Peterborough City Councillor Live Tweets From Free Transit Bus On New Year's

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There was free bus transit service in Peterborough on New Year's Eve until 3:20 a.m. and city councillor Don Vassiliadis—Chair of Transportation for the City of Peterborough—rode the bus after midnight to find out how things went.

Vassiliadis on the bus on New Year's

Vassiliadis on the bus on New Year's

Vassiliadis, who worked long and hard to make this happen, tells PTBOCanada the night was a huge success: 

"Ridership exceeded my expectation," he tells PTBOCanada. "It was amazing to see firsthand the experience of taking the Peterborough bus on New Year's Eve 2015. I had a chance to speak to bus drivers throughout the night and all of them were very positive and happy to be there. Riders on the bus were grateful for the service and as they left the bus would say Happy New Year or thank you."

Vassiliadis live tweeted his night on the bus...

"The buses were being used all through the night," Vassiliadis tells PTBOCanada. "On my way home at the end of the night, my bus was full of people of all ages. It's great to see Peterborough go from no service last year to free service this year. This initiative provided a service that was safe and responsible."

The response to the free bus service, by all accounts, was great—including on Twitter...

We hope to see this free service again next year.

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What Is Your Favourite View Of Peterborough?

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This tweet below from Peterborough's Kemi Akapo prompted us to wanna ask you this: What is your absolute favourite view of the city?

We're provided some inspiration below but tell us on our Facebook page, tweet us or tag us with your pics on Instagram.

Again, the question is: If you had to pick ONE view of Peterborough that brings you the most happiness and peace, what would it be?

Photo by Matthew Thomas

Photo by Matthew Thomas

Photo by Jason Wilkins

Photo by Jason Wilkins

Photo by Katherine Carleton

Photo by Katherine Carleton

Check out this oldie but a goodie from @devonulrich! Hunter St gets some sweeeeet sunsets

"Check out this oldie but a goodie from @devonulrich! Hunter St gets some sweeeeet sunsets"

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UPDATED: Adam Scott Hoping To Resume Classes January 4th After Fire At School

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UPDATE No. 2: January 5th -> KPR says Adam Scott is expected to re-open this Thursday, January 7th. In the meantime, teaching staff will continue to be available at PCVS, and online through Edsby to assist students.


**Special Note: Students are asked to drop-in and collect their locker contents Tuesday, January 5th between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the Gymnasium, Rear Parking Lot. As part of necessary clean up throughout the school, locker contents had to be collected and individually bagged for each student.

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UPDATE: December 30th -> The latest update from KPRDSB says that the school will not open for staff/students on January 4th as first hoped. The clean-up is continuing, and they are hoping to re-open the school later next week. Teaching staff will be available at PCVS starting Monday to help students with assignments and exam preparations. Further updates will come early next week. Click here for the full release.

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ORIGINAL POST

A fire causing extensive damage to Adam Scott High School broke out early the morning of Monday, December 28th. Damage to the school is estimated to be about $200,000.

Here is the full release below from the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board regarding the fire, damage and cleanup...

"The purpose of this message is to let you know there was a fire at Adam Scott early the morning of Monday, December 28. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and we expect classes will resume, as scheduled, on Monday, January 4. We offer sincere thanks to Peterborough Fire Services, our security company, custodial staff and school board Facilities Services staff for their quick, professional response.

It appears the fire began in an electrical room on the main floor, near the main offices and staff room. There is extensive smoke damage to the office areas, staff room, and surrounding hallways on the main and second floors, above the site of the fire. We are working with the fire department and school board to assess the damage and to arrange for the school to be cleaned and restored over the coming week.

At this time, it appears that some student lockers in the area on the main and second floors were damaged by the smoke. We will need to open the lockers and put each locker's contents in a bag, labelled for each student. The bags will be given to the affected students when school returns. Given the extensive damage and clean-up required over the coming seven days, we will not be able to allow staff or students in the building before January 4.

We will keep Adam Scott families informed of our progress and any developments through recorded phone messages and updates on the home page of both the school and school board websites. We hope you enjoy the rest of your holidays, and encourage you to check the websites often for any news. The school board also will be sending out tweets, so you may wish to follow the Board on Twitter @kprsschools."

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PTBOCanada Feature Post: 7 Great Ways To Help The CMHA Locally

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PTBOCanada Feature Post: 7 Great Ways To Help The CMHA Locally

Sponsored post by CMHAHKPR

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Peterborough Man Leaving To Visit Refugee Camp In Jordan, Writes Eloquent Facebook Post

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Peterborough community ambassador Michael VanDerHerberg—who works at the New Canadians Centre and co-owns Silver Bean Café with his wife Andrea—is about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. He leaves for Jordan, an Arab nation on the east bank of the Jordan River, on Sunday (December 27th).

Jordan, which borders Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Palestine, is now home to more than one million Syrian refugees fleeing their war torn country. VanDerHerberg wants to view firsthand a refugee camp there: the living conditions, meet some of the families, see what can be done as the world deals with these deepening crisis.

VanHerHerberg pictured with one of his two children.

VanHerHerberg pictured with one of his two children.

VanDerHerberg, who plans to post dispatches and photos from Jordan on social media, wrote an eloquent Facebook post about what this journey means to him—and how he thinks he has found his calling sotospeak. Here is an excerpt below...

Image via Unhcr.org

Image via Unhcr.org

"I'll be staying with a friend, Faris Khoury, and he'll be my guide while in the great Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. I intend to visit a refugee camp while I am there, connecting with a UNHCR office, and working through some other connections to refugee-serving organizations in Amman, the capital city.

I have been involved in the refugee industry for about ten years now, and what began as a keen interest has now turned into a career of sorts with the New Canadians Centre (NCC) here in Peterborough. Andrea's [his wife] grandfather, who did the administrative work to sponsor 600+ refugees from around the world to come to Canada, taught me how to do this work before he passed a few years ago.

I began attending conferences and consultations with the Canadian Council for Refugees / Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés (CCR) and learned much more about what the work they and hundreds of other organizations across the country were doing to facilitate more and better private and government sponsorships, inland protection for refugee claimants, and overseas protection for those still in camps. They do incredible work. I encourage you to check out http://ccrweb.ca/ to learn more if you are interested.

I was then hired at the NCC as an Employment Counsellor and I worked my way into the role of Employment Services Coordinator over the years. While I still attended CCR conferences, served refugees through my role at NCC, and was involved in various local sponsorships, my involvement in private sponsorships became less and less leading into 2015.

Image via Unhcr.org

Image via Unhcr.org

After a year parental leave, a season at the Silver Bean, and with a keen interest in consulting work, I took a position with Jonathan Bennett at Laridae Communications in March of this year serving the non-profit sector with strategy, projects, and business systems. Very engaging work. Great employer.

In late September, I received an email from a Sponsorship Agreement Holder, the larger organization through which I would have submitted private sponsorship applications, that a family whose application we submitted in 2010 was being called in for an interview. The only catch was that we had to submit all of the paperwork over again. All of it. This equates to about 40 pages per person and a family of four. 160. And, we thought their chances of acceptance were low because of some circumstances. To cut to the quick, we did it, they had the interview, and they were accepted. Hallelujah.

It floored me to realize that I was feeling pulled back into the refugee work and quickly. While working at Laridae, I started volunteering with Tamara offering workshops, attending forums, and jumping back in, head first, into the refugee world. I'm not sure if any of you ever feel 'calling', or vocation. I mentioned to Andrea weeks into this that I was feeling pulled back into this work. If you allow me to be a bit foolish and spiritual for a second, I have learned not to resist these feelings.

How does a young man, with all the privilege in the world, come to feel drawn to working with refugees? Yes, it is a desire to serve in a way that I feel that I can be effective; I won't deny it. It has also been born out of relationship, connections with real people, discovering that who we didn't previously know is often just like us with the same hopes and dreams. I may be nobody to you, and that's fine, but if you fear the other, then I would encourage you to make room, with a thousand steps, to receiving others into your life. For this I thank the TISA - Trent International Students' Association, the Trent International Program, the NCC, the local chapter of WUSC, the Rotary clubs here in Peterborough, the thousands of tourists I have met at our cafe, to those that we've hosted for dinner, to those that we have hosted in our home, and to those that have hosted me in their home on the other side of the world.

So, I'm back at the NCC. Laridae was very gracious to give me up for a bit, understanding that I was becoming much too distracted in it all to actually do both. And I've been hired, alongside Tamara Hoogerdyk, to be a Refugee Resettlement Coordinator, working with sponsoring groups that are assisting privately sponsored refugees as well as building good systems to possibly receive government assisted refugees in Peterborough.

If you're the praying sort, please do pray for me while I travel and while I'm there. Godspeed, as it were."

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Three Loonies Have Now Raised $1,200,000 In 15 Years For Kawartha Food Share

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The “Three Loonies on the Street” raised over $100,000 on behalf of Kawartha Food Share this year, bringing their 15 year total to $1,200,000 raised.

101.5 The Wolf, 100.5 Fresh Radio and CHEX- TV hosted again this year, welcoming The Loonies—Peter Blodgett of Darling Insurance, Bob McGillen of McGillen • Keay • Cooper Law Office and Robb Bennett of the Liftlock Group in Peterborough.

Kawartha Food Share assists more than 8,100 men, women and children every month through 37 member agencies. In 2014, their warehouse distributed over $10 million worth of food and emergency care needs.

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This Might Be The Only House In Peterborough With Snow

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It's a balmy Christmas season with zilch snow in Peterborough—except for this one house on Glengarry Avenue.

photo by Neil Morton

photo by Neil Morton

Yes, well played with bringing in this snow. This house will not have to dream of a White Christmas.

Photo by Neil Morton

Photo by Neil Morton

Photo by Neil Morton

Photo by Neil Morton

Photo by Neil Morton

Photo by Neil Morton

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Season's Greetings From PTBOCanada.com

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We hope you have a safe and Happy Holiday!

Be sure to head out with friends and family over the holidays and check out the light show. A sampling below...

Footage in the video above is from Fredette Ave, Foryte Drive, Mapleridge Court, Mapleridge Drive and Hewitt Drive.

—video created by PTBOCanada's Evan Holt

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It Will Not Be A White Christmas In Peterborough

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Unless you have a snow making machine, it's highly probable you will not be seeing snow in Peterborough this Christmas. Indeed, the weather is looking downright balmy for this time of year.

CHEX TV Weather Analyst Mike Judson tells PTBOCanada what the heck is going on...

"The big bad Super El Nino is to blame for what will surely be a very green Christmas around our region—even for some places north of the city that saw a dumping of snow over the weekend. We will once again be experiencing well-above seasonal temperatures leading right up to Christmas Day. On Thursday, we are expecting to be back in the double digits! On Friday, things should cool off a bit but still remain above seasonal and we could even see cooler temperatures and flurries on the weekend—just not on Friday."

So there you have it. But hey, at least it's not this...

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