Brock Mission And Cameron House Hosting Coldest Night Of The Year Walkathon February 25th

Brock Mission and Cameron House are hosting the "Coldest Night Of The Year" (CNOY) walkathon in Peterborough this year. They are joining more than 100 communities across Canada to raise awareness and funds in the fight to end the homelessness.

Brock Mission and Cameron House have received operating grants from CNOY for the past five years—the more successful the walk, the larger the grants available.

Team Cameron House with Bill McNabb, Executive Director of Brock Mission

Coldest Night of the Year takes place Saturday, February 25th. Registration for participants opens at 4 p.m. on the 25th at the (almost) vacated 217 Murray Street location across from the Armouries.

Participants on the walk route.

A warm, light meal will be provided upon the walkers return. Pledge forms and the information needed to register can be found at coldestnightoftheyear.org.

Please spread the word.

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Nominations For Peterborough Civic Awards Now Open

The nomination process for the annual City of Peterborough Civic Awards has begun and will continue until March 3rd at 4:30 p.m. The awards recognize and honour local citizens who did oustanding achievements in 2016, from volunteers to sports achievers to people in arts and culture.

You can nominate a deserving individual or group online here, or printed packages are available at City Hall (500 George St. North).

The awards ceremony takes place June 6th.

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Peterborough Police Unveil New Door Hanger That Rotary Club Funded

The Peterborough Police Service has produced a new door hanger that will be used by their officers while canvassing during an investigation or when attending a call for service when there is no answer.

Here is what it looks like...

Communicating with members of the community is crucial to the Police Service. The new door hanger is another simple and effective way they can communicate with the public by leaving a notice for someone who is not home with the appropriate information so that they can respond.

Here is what the back of the hangar looks like...

Funding for this project was generously provided by the Peterborough Rotary Club. Police tweeted out thanks...

Come home to find one of these on your front door? We're trying to get a hold of you. TY @PtboRotary for funding our new door hanger! -LG pic.twitter.com/UdyzYe1mK5

— Peterborough Police (@PtboPolice) January 11, 2017

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Peterborough Police Traffic Management Unit Launches Targeted Offences For 2017

The Peterborough Police Service Traffic Management Unit is launching a new initiative for 2017 where specific offences will be targeted each month. These targeted offences are in addition to current and ongoing traffic initiatives including the Top 10 Worst Intersections For Collisions, heavy vehicle details and vehicle inspection initiatives.

“All the initiatives are designed to educate the public while providing enforcement with the goal to make all roadways safer for everyone who uses them,” says Peterborough Police Service Traffic Management Sergeant Jeff Chartier.

For the month of January, the focus is on cracking down on the misuse of accessible parking permits.

“Legislation states that only the person named on the accessible parking permit is allowed to use the permit and the accessible parking spot,” explains Sergeant Chartier. “This ensures those accessible parking spaces that are both safe and accommodating are readily available to those that really need them. If another person uses the permit, it can result in fines of up to $5,000 and the permit may be seized.”

Below is the full list of offences that will be targeted each month in 2017...

January Accessible Parking Permit. Traffic officers will visit various parking lots with the intent to enforce the accessible parking permit legislation. This legislation indicates that only the person named on the accessible parking permit is permitted to use the parking permit and accessible parking spots. For more information please click here.

February Distracted Driving. Traffic officers will focus on distracted driving including cellphones, GPS use and entertainment devices

March School Crossing Guards/School Bus infractions. Officers will focus on offences relating to school crossing guards and the requirement to make certain the intersection is clear before entering the crosswalk and motorists disobeying school bus lights.

April Traffic Lights. Officers will focus on motorists who disobey red light and amber lights.

May National Road Safety Week – Officers will focus on the unsafe driving practices as identified by the Canada Safety Council.

June Emergency Vehicles. Officers will focus on motorists approaching, in the same direction, an Emergency vehicle with their emergency lights flashing who do not slow down and pass the emergency vehicle with caution. Emergency vehicles are defined as Police, Fire, Ambulance and Tow vehicles.

July Officers will focus on speed enforcement

August Distracted Driving. Traffic officers will focus on distracted driving including cellphones, GPS use and entertainment devices

September School Crossing Guards/School Bus infractions. Officers will focus on offences relating to school crossing guards and the requirement to make certain the intersection is clear before entering the crosswalk and motorists disobeying school bus lights.

October Operation Impact. Officers will focus on offences as identified by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police with particular attention on Thanksgiving weekend.

November Intersection/Sign offences. Officers will focus on intersection related offences, including traffic lights and stop/yield signs, speed signs, etc.

December Impaired Driving. Officers will be focused on alcohol and drug impaired offences.

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Boxer Cody Crowley Raising Money For Hospice Peterborough At Pizza Hut In Honour Of Anita Blackbourn

Cody Crowley, a professional boxer from Douro with a record of 10-0, is giving back to the Peterborough community in a big way. The Las Vegas-based boxer is helping to raise funds for Hospice Peterborough in honour of Anita Blackbourn, who lost her battle with cancer last October.

Cody Crowley (picture via Twitter)

Crowley is appearing at Pizza Hut (901 Lansdowne St.) this Wednesday (January 4th) from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to raise funds for Hospice Peterborough Care Centre. He'll be there to sign autographs and take pictures with fans.

Chris and Anita Blackbourn—who passed away in October 2016—pictured with their daughters

Anita Blackbourn's husband, Chris, is business partner at the Pizza Hut location that he runs with co-owner Marc Hartenberg.

Pizza Hut will donate 10 percent of all sales that day to Hospice Peterborough and people will be able to add their own donation at the location as well.

Please share on your social media channels to spread the word about this great cause, and drop by Pizza Hut this Wednesday.

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Peterborough Woman Posts Inspiring Message About Eating Over Holidays

Peterborough's Celestine Patricia Helen posted an empowering message to her Facebook page along with a photo of herself (see below) encouraging people to eat over the holidays and not to be self conscious about their bodies.

Here was the Facebook message Celestine posted...

This was the selfie she posted with her message...

photo on Facebook page post

The Facebook post garnered lots of positive response from women, such as "We need to hear this more often" to "Yes! It's not always an obvious thing to remember" to "I got up in the middle of the night twice to eat cheese."

Celestine (photo via Facebook)

Celestine tells PTBOCanada what motivated her to write this post on social media...

"I posted it because I have a history with a variety of eating disorders," she tells PTBOCanada. "The big family dinners are always nerve racking for me, and I know that they can be for a lot of others too."

"I just wanted to let people know that they're not alone, and that they possess the strength to survive the holidays without the guilt or the shame or the fear."

Kudos to Celestine for her honest and inspiring words.

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This Inspiring Wall Of Hope In Peterborough Shows Kindness To New Refugees

Hundreds of hand-written messages from students, teachers and other community members have been installed on the New Canadians Centre’s Wall of Hope to welcome refugees.

The Wall of Hope at New Canadians Centre in Peterborough

For people who feel powerless in the face of what is happening in the world today, a few words of kindness can mean a great deal.

One child who came here 7 years ago as a New Canadian wrote this powerful message...

Here are some of the other messages written to newcomers (and yes, it will get warm here eventually)...

You can view more messages on the Wall of Hope here.

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The Invisible Bully: Peterborough Boy Pens Powerful Letter About Living With A Concussion

The PVNCCDSB shared a powerful letter on their Facebook page (see in its entirety below) from Grade 6 St. Catherine Catholic Elementary School student Jack Crawford. The 11-year-old, who plays hockey for the Minor Peewee AA Petes, wrote about what it's like to live with a concussion—"I had my own invisible bully in my brain but I couldn’t stand up to it," he eloquently says.

His mother Amelia tells PTBOCanada seeing her child suffering through this was devastating: "A concussion is a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and 'traumatic' would be how I would describe this experience as a parent. To see your child suffer physically, socially and emotionally is devastating. I would tell Jack over and over again that 'God always has a way of making something good come from difficult.' Now that Jack has had a chance to tell his story, he truly feels like good has come from his struggle, which is amazing."

Jack Crawford

Here is the letter Jack wrote...

I am very lucky kid. I have a great family, I have lots of good friends, I play on a great hockey team, and school is fun. I am grateful for all of these things, but something happened to me that has changed how I felt about everything.

About one year ago, while I was outside playing, I ran straight into a pole. It sounds funny, it probably even looked funny, but it was a big deal and it changed my life. I suffered from a pretty bad concussion, and I had no idea what impact it would have on me. I thought a concussion was just a big headache, but it was so much more than that.

For about a week after my concussion, I had to miss school and after-school activities. I slept for days. I couldn’t stand to be near a light, see a screen, read or do anything that I had to focus on. I slowly started to feel okay but I was very frustrated when I started to feel a bit better and I couldn’t do anything. No TV, no reading, no screens. All I was allowed to do was go outside and walk.

I went back to school a couple weeks later, and I thought because I felt good enough to go back to school that I was totally better. I didn’t realize concussions lasted a long time. The sound of the bell bothered me and I couldn’t go out on the schoolyard because it felt like there was too much going on. My relationships with my friends seemed strange and I was really sensitive about everything. I felt like people were making me sad a lot easier than before. I was acting funny and I never thought before I spoke.

When people joked around with me I thought they were being serious and took it personally. I wasn’t myself. I tried to be cool but I was just being bold and weird. I was angry at myself for not being ‘me.’ Whenever I woke up in the morning I told myself, ‘This is a new day and I can be myself again.’ But, I would come home from school or hockey crying all the time. It seemed to me that everyone I was around didn’t like me. It was like I had my own invisible bully in my brain but I couldn’t stand up to it.

My parents did lots of things to try to help me feel better, but nothing seemed to be helping me. I was still getting good grades in school, but I could feel I didn’t have the same ability. I was missing important details because I was getting so distracted. I had trouble focusing, something changed with my concentration. Even when I was on the ice (which is my favourite place to be), I wasn’t able to pay attention. I would always be upset with myself because of that. I knew I was missing little key notes in drills, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I would cry every night after hockey because when my coaches tried to give me advice I felt like they were disappointed with me, because I was frustrated. They were really just trying to help me like they always do.

Nobody ever knew I was so upset all the time (except for my family) because I wouldn’t break down in front of anyone else. All of this happened because a bump to my head! I think it would be easier to have a cast because then everyone would see that I had something wrong with me. But I looked fine so people just thought I was being weird.

I am feeling better now. I had massages, I went to a chiropractor, my doctor, and did different vision exercises to help my brain speed. My parents make sure I eat better (because I wanted sugar all the time) and I always get lots of sleep now. So, I don’t know what made me get better, but I am glad I feel more like myself again.

I still get tired really easily, my attention still isn’t where it was before, and I know I am not the same as I was before, but that’s okay. I just want other kids to know that one concussion changed my life. I want other kids to know that even if you are feeling well enough to play sports again doesn’t mean your ability to learn and emotions are all back to normal.

I am lucky that I feel way better now. —by Jack Crawford

Jack's mom Amelia reiterates to parents the importance of taking a concussion seriously:

"My plea to other parents would be to not underestimate the devastating short and long-term effects of concussion. Your son/daughter might be upset about missing sports or activities, but our job is not to please our children—it's to protect them. Please listen to coaches, doctors, educators and, most importantly, your child, if a concussion is suspected."

PVNC has great concussion resources available here.

**Please share this post with others that you think would be interested in learning what it's like to experience this.

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Help Safe Haven For Refugees Reunite 13 New Syrian Refugees With Family Living In Peterborough

Safe Haven for Refugees Peterborough has announced plans to sponsor 13 new Syrian refugees in order to reunite them with family members already living in Peterborough.
 
This year has been an even more dangerous time in Syria and the Middle East than ever. Described by the United Nations as a “refugee crisis like we have never seen before,” hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and millions of families have fled into adjoining countries, waiting in limbo and fear until they are welcomed into a new homeland.

“On December 24, 2015, the Safe Haven for Refugees Peterborough was honoured to learn we would have that opportunity to welcome one of these families, the Alftihs, to our community,” says Chantilly McKinnon, committee member.

“The Alftih family—Mohamed, Randa, Karim, Omar, Ghaith, and Sham—have experienced much love and kindness since arriving in Peterborough. We are also thrilled to see Casa Maria welcome Mohamed’s sister, her son and grandchildren to our community. Yet, Randa’s family—including her mother, sisters and their children, whose home in Aleppo was completely destroyed by bombing this year—had to separate and flee to Lebanon.”

Safe Haven for Refugees Peterborough has partnered with Grace United Church in raising funds for this additional sponsorship to put the safety of these families as a collective goal.

“We cannot think of a better way to truly honour our own families than by helping this family in reunification," adds McKinnon. "As a partnership, our organizations have committed to bringing to the Peterborough area 13 members of Randa’s family. We have already raised over $100,000 towards the sponsorship, but need to raise an additional $30,000 in air flight and settlement costs for all family members. If we can raise this funding, we may be able to celebrate this success in 2017!”

Donate to the Safe Haven for Refugees fund at Grace United Church or to Grace United Church (Safe Haven fund) through CanadaHelps.ca. Visit safehaven4refugees.com for more information.

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