Donate Blood To Carry On Dr. Andrew Chan’s Legacy

Dr. Andrew Chan was a well-respected member of the Peterborough community for nearly 20 years. Born in Hong Kong, Dr. Chan began his education and career in England. He soon relocated to Canada and began his education in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.

 

After completing his education, Dr. Chan moved to Peterborough and joined the Medical Centre as a gastroenterologist in 1996.

Throughout the course of his career, Dr. Chan became known as a great leader. He stayed current in his field while investigating innovative medical technologies, was constantly pushing to improve patient care, but never lost sight of the importance of bedside manner. In honour of Dr. Chan’s contributions to his patients and this community, the Peterborough branch of Canadian Blood Services is holding a blood drive in his memory.

See poster below for dates, location and times...

Please spread the word on your social channels.

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County And City's Respect The Collect Program Getting Great Response

The County and City of Peterborough is encouraging residents to “Respect the Collect” by acknowledging the great work of recycling and waste collectors in your community.

“Collecting waste and recycling can be a very challenging job,” says Tara Stephen, Manager of Waste Management for the County of Peterborough. "It is easy to forget how many obstacles and hazards these workers face over the course of a day.”

Each day, recycling and waste collectors in the County of Peterborough will travel 200 km of road and manually lift thousands of kilograms of material. Working outside 8 to 12 hours per day, collectors are regularly exposed to extreme temperatures, rain, snow and wind—all the while working on high traffic, high speed roads.

Since the start of the Respect the Collect Campaign on July 4th, the City and the County say they have received numerous kind emails and phone calls about their waste and recycling collectors.

Residents can email kind notes to respectthecollect@peterborough.ca or call 705.742.7777, ext 1616 to express thanks. All thank-you’s received will be forwarded to the collectors.

You can help your collector further by doing the following:
• sort recyclables into Containers and Papers
• keep waste containers under the limit for your Township
• pass collection trucks with extreme care
• take hazardous items (i.e. propane tanks) to the Household Hazardous Waste Depot
• wrap sharp objects before placing in the garbage

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50 Volunteers Took To Peterborough's Streets To Find Out About Homelessness: Here Are Their Findings

For 14 hours on March 22nd, 2016, 50 volunteers set out in teams to conduct surveys on the street, in shelters, and at meal programs across the city.

They asked questions such as this:

Where are you staying tonight?
How many different times have you experienced homelessness?
What do you think is preventing you from finding and keeping long term stable housing?

Photo via @UnitedPtbo launch event introducing Giving Voice to the Homeless

What emerged from those questions was a story of individuals young and old, educated and working—some suffering from addiction, some fleeing abusive relationships, some agonizing over family breakdown, and most wanting to have their story told and understood.

The United Way Peterborough and District just released to the community more specific results from that night on the streets in their first ever "Point in Time Count" of homelessness in Peterborough. This city was one of 31 communities across the country that took part in conducting this ground-breaking research through the Homelessness Partnering Strategy.

Photo via @UnitedWayPtbo

The 60 page report titled “Giving Voice”—available on the United Way of Peterborough's website—is a detailed snapshot of people who were homeless on March 22nd of this year.

Here are some highlights from the report...

-> A minimum of 120 people were homeless in Peterborough on March 22nd, 2016
-> 54% were chronically homeless, having spent over 6 months homeless in the past year
-> 64% experienced homelessness for the 1st time before their 26th birthday
-> 20% have attended post-secondary school
-> 98% have some form of income
-> The top 3 reasons for homeless among participants were: family breakdown, addiction/substance abuse, and unsafe housing.

The public is encouraged to review the full report here and to reflect on next steps in our community to have a strategic focus on ending the reality of homelessness.

You can also give to an Indiegogo campaign to help a documentary being made on the Warming Room's guests.

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Lansdowne Place Has These Great Reminder Signs On All Their Doors

For several years, Lansdowne Place has been putting up these signs at all their entrances in summer to remind people not to leave their pets or kids in the car.

"We get a great deal of positive response from having these notices up," Emily Dart, Marketing Director of Lansdowne Place, tells PTBOCanada.

The signs are a vital reminder not to risk your pet or child's safety, even if you're "just running into the mall to quickly grab something." The mall showed great initiative to put these notices up, taking a pro-active approach to an important issue that still occurs way too often.

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A Veteran Peterborough Soccer Referee Writes This Open Letter To Parents, Players & Coaches

Peterborough's Beth McClelland has been refereeing since her tween years, and as an adult now watched a lot of young, new officials start out as well. She has observed their treatment on and off the field, and while most people treat them with respect, many don't. She wrote this open letter below for us to share as a reminder to how your words can impact these young officials...

Photo via City of Peterborough website

Dear athletes, coaches, parents & spectators,

Summertime in Peterborough has always meant one thing to me: soccer season. I’ve been playing in various leagues since the age of four and refereeing since age 12. As a player, I’ve felt the joy that comes from forming lifelong bonds with teammates, of celebrating a win or strong effort and of improving as a player. As a referee, I’ve felt my confidence grow and taken on leadership roles and more competitive games.

I love soccer, but it’s not all butterflies and roses.

I started refereeing at the age of 12, and since that age I’ve been called worthless, stupid, terrible and a barrage of other nasty things. I’ve held back tears on the field and let them out behind closed doors after the game where the name calling replays over and over in my head. I’ve had coaches swear at me and heard parents tell their 10-year-old children "I’m a stupid bitch."

As a player, I understand the anger that comes when a referee misses a call or sees things in a different perspective. I, too, have struggled to let it go after the whistle blows. How is it possible that someone who referees could get annoyed with a fellow referee? Because I’m human. It’s because I’m human I WILL make mistakes as both a player and a referee. Because I’m human, I DO feel things on a personal, emotional level, and because I’m human, I care deeply about doing my very best. Because I’m human, the awful treatment I receive as a referee can be inexplicably painful. Sometimes it makes me want to stop refereeing and even makes me question my worth in our society.

Every season, I see a new group of young, inexperienced officials begin their journey into refereeing. Most of them aren’t thinking about the kind of games they’ll be doing in 10 years or the friends they’ll make along the way; they’re thinking it’s a pretty fun summer job. The tough reality is that after that first season, most of them won’t be back.

When a young person starts a new position at a fast food restaurant, summer camp, grocery store, etc. they often wear a name tag that specifies they’re “in training” or hold a title such as “junior counsellor”. A referee takes a course over a weekend, purchases their kit and then gets thrown on the field where they try to remember all 139 pages of the law book they just received.

Sure, there will be referees who don’t care and who don’t act professionally, but much like any other industry, they’re few and far between. Most of us just want to do a great job.

I was incredibly lucky to have some older, experienced referees encourage, support and mentor me from an early age. I can only try to do the same for those starting out and plead to this community and beyond to show respect.

As referees, we try to understand that most comments aren't meant to be personal and that people can change in the heat of the moment, but it can take many years of doing the job and many hurtful comments to figure that out.

To those who already stop to shake the referee’s hand after a game regardless of the results, thank you. To those who understand that we have bad days too, thank you. And to those who teach their children to step in the referee’s shoes because one day they might do that job too, thank you.

sincerely,
Beth McCelland

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