At the Movies in Unity, Saskatchewan – March 7, 2014
Chicago – All That Jazz
Teen Beach Movie – Oxygen
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Twilight – A Thousand Years from Twilight. Figure skating solo
Saturday Night Fever – Staying Alive
The Lion King – Circle of Life
Happy Feet – Hit Me Up
After all the skating was done, it was time for the traditional after-carnival group photo.
The summer season is fast approaching so the Unity Museum in Unity, SK, is starting to stir.
Our first big fundraiser of the year is upon us. March 17, we are holding our annual St Patrick’s Day supper at the Adanac Hall. We decided to change it up for this year and we hope you will come to support us. We are serving some good old beef stew with biscuits, scones or buns, and a very good salad, and some great tasting desserts. The cost is $10 a plate and the tickets are on sale, so contact Bill Meek or Jim Sego for tickets.
There will be entertainment too, so a very fun filled evening is planned with lots of great food. Hope to see you there and remember we only have 80 tickets for sale.
We are also in the need of someone for summer staff. This entails tours/guiding; cleaning of buildings, a few office duties and maybe some gardening/watering. Our senior summer worker will unfortunately be away in May and maybe into June before she will be back to do some of the office/donation duties. If you are interested, please send us your resume, ASAP, to UDHM at Box 852, Unity, SK. S0K 4L0.
Resumes should be in before April 15 for interviews. The hours during the month of May will be longer as the buildings need to be prepared for opening day, then you will work 2-5 p.m. weekdays. We hope to get volunteers to do the weekends so the museum can be open seven days a week.
Quite a few long-time projects were completed last year at the museum, but there are always other projects added. Our two one-room schools need some TLC. The stucco needs to be crack-filled, then painted before we end up doing some major reno’s on them. The trim on them also need some painting done. We just need to find some able bodied workers for this project as our members are unable to this job alone.
The men at the shop also have a few projects lined up for this year – some tree stump removals, spraying of machinery row and tidying up at the south end of the grounds. Some of the boardwalk needs to be replaced as the bottom runners have rotted away, and then there is the July 1 celebration events that need to be planned as that is fast approaching. So there is much to plan and do.
We are still looking for new members so, if you are interested, please contact one of the museum members to see what it entails. It includes things such as attending monthly meetings, volunteering at said functions in whatever capacity you can to help us out or just being the best PR person you can be for UDHM and the Town of Unity. Our grounds and buildings are a Saskatchewan Attraction and a part of Tourism Saskatchewan, and we are very proud of them.
We do look forward to seeing and hearing from you this summer. Your support is very much appreciated. Thank you from Unity and District Heritage Museum.
Sochi, Russia was not the only place people were attempting to prove who was fastest and strongest in February. Parkview Place in Unity, SK, held their own Olympic Games the week of Feb. 17.
To open the games, Victoria McCubbing, 100-years-plus, carried the torch into the common area, escorted by Cst. Tufts dressed in his formal RCMP red serge uniform. The torch “burned” bright all week.
Instead of representing countries, residents were divided into two teams – North Parkview and South Parkview. North Parkview was the overall winner with 349 points at the end of the week, to South Parkview’s 318.
The “Olympic flame” burns brightly in the lobby at Parkview Place Feb. 20. Residents seen in the background are competing in carpet bocci.
There were six events, spread out over the week. Parkview Place manager, Sharon Del Frari described them: “Bean bag baseball was very challenging. Extra points for a home run (5) and 2 points for getting the opposing team’s player ‘out’ and 1 point per base. Next was carpet bocci, harder than it sounds. Ladder toss went over very well. Over the weekend was puzzle building. Each team had a 1,000 piece puzzle to do. South Parkview managed to finish their’s by 9 a.m. on Monday morning!”
Two walking events bookended the week, one Feb. 17 and one Feb. 24. Extra points were given for using the treadmill and for walking outside.
RCMP Cst. Macdonald attended the closing ceremonies Feb. 24, which included a medal presentation, cake and coffee.
Despite the cold and snow, Parkview residents were able to get together to enjoy some new challenges, camaraderie and exercise, and now they even all have Olympic medals to show for it!
With as many seated at the tables as possible without violating fire code regulations, some 300-plus people enjoyed pan-fried pike, moose roast, ginger venison, elk sausage and other wild game meats along with salads, baked potatoes and buns, at the Unity Community Centre Feb. 1.
The annual wildlife supper, put on by the Unity branch of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, is entirely prepared by volunteers who start preparations days ahead of the event. The calibre of the meal is evident from the sell-out of tickets each year.
Along with serving supper, club members do some fundraising with silent auction items, line draws and many raffle prizes. Memberships are also sold at the event. Each year, the Unity wildlife club sponsors a bursary for a graduating student. The club stocks Scott reservoir with rainbow trout and pays the power bill to keep the reservoir aerated. Donations have also been made to community projects such as long term care and emergency measures.
Antlers and heads from the 2013 hunting season were mounted on a wall at the front of the hall. The comment was made that, although there had been complaints there weren’t much in the way of “big” antlers last fall, the display put the lie to that statement.
When it came time for the hunting and fishing awards, Tania Heck and Ed Lantz were each called to the podium twice. Heck had both the largest elk, with a score of 333 7/8, and the largest ladies’ whitetail deer, typical, scoring at 111 2/8. Lantz had the largest goose with a 13-pound, 14-ounce bird and the largest rainbow trout which weighed in at 5.01 pounds.
Also taking home trophies for their hunting prowess were the following club members: Lee McGonigle, largest typical whitetail, 150 2/8; Glen Heitt, largest non-typical whitetail, 137 5/8; Omer Desmarais, largest non-typical mule deer, 195; Debbie Baldwin, largest ladies’ mule deer, 176, non-typical; Bill Rissling, largest seniors’ whitetail, 149 3/8, typical; Brianna Elder, largest juniors’ mule deer, 131 2/8, typical; Scott Purcell, largest archery trophy, 156 3/8, non-typical whitetail and Kurt Elder, largest moose, 132 2/8.
A number of fishing prizes went unawarded. Other than Lantz, the only other winner was Dylan Ganter with the largest jackfish, weighing 18 pounds and three ounces.
Blake Fly came from Toronto, Ontario, to Unity, Saskatchewan, to motivate, inspire, challenge and encourage.
Fly, author, speaker and music maker, spoke to Grade 7 to 10 students from Unity Composite High, McLurg High, Luseland and Macklin schools, at Unity Comp, Feb. 4. He had students clapping, hissing to imitate a snare drum, making suggestions, cheering and listening intently during his presentation on how to make going to high school a better experience.
Fly used his own high school experiences to illustrate his lessons.
One lesson was to focus on quality of friends, not quantity. Having at least one really good friend is especially important today. “There is no separation between life at school and life outside of school because your online life trumps both.”
Fly talked about surrounding yourself with nudgers as much as possible. Nudgers are people who encourage you to move towards your dreams and goals; judgers stomp on your dreams. Hanging out with judgers “makes for stress and drama and stuff you don’t need.”
Surrounding yourself with nudgers, on the other hand, makes you feel good and can help you achieve your goals. Peer pressure can be amazing “as long as you are pressuring amazing things,” Fly said.
He encouraged the students to become nudgers. “If you want to make your life in school about getting attention and hurting people in the process, okay, I can’t stop you. But … you can still get attention but make people feel amazing in the process. And with technology, when you add that into the mix, that is like just this massive machine to make people feel special if you choose to use it that way.”
Fly asked the students if there was something they loved to do outside of school that could contribute to school. Change and improvement doesn’t have to be all at once.
“When you want to start something, it’s not so much about like changing the world and getting everybody on board. Rather it’s about getting somebody’s attention in some small way, even if it’s totally random, and then doing something with those people – moving them towards something that might improve their own school experience, their own social life, their own outlook on this thing called life.”
When you start to share your passions, “people start to pay attention and then they connect you to opportunities so you can do more of it and maybe actually get some credit for it.”
Fly gave students a specific example of how to be a nudger, how to get attention for making people feel good rather than bad – by converting prank phone calls into thank phone calls.
“Pranks are awesome, some people think, but they often come back to haunt you and they hurt someone in the process,” he said. Making a “thank” phone call, on the other hand, still lets the caller be excited about surprising someone, but by making someone else feel good instead of bad.
After the students voted on who he should call, Fly demonstrated a thank phone call, calling his girlfriend Amanda on speaker phone. The call went to voicemail and he left a message thanking her for being his girlfriend and letting her know how much he appreciated and loved her.
“You can get attention by making people feel amazing, not just by putting people down,” he concluded. Even something as simple as a second of eye contact in the hallways, instead of always looking at your feet or your phone, can help someone feel validated and recognized – “so they know you know they exist.”
The video of Blake Fly’s presentation is online at http://streaming.lskysd.ca/ (copy and paste link into your browser bar).
(From information submitted by museum board representative)
We have some serious concerns at the Unity and District Heritage Museum (UDHM). Over the past few years our membership numbers have dropped fast and no other people are coming forward to pick up the torch.
Our membership is down to 12-15 people and only a quarter of these show up for meetings. We had 36 members in 2013 and in 2014 we are down to 13 members. Can we survive?
Due to a lack of volunteers, no brunches were scheduled for the end of 2013. We started them Jan. 12, and plan to have them each Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until the end of April, but we are still low on volunteer numbers.
Of our life members, the people who started the museum up, we only have seven left and only one of these still works at the museum. The other six have done their part and were hoping others would step forward and take over for them but so far this has not happened.
We have such interesting buildings and such special donations from local families. Everything we have, school books, Bibles, household items, clothing, dolls, military, etc., is a reflection of our town and surrounding area. Everyone has a bit of family history here, but for what if we let it die and rot away?
The sod house at the Unity and District Heritage Museum.
We have a wonderful museum. Visitors are impressed by how much we have for such a small town. When they hear all the items have been donated, not bought, they are even more impressed.
We need some new blood, younger generations who want to see these items cared for and cherished so others can enjoy them in the future. There is so much that could be done to make the museum the talk of Saskatchewan, but we need more members. You can’t depend on just four or five people to keep it going alone. They are getting tired and are feeling unappreciated.
We are asking for your help. Come and join our membership and give your voice and vote to what goes on at this museum. Please join us, and pay the dues — they will not break you: $2 for a year, $5 for three years. Attend the monthly meetings where programs, events and fundraisers can be discussed and planned. Let us keep this museum open for our future.
Our executive members – Bill Meek (president), Gorden McLean (vice-president) and Jim Sego (secretary) – will answer any questions you have about UDHM.
We do appreciate all this town does do for us but we also see a grim future. We hope this knowledge of our situation will inspire some of you to help us by being museum members willing to become involved at UDHM.
P.S. If you are interested in a part-time summer job as a tour guide from 2-5 p.m., four to five days a week, please send us your resume to Box 852, Unity. The summer season is fast approaching.
Do you know somebody who makes Unity a better place, or a business celebrating a milestone anniversary? The honouree list for Celebrate Unity 2014 is being finalized so if you have a suggestion or nomination, please contact committee chair, Gerald Hauta at 306-228-2688 or, by email, Gerald.hauta@unitycu.ca. You can also use the comment form on the chamber webpage: http://unitystories.com/chamber-of-commerce/.
Some individuals will be honoured for exemplary service, new businesses and those celebrating special anniversaries will be congratulated and committees who have hosted provincial events will be recognized.
The gala evening, put on by the Unity and District Chamber of Commerce, will include a catered supper, the recognition/celebration program, a service auction and entertainment.
Hoja, the three-man cappella group who performed to rave reviews at Celebrate Unity last year, is returning for the 2014 event which will be held at the Unity Community Centre March 3. Hoja sings virtually every style of music, as well as vocalizing instrument sounds and other noise effects.
Last year’s Celebrate Unity audience was captivated by the talent of this Calgary, Alta., group. As the chamber-sponsored celebratory evening is open for any and all community members to attend, Celebrate Unity 2014 event is your chance to hear Hoja’s amazing talents live and in person if you missed out last year – or to enjoy them again if you were lucky enough to be in the audience last year.
Businesses and individuals willing to donate time and talent for this year’s service auction are asked to contact Geraldine Barrett at 306-228-2808 or, by email, sunrisewellnessspa@sasktel.net. Service items auctioned off last year included a half day of housecleaning, holiday decorating, cakes made to order and an afternoon of yardwork.
Celebrate Unity is your chance to come and celebrate the successes of your friends and neighbours, hear talented visiting musicians and bid on unique auction items.
Tickets for Celebrate Unity 2014 will soon be available – watch for ads and posters. In the meantime, mark March 3 in your calendar!
Look for:
And as always check out the ads for specials at local businesses, job opportunities and upcoming events.
(After Wednesday’s high winds, people reported ice fishing shacks rolling across the lakes of the North West region, flagpoles down, grain bins blown away and other wind-related damage. This farm shelter belt didn’t suffer much damage but the photograph only shows a small portion of the pine cones from the spruce trees scattered everywhere by the end of the day.)
With the many smiling, friendly Filipino faces around town making this tragedy seem a little closer to home than half a world away, it didn’t take long for the citizens of Unity to respond to the crisis in the Philippines caused by typhoon Haiyan Nov. 8. The typhoon killed thousands of people and has displaced millions.
Some of Unity’s Filipinos were spearheading drives to assist people in their homeland, but their efforts were supplemented by many other individuals and organizations stepping up to help out.
Clothing, bottled water, blankets and other physical goods were collected and are on their way to the affected areas.
Mary Ann Cojuangco, collecting money for the babies of her Philippine hometown, poses with Morag Riddell, UPS teacher who organized a coin drive at the school.
Mary Ann Cojuangco lost her uncle in the storm, and her hometown of Catalogan in Samar province was hit. Tacloban is the largest city wiped out by typhoon Haiyan and much of the relief efforts are focused there but Catalogan is a long way from Tacloban.
She was worried about the babies of the town. With no milk available, the babies were being given coffee and so Mary Ann started to ask people for money that she could send to her common law to buy milk and other necessities for the babies and children of her home community.
Unity Public School students collected enough coins to spell out the word Philippines across the gym floor.
Unity Public School held a coin drive and collected enough money to spell out the word Philippines in large letters on the gym floor. The Unity Credit Union sent staff to the school to sort and roll the coins, Nov. 22. The total amount collected and donated by UPS students and staff was $1,072; $300 of this was given to Mary Ann for the babies.
Mary Ann and her friends also organized a garage sale at Parkview Place Nov. 30. Staff and students from St. Peter’s School collected and donated many garage sale items for the event, as well as giving the proceeds from their November sub lunch sale to “help the babies.” Garage sale donations came from Parkview staff and other community residents as well. They raised $1,205.
The garage sale organized by Filipino residents for typhoon relief efforts had a little bit of everything – Christmas items, clothing, household goods, toys, etc.
Mary Ann was able to send $1,750 to Catalogan Dec. 2.
Myrma Balagdas is another Unity resident whose family was affected by typhoon Haiyan. She knew her family might be in trouble when she was unable to reach any of her family for the first week after the storm. “I was very worried,” she said.
Thankfully Myrma’s family is all right but seven members and their families lost their homes, seven homes. There is nothing left; everything is broken. These family members, including Myrma’s nieces, nephews, two brothers and a sister, have moved into two remaining homes of relatives – making 21 people living in one house and 17 in another.
They’ve been told it will be three to five months before power is restored, which Myrma says makes it very difficult to communicate. Sometimes they make a trip to another city to charge their cellphones. They are using candles and gas for light.
Water is not a problem in Roxas Capiz but obtaining enough food to feed everyone is difficult. Although the government provides relief rations, it is limited per household. With all the extra people in the two houses, the food handed out is not enough. Meanwhile food prices have doubled.
Myrma said people in Unity, “Canadians and Filipinos both” gave her money to send to her family. She has already sent that money to the family and it was much appreciated as they try to survive and rebuild their lives.
Besides sending money directly to affected family and neighbours of Unity residents, community members and organizations have been making donations to the Red Cross, specifically targeted for Philippine disaster relief.
Unity Composite High School students organized a hotdog and cupcake sale, generating close to $900, which they sent to the Philippines through the Red Cross. Student fundraising for relief efforts is continuing through the sale of Knitwit toques.
St. Peter’s Parish had a special collection. The Knights of Columbus are also raising money to help out. The UCW, United Church Women, made a donation and held a well-attended stew luncheon Nov. 29 with proceeds marked for Philippine relief. The regular long term care monthly fundraising barbecue at the Unity Health Centre, also well-attended, donated their Nov. 29 proceeds.
Other groups, organizations and businesses along with many individuals also have helped with money and item donations. These examples are only examples – to show how the long-time Canadian and newer Filipino communities of Unity have rallied to help.
Donations for the Red Cross, specifically directed to Philippine typhoon relief, are still being accepted at the Unity Credit Union, as well as Luseland Credit Union in Luseland and Innovation Credit Union in Wilkie. The Canadian government will match all such donations made before Dec. 9, and the credit unions will continue to collect donations until Dec. 13.
We Day, the multi-media, multi-speaker event held to motivate and empower young people, was held in Saskatoon November 6. Students from 325 Saskatchewan schools – including Unity Composite High School, McLurg High School, Luseland School and St. Peter’s School – made up the audience of some 15,000.
For a detailed article on the event and additional photos, please see the November 18 issue of the Unity-Wilke Press-Herald. For response from local students who attended We Day, please see the November 25 issue of the Press-Herald.
Spencer West
“Anything is possible.”
Born without legs, Spencer West shared his story with the We Day audience. As he explains on his Facebook page, “As a kid, every time I went out, whether to the grocery store or a restaurant, people would point and whisper, ‘Where’s that guy’s body? Where’s his legs? He looks crazy!’
“Nobody even asked me my name first. People were seeing my disability, instead of me. So I changed my story a bit. When asked, ‘Where are your legs?’ I would say, ‘I left them in my other pants’ or ‘I was swimming in the ocean and this shark swam up and BIT THEM RIGHT OFF!’ If I could get them to laugh, people were forced to see me as a person.”
A trip to Kenya gave West a moment of incredible insight. “Upon my arrival I was surrounded by swarms of school kids, who bombarded me with questions about my life. A little girl raised her hand and said, ‘I didn’t know this sort of thing happened to white people, too.’
“Suddenly, I understood that instead of trying to be like everyone I was different for a reason. I was different because I needed to show others that it doesn’t matter what your abilities are or where you come from in the world. If you work hard, never give up and laugh a lot, you can achieve anything. Now, as a motivational speaker for Me to We, I’ve spoken to audiences around the world about courage, shark attacks and making a difference.”
Martin Luther King III
Flanked by brothers and Free The Children co-founders Marc and Craig Kielburger, Martin Luther King III addresses the students, teachers and parents gathered for the Nov. 6, 2013 edition of We Day in Saskatoon.
Martin Luther King III is the oldest son of the late Martin Luther King Jr. Images and portions from his father’s “I have a dream” speech were played on large video screens several times during We Day in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the speech.
King told the students his father used to say, “You can be a thermometer or you can be a thermostat.” In other words, do you want to change things or just record them? King had everyone raise their voice in chanting, “Spread the word, have you heard? All across our nation, we are going to be a great generation.”
Magic Johnson
NBA legend Magic Johnson told the audience that when he was a child, his mother sent him out to shovel the driveways of elderly neighbours. While he didn’t really appreciate that at the time, later “I realized they were teaching me to give back, to help mankind.”
Johnson asked the students to change their schools, change their communities, help their neighbours. “The greatest person that I know is a person who always helps somebody else. That’s the coolest person on earth,” he said.
Taylor Devos
Taylor Devos is from small-town Saskatchewan and is “1 kid making a difference.” At the age of 12, she stood with microphone in hand and told the packed Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon how determined she is to raise enough money to build a school in Haiti.
Starting when she was 10 years old with the sale of T-shirts and bracelets, along with holding small events in her hometown of Porcupine Plain, Taylor is nearing her goal of $15,000. As of We Day in Saskatoon, Nov. 6, she has already raised $12,700.
Bill Doyle, Potash Corp CEO
Craig Kielburger discusses food security with Potach Corp. president Bill Doyle.
Bill Doyle, president and CEO of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc., spoke about the importance of food security. He explained that in Canada we can walk into a grocery store and see shelves and shelves of food but that’s not the case around the world. In some places, there aren’t even any grocery stores, let along ones as well stocked as ours.
“The number one requirement is to feed people each and every day before anything else can be done,” he said.
Potash Corp is sponsoring 25 scholarships for Canadian youth to visit India next summer and learn first-hand about food security in the developing world. During media interviews, co-founder of Free the Children Craig Kielburger specifically encouraged students from Saskatchewan rural and farming communities to apply for the scholarships.
Go here to apply! http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/we-youth/leadership-training-in-development/overseas/potashcorp-youth-trip-scholarship/
Donisha Prendergast
Donisha Prendergast, granddaughter of Bob and Rita Marley, spoke about love and revolution. “At the heart of every revolution is love,” she said. She also pointed out the word “revolution” has the word “evolution” in its centre.
Prendergast also spoke about overcoming difficulties and challenges. “We aren’t meant to feel the pain forever,” she said, in a reference to bullying.
“My grandparents few up in the concrete jungle of Jamaica where ‘they’ said nothing could ever grow, and today I am standing here speaking to 15,000 people about the power of love.”
For a short video from We Day featuring Shawn Desman and the Kenyan Boys Choir: http://unitystories.com/press-herald-nov18/
For more information about the work of Free the Children: http://www.freethechildren.com/
And don’t forget about the new free app for year-round motivation and ideas on how to change the world. Look for the We365 app at your favourite app store.