SYDNEY — Nearly two dozen community leaders in Cape Breton are being exiled to the Fortress of Louisbourg today, in order to help children diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses through a fundraising event based on the reality TV show Survivor.
Exile Island, the Children’s Wish Foundation’s major fundraiser in Nova Scotia, has been held twice on George’s Island in Halifax harbour and is making its Cape Breton debut this week, with the money raised staying in Cape Breton.
The reality is that the Children’s Wish Foundation annually helps about 900 children across Canada from 3-18 years old and needs financial donations from the public to do that. That’s where the community leaders come in.
Exile Island features rival tribes of business and community leaders calling friends, family and colleagues to raise donations that will help the Children’s Wish Foundation and, hopefully, save the participant from exile.
The foundation has seven children in Cape Breton waiting for a wish to be granted, said Cheryl Matthews, Nova Scotia chapter director, adding the fundraising event’s goal is to raise enough money to cover three wishes.
Co-chaired by Cape Breton Explorations president Luciano Lisi and Cape Breton University president John Harker, the event will see participants compete in a variety of challenging mental and physical contests and try to collect the largest amount of pledges.
In addition to Lisi and Harker, participants include accountants John Nash and George Unsworth, farmer Chris Eyking, Mayflower Mall general manager Paul Carrigan, Cape Breton Regional Police Chief Myles Burke, Membertou First Nation Chief Terry Paul, and CBU students’ union president Ricky MacCarthy, among others.
Matthews said Cape Breton Post publisher Anita DeLazzer recorded the first online donation. As of Tuesday morning, she also led the pack with the most donations.
Matthews said wish kids and their families will be present but spectators won’t be allowed into the Fortress of Louisbourg for the event. However, anyone can take part by making a donation on the event website where they can immediately get a tax receipt.
Matthews said participants will be divided into three tribes for the competitions and declined to reveal the kinds of challenges they will face, except to say they should be dressed comfortably.
“They’re all CEOs and managers and it’s very interesting to watch them try to compete as a team,” she added. “It’s an afternoon of the highest philanthropy, but it’s also a lot of fun.”
For more information or to make a donation, visit www.exileisland.ca and click on Cape Breton on the map.
Presented by local agency Shoreline Productions, the fifth annual Suzy McGrane Memorial event is set to go down on Gold Bug Island (1560 Ben Sawyer Blvd.) this Saturday evening. Nicknamed "S.O.S.: Share Our Suzy," it's a sweet-hearted get-together with an admirable goal in mind.
Gold Bug is a cozy spot located on the Mt. Pleasant side of the Intracoastal Waterway, just at the foot of the Ben Sawyer Bridge.
Considered one of the "originators of the jam band movement," Charlottesville, Va.-based band Indecision is a twangy, funk-filled ensemble popular among all sorts of groove-rock fans. Armed with a new album titled The Great Road, they bring their Little Feat-fired rock back to Charleston to play two sets during the memorial.
Indecision hit in Charleston last summer after a six-year absence from the road. They played an early evening acoustic show at Fiery Ron's Home Team BBQ followed by a fully amplified gig at the Pour House the same night.
Share Our Suzy is a nonprofit organization that started out under the name Save Our Suzy in Columbia in the mid-2000s. Suzy McGrane was a well-loved S.C. photographer who was diagnosed in her early 20s with breast cancer. After completing her initial treatment, she worked with various S.C. cancer centers, raising funds for breast cancer patients. Sadly, her cancer returned, and she passed away in 2005.
Share Our Suzy's current goal is to "honor the spirit of Suzy McGrane by raising money and resources to assist and support breast cancer patients from diagnosis to remission." Fund-raising events like this one aim to enhance the quality of life for breast cancer patients in S.C.
Special VIP tickets for the Suzy McGrane Memorial are available. A hearty menu will be provided by Charleston Bay Gourmet and Fiery Ron's Home Team BBQ. A convenient shuttle service and extra parking will be available as well. Space is very limited, however, and attendees are strongly encouraged to take cabs and shuttles or to carpool.
Otley clergyman Graham Buttanshaw is getting all dolled up to become his local boozer's answer to Anne Robinson.
The Rev – or rather his alter-ego Brainy Brenda – will be hosting a charity quiz night to raise funds for Christian Aid.
Rev Buttanshaw, the vicar at All Saints Parish Church, said: "A vicar in drag is not a usual sight in a pub, but we're very open-minded in Otley!
"I hope it might intrigue enough people to come and pit their wits against me for a fun night out while raising money for some of the world's poorest people."
Rev Buttanshaw is staging the wacky stunt on Thursday as part of Christian Aid Week.
As well as distributing its famous red envelopes to homes across the country, the charity also organises QuizAid – a nationwide fundraising event which it hopes will this year raise £225,000 for its overseas development work.
Rev Buttanshaw added: "Participants are invited to dress as Brainy Brendas or Smart Alecs but it's not required!
"Teams can be as small as two or as large as eight. People can come on their own or in teams.
"It's a great chance to meet people if you come on your own – Brainy Brenda will help you find or make up a team.
"There is no entry fee, but a donation to Christian Aid of at least £2 is requested from each participant."
The event is being held at the Red Lion in Kirkgate, Otley, from 8pm.
QuizAid questions come in groups of five across a range of 12 subjects, including sport, music, geography, history, maths and pot luck.
There will be prizes of Fair Trade chocolate for categories including "best costume", "top of the class" and "could do better".
The New York State Police is again putting the spotlight on seat belts this week with the annual “Buckle Up New York” blitz.
Maj. Christopher Cummings said the latest zero-tolerance enforcement blitz began Monday and will continue through May 31.
The program involves more than 500 police agencies throughout the state and will include safety restraint checkpoints and special patrols dedicated to seat-belt enforcement.
The Memorial Day holiday weekend, considered the unofficial opening of the summer travel season, is the perfect time to remind people about the importance of seat belts, Cummings said.
“Buckling up clearly saves lives, and if you don’t, you will be ticketed,” Cummings said in a news release. “Unfortunately, too many New Yorkers still need a tough reminder, and we’re going to provide it.”
Cummings said the enforcement blitz is “a matter of life and death.”
“It’s tragic and unnecessary, but someone we know will likely die or be unnecessarily injured for failing to take one simple step — buckling up,” he said.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, highway crashes in 2007 killed 41,059 people and injured more than 2.4 million others. About 54 percent of those killed were unrestrained.
Among those killed were 2,022 children and 3,108 young drivers, age 16-20.
“Kids and young adults learn best by example, and parents set that example,” Cummings said. “Infants and toddlers are even more vulnerable, because they can’t buckle up themselves — they must rely on adults to do it for them.”
During last year’s blitz, troopers issued 19,000 safety restraint citations statewide, including 877 for child seat violations.
Cummings said local troopers will conduct 15 safety restraint checkpoints during the enforcement sweep.
SEAT-BELT LAWS
New York State law requires:
- All front seat occupants must be secured, regardless of age.
- All rear seat passengers under age 16 must be secured.
- Children under age 4 must be properly restrained in a federally-approved child safety seat.
- Children under age 4 but weighing more than 40 pounds may be restrained in a booster seat with a combined lap/shoulder seatbelt.
- Children ages 4, 5 an 6 must be properly secured in an appropriate child restraint system, based on their height and weight.
- Children riding in booster seats must be secured with a combined lap/shoulder seatbelt, unless the vehicle is not equipped with lap/shoulder belts, or all lap/shoulder belts are already being used. In either of those cases, the child should be secured in a lap belt without the booster seat.
The Tom Joyner Foundation, a major driving force in raising money for historically black colleges and universities since 1998, has kicked off an aggressive fundraising campaign for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
During a Wednesday mid-morning kickoff event on the UMES campus, individual gifts were made of more than $10,000 from vice presidents, deans, faculty, staff, students and alumni within the crowd that gathered for the announcement. The total was added to the $42,500 already raised.
“We are grateful that the Tom Joyner Foundation chose the University of Maryland Eastern Shore as the School of the Month for August 2009,” said Thelma B. Thompson, UMES president. “There has never been a greater need or a better time to raise scholarship dollars than now.”
According to the foundation, formed by nationally syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner, UMES was chosen as part of its on-going effort to assist HBCUs in broadening and strengthening efforts to raise money to help keep students attending these institutions.
As a Tom Joyner Foundation School of the Month, UMES will receive funds raised from listeners, alumni and other interested parties during the month of August. The Tom Joyner Morning Show, which airs in 115 markets around the country and reaches nearly eight million listeners every week, will promote the university and award scholarships to deserving students.
UMES, twice named in the top tier of America’s Best Black Colleges by U.S. News and World Report, emphasizes select baccalaureate programs in the liberal arts and sciences and career fields with particular relevance to the Eastern Shore and its land-grant mandate, offering programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. Established as Princess Anne Academy in 1886 with one professor and nine students, the school is home to 4,000 students today.
“The foundation is really happy to work with UMES,” said Tom Joyner, a graduate of Tuskegee Institute and chairman of the foundation. “The university has a wonderful history, and this foundation is all about making sure students are able to stay in school.”
It's about a mother who punched a teacher for supposedly choking her five year old son. After the principal sat down with both parent and teacher, the teacher denied choking the boy but admitted to shaking him, the mother then right hooked the teacher on his head.
"What would I have done if I were in that situation" I asked myself. After much deliberation on my part, my answer is still not clear. I guess I would have to BE in that situation before I pass judgement on either party. What I can answer however, is the fact that I'm a quick reactor. I tend not to think of the consequences of my actions. I do as my emotions tell me to. Perhaps the mother involved in this dispute was the same way.
Since becoming a parent, I feel an extremely strong pull to always defend my son. I'm always making sure to keep him out of harms way so that I won't ever have to feel like I have to defend him physically. But, I can tell you, that I wouldn't hesitate to do so. Any good mother knows...you don't disrespect someone else's children. No matter how bad they're acting up, you don't ever discipline someone else's child. Ever. Period.
I know that schools have it hard when it comes to disciplining kids. You're not allowed to physically restrain them or put a hand to them. With some kids these days, verbal discipline doesn't always work. The article fails to explain what the child did, but that in no way excuses the fact that the teacher put his hands on someones child. Still, was it right for the mother to put her hands on the teacher?
I don't believe violence solves anything, however, I do believe in standing up for your child. It is your right as a parent to ensure your child's safety. And who knows what really happened between the teacher and child. The child says the teacher choked him, but the teacher claims he shook the child. Either way, bodily harm could have come to the child. Lets not even go there with all the neurological harm that can come from shaking a child.
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