Kawartha Food Share Receives $5,000 For Reliable Emergency Food Sources

The Peterborough and the Kawarthas Association of REALTORS (PKAR) has donated $5,000 to Kawartha Food Share (KFS) for reliable access to emergency food sources Monday morning.

Ashlee Aitken (left), Kawartha Food Share General Manager and Jon Maxwell (right), PKAR President at the Kawartha Food Share facility with the cheque presentation of $5,000 towards reliable emergency food sources. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The donation will help to fight food insecurity in the community through the KFS programs that help to feed over 8,900 men, women and children each month.

Jon Maxwell, PKAR President brought the $5,000 cheque to Ashlee Aitken, KFS general manager at their facility at Neal Drive.

Aitken says food donations typically diminish over the summer since people typically associate giving with the holidays. KFS receiving this money comes as a nice and welcomed surprise.

“(The money) will all go towards food purchasing,” she said. “This week, we’ll get that money spent and get it to the food banks.”

The $5,000 donation gives KFS $30,000 of purchasing power according to Aitken. Food purchased includes tuna, pasta sauce, canned soup and canned vegetables.

The money spent on food will go towards four meal programs, four City food banks, six housing projects, seven county food banks and over 20 food cupboards across the City & County of Peterborough. Last year their warehouse distributed over $5 million worth of food and emergency care needs.

“As an association, we love to give back to the community that we’re part of”, said Maxwell. “There are so many families struggling to make ends meet. It’s just a great feeling to give back and be part of the solution.”

KFS’s first truck was purchased with the help of a PKAR donation over seven years ago.

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Flying Colours Corporation Completes their First Custom Cabin Configuration In Its Asian Facility

The Flying Colours Corp. Asia facility, based in Singapore, has completed its first custom cabin configuration change in a Bombardier Global.

Rendering of type of modification made by Flying Colours Corp. Singapore for the first time. Photo Courtesy of Flying Colours Corp.

The project was completed at the Flying Colours Corp. PTE facility in Singapore at the Seletar Airport.

The customer requested that the mid-cabin credenza be replaced by a three-place divan and divan end cabinet. This project also marked the first collaboration of this type between Singapore and its sister location in St. Louis, Mo.

The St. Louis team built the cabinets and then sent the product to Singapore to be varnished and installed.

“This project is a substantial step forward for Singapore’s service capability,” said Paul Dunford, Flying Colours Corp. PTE Managing Director. “The combination of Bombardier engineering and FCC’s manufacturing expertise will now allow full cabin reconfigurations to be offered to their in-region customers.”

To prepare itself to offer these expanded services and in conjunction with the Bombardier facility expansion, Flying Colours Corp. is growing both its facility and its workforce to better support expected growth in demand for interior repairs, reconfigurations and refurbishments.

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George Thorogood And The Destroyers Concert Announced For Peterborough

The Peterborough Memorial Centre has announced that George Thorogood And The Destroyers are coming to Peterborough for an in-person concert on May 14, 2022.

Since 1976 George Thorogood and the Destroyers have played over 8,000 live shows and sold over 15 million albums. Photo Courtesy of Peterborough Memorial Centre.

Tickets for the Good To Be Bad: 45 Years of Rock tour will go on sale Thursday and can be purchased on the Memorial Centre website, or by calling 705-743-3561.

PMC Scoop members will be eligible to purchase pre-sale tickets exclusively online on Wednesday.

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Ice Cream Parlour Serving Up Smiles for Children's Charity

Central Smith Ice Cream served charity ice cream cones for Five Counties Children’s Centre’s “Do It For The Kids” campaign on Saturday.

(Left to Right) Allison Zomer, Central Smith server; Jennifer Scates, Central Smith co-owner; Linsay Kampf, Five Counties communications coordinator and Olivia Stevenson. Central Smith server. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The creamery was selling $2.50 single-scoop vanilla ice cream cones with blue and green sprinkles — the Five Counties’ colours — where proceeds go towards the charity. They also sold $2 donation cards as another method to raise money.

The one-day event is a wrap-up of a campaign that the creamery runs monthly. The events were organized by the creamery staff including a cakewalk, bake sales, 50/50 draws and a “Do It for Dad” ice cream day.

“It’s really been a grassroots organization and it’s been driven by the staff,” said Jennifer Scates, Central Smith co-owner. “It’s been phenomenal.”

Central Smith has over 60 flavours of ice cream, sherbet or sorbet that are available in cones, cups or sundaes. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The ice cream parlour has raised roughly $1,800 towards their $5,000 goal to be donated on Halloween. Central Smith has unaccounted funds in the past month that has yet to be counted toward the total.

The staff chose Five Counties as their charity of choice back in September. The creamery runs a charity campaign every two years where Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Team55 and Terry Fox have been past recipients.

Central Smith began exclusive production of premium ice cream in 1952. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The store plans to run future campaigns until September such as charity walks, 50/50 draws and bake sales. Several of the events run have been organized and initiated by the staff.

“We’ve just been slowly building momentum through the year,” said Scates.

Central Smith was founded in 1896 and celebrates its 125th anniversary in mid-July.

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New Matchmaking Service Sparking Love For Peterborough

While dating has been difficult during the pandemic, entrepreneur Waleed Dabbah founded a new matchmaking service in Peterborough and the Kawarthas called A Chance At Love announced Thursday.

Clients are set up on blind dates after meeting up with the company’s relationship expert. Photo Courtesy of A Chance at Love.

The matchmaking service goes old-fashioned with traditional dating methods to develop a true love connection according to Dabbah. He started A Chance At Love to bring love and happiness for singles after the quarantine made dating difficult. He believed people are ready to find love more than ever as the world begins to open up.

“Our goal is to bring people together after this tough pandemic and reignite love and connections the old way,” Said Dabbah. “No computers and no apps. Our matchmaking is done manually and is human-based. We aim to help individuals find their "one" and start relationships the right way.”

Photographers can be hired for the first blind date as a special service the company provides. Photo Courtesy of A Chance At Love.

Clients are interviewed while filling out questionnaires with a relationship expert before being paired based on compatibility.

“We vet everyone to the best of our abilities to ensure they are who they say they are,” said Dabbah. “We also make sure they are in this for the right reason and that is to find love.”

Candidates are set up on blind dates and the company follows up on their clients after five days. The company offers a unique service of a photographer for taking pictures of the first date.

A second blind date will be arranged for free if the prior one was not a success to the client.

Dabbah immigrated to Canada from Dubai in 2004. Photo Courtesy of Waleed Dabbah.

Dabbah owns the award-winning financial services firm, Dabbah Corp. since it was founded in 2017. He started Trent University as an undergraduate in 2006 and earned his financial certificates in 2012. He pursued his Master’s Degree from the United Kingdom in Wealth Management in 2015.

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Three Lindsay Locals Head To Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games

Three Lindsay locals will represent Canada at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games this summer.

(From Left to Right) Olivia Apps, Claire Wright and Emma Wright. Photo Courtesy of Team Canada.

Olivia Apps started playing rugby in grade 10 while attending I.E Weldon. Now, five years later, the 22-year-old will take to the world stage and represent Canada on the 13-player rugby sevens team.

Since her start in the sport, rugby has taken Apps to places like Australia, Japan and Dubai - though she is proud of her rural roots.

“What’s really important to me is to grow the sport in Lindsay and promote younger girls to stay involved in athletics,” she said. “You know what, you don’t have to be from a big city where sports teams are really good and really competitive. All that stuff doesn’t matter as much as work ethic and believing in yourself.”

While training in Lindsay, Apps shared a strength and conditioning coach with Emma Wright and remembers hoping to be able to watch her compete at the Olympics one day.

Sisters Emma and Claire Wright are representing Canada on the women’s water polo team.

“We both play different positions, so it was a different fight for us to be on this team,” said Claire. “Staying our course, we both got to this point and it’s unreal.”

Claire and Emma in Peru. Photo Courtesy of Wendy Wright.

Claire is a goaltender and says she thinks she can hear Emma cheer extra loud when she makes a save though both players say they cheer on their teammates just the same.

“We’re a big family in the water,“ said Emma. “Outside the water it’s like I have my sister here and it’s amazing but in the water she’s my teammate and we’re both there to do a job.”

The women’s water polo team plays their first game on Saturday, July 24.

Women’s rugby starts on Thursday, July 29.

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Hometown PTBO: Glen Caradus Talks About Staying In Peterborough, Getting Involved In Music And His Cycling Fundraising Event

This week on Hometown PTBO, Pete Dalliday speaks with musician and puppeteer Glen Caradus about why he stayed in Peterborough, how he started performing locally, his upcoming fundraiser and cycling for climate change awareness.

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Local Artist Wins Top Art Award

Local artist Lynda Todd painted to first place with “Blossom” in the Spirit of the Hills Art Association competition announced Thursday.

Lynda Todd’s entry, “Blossom” is a 36x60 inch painting selling for $900 on Spirit of the Hills Art Association’s website. Photo Courtesy of Lynda Todd.

Todd’s painting was one of 16 entries in the “Fine Art” category. Results were based on an online voting system by the public.

Born legally blind and mostly colour blind, Todd’s personal challenges did not deter her from earning the top slot.

"Blossom represents how an idea became a reality,” said Todd. “As a legally blind and colour-blind artist, I visualized each petal as the skills, knowledge and actions to reach my dream and occupation as an artist blossomed.”

Todd’s entry on the cover of Occupational Therapy Now. Photo Courtesy of Lynda Todd.

The winning entry was published on the front cover of Occupational Therapy Now for their May/June 2021 edition.

“My life has blossomed every single day since moving to Peterborough,” said Todd. “One thing keeps leading to another, so many doors have opened now that I have the independence to get around myself and embrace city life. I want to help spread the word and inspire others to try it all.”

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Peterborough Petes to Install State-of-the-Art Video Board

The Peterborough Petes will build and install a state-of-the-art video board at the Peterborough Memorial Centre this summer announced in a press release on Wednesday.

Photo Courtesy Of the Peterborough Petes.

The sign is in partnership with Signarama and Fully Promoted Peterorough where both companies are working on designing videos and other content for the new board.

The fully-digital video board will be installed in time for the 2021-22 home opener on Thursday, Oct. 14. It will feature the highest resolution screens and futuristic front -and back- end software and hardware to provide a revolutionized fan experience according to the press release.

“We’re thrilled to see this project come to life as the Petes continue to work toward providing our fans, and the entire community of Peterborough, with a league-leading experience.” said Dave Pogue, Petes President. “Fans are already showing their eagerness to return to the rink this fall, and this project represents a strategic investment that will elevate game night at the PMC to new heights.”

The new centre-hung video board will consist of four large, widescreen digital displays with the league’s best resolution. Below the main screens will be a fully digital dynamic LED ring to further enhance the in-game experience. The existing video board’s digital screens and traditional score clocks will be repurposed over the coming years.

“In my 12 years of working in hockey, I’ve never seen a corporate partner step up the way Signarama/Fully Promoted did this past spring,” explained, Eric Ebenbauer, Petes Director of Sales. “This project wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible effort put in by Morgan, Marty, and the rest of the Signarama team.”

“This video board will be like nothing ever seen before in Peterborough,” added Morgan Smith, Signarama/Fully Promoted Peterborough CEO. “My staff and I attend every Petes game and when the opportunity to work on this project arose, we jumped at the chance to provide our services and give fans and partners at the PMC - like ourselves - the best and most advanced experience in the province.”

The project will be financed by the Petes. Much like with other building improvement initiatives paid for by the team in the past including the Family Zone seat upgrades, all PMC tenants will have the opportunity to use the video board.

“This is an exciting announcement for anyone who uses the PMC,” noted Jeremy Giles, PMC Facility Manager. “All of our tenants, user groups and fans now have one more reason to get excited about returning to Peterborough’s premier sport and entertainment facility. This board is a real win-win situation and I’d like to thank the Peterborough Petes for being the driving force behind making it happen.”

The Petes will welcome the Sudbury Wolves and first-overall draft pick Quentin Musty for their home opener on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7:05 p.m.

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High Frequency Rail Corridor is Coming Through Peterborough

Officials announced plans for a high-frequency rail corridor to lay tracks through Peterborough on Thursday morning.

Officials holding a sign from an old Peterborough train station. Back row: Peterborough Chamber of Commerce president Stu Harrison, Via Rail president Cynthia Garneau, Havelock-Belmont Methuen Township Mayor Jim Martin, Selwyn Township Mayor Andy Mitchell. Front row: Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, Peterborough-Kawartha MP and minister for women and gender equality and rural economic development Mayam Monsef, Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien. Photo By Angela O’Grady

The press conference was held at the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce building which was formerly a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station.

Plans state that the new passenger rail stretching from Toronto to Quebec City will not share tracks with freight trains in hopes to cut travel times.

Maryam Monsef, Peterborough-Kawartha MP and minister for women and gender equality and rural economic development highlighted the positive impact this new infrastructure would have on the community.

The high-frequency rail corridor will unlock economic potential, offer new jobs and allow community members to travel elsewhere for work if needed according to Monsef.

“We’re getting this done because in a post-pandemic Canada, we are all aware of how vital our connections are,” she said.

Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says he hopes that shovels will hit the ground in the next three to four years and the rail will be functioning by 2030.

He noted that the environmental impact this rail may have is being considered in the planning process and about 90 percent of the new service will run on electricity.

“Equally, maybe even more importantly, this project is about nation building, about connecting our communities,” explained Alghabra.

When asked about the location of a station, Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien said an official decision has yet to be made.

“Right here seems like a great place though,” she said, standing outside the former CPR building.

Both Therrien and Monsef noted that First Nations communities are being consulted before construction begins.

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