way of putting the latest census into context is to look at previous census data. All of the Frontenac townships saw an increase in permanent population between 2001 and 2006, with South Frontenac gaining over 1,750 residents, an increase of over 11%. In all, the Frontenac County population jumped by over 2,200 people between 2001 and 2006, an increase of 9%, and in comparison the drop between 2006 and 2011 was minimal, only 283 people, or 1.1%

The re-assuring aspect to all this is that more people live in Frontenac County in 2011 than did in 2001, by a fair bit. The disheartening thing is that the healthy growth between 2001 and 2006 has dissipated.

It is also disheartening that among neighbouring counties, Frontenac is the only one that actually lost people.

Lanark County saw an increase of 3%, and Lennox and Addington had 3.2% growth, while Leeds and Grenville was basically stagnant with 0.1% growth.

A week after the census data came out, Frontenac County Council met last week to discuss their budget. At that meeting there was a real sense that a number of councilors are uncomfortable with the way the entire Integrated Sustainability program that the county undertook several years ago has been playing out.

At one point, Warden Janet Gutowski expressed her exasperation with what some of the councilors were saying.

“It seems clear that members of council would like to revisit the county's Strategic Plan,” she said.

Rather than re-jigging something as nebulous as their strategic plan, county council might consider something else, giving their entire sustainability department the task of bringing more people into the county.

Over the past five years, the county has accumulated a number of employees to deal with sustainability.

Under this catch-all category, there are now two planners, a manager of economic development, a GIS department, and an assistant/communications person.

That department is ideally placed to spearhead efforts at selling the county as a place to live, and in fact it is already engaged in a number of initiatives in the areas of seniors housing and land use planning that are based on keeping people here and bringing new ones in. Council needs only to nudge those efforts forward, and push other initiatives aside for now.

The 150th anniversary of Frontenac County is coming up, and the county is planning to celebrate its history. That look back could be tied right in with a recruitment drive.

The census figures might be the kind of thing that should set off alarm bells, but it is a fact that Frontenac County cannot afford to lose more people, and with a population that is aging faster than the provincial average, it will take a lot of work to stem the tide of population decline.

The first thing that needs to happen is for Frontenac County Council to muster up some leadership.

The goal of creating a sustainable population base would be something that the council could lay out for itself and its employees.

That goal can be put in concrete terms. What about striving for a population of 29,000 in the 2016 census and measuring all ‘sustainability’ efforts against that outcome?

Photo: Contra Dance Caller Emily Addison of Ottawa with Sheesham and Lotus at the Maberly Hall on Feb. 11

Emily Addison of Ottawa tested out her calling for calling at the first Quarterly Contra dance of 2012, which was held at the Maberly hall on Feb. 11. The Maberly Contra's house band, Sheesham and Lotus, played their usual magic as dancers twirled across the wooden floor boards, heating up the hall to the point where one could see billowing condensation escaping through the hall's open front doors.

As usual a beginner's lesson started off the evening and newbies were taught all of the necessary moves for each dance prior to the dance's formal start at 8 pm. There's no better way to introduce yourself into the community than taking part in a Contra dance. Contras are similar to square dances; however, the squares and partners are constantly changing, so by the end of each dance, everyone has do-si-doed and promenaded with half the people in the room, and by the end of two or three dances, everyone has met everyone else. There are no wallflowers at Contra dances; it's an old fashioned dancing meet and greet for all ages, where everyone has a chance to cut the rug with their fellow community members.

People come from far and wide to Contra dances and at Saturday's dance there were several people from Ottawa and even farther afield. Three more dances will take place this year so keep an eye out for the next scheduled event.

The Good Life Editorial by Jeff Green

Normally every year we print 50 issues of the Frontenac News and then take two weeks off for Christmas and New Year’s. Every few years, because of the way the weeks line up, we put out a 51st paper before having our annual holiday. That’s what happened this year, and although you wouldn’t think it should matter that much if you add one week to 50, it makes a psychological difference.

When I trudged down to Glenburnie for the December Frontenac County Council meeting last Wednesday morning I was certainly feeling it. It was the day after issue number 50, and my body wanted to be on holiday, but I had no one to blame but myself for deciding to go 51 weeks in the first place.

Not much happened at the meeting until the end, when a rift on council was revealed through what was ultimately an entertaining election for warden; at least it was entertaining to the two of us in the press gallery.

Still, as I was driving over to St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Sydenham after the council meeting I was still feeling like I’d have rather stayed in bed. But when I got to the church and walked into the New Leaf Link Open House I started to feel better.

There was a lot of energy in the room; the volunteers and students all work pretty hard to build a better life for themselves, and they have built an infectious kind of camaraderie.

It even made me feel better about Frontenac County Council. For all the politicking, and all the machinations that go on among members of council, county staff, and yes, the press, everyone is really only trying to make things a little bit better - even if they think everyone else is doing it all wrong.

Ultimately, what we have the privilege to bring to our readers each week are stories about the efforts that people in our region are making, sometimes against heavy odds, to live a good life.

The Good Life is a concept that comes from the Aboriginal heritage that infuses this region. It means that we take the time to look around, to live fully within our physical surroundings, to suffer as little as possible and to help our neighbours suffer as little as possible as well.

The Good Life is not the wealthy life nor is it necessarily the happy life. Happiness is not something we can control, but the good life is an engaged life that faces up to suffering as well as joy.

In one way or another, just about every story we cover all year long in The Frontenac News is about things that people have done or are doing in trying to live a good life. From the stories about school activities to volunteer fund raising efforts, to a fight over how to spend tax money or about someone who is opening a new business, a community newspaper is really about the struggle to build a good life.

People don’t always succeed, and we don’t always succeed in telling their stories well, but the struggle is a worthy effort and that’s what keeps all of us going week after week.

At the same time, we all know that we have to make a living; we have to get by; we have to generate income.

But living as we do in a rural environment, we know that the goal is not so much to make a good living, it is to make a decent living and live a good life.

We don’t celebrate people for their wealth in these communities or in this newspaper. We sometimes celebrate what people do with their wealth, but wealth is not the be all and end all.

We’ll be back on January 12 with our first edition of 2012, and we will be joining the Facebook Generation and the Twitterverse in the New Year, leading up to the launch later in the year of a new web-based service to complement our print edition.

Happy Christmas.

There are many reasons why a property standards bylaw is a bad idea for Central Frontenac Township, which is in the process of preparing one, or for any rural township, for that matter.

The fundamental reason is that these bylaws do the opposite of what they are intended to do.

Like all bylaws, a property standards bylaw is intended to make the township a better place to live in. The reasoning is that if the township is nicer to look at as people drive through, they are more likely to stay around, creating opportunities for different kinds of commerce, employment, etc. The people who have been proposing the bylaw in Central Frontenac see it as part of an economic development initiative that is intended to bring benefits to all the citizenry, rich and poor, long-time residents and newcomers alike.

The township staff see these bylaws in another light as well. They cover the township against different kinds of liability, and we do pay our municipal officials to worry about municipal liability so we don't have to worry about it.

The problem with a property standards bylaw is that they create two classes of citizens: good ones that keep their lawns clean, keep all their sundry junk hidden away, and paint their houses every three years; and a second class that is made up of the rest of us.

Secondly, and this is the worst of it, I think, it gives people a hammer to beat their neighbors over the head with.

There will be no clean police in Central Frontenac once this bylaw comes through; it will use complaints-based enforcement.

The bylaw officer will visit if a complaint is lodged, so what can and does happen in places where these bylaws are in place, is that neighbors who get into disputes for any reason just have to pull out a copy of the bylaw and find something on their neighbor's property that is not permitted, be it a weed, a shed, a dead car – whatever - and the township will investigate and levy a fine.

Thus, instead of working to build a more cohesive, tolerant community, the township enables its citizens to turn on each other.

One of the things I like about rural communities is the fact that we all have to get along, no matter what our income, social status, religious affiliation, or interests are. When we go to the Santa Claus parades, every one, from local businesses of all sizes to the daycare to the food bank to the fire department and on and on, is in the parade. Aside from the reporters taking pictures, there are hardly any people watching the parade because so many have jumped in and gotten involved.

Some of those people have properties that don't fit the standards.

With a property standards bylaw in mind, I drove some of the major roads this week, and it became very easy to see which properties the people who favour this bylaw would like to target. They are the properties that show the traveling public that this corner of Eastern Ontario is not prime cottage area like Muskoka, Haliburton or the Kawarthas.

Here is a little secret. Many of us who moved here over the years did so because the area is not that fancy; because we could buy a rural property for a reasonable price; and because we figured we could do what we wanted to do without worrying too much about what everyone else thinks.

And it works. We do get along pretty well, thank you very much, and when we have disputes between neighbours we work them out between ourselves.

We do have a higher share of poverty and a variety of related health and social problems than the provincial average, and as a community we deal with that. If the township decided to work with us over those issues instead of deferring entirely to more remote levels of government, that would be nice.

But pitting us against each other in order to attract some mythical investor who will bring more money into the region is not nice at all.

If the activities we engage in on our own properties have a direct environmental impact on our neighbors or the township as a whole, because of faulty septics or hazardous waste that can get into the groundwater, or if there is another health or safety concern, by all means the township should step in.

A number of neighbouring municipalities have property standards bylaws in place and for the most part they are rarely invoked, but that does not make them a good idea.

Ultimately, if it just comes down to the fact that some people don't like the look of their neighbor's property and think it is having an effect on the monetary value of their own property, I would say they should just live with it.

In the words of our illustrious MPP - "Back off government, get off our land". 

“People in Lanark County have a way of doing things behind your back,” said Gordon Patterson about the fact that no one had told him he was nominated for the 2011 Lanark County Award of Excellence.

He found out about a week and a half ago that he was going to receive the award in recognition of a lifetime of volunteer work with farm groups and a 16-year stint as a municipal politician.

Gord Patterson has lived on the farm his whole life. He bought a farm next to the family farm where he was raised when he was still a young man, and he took over the family farm as well when his parents couldn’t run it any more. His property is located on the Kingston Line, right where Central Frontenac, Tay Valley and Lanark Highlands meet.

“I always say that if I don’t like what they are doing in Lanark County, I will just head over to Central Frontenac to see if they are doing any better,” he said.

He became involved in the Lanark County 4-H club as a child and went on to become a leader for 36 years.

As for his involvement with the Maberly Fair, that started without his knowledge.

“Way back when I was about 28 years old the next-door neighbour came along as I was cutting some trees along the road. He said ‘You may be mad at me because we put you on the Maberly Fair board last night,’ ” he recalls.

He is still on the fair board, as well as the Lanark County Agricultural Advisory Committee and the Lanark County Federation of Agriculture. He was a founding director of the Lanark County Cattlemen’s Association, where he served as president in 1979 and 1980 and was a director of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association for several years as well.

When he talks about the reason he has been so involved in public service, he tells the story of a time when he almost lost the fingers on one hand while working on the farm.

“A new member of the community, someone I had met but did not really know at all, showed up at my place and helped my wife and kids with the chores. I don’t think he had held a shovel in his life, but he kept with it until the syruping was done in the spring. So I figure if a stranger can do that, I can put the time in when I have a chance.”

The man who helped Gord Patterson when he injured his hand was George Braithwaite, who served on council himself for many years and was one of the people who wrote letters in support of Gord’s nomination for the award.

“Gord’s service to his community as a local and county-level politician is arguably his most important legacy,” Braithwaite wrote. “His success in politics attests to his sense of community and reputation as a respected leader who functioned for the general benefit of the wider population … his leadership skills, powers of persuasion and patience became the vital ingredients during the challenging amalgamation experience.”

Gord Patterson was a municipal politician in the years leading up to municipal amalgamation, and was instrumental in giving form to both Lanark Highlands and Tay Valley Townships.

“A lot of people say it ruined the country but we couldn’t carry on as small townships the way we had been,” he says, looking back. “The problems that we have faced since then were because of the downloading, not the amalgamation itself. Fourteen years later we still haven’t gotten out from all those downloaded costs.”

Gord and his wife Beverley continue to run their cow-calf operation and they tap 1,300 trees each spring, with the help of other family members.

While there are a lot of people who enjoy his syrup, he has a special interest in a smaller number, his grandchildren. “The grandchildren like the syrup so I try to make some extra so they will still have some left after I’m gone,” he said.

The awards ceremony took place at a meeting of Lanark County Council on Wednesday, November 23. A number of Gord’s colleagues from the agricultural and political realm, as well as family, were on hand to mark the occasion.

It was enough to swell the head of just about anyone, but ever the resourceful farmer, Gord Patterson has worked out a solution to that problem.

“I certainly had to put on some heavier boots to get me back to earth after all that,” he said.

It is unusual to hear doctors talk about the limitations of their profession.

Dr. Andrew Pipe is well known for his work developing smoking cessation programs, for his role as head of cardiac prevention and rehabilitation at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, and for work with elite athletes in the Commonwealth and Olympic games.

As part of the message he delivered as the keynote speaker at a Recreation Summit in Smiths Falls last week, he talked about the relative effects of social factors on levels of health as compared to the impact of the health care system.

From a historical perspective, he pointed out that as the result of social factors, including improvements in hygiene and safe drinking water, tuberculosis rates in North America began falling 100 years before there were any treatments for the disease.

“If we had perfect health care - which we can’t afford - but even if somehow we were able to spend the money, we would be able to postpone 8% of deaths. However if we deal with risk factors such as inactivity and poor diets, we can postpone 33% of deaths.

But, he said, our society has become what he termed “hypo-active”. “Two thirds of Canadian children are not active enough for normal growth and development, and two thirds of Canadians are not active enough to derive health benefits from their activity,” he said. “The typical Canadian is less active than a fire hydrant.”

And activity levels in some rural areas are lower than in urban Canada.

For example, Pipe pointed out that in the City of Ottawa the annual death rate from heart disease, which is the number one cause of death in Canada, is 186.5 per 100,000 people. In Eastern Ontario that number is 247.6. At the same time 18.8% of the people in Eastern Ontario are obese and 48.7% are inactive, while in Ottawa the obesity rate is 12.8% and the inactivity rate is 42.4%.

Over 100 people participated in the Recreation Summit. They were a cross section of the population and included high school students, educators, health and social service workers, municipal officials and others. Under the umbrella of the Healthy Communities Partnership (HCP) of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, they are committed to promoting health in six areas, including: physical activity /sport /recreation; mental well-being /resiliency; healthy eating habits; tobacco use /exposure and prevention; substance /alcohol misuse prevention and injury prevention.

Lois Dewey, the co-ordinator of the HCP and organiser of the summit, said she was pleased with the results. “We made a number of new partnerships here; it was a wonderful success.”

Dr. Peter Bell and program co-ordinator Laura Baldwin from the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team were among the participants at the summit.

“It was a really good event,” said Dr. Bell, “to put together such a group from across the region all committed to creating opportunities for physical activity. It was quite something.”

The Sharbot Lake Family Health Team has been developing fitness programs and these efforts will be ramped up in the coming months. By partnering with Michelle Greenstreet of Fit Plus Gym, a seniors fitness program is now being offered at the gym and at the Crow Lake Community Centre. Michelle is also available for fitness consultations with seniors.

In partnership with Northern Connections Learning Centre, a Physical Activity Directory for Seniors has been developed.

“We are also developing a walking programme and are starting to work with other groups on an activity day for next spring,” said Laura Baldwin.

The important thing to remember, according to Peter Bell, is that people sometimes need help getting motivated.

“It is not enough to provide information about the health benefits of a more active lifestyle. It is really all about getting people motivated. That’s where the effort lies,” he said.

Photo: Verona Lions Don Lawson and Louise Day present a cheque to David Townsend of the SFCSC

In an effort to place much-needed funding into the hands of those who know best where it needs to go, Verona Lions president Louise Day and treasurer Don Lawson presented a $1500 cheque on behalf of the Verona Lions Club to Southern Frontenac Community Services Corporation's executive director David Townsend on Nov. 2 at the Verona Lions hall.

The Verona Lions, who focus their fundraising efforts on hearing and vision programs in the community, often receive numerous requests for other types of community support. “We get requests for all kinds of different things; everything from medical supplies, wheelchairs, to disaster relief, as well as funding for accident victims, so in the hopes of avoiding the duplication of services, we decided to make a donation to the SFCSC since they know best where the funding needs to go,” Louise Day said.

David Townsend was thrilled to receive the donation and said that it was not the first time that the Verona Lions have made a donation to support the various important community services the SFCSC offers. “This donation helps to demonstrate the fact that the services we offer are meeting the community needs and that people are starting to know where to turn to get the help that they need. Partnering with the Verona Lions and with other groups in the community means that there is a much greater chance that we can help serve more people and these kinds of donations do add up,” he said.

He gave a concrete example of where these particular funds might be headed now that financial assistance that was once available through the Winter Warmth program to rural dwellers who heat solely with wood, is no longer available. “While there are still financial aid packages in place for those who heat with hydro, natural gas and oil, there is nothing now for those who heat 100% with wood and unfortunately these people might easily fall through the cracks. So the SFCSC will be definitely considering using these funds for that purpose.” Townsend said that at this time of the year, many people are often struggling just to meet their basic needs due to difficult economic circumstances. “People who have should know that there are many opportunities to support those who don't by donating to various local community service groups like the Lions and various local churches in the area, who are partnering with the SFCSC to help members of the local community get the services they need. We have formed some very strong relationships with various community groups and churches, many of whom will offer charitable tax receipts immediately upon receipt of a donation.`

Anyone interested in making a donation to the SFCSC or the Verona Lions can call 613-376-6477 or 613-374-2821 respectively.