Shelby Eves, who lives near Sydenham, and Hilary Voith, from Battersea, know each other from the Frontenac 4H club.

They share a passion for travel and a desire to make a difference in the world as well. When their 4H leader, Darlene Clement, started talking about Common Hope this past fall, the girls' interest was piqued.

Common Hope was founded 30 years ago by the Huebsch family from Minnesota. They began developing educational programs in Guatemala at that time, and have since established a family center, as well as education and health programs serving 11,000 children and adults in the vicinity of Antigua, Guatemala, located to the southwest of Guatemala City.

In addition to being a 4H leader, Darlene Clement is a member of the Kingston Rotary Club, and Rotary has developed a relationship with Common Hope. Part of that relationship involves trips to Common Hope programs by groups of high school students over the March school break.

Shelby and Hilary are the only two Kingston area students who are planning to go this year.

It will be Hilary's second trip to Latin America. Last May, she went to Nicaragua with her school, Lasalle Secondary, and spent a week working in a school. The trip was transformative for her.

“I found the difference between our two countries is very great. Everything they have, they value and cherish; community and family and friends are everything. I felt they were more down to earth, more connected with each other,” she said.

The participants in the Nicaragua trip had to give up their phones for a week, and when Hilary came back to Canada she found her attitude had changed.

“I didn't want my phone back. Over there, I was just teaching English, and trying to talk in Spanish, which was hard because I know so little. They got pencils from the program, and I remember one boy that was so happy to get a pencil, something we don’t even think about at all.”

Shelby is looking forward to seeing a different world, and to helping out.

“I look forward to looking at the faces of the people; to seeing how they react to things. It is a good feeling to help people out, and to learn about them and how they live; how they see the world,” she said.

“You could say - why don't you just send money, and they can buy school supplies - but it's more about breaking down these barriers between us,” added Hilary.

The girls don't know what they will be doing once they get to Guatemala. They could be working in a crew, building houses, going into homes with a worker, or teaching English.

“Whatever is asked of us, we are ready for it,” said Shelby.

The project also includes a fund-raising component. The group includes students from Cornwall and a number from Deep River, where the Rotary Club has a focus on this project.

As an entire group, they have a goal of raising $4,000 to donate. A Go Fund Me page has been set up for the team goal at gofundme.com/e3747qm8

Each individual participant needs to raise as much of the $1,600 US cost of the trip as they can through fund raising to subsidize their own costs.

Shelby and Hilary have done fund-raising in the community and at their schools; Hilary at Lasalle, and Shelby at Sydenham High School. Shelby can be contacted at 613-376-3913 and Hilary at 613-353-6388.

There will also be a fund raising Euchre party at the Storrington Fire Hall in Sunbury on Saturday, February 27 at 7:30 pm. Admission is $5 and there will be prizes, sandwiches and a draw in addition to the card game. All are welcome.

As for Hilary and Shelby, the trip is coming up in a few weeks and they are getting pretty excited about it.

“We have been planning this for four months,” said Shelby, “ever since we heard about it at 4H. There were four or five of us thinking about it at the start, but now it's just us two.”

The girls have become close friends through the planning for the trip, even though they did not know each other well beforehand.

“We know each other pretty well now, though,” said Hilary.

Harrowsmith Community Improvement Plan

Frontenac County Manager for Economic Development, Anne-Marie Young, accompanied by the new community planner, Reid Shepherd, brought some of the new members of council up to speed on how Community Improvement Plans (CIPs) can be used to rejuvenate and create opportunity for hamlets within the municipality.

With a CIP in place, the township is in a position to provide matching grants and loans to businesses in order to improve storefronts, do landscaping, and make various other improvements.

Frontenac County embarked on CIPs several years ago, the first one being done in Verona, followed by Marysville, Sharbot Lake, and the entire Township of North Frontenac. In Verona $45,000 was invested in grants and loans under the CIP and over $600,000 was invested by the private sector.

“It looks impressive,” said Anne Marie Young, “but part of it was luck, as Revell Ford happened to be doing their major face lift when the CIP came along.”

In October, county council decided to extend the program, and in December they chose Harrowsmith as the next CIP community.

Meetings will be held in Harrowsmith in the coming weeks to determine first where the boundaries of the CIP will be, and what kinds of initiatives fit the community best. One of the potential focus points could be a cleanup and preparation for redevelopment at the Saputo site, the former Harrowsmith Cheese Factory on Harrowsmith Sydenham Road near Road 38.

“The process will be simplified this time around,” said Reid Shepherd, “because an Official Plan amendment will not be necessary since one was done for the Verona plan already.”

Anne Marie Young said the goal is to have the plan up and running by the fall of this year.

“$70,000 is available for the CIP from Frontenac County, and the township might consider investing some money into it as well. For Verona, the county and the township each invested $40,000,” said Young.

“We can look at that for our 2017 budget,” said Mayor Vandewal.

Sydenham Water reports

Kevin Riley, from Utilities Kingston, brought what he described as a short report to Council on the performance of the Sydenham water treatment plant for 2015.

“Essentially the plant operated without incident in 2015,” he said.

There was only one adverse result from water testing all year, and that “turned out to be due to lab error,” he added.

A longer report into plant capacity was delivered by Kate Morrow and Jim Miller, who are also with Utilities Kingston. They presented a number of calculations based on current use and projected use, the upshot being that water demand might outstrip the plant's capacity at some point in the future. However, that day is not pending.

Easy consensus on planning matter

Planner Lindsay Mills brought a matter to Council's attention in anticipation of a request by a resident to tear down and rebuild a cottage that is located right on the water; in fact it is leaning over the water, on Loughborough Lake.

“The resident wants to build in the same location, but according to our bylaw he needs a minor variance in order to waive the 30 metre setback. There is plenty of room for him to build well back from the water so a variance is not necessary in this case,” Mills said.

“I would like an indication of Council's opinion, as they will be asking me what the township's position is,” he added.

One by one the councilors indicated they agree with Mill's position that the resident needs to build his new cottage 30 metres back from the lake.

“That's clear then,” he said.

Appeal period passes without incident

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has clarified the wording in a clause they inserted into the Frontenac County Official Plan, and South Frontenac Planner Lindsay Mills has informed his Council that an appeal is no longer necessary.

The issue that concerned Council was over a clause prohibiting development within settlement areas or hamlets where public water and sewer services are not available. As Mills pointed out to members of South Frontenac Council at a meeting on January 26, this clause would affect development in all South Frontenac hamlets (and all hamlets in the entire county)

Even Sydenham, the only hamlet in South Frontenac that provides water for residents, does not have a sewer system in place.

The clause included an exception, however, permitting new development in cases of “infilling and minor rounding out of existing development”.

Mills wrote to the ministry on the morning of January 27 asking for clarification, and on the same day Damien Shaeffer of the ministry’s Kingston office replied, saying in part, “The terms 'infill' and 'minor rounding out' are not defined and allow flexibility for implementation based on local circumstances.”

Shaeffer added that proponents of development within hamlets would “need to demonstrate that there will be no negative impacts associated with the provision of individual on-site services before the development can proceed.”

Since this is already how development is done in South Frontenac, Mills did not feel it necessary file an appeal of the Frontenac County Official Plan by the Monday deadline.

Instead he sent an email to members of Council late last week, along with a copy of Shaeffer's response. In his email, he said, “This letter addresses the Committee of the Whole’s requirement for written confirmation of the meaning of the wording. Accordingly, no appeal to the passing of the County Official Plan is necessary.”

The Frontenac County Official Plan came into effect on Tuesday, February 2, having cleared this final hurdle.  

Council supports Basic Income Guarantee

In response to a presentation at a Committee of the Whole meeting last week by Debra McAuslan, Council considered supporting a motion that was forwarded by the City of Kingston in support of the concept of a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) in the Province of Ontario. Speaking to the motion, Deputy Mayor Ross Sutherland said that the BIG would be an improvement because a lot of people who have little or no income, “own some property, and “are ineligible for support under current programs that insist applicants need to have no assets before they can obtain benefits.”

The BIG motion was approved, in a split vote.

Insurance extension

The township's insurance policy is due for renewal in June, and Treasurer Fragnito told Council that the chief administrative officers and treasurers from across Frontenac County have been discussing joint tendering for insurance services.

“I suggest we renew our policy for only six months to allow that process to take place. Then we can decide which way to go,” she said. Council agreed.

Surface treatment

The contract for surface treatment of a number of roads in the township this year, as part of the already approved capital projects for the year, has been granted to the lowest bidder, Smith Paving, at a price of $2.53 per metre for a single surface and $4.74 for a double surface. The prices are up marginally from last year.

“I'm a bit surprised that the price has gone up when oil, which is the major cost in paving, is now at $30 a barrel,” said Mayor Vandewal.

“I wonder about that myself,” said Public Works Manager Segsworth. “The pavers asked us to commit to paying more when oil was going up, but now that it is going down they are still bumping up the price.

Interim Chief Building Official appointed

The township has appointed Jeremy Neven as interim chief building official (CBO). The duties are an addition to Neven's CBO role in Central and North Frontenac. CAO Wayne Orr said that before hiring a full time CBO, he would like to see the first draft of an administrative review that is currently underway.

“We can't wait too long, though,” said Orr. “We can get along like this in the winter, but things change when the weather warms up.”

No Canada 150 grant

The township has received a letter from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario informing them that their application for funding under the Community Infrastructure Program for Canada 150 has been rejected. The township was seeking support for a $200,000 upgrade to the Storrington Centre in Sunbury. More about Johnson's Point

In response to a report for information from Frontenac County CAO, Kelly Pender, which will be considered by Frontenac County Council later this month, Deputy Mayor Ross Sutherland asked South Frontenac to make one more attempt to influence how the County deals with a plan of condominium that has been languishing at South Frontenac Council for over 18 months.

The developer has taken Frontenac County, which is the approving body for plans of condominium, to the Ontario Municipal Board because no decision on their application has been rendered within the prescribed time frame.

Although the County is the approving body for plans of condominium, it is South Frontenac that has been working on the file until now. Pender's report outlines two options for County Council: do nothing and let the developer win at the hearing, in which case the county may have to pay all the applicant's legal costs; or engage a lawyer and make a presentation to the municipal board. A decision on those options will be made at a meeting on February 17.

Sutherland proposed a motion that South Frontenac Council inform the county that “South Frontenac Council has significant concerns with approving waterfront lots in the vicinity of provincially significant wetlands.”

“When County Council looks at this, they need to be aware that this is a major concern we have with this plan of condominium,” said Sutherland.

“I have pointed them towards all of the material that we have received on the matter,” said CAO Wayne Orr, “and it is also available to the public.”

The motion was approved. The municipal board hearing is set for April.

Seven years ago, the Southern Frontenac food bank was nothing but a few shelves in a closet in one tiny office. Now, thanks to dedicated volunteers – currently over 20 – and community support, it provides food for over 50 families in need every month. For the past year, the food bank has provided healthy snacks and lunches for school children, and local skier Dave Linton, wants to see that continue.

“Super Dave,” as he is called by his close friends, feels strongly that feeding children healthy snacks helps them learn and perform better, and he will be competing in a 51 km cross-country ski marathon in the Gatineau Hills in late February to raise funds for the snack program, which is not eligible to receive external funding support this year.

“As the food bank grew, it became eligible for grants from the Ontario Association of Food Banks,” states Dave, whose wife, Jennifer Linton, founded the food bank and volunteers as the warehouse coordinator, “A year ago the food bank accessed funding to enhance its existing children’s snack program with fresh food items. Unfortunately, those funds are no longer available this year.”

The school snack program provides healthy and fun snacks to children in families with limited incomes to ensure kids receive the fuel they need for their bodies and brains to succeed. For five years, the food bank has been providing children with non-perishable snacks, such as pudding and applesauce. In 2015, thanks to the one time grant, these snacks were enhanced with perishable items like yogurt, cheese, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, and celery, making them even healthier. The cost of these purchased items is about $4 per snack, with an annual cost of over $2,400.

A 51 km international level ski race sounds daunting enough, but it can be especially challenging if you are 75 years old. “I’m an advocate of daily exercise and physical activity,” says Dave, “I’ve been able to compete at this level for a long time and still hold my own. I’m excited to race again this year and dedicate it to this cause.”

Dave – a long-time volunteer with SFCSC – has a goal of raising $2,500 to support and enhance the kids’ healthy school snack program. “At 75 years old, this may be my final Loppet of this magnitude,” says Dave, “I want to dedicate it to helping kids in our community achieve greatness, and often that starts most simply, with active living and nutritious food.”

Dave is challenging his friends, family, local businesses and the community in general to support his fundraising efforts by pledging to donate an amount per kilometre, or a flat rate donation. “I’m also offering to wear logos of businesses who want to sponsor my race and support this cause,” offers Dave.

To support Dave, you can reach him at 613-376-6883, drop in to the food bank at 4419 George Street in Sydenham or go to his fundraising campaign page: www.sfcsc.ca/superdave.

Dave adds, “If this international race is cancelled for any reason, I’ll ask sponsors to continue to support me in a 100km kayak relay race from Kingston to Smiths Falls.” Super Dave indeed!

(note - after this article was posted, the township received a response from the ministry and did not proceed with an appeal) see the following update)

http://www.frontenacnews.ca/frontenac-county-news/item/10168-ministry-response-satisfies-sf-council-frontenac-county-op-to-come-into-effect-tomorrow

After a four-year lead-in, South Frontenac Council seems to have thrown a spanner into the works.

A last-minute decision to appeal one of the provisions of the Frontenac County Official Plan may stop it from coming into effect next week, on February 1.

Joe Gallivan, Manager of Planning for Frontenac County, wrote several drafts of the plan, pressured at all times from above (the Ministry of Municipal Affairs), and below (the townships' planning departments)

The pressure from below was expressed most emphatically by Lindsay Mills, the head of planning for South Frontenac. His intention was to keep the County Plan from being a prescriptive document that ties the hands of the planning departments in the township, and to make sure the wording was clear.

“I think the plan has come a long way in that regard,” said Mills when contacted this week.

On the other hand, the ministry was pressuring Gallivan to include provisions and language that would have made it difficult for residents and developers to build in the county.

On many occasions Gallivan talked about an urban bias in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

“They do not understand what is happening on the ground in rural Ontario, in places like Frontenac County,” Gallivan said in an interview with the News in 2014.

The final document that was presented to Frontenac County Council at their January meeting in Glenburnie last week, on January 20, included language that reflected a successful resolution of at least one major issue.

Based on a still to be completed private roads study, and under specific conditions, the ministry has agreed to permit further development on private roads within Frontenac County.

“It is now in our hands to determine what development can take place on private roads,” said Gallivan.

While the final version still contains provisions and some language that Gallivan said he would like to see changed, the benefits of having the plan in place right away outweighed his concerns.

“My recommendation is to live with this plan as it is. In my opinion there are no provisions that are in the way of the county doing what it needs to do. Compared to the opportunities that come from bringing the authority to approve township Official Plans to this table, our concerns are minimal,” he said.

In order to adopt the plan, the council only had to receive Gallivan's report.

“We only need to take action if we want to appeal it,” said County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender. “If we want to we could but Joe and I don't see a benefit to appeal some things that are maybe not perfect but are close.”

With the plan in place, the county would be in a position to approve the Official Plan updates from North Frontenac, South Frontenac, and Frontenac Islands, which have been in limbo for up to four years.

“Once our plan is adopted, we become the approval authority for the township plans, and for Official Plan amendments as well. What took months, even years to approve, will now take weeks,” said Gallivan.

But before the appeal period ended, the plan was considered by South Frontenac Council on Tuesday night (January 26).

South Frontenac Planner Mills pointed to two concerns he has with the document. One of them, a typo in the document, had been sorted out before Tuesday's meeting took place.

But the other issue is a deal breaker for South Frontenac Council.

The proposed Official Plan stipulates that development within hamlets in Frontenac County will require that public water and sewer services are built except “for infilling and minor rounding out of existing development..”

“This is a real concern,” said Mills, “because the hamlets in Frontenac do not have water and sewer services. Does that mean that development is prohibited in hamlets, or can the definition of 'infilling and minor rounding out' be taken broadly? I don't know.”

Councilors Alan Revill and Mark Schjerning both said the township needs to get clarification of this latter wording before the document comes into effect.

After more discussion, the consensus seemed to be that the matter is too significant to ignore.

In view of the February 1 deadline to appeal, the direction to staff was to draw up an appeal to the OMB, in respect to this clause (section 4.2.1.6) regarding development within settlements.

After the meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Wayne Orr said that he will attempt to get clarification of the matter before Monday's deadline, but otherwise he is bound to proceed with the appeal.

The debate at South Frontenac Council took place in a bit of a vacuum because the two members who sit on Frontenac County Council and did not oppose the Official Plan at the county meeting on January 20, Mayor Vandewal and Councilor McDougall, were both absent from the meeting on Tuesday night in Sydenham.

Deputy Mayor Sutherland chaired the meeting: Mayor Vandewal and Councillor McDougall were both absent.

Delegations to Council

North Frontenac Community Services

Louise Moody, of NFCS briefly described her agency’s services to children and families: daycare in Sharbot Lake, early years playgroups throughout the County, youth programming, family counselling and Frontenac Transportation services. She thanked Council for their $16,000 financial support this year, which goes to programs for youth such as “Kids Fit”, which introduces lacrosse and snowshoeing, after-school programs, and the Red Cross babysitter-training program.

Habitat for Humanity

Dave McGraff and Ron Darling introduced the Habitat for Humanity program, which helps local people build their own houses. (One was completed recently in Tichborne.) McGraff says they are on the lookout for affordable properties in South Frontenac that would be appropriate to build on, ie, close to settlement areas, where there is access to resources.

Harrowsmith Zoning Issue

Pat Lalonde, a Harrowsmith resident, expressed her concern about an application to rezone a small lot as 'Industrial Commercial', without knowing beforehand exactly which of the listed possible uses for which it may be developed. The lot in question is intended as a lot addition to a much larger Industrial Commercial property which is the site of a number of long-term storage units.

Hartington Subdivision Proposal

Councillor Sleeth asked what was the next step in this process: CAO Orr said that Public Works has met with the township consultant and the MOE, and once they have more information (related, presumably, to the ‘new information’ that stalled further discussion at the last Council meeting,) the issue will come back to Council.

Process Map for Subdivision/Condo Development

In an attempt to achieve clarity, CAO Orr presented a three-page, six-column flow chart to help define roles and set out timelines in the process of moving from initial proposal to final development of a subdivision. Orr agreed that it is not a simple one-line process, for there are many players involved. Deputy Mayor Sutherland asked for more evidence of community involvement. “My eyes glaze over,” said Councillor Revill. Orr said this was a work in progress: he was presenting it for information, and would be looking at best practices before bringing the flow chart back.

Hartington Subdivision: Still Holding…

A full room of Hartington residents, many of them carrying protest placards, were in attendance expecting council to make a final decision on a draft plan of subdivision in the hamlet of Hartington. This proposal has been revised from the original 47-unit one which would have run from Boyce Road south to the Petworth Road. It now comprises 13 lots, all in the hamlet of Hartington itself.

However, Mayor Vandewal opened the meeting by advising them that new information had arrived a few hours earlier and as a result, there would be no discussion or vote until all interested parties have a full opportunity to review this information and consider its relevance to the proposal. (He hinted later that the new information might relate to property in the hamlet recently acquired by the Township.) Accordingly, this item has been moved to next week’s Committee of the Whole meeting for discussion.

Vandewal assured all present that they should feel free to leave the meeting, promising there would be no further discussion or vote. However, everyone stayed.

Larcon Settlement Deferred

A proposed settlement of the Larcon request for industrial zoning of a small Harrowsmith property came before Council for approval in the hopes of avoiding a full blown OMB hearing on the matter. Basically, it tightly limits the particular uses that would be permitted if this lot is rezoned ‘Special Urban Industrial’. However, Mayor Vandewal said that a Hartington resident had requested this be deferred, to give time to fully discuss the terms of the settlement with some of the concerned residents. Council deferred it.

Changes to Secondary Dwelling Rules

Until recently, township policy allowed only one dwelling per lot, with the exception of temporary ‘granny suites’. Now, Council has approved the development of a secondary suite in Storrington District (Ormsbee Road) which demonstrates a new approach supported by both provincial policy and the revised Township Official Plan. In brief, a secondary suite or dwelling may be considered, subject to meeting minimum parking standards, septic capacity and building code requirements. This opens opportunities for developing affordable housing as well as additional accommodation for relatives or others who may require special care.

Committee of Adjustment

The 2016 council appointees to this committee will be: Robinson, Revill, Schjerning, and Sleeth. Four-year community appointees are: David Hahn, John Sherbino, Larry Redden and Ken Gee.

Playground Equipment Replacement Policy

Council voted to spend $38,000, which was included in the 2016 budget, for Bowes Park playground equipment replacement, and referred the 2012 playground replacement policy to South Frontenac Recreation Committee for review.

Rideau Corridor 2017 Celebrations

The question of how South Frontenac might contribute to these events was also referred to SFRC.

Chief Building Official Resigns

CAO Orr announced that Brian Gass was leaving at the end of this month, to move to Carleton Place: Orr will bring a report on finding a replacement, to the Feb 2 Council meeting.

Organizational Review to Start Soon

Orr announced that the RFP from Strategy Corporation, of Toronto and Ottawa, has been chosen from a shortlist of three candidates to do the Township’s organizational review: they will be ‘working on a tight timeline’. (There were ten bids for this job).

Township Offered Historic Mill on Napanee River

In considering Chris Kerr’s application to sever two residential lots on the Napanee River at Petworth, the Committee of Adjustment suggested Council might wish to consider asking for parkland instead of cash-in-lieu in order to acquire the remains of the Petworth Mill building for preservation and possible future renovation. Councillor McDougall spoke of this as “a wonderful opportunity” and said that building inspector Gas had described the stonework as “an outstanding example of old world craftsmanship”, noting the masonry and design of the lower waterflow arches was “a phenomenal piece of work”. (see note, below.) Most of Council was interested in the idea of acquiring the mill, but Mayor Vandewal expressed strong opposition because of liability issues, and the cost of restoration if the site should become designated as historical. McDougall said the Township had no historical architecture committee, it could not be declared historical in the way buildings in Kingston are designated. Planner Mills reminded Council that the southern wall of the structure could be said to already belong to the township, in that it is on the road allowance. He also said that the Official Plan placed a heavy emphasis on “maintaining cultural heritage”. CAO Orr agreed to do a legal enquiry about liability, and a risk analysis.

Note: McDougall gave a brief history of the Petworth Mill, the second oldest in Portland: it was built as a grist mill in 1845, and for most of the 1800’s it processed large amounts of grain, helping make Petworth a thriving little town. Some time prior to WW1, the mill stopped production. By 1919, upstream Verona was experiencing problems with the water level of the Cameron Swamp, so local farmers took six cases of dynamite down to Petworth, where they blew the dam and ‘improved the swamp drainage a bit.’

CRCA Response re Applewood Docks

Two representatives of the Cataraqui Conservation Authority, A.Schmidt and T. Beaubiah, came as a delegation to discuss their inspection of a recently-built dock at the Applewood subdivision site (Loughborough Lake). This was in response to a letter of concern from local resident Matt Rennie.

They found the dock in question to be 28 feet longer than the approved 120 feet, and the water depth in and around the dock was less than specified in the permit. However, Schmidt said that these differences did not affect the control of flooding or erosion, nor interfere with the natural features of the wetland or the lake bottom. Therefore, the dock structure was acceptable as it still met the intent of their regulations and policies.

He said that when the original permit had been issued in 2011, the CRCA had an agreement with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to “review proposals in consideration of the fish habitat provisions under Section 35 of the Fisheries Act” (which includes destruction/alteration of fish habitat). Now, due to recent changes to the fisheries Act, the CRCA no longer has an agreement with the DFO, so all future concerns relating to fish habitat should be directed to the DFO.

Fitzgerald Quarry

Planner Mills brought an information report on the proposal to permit deeper extraction of the Bedford site. In response to concerns expressed by neighbouring property owner Stephan Duerst, a hydrogeological report states that the activity “is not expected to impact the wells (in the area) nor is it anticipated to affect the creeks observed on the site,” as it will not be removing water, or “dewatering”. Also the operation is not proposed to be expanded, only continued.

Road Closure

Public Works Manager Segsworth announced that Anderson Road in Bedford was damaged Sunday by water from a collapsed beaver dam, and will remain closed for an indeterminate time.

Members of the student council at Sydenham High School have been busy heading up a holiday food drive at the school to support the South Frontenac Food Bank. Four members of the student council, including co-presidents, Will Sanderson and Annie Preston, and ministers of outreach and charity, Rachel Don and Morgan Arthur, have been accepting food donations in a number of large gift-wrapped boxes in the school's main foyer. To date, close to 600 items have been collected and in an effort to encourage as many donations as possible, the school's four colour house teams entered into a competition to see who could make the most donations. To further encourage donations, individual students received a ballot for every three donations they gave, which they can enter into a raffle that will take place on December 17. The winner will take home a Sydenham Swag Bag valued at $45.

That same day the students will be delivering the food directly to the food bank. Co-president Sanderson said that one of the aims of the drive is also to raise awareness about issues of local poverty and hunger. With that in mind, Rachel Don and Morgan Arthur made numerous announcements citing facts about hunger and poverty, and individual grade reps also spoke to individual classrooms about these issues. As well, a number of posters were hung throughout the school. The four student council members also spoke every morning to arriving students about local poverty issues.

In April, 2016, the students at the school will be focusing their efforts on global poverty issues and will be holding their 30-Hour Famine event, which will coincide with a second school-wide food drive. Hats off to the students of SHS who have demonstrated that everyone can make a difference in the lives of local residents in need.

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