WELLAND – An area along Kingsway that saw the removal of approximately 250 trees due to Emerald Ash Borer will begin a rejuvenation of its tree canopy thanks to a $10,000 grant from Tree Canada and the LCBO’s Spirit of Sustainability initiative.
The grant allows the City of Welland to plant 20 native tree species along the canal, primarily in the location of Kingsway and Glenwood Parkway. This project area is used for many summer recreational events, including international rowing competitions.
“Increasing canopy in Welland is important to the Community Services – Parks and Forestry Division,” said Dave Steven, manager of parks, forestry, cemeteries, operations, and development. “By improving our park green spaces through canopy replacement, it provides residents with an area that is more inviting and cooler for recreation and relaxation, plus they provide habitat and food for animals.”
City staff plant 300 to 350 trees annually to beautify residential and park spaces as part of the City’s canopy replacement strategy.
“Each year, Tree Canada’s Community Tree Grants help support schools, community groups, Indigenous communities and municipalities across Canada to increase their green infrastructure through the planting of trees and shrubs,” says Nicole Hurtubise, CEO, Tree Canada. “Thanks to the contribution of partners like LCBO’s Spirit of Sustainability initiative, we are able to take meaningful steps to increase Canada’s tree canopy and help grow better places to live in communities like the City of Welland.”
The City is looking for five to 10 volunteers to join Tree Canada and the City as they plant and mulch the new trees. The City will supply all volunteers with shovels, gloves, and other necessary equipment. Planting occurs on Friday, October 27, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact parksandforestry@welland.ca.
Tree Canada is the only national non-profit organization dedicated to planting and nurturing trees in rural and urban environments, in every province across the country.
Tree Canada helps to grow Canada’s tree canopy through their programs, research, and engagement efforts and by offering grants to communities and schools. Learn more about Tree Canada by visiting their website www.treecanada.ca.
Caption: A walk along Merritt Island’s upper and lower trails today yielded a treasure chest of fall colours. Here’s a mosaic of memories I was left with. /Joe Barkovich photos.
Rowers seen on the recreational waterway from the Woodlawn Bridge in Welland at mid-morning today, Sunday, Oct. 22. The temperature was 8C under partly cloudy skies. Chilly or not, these hardy souls were out there! Always a great sight. /Joe Barkovich photo
The view from Woodlawn Bridge of the Welland River as seen early afternoon today, Oct. 19. Follow along with me for glimpses of the change in seasonal colours over the next few weeks . The first appeared Oct. 1. /View From The Bridge is a recurring feature on the blog. Joe Barkovich photo.
Welland Food Drive Is Around The Corner, Food Banks Stuggling To Meet Demand
Monique Finley: “People are doing all they can and yet tomorrow’s food is not in the cupboards.” /Supplied photo
By Joe Barkovich, Scribbler-at-large
So easy to remember the approach of Welland’s annual food drive: the first Saturday of November. Always that weekend. After all these years, that should be fixed in memory.
Local media does a good job making sure this precious community endeavour is high profile. There are many, many stories in weeks leading up to the event reporting on the plight of food banks at Hope Centre, Open Arms Mission and Salvation Army. A common thread running through each: the need this year is unlike anything seen in years gone by.
It’s times like this when the meaning and power of the word community rise to the occasion, pulling off the “one day miracle” the food drive has been called. Monique Finley deserves credit for that apt description.
Finley, a Niagara College prof, is the food drive’s planning committee chair. Our paths cross in online get-togethers this time each year. She has a news release about the food drive, I have a request for a Q. and A.-format interview. It’s a rendezvous we both relish.
Here’s the meat and potatoes of it. Finley is proud of her community, proud of Wellanders and their response to the food drive, a firm believer in the need to care for our neighbours, and in teaching our kids to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Find out more in the interview below:
JB: A year has gone by since we last chatted about the food drive. What are your thoughts about being back?
MF: The spring comes every year, the moon comes out every night, Christmas comes every December 25th, and the Food Drive is the first Saturday in November. ‘Tis the season.
JB: Based on what we read, see and hear, things are worse now than they were last year. From where you’re sitting, what’s going on and why is that?
MF: We have been doing the Welland Food Drive for more than 30 years. This year it really feels different – worse. We have in the past approached the Welland Food Drive as a positive community event, an event where 400+ volunteers come together to do something great for our neighbours. Where that is still the case, there is an urgency that I have yet to experience. There is a pressure to do the very best we can, Welland, because the pain is just that widespread. People who were just making ends meet financially, cannot absorb the devastation of inflation in Canada. Living is simply more expensive today than it has been for a long, long time.
JB: A relatively new word is now common in everyday usage: food insecurity. What does that mean to you?
MF: Food insecurity is a new term for me as well this year but I have heard it over and over again. For me the term denotes worry. The kind of worry that fills the waking thoughts of parents and interrupts their sleep at night. Worry that sometimes leads to panic. People are faced with making the decision where the last $20 will go; to gas to get to work, to hydro to keep the lights on or to food. People are doing all they can and yet tomorrow’s food is not in the cupboards.
JB: Here’s an old chestnut – Is dealing with food insecurity and hunger an issue of charity? Or an issue of justice? Have your views about this changed as time has gone by?
MF: My belief is that charity and doing acts of charity is a personal decision. Donating what you can to the Welland Food Drive on November 4 is an absolute act of charity. In that sense we each have a personal choice whether we do something addressing hunger in Welland…. Or not.
Justice for me implies something larger, less personal. Creating a just society is the task of the governments. Governments have a duty to make society safe. I look to our governments to create an environment where people have an opportunity to take care of themselves and their loved ones through work. For me, justice entails taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves as a result of mental or physical restrictions. Governments must create an environment where those who are otherwise ‘well’ have the satisfaction of working to provide for themselves and their loved ones.
JB: Overall, the Welland food drive has had a great record of success over the years. What can that be attributed to?
MF: Wellanders in general, have a great deal to be thankful for. Our city is safe, and Wellanders are kind. We live with relatively little crime and fear. Neighbourhoods, by and large, know and are connected to neighbours. Whatever success the Food Drive has had in decades past is likely because Wellanders are charitable, and their generosity is a result of acknowledging that we are blessed and we are our brothers’ keeper.
JB: If the plea for food donations continues year after year, do you see donor fatigue becoming a problem? Is there danger of complacency becoming the food drive’s undoing? Why is it important to donate to a community food drive?
MF: Donor fatigue is a result of believing ‘whatever I do, nothing gets fixed, nothing changes, I am making no difference so forget It, I’m not going to try any more’. The thing with food donations is that as a result of giving a box of canned goods someone who is hungry today can eat and will then have the wherewithal and energy to soldier through till tomorrow. Donating food to the Welland Food Drive will not be an end to hunger but an end to someone’s hunger today. Sometimes all someone needs is a chance to get back at it tomorrow having hope that tomorrow will be ‘better’. I pray that complacency does not set in because food for a hungry person or family or child today can make all the difference in their outlook for tomorrow.
JB: What needs to be done to help people break free from revolving-door food bank reliance/dependence?
MF: The answer to this question is intrinsically tied to the reason why someone is reliant or dependent on food handouts. If they are physically or mentally unwell then they have a very difficult time taking care of themselves. What to do with these individuals goes well beyond food bank handouts. What should be done to help those people goes well beyond this topic matter. If a person is doing all they can and still struggling, then they may need a hand-up today, but they will not need a hand-up forever.
JB: I’m not trying to sound pessimistic, but do you and others who give so much of themselves as volunteers ever feel you’re fighting a losing battle? How do you cope with that?
MF: There is no losing this battle. Today the shelves are empty at the Hope Centre, Open Arms Mission and Salvation Army. On November 4th they will be full! We will win this battle. What I don’t know is whether or not we will ever win the war. I hope that inflation, gas prices and rents and food prices may be easier to manage in the future but until they are then we will address one battle at a time. Additionally, I hope that parents of today make it a point to teach their children that you are your brothers’ keeper and that you must do unto others as you would have them do unto you. There may always exist suffering and hunger but if parents teach those lessons and live a life of example then we will live in a society of charity and kindness – and that’s something isn’t it?
JB: Let’s close with this quote: ‘Food donation fosters a sense of community and togetherness, creating bonds that transcend differences.’ Do you agree? Why? (Or why not)
MF: Food donation fosters a sense of community and togetherness, creating bonds that transcend differences. Know that donating food today absolutely makes a difference to someone. It gives them hope and the chance to endure for one more day. When a person isn’t hungry, they have a fighting chance to rise to the challenge of tomorrow.
With the 2023-24 National Hockey League season now in full swing a Welland Minor Hockey Association graduate is zeroing in on a NHL milestone.
Cal Clutterbuck, a right winger with the New York Islanders entered his 17th season in the NHL this past weekend just 18 games shy of playing in his 1,000th regular season game.
Drafted by Minnesota in the third round, 72nd overall in the 2006 NHL entry draft, Clutterbuck spent six seasons with the Wild before he was traded to the New York Islanders in June 2013.
Heading into his 11th season with the Islanders this past weekend against the Buffalo Sabres, Clutterbuck reduced that number to 17 by playing in his 983rd regular season game logging 13 minutes 12 seconds of ice time in 19 shifts. Clutterbuck also had an assist on the game-winning goal by Casey Cizikas.
If Clutterbuck can stay healthy and be injury free he will hit the 1,000 mark November 22nd when the Islanders host the Philadelphia Flyers.
Staying injury free has been a problem for Clutterbuck, especially the past four seasons. Of course he is regarded as a grinder and a warrior as his game is built on physicality. And while he has dished out some stiff checks his body has paid a price too. That has shown up in the games-played column in his statistics, especially the past four seasons. In those seasons Clutterbuck played in 37, 50, 59 and 49 games respectively of the 82-game schedule each season.
Injuries have simply sidelined the Welland native. In 2019 a bad skate cut put him on injured list and in 2021 shoulder surgery curtailed his season. And last year multiple injuries reduced his schedule to 49 games.
Considering Clutterbuck’s style of play and the injuries he has suffered along the way, reaching the 1,000 mark in the NHL is quite an accomplishment.
No other WMHA graduate has ever reached the 1,000 regular season mark. Defenceman Dan Girardi, who entered the NHL undrafted, comes closest but after 13 seasons — 11 with the New York Rangers and two with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Girardi finished with 927 regular season games played. Girardi, you could say, was a warrior too and paid the price by blocking shots. When Girardi announced his retirement in September 2019 he was the NHL’s all-time leader with nearly 2,000 blocked shots. (Note: The NHL did not begin tracking blocked shots until 2005.)
Another WMHA grad up there was Adam Creighton. After 14 seasons in the league, the first-round draft pick by the Buffalo Sabres in 1983 finished with 708 regular season games played.
Then there was another Wellander, Dan Paille. Drafted by Buffalo in the 2002 draft, 20th overall in the first round, he wore three different NHL uniforms — Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers — and played in 582 regular season games. So far Paille holds the distinction of being the first and only Wellander to have his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup. That was back in 2011 when he was a member the Bruins who defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the Cup finals.
Back to Clutterbuck, besides closing in on the 1,000 game mark, he is already the NHL’s all-time leader in hits. He reached that goal last November 21 in Toronto when he was credited with nine hits against the Leafs. That moved him past the retired leader Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings who had 3,632 hits.
Clutterbuck entered this season sitting No. 1 with 3,756 hits. His closest rival who also passed Brown last season is linemate Matt Martin with 3,703. In their season opener Martin narrowed gap by one as he had five hits and Clutterbuck was credited with four.
With the assist Clutterbuck picked up on the game-winner on the weekend, he now sits only 25 points shy of another personal milestone— 300 career regular season points as he has 136 goals and 139 assists for 275 points.
He is also eyeing 500 career blocked shots. He had one over the weekend and now is 36 shy of the 500 mark.
Whatever milestones he accomplishes this season, and hopefully it’s each one, Cal Clutterbuck has already proven himself an accomplished NHLer. And he’s made Wellanders and especially the Welland Minor Hockey Association proud of that fact. Hopefully, he can stay healthy.
(Wayne Redshaw covered the NHL for 40 seasons, was named a Life Member of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association in 1987 and was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 2000. Now retired, he can be reached at wredshaw@icloud.com.)
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