Remember Monty and I walked in the Purina Walk for Dog Guides a couple months back?
I just wanted to report that donations you made, combined with the other walkers from 160 communities across Canada raised $633,000 for the Lions Club Dog Guide Programs!!
High Five!
We’re waiting for the chimney/woodstove guy to show up to assess our house/chimney/wood burning needs. I think he’s a couple of hours late now, although he didn’t give a specific time, so at 8pm we gave in and ate, and he still didn’t show. Who knows – we’re rural now – he’ll show when he wants. The wood stove he recommends: Napoleon 1900 Our plan is to get a wood stove in now, and to get the wood so we’ll have it stacked and drying for the fall.
I read today that Terry Fox’s restored Tour of Hope van is stopping here on Tuesday on it’s trip across the country. It was in 1980 when Terry Fox headed out on his Marathon of Hope. I started kindergarten just as Terry had to stop his run. I remember my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Collinson, telling us about Terry and showing us his mission on the map on the wall. Through my entire life, growing up as a Canadian, I was always aware of Terry Fox, the Terry Fox runs, and the story of this young man who boldly faced his cancer and ran across half the country with his prosthetic leg. But in the last few years I’m somehow begun to appreciate his mission even more. I remember being at the Terry Fox statue/memorial out of Thunder Bay a few years back, a place I often stopped, but this time a man was playing “Amazing Grace” on his bagpipes there and I brought me to tears. Then I happened to catch the documentary of his life and his run on TV late one night. I cried my eyes out. If you ever get a chance to watch any of that old footage, take it. If more people in our society had a quarter of the hope and determination of that young man our world would be a different place. Cancer took him when he was only 22. Take a look and see if the van is passing through your town – http://tourofhope.ca/toh/
Thanks so much to my Mom and my brother for sponsoring Monty & I in the Purina Walk for Dog Guides on Sunday! Did you know that the Lions Foundation of Canada charges NOTHING to the person who receives a guide dog? And 100% of your donation goes to raising and training the dogs. They use corporate sponsorships for all their administrative costs. They have 3 types of dog guides. There are Canine Vision Dog Guides for people with vision impairments. There are Hearing Ear Dog Guides for people with hearing impairments. They also have a Special Skills Dog Guides program for other medical and physical assistance, like to assist people with muscular dystrophy or cerebral palsy, as well as dogs that are specially trained to sense seizures. http://www.purinawalkfordogguides.com/personalPage.cfm?ID=3025
Still no wood stove guy. I guess he got tied up at his last job.
Monty and I have registered to walk in the Antigonish Lions Foundation of Canada Purina Walk for Dog Guides next weekend – Sunday June 1st.
The goal of the walk is to help raise funds for the training and placement of Dog Guides for Canadians with visual, hearing and medical or physical disabilities. All Dog Guides are provided to eligible candidates at no cost. Funding for Dog Guide training is 100 per cent obtained from donations and no government funding is received. Dog Guides Canada has already provided their specially trained Dog Guides to more than 1200 men, women and children from ages eight to 88. With your help more people experience the mobility, safety and independence a devoted Dog Guide partner brings.
If you wish to sponsor us with a donation to the Purina Walk for Dog Guides, you can visit my personalized site: http://www.purinawalkfordogguides.com/personalPage.cfm?ID=3025
Thank-you!
When I was reading the online edition of the Listowel Banner this morning, I caught the story of my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Collinson who was behind a donation from the Women’s Institute to the Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warrior Fund.
Mike McTeague grew up in Atwood, had Mrs. Collinson was his kindergarten teacher too. Earlier this year when he was serving in Afghanistan and was handing out candy to children, the suicide bomber on a bicycle stopped by to blow them all up.
Mike survived and is recovering at the St. John’s Rehab Centre in Toronto. Unfortunately, although his medical bills are covered (he has multiple broken bones and internal injuries and burns), there is nothing for him and the other recovering soldiers to do. Even a TV in the room costs $10 a day to rent.
A 13 year old student in Port Hope got the idea to start the Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warrior Fund. It aims to put together a package of entertainment for the recovering soldiers – things like DVD’s, CD’s, books, iPods, games, electronics.
They have already raised $22,000 and aim to have raising $100,000 before spring when the chances of being injured by the Taliban is the greatest.
If you want to donate, send a cheque to the Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warrior Fund at PO Box 141, Stn. Brooklin, Whitby, Ont., L1M 1B5.
To read more:
Local WI supports wounded soldier (Listowel Banner article)
A 13-year-old Port Hope girl has figured out how important a simple visit to the hospital can be to the recovery of a wounded soldier (Toronto Sun)
Remember Canada’s wounded (Canoe) – photo of Mike and his dad