Category Archives: Unsung Hero
Designing the Dream
By Dana Kenedy
Mini help for Cooper
Here’s another another reason to love Uxbridge: the outreach of our community’s littlest people in support of Cooper Lotton. In June, Cooper lost part of his foot in a tragic lawn mower accident. On his own initiative, Creative Director Kirsty’s 6-year-old son, Liam, one of Cooper’s classmates, set out to raise $500 for his buddy via a lemonade stand at the Uxbridge Farmer’s Market. Uxbridgians flooded the tent and donated an incredible $1,306.84. The same week, the Minor Peewee and Minor Atom Uxbridge Stars (ages 9 and 11) raised $4,600 for the Lotton family during a bottle drive, learning how to give back to their community, says manager Jim Jamieson. And Goals for Cooper one hot night in July saw all the U6 youth soccer teams donate $1 for each ball through the unmanned nets.
No Woman, No Cry
Over the past few years I have been interested in the idea of motherhood and health and what it means to become a mom. I have a few stories that have inspired me over the past few years. A few weeks after my son was born in 2005, I heard about a friend of a friend who after she gave birth went to the hospital with heavy bleeding just a day after being discharged from the hospital. By the time she was seen, it was too late. There was no time to save her and she died. I was upset, and angry.
This was in Canada, in the same hospital that I gave birth in just a few weeks earlier. I often think of that boy and his dad and how their lives were changed forever because of the mom’s death. I know in my heart that if she was seen sooner or was taken more seriously when she arrived at the emergency room she would still be alive. This was a preventable maternal death that happened close to home.
Last year in the June issue of our community magazine, Uxbridge Town Talk, we ran a story about the Uxbridge Community Midwives and Tiffany Haidon’s trip to Haiti.
As Carly wrote in her blog post, “There were things so disturbing I couldn’t include them. Stories about dead babies and shoeboxes and a garbage dump in the backyard. So shocking and absolutely unfathomable.” I was moved by the story, but didn’t know how I could help in either of these instances.
Nearly a year, later I now know. I have been following a role model of mine, Christy Turlington Burns, (supermodel, mom, and now maternal health advocate) on Twitter for a few months. That’s where I first heard about her documentary No Woman, No Cry a moving film that follows the powerful stories of at-risk pregnant women in four parts of the world, including Tanzania, a slum of Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States. Turlington Burns made this movie because of her first birth experience; she suffered a post-partum hemorrhage that, if she didn’t have proper medical care on hand at the time, could have resulted in her death. Hundreds of thousands of women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth complications, making reproductive health problems the leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 15 to 44. Experts estimate that 90% of these deaths are preventable.
Through some interaction on Twitter with Dr Peter Singer of Grand Challenges Canada and Christy, I was invited to the movie’s screening in Toronto, as well as the reception where we were lucky enough to meet Christy and share a quick conversation. After the movie that weaved together Turlington Burns’ sweet home movies of her burgeoning baby bump, I asked her, “What as a mom can I do?” She said, “Use your voice.” And that’s what I intend on doing. Since the movie, I am working on this side-project at night, including helping an organization in Haiti replace their stolen sonogram machine. I have found my call to action, to help moms in Canada and around the gain access to health care to improve their chances of survival at birth. The movie No Woman, No Cry is a start to a conversation about maternal health. For me the movie has been a catalyst to put ideas and thoughts over the past six years into action and I hope it will be for you as well.
Share you story at everymothercounts.org/share-your-story.
For more information please visit : everymothercounts.org, grandchallenges.ca and savinglivesatbirth.net.
The Ice Man
For someone who can’t skate, Paul Mateciuk is surely the most generous man in town.
With the help of employee Andy Cowling, Mateciuk has taken it upon himself to be the Ice Man of Elgin Pond. With his distinctive orange tractor, he checks the ice thickness, clears snow for skating and hockey and floods the surface with a 50-ft. hose for a smooth ride.
“I saw someone down there with a snow blower and shovel, and a bright light went on,” he says. “How come we don’t have anything going on on the pond in the winter time?”
Despite breaking his ankle at age 11, then several times since then, leaving him unable to skate, Mateciuk has fond memories of the firefighters in his hometown of Windsor clearing ice for youth.
“I do it because I listen to people complain about the kids around here,” he says. “If the kids have something better to do with their time, it’ll let them have fun and keep them out of trouble.”
Mateciuk ensures the ice is at least 8” thick before raising the yellow “skate with caution flag.” Red means the ice is unsafe for skating. He also clears three or four paths, a small rink for young kids, and a larger one for older youth. An oval completes the ice for pleasure skating. Mateciuk has taken over the auguring from Regional Councillor Jack Ballinger, who is now too busy for the task.
The Township on its website requests that residents stay off certain waterways in Uxbridge.
“Please keep away from water inlets and outlets as ice thickness is compromised,” it says. “Please keep off of all stormwater management facilities. Water levels fluctuate at these facilities and these facilities are not safe for skating or other activities.” The water in the Quaker Village common, a popular spot for young people playing hockey, is an example.
“You can’t believe how good I’ve felt, seeing 25 kids out there at 8:30 at night playing hockey,” Mateciuk says. He’s hoping to hook up an old stereo and lights in the next few weeks and run them on a Friday night.
Mateciuk has become a local weather buff, too. Up each day at 4 a.m. to take his wife to the GO station, he updates his website with daily weather reports and a dash of humour.
A Kinsmen member, Mateciuk is excited for the upcoming free skate on Elgin Pond on Family Day, February 21. Featuring hot chocolate, hotdogs and music, the event has raised funds for the Uxbridge Youth Centre the past three years. With only 100 or so attending the first event, it grew to more than 500 in 2010. He’s hoping for more this year.
“Last year kids came up and thanked me and were so polite and proper. That’s the way I was brought up,” he says. “It was fabulous.”
For more information on the pond and the Kinsmen Family Day event, contact Mateciuk at 647 333 7746.
February Issue – Uxbridge Town Talk
It is a bitterly cold winter day as I’m writing this, with the wind snapping outside and angry snowflakes hitting the window. Thank goodness in February we have two reasons to celebrate: Valentine’s and Family days.
Both are about love, which brings much-needed warmth to these long winter days. It’s been interesting to watch how holidays change once you have a family. February 14 is no longer just about my husband and I, but about decorating the house with pink and red streamers, heart window clings in our living room and cinnamon candies in a dish at the kitchen table, all for our wee girls. Still love, just in a different form.
This month we did a different take on our local products, and instead wrote about free or low-cost ways to show your loved ones you care. See page 21 for our ideas, and thanks to the fans on our Facebook page for suggesting the idea. You’ll also see their thoughts on what an ideal Valentine would be on our Tidbits page.
Then you must read the charming story of Ernie and Yvonne Stokes, our Faces of Uxbridge subjects who share their secret to lasting love, 43 years into their marriage.
Read on for the Ice Man’s story, a group of ladies weaving milk bags for street children, a local business owner bringing a taste of Hollywood home, and much more. Be sure to see all the events planned for Family Day in town, too!
Next month we will celebrate spring and also the seniors of Uxbridge. We’d love any story ideas you have – local seniors doing great things, challenges and photos – so please email me at carly@uxbridgetowntalk.com or call our office at 905 862 3747.
Enjoy! Carly
