Peterborough Blogs
10th Annual Cop Shop At Lansdowne Place Was Everything Amazing About This Community
/Lansdowne Place's 10th annual Cop Shop event—a beautiful partnership between Peterborough Police and LP—was another huge success on Wednesday (December 9th).
Chief Murray Rodd and officers greet the kids
Each year, select kids are picked up from their school in a limousine and taken to the mall, where they are met by Peterborough Police officers who become their personal shoppers for the day.
"We work with the school boards to identify kids that despite various challenges have risen above and excelled in school," Helen Edwards, Marketing Director with Lansdowne Place, tells PTBOCanada.
"These kids are brought in by limo, given a $200 Lansdowne Place gift card and then partnered with an officer who becomes their personal shopper for the day."
Lansdowne Place donates the gift card to each child, who might arrive with a list of gifts they wish to purchase, or work with their officer to decide what to shop for.
"Our tenants donate gifts or offer great discounts," Helen Edwards tells PTBOCanada. "Tim Hortons provides breakfast, all the officers are volunteering their time, Welsh Limo donates the transportation and we donate gift cards, a new winter coat for each child and Stockings for each child."
It was amazing to see all the police officers who volunteered to be part of this special day, and to the mall's retailers for donating gifts and discounts.
Says LP's Helen Edwards: "Quite simply, this event is our way of giving back to a community that has given us so much. It is our favourite day to come to work, not because of what we give the kids but because of how we continue to be inspired by these amazing kids year after year. They remind us what Christmas really is all about."
It was a day that the kids—and community—will never forget. Here's the group photo...
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The Amazing Story Of A PRHC Balloon That Landed On A Front Lawn In Dolgeville, New York
/A balloon at PRHC intended to let the Peterborough community know about the hospital's new 24-hour patient visiting policy has had amazing, unintended consequences.
See, the balloon somehow became dislodged at the hospital, and travelled (it took about a week) all the way to Dolgeville, New York—a small town at the base of the Adirondack Mountains. It landed on the lawn of a woman named Julie Ruggiero, a teaching assistant at Dolgeville Central School.
Once Ruggiero retrieved the balloon, she began researching the hospital online, and was amazed to see how far it had travelled. She was also amazed at the kindness of the Peterborough community.
When looking up the hospital online, she happened upon Dr. Peter McLaughlin’s recent CEO blog post praising Peterborough's response following the fire at the Peterborough mosque. She used this information as an opportunity not only to reach out to the hospital and the Peterborough community, but also as a beautiful teaching moment for her students.
Here is an excerpt of an email she sent to PRHC on December 1st. It is, quite simply, amazing:
“We are so sorry for what has happened there to your mosque, but find it amazing the fundraising effort of your community to raise so much money toward the rebuilding of the mosque! Please let everyone know that your message has traveled internationally and we have implemented it in our curriculum here at school. The 6th and 7th grade social studies teachers have shown the balloon to our children and videos of the terrible acts put upon your community. We have taught them that the community together can do so many things for each other and that there are more acts of kindness than bad! Thank you for your message and we stand with you in your acts of kindness in this world as more need to be recognized!!”
So... Peterborough's hope and kindness travelled hundreds of kilometers—by balloon.
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Help A Syrian Family Come To Peterborough
/Safe Haven for Refugees is a group of Peterborough citizens who have banded together to help sponsor a Syrian family—the Alftih family—who will be resettling in our city.
The Alftih family fled their home in Syria after their family clothing business and livelihood was destroyed in the civil war. They have been living in Lebanon for the past several months.
The parents, Haran and Randa, and their four beautiful children—Sham, 3 years old and her brothers, Gaith, Omar, and Karim, 8, 12, and 16 years old—want to rebuild their life here in Peterborough, Canada, but will likely arrive with not much more than the clothes on their back. Safe Haven For Refugees is raising money to help provide the necessities of life—including housing, clothing and food costs for one year.
Give what you can here. Every dollar counts.
Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Email us at tips@ptbocanada.com.
Cineplex Community Day Is Saturday, October 24th
/Cineplex Theatres across Canada are hosting a Community Day this Saturday morning, and that includes the Peterborough location.
Free movies start at 9 am, and doors open at 8:30 a.m. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first serve basis. $2 concessions are available until noon, and all proceeds go to Free the Children.
The following classics are being shown...
Help The Casey Family Near Keene Recover After A Devastating Barn Fire
/A huge fire tore through a large barn just west of Keene Sunday afternoon (October 18th), destroying the barn and all contents inside it. The barn is owned by the Casey family and was the home to three beautiful horses—Dallas, Texas and Nikki, who all survived thankfully.
Photo by PTBOCanada's Evan Holt
Family friend Kayla Spittal tells PTBOCanada that Danielle Casey is the owner of these horses, and that her father James owns the farm on County Rd 2.
Nikki
"With this tragedy comes very sad emotions," Kayla tells PTBOCanada. "Not only is it a family farm but Danielle and her deceased mother Cindy used to care for the animals. It was their mother-daughter time—cherished time together. When her mother passed, Danielle and her father James became the primary care givers for Dallas, Texas and Nikki."
Texas
Kayla is asking the community to pull together to help this family out.
"We are looking for donations or even just a loan of the items needed to help care for these animals," she tells PTBOCanada. "A few things that are needed to help are all types of brushes, lead chains, halters, saddles, outside blankets for under the saddles, salt blocks, hay, straw, grains, apples, mints, carrots, crunch—even down to some basic medications such as sprays for wounds to help with infections."
"Everything that these horses ever needed was inside that barn, as well as items that can never be replaced as they hold so much sentimental value," Kayla adds.
Dallas, Texas's mother
The family resides at 3043 County Rd 2 Keene—donations may be dropped off there. For more info on how to help, contact Kayla here.
Photo by PTBOCanada's Evan Holt
