Planning Begins For Soup’s On! Luncheon

A small collection of program booklets from over the years. (File photo/Joe Barkovich)

WELLAND – Welland’s best-known soup luncheon fundraiser is on the front burner again.

After the summer break, planning starts today for Soup’s On! 2016, which will be held Friday, Jan. 29 at St. Kevin parish hall.

The soup luncheon raises funds for the St. Kevin Food Bank Social Justice Scholarship.

It will be the 14^th annual luncheon.

It involves soup prep teams from several local secondary schools and Niagara College’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute.

But the 2016 luncheon will have one – and possibly two – new participants. Names of all participants will be announced shortly.

Ticket price for the luncheon remains the same as when it started 14 years ago: $10 per person.

In June, the organizing committee awarded three $1,000 scholarships to two students from Notre Dame College School and one from E. L. Crossley: Brevin Graziani and Tasha Trudel (Notre Dame) and Jessika Rimar (Crossley).

(Joe Barkovich lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario, Canada’s Rose City.)

Welland Museum Holds Heritage House Tour

A view of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Welland. (File photo Joe Barkovich)

WELLAND (Supplied) – Discover the hidden history, beauty and secrets of Welland and Pelham’s historic buildings.

The Welland Museum will once again be hosting a fall Heritage House Tour. This will be the second annual.

This year, the event has been bumped up to October 24 and will run all day from 10 am – 4 pm.

The Museum has five new historic properties on the tour this year, including Holy Trinity Anglican Church, the Bujold, Colburn and Steele house, the “Doctors’ House,” Pelham Community Church and Old Pelham Town Hall.

Each building has their own unique and interesting history. All properties are located in either Welland or Pelham and allow visitors access to the interiors of each location.

Participants will have the opportunity to discover the history of these buildings while exploring the architectural features preserved and/or updated inside, and in some cases, through original artifacts associated with the properties.

Refreshments and baked goods will be available for purchase at both churches on the Tour. There will also be a door prize draw for an overnight stay for two at “At Home at the Rose Manor” Bed and Breakfast, a historic Welland home on last years’ tour.

Tickets are $10 per person and are now available for purchase at the Welland Museum. For more information, please call the Welland Museum at 905-732-2215.

(Source: Welland Museum publicity)

Lobby Group Organizes Pre-Election Anti-Poverty Week

The T-shirt being worn by kNOw Poverty members in their drive to get out the vote in Niagara Centre riding. The caption on the back says: “Because it’s the only way things change.” (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

By Joe Barkovich, Scribbler-at-large

Welland’s kNOw Poverty group has organized an anti-poverty week leading up to the Oct. 19 federal election.

Theme of the week is: No One Left Behind.

It also co-incides with the UN’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, observed annually throughout the world on Oct. 17.

kNOw Poverty, a lobby group for anti-poverty advocates in Welland, is chaired by Paul Turner. The group is “committed to moving poverty out from the shadows into the spotlight as a high profile issue that requires immediate intervention from all levels of government,” a backgrounder says.

“We’re getting mobilized, we’re determined to make poverty issues front-burner topics in this riding,” Turner said Tuesday afternoon.

Activities during the lobby group’s Anti-Poverty Week include:

Mock Voter Pop Up Booth at the market square, Saturday, Oct. 10 from 8 a.m. to noon. It will give participants opportunity to “cast your vote on local issues that matter most to you…”;

Movie Night at Civic Square, Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. It will screen From Homeless to Harvard. It’s based on the true-life story of Liz Murray, who was homeless at 15 but worked her way through high school and then Harvard;

Rally Against Poverty, Market Square, Friday, Oct. 16 from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. It opens with a poverty walk from the Wellness Complex to market square. There, keynote speaker Lori Kleinsmith will share info about a National Housing Strategy as housing is one of the key issues in this campaign. Other speakers will share compelling vignettes, some from lived experience, and there will also be live entertainment and refreshments;

Breakfast Blitz Pop Ups, Saturday, Oct. 17 at various sites in the city, with the fundamental aim of reminding people to vote on election day.

kNOw Poverty members are embarking on a vast outreach in the community to spread the word about their upcoming week. This will be done through social media, newspaper and TV coverage and a poster campaign in churches, businesses, public buildings and other high profile venues.

“We’re determined to get the word out,” says Turner. “We want as many people as possible to be aware of what will be going on.”

(Joe Barkovich lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario, Canada’s Rose City.)

Welland Snaps: Autumn’s Advance Along The Woodchip Trail

Bird’s eye view of a small portion of the woodchip trail. (File photo September 16, 2015 / Joe Barkovich)

By Joe Barkovich, Scribbler-at-large

Fall’s arrival is evident on the woodchip trail and surroundings.

It shows itself in conflicting signs and imagery: soft, gentle pastel colours and harsh, rugged end-of-life shapes and forms, to name just two.

A walk along the woodchip trail and up and down the college berms puts an eye-opening spin on these changes that nature is going through.

Right now, splashes of hues here and there are reminiscent of the individual, unattached  pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. But it won’t be long until they fit into place turning the site into a palette of colours.

This presentation is only a small image of what there is to see in the big picture, as the saying goes; other parts of the sprawling campus have offerings of their own.

I thought it best to let them lie undisturbed and unexposed in case you might want to venture forth and behold them with an appreciative eye of your own.

Clumps of the perennial, purple aster, are found scattered on the berms and along the trail. (All photos by Joe Barkovich)

Juniper berries

Look close and you will see a snail. One obvious question: how long did it take the snail to make this climb?

Remnants of a coneflower patch.

What this area will look like eventually. (File photo/October 12, 2014)

(Joe Barkovich lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario, Canada’s Rose City. Welland Snaps is a recurring feature on the blog.)  

Hooked

It wasn’t his lucky day, the young angler said, not having a single catch on the recreational waterway, still he looked hooked on fishing. The water, though, was glistening and the sky a pretty pastel blue. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Rear-View Skyscape

Driving east on Welland’s Woodlawn Road, a glorious sunset at your back. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Hot Ticket

The Welland Boys Reunion is a hot ticket here in the Rose City. The annual event takes place Monday, Oct. 5 at Riverstone Event Centre, River Road. Tickets are on sale at the Lifestyle Wealth offices in Welland and Port Colborne and Sobeys in Fonthill. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

My City of Welland Rose Goes To….

City of Welland rose (File photo/Joe Barkovich)

By Joe Barkovich, Scribbler-at-large

My ‘City of Welland rose’ this week goes to: Pope Francis, for his homily at Madison Square Garden, Friday, September 25.

Why? Because after all is said and done on this extraordinary Papal visit, I believe this will resonate with me long, long after.

I won’t provide the homily in its entirety, just this one paragraph:

“Knowing that Jesus still walks our streets, that he is part of the lives of his people, that he is involved with us in one vast history of salvation, fills us with hope. A hope which liberates us from the forces pushing us to isolation and lack of concern for the lives of others, for the life of our city. A hope which frees us from empty “connections”, from abstract analyses, or sensationalist routines. A hope which is unafraid of involvement, which acts as a leaven wherever we happen to live and work. A hope which makes us see, even in the midst of smog, the presence of God as he continues to walk the streets of our city.”

I’ve just one thing to add: I have taken his personal request to heart. I will pray for Pope Francis, as he has asked us time and again.

(Joe Barkovich, a former reporter and city editor, lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario, Canada’s Rose City. My City of Welland rose is a recurring feature on the blog, appearing weekends.)

Parking Lot Sunset

Parking lot sunset, Friday evening, Welland Y. (Photo by Joe Barkovich)

Sign Language

Frequent flyer? You might be interested in this signboard’s message, spotted on Welland Road in Fenwick. (Photo by Joe Barkovich. Sign Language is a recurring feature on the blog.)