Caremongering spreads

Bill Bowick | Jun 24, 2020

The Sharbot Lake Lions club and Frontenac Masonic Lodge each have township permission to collect refundable bottles and cans at the township landfill sites. The Masonic lodge collects at the Olden site and the Lions at Oso and Hinchinbrooke sites. Each site has a small shed where people can leave their refundable containers. Collecting and sorting these and returning them to the Beer Store is a lot of work but it is a good source of revenue for both groups. Each organization uses the proceeds to meet some of their charitable goals.

A man approached me when I was sorting bottles at the dump last week and complimented me on our public service. Then he told me he was from New York city and that he and his wife have been staying at their cottage since before the travel bans were put in place in March. They came because his wife was concerned about her 92 year old mother who lives in Kingston.

He then went on to tell me how well he'd been treated by this community and that he would like to give back somehow. He suggested that he give me cash and that I could make a donation to a charity of my choice in the name of a couple of people he'd like to thank. I said yes, I could do that and he said he had to find an ATM machine. He got in his car and drove away. I expected to never see him again but he was back in a half hour with $200 in cash. 

The donor asked to remain anonymous and I respect that. But I did not see the anonymity as extending to the people he honoured. In fact, he complimented the whole community but singled out two who were particularly helpful. One was the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team who did a service which was small to them but very important to him and refused to accept payment. The other was Jay Knowler who refused to visit for pay unless it was absolutely necessary but was quite willing to give free advice on the phone. I was very proud to make a donation to the Foodbank in their names.

Caremongering spreads!

Bill Bowick