St. Joseph students raising money for Meals on Wheels

By Jan Harder

Barrhaven Ward Councillor

Here we are halfway through May and we are still living under a “stay at home” order.  I am sure you are just as sick of it as I am.  I yearn for the day the word COVID won’t be part of every single conversation.  I am sure you do as well.  One thing I surely know is that when we manage our way through this I intend to grab every speck of happy I can as well as not taking for granted any aspect of life particularly with my family, how about you?

Find out what is happening in your Barrhaven & City of Ottawa communities through my weekly email blast. To sign up for my email blast please email mark.bouwman@ottawa.ca.

In need of more community promotion? Send an email with what you would like to get promoted and see it in my email blast!

The Log Farm – Barrhaven

As some of you were aware, the Log Farm not be able to open the farm for their traditional spring Sugarbush visits. They were not comfortable because spring always brings line-ups and they just could not find a way to do it safely. They did have the farm open for a couple weekends with very limited number of visitors, to try and offer an outdoor area for families to enjoy themselves as safely as possible. Of course, with the latest regulations and the COVID numbers so high they have once again closed the farm until further notice.

Like last year, the Log Farm was not able to allow guests to visit their sugarbush but they did make syrup. Although not as plentiful as last year, this year’s syrup is ready and it is very good. They are once again this year offering local free contactless home delivery of their Maple syrup. All the details are at www.thelogfarm.com.

Gr. 7 students at the Virtual Academy 

Help support a fantastic student business venture for a local charity from one of the virtual grade 7 classes from St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Barrhaven.

The class chose to work with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal of HUNGER. They chose to have Meals on Wheels Ottawa as their charity and have produced an amazing digital cookbook and are selling it here:

https://bakingadifference.myshopify.com/.

Enjoy some new recipes and delicious food, along with some lovely dinner music. These students have worked really hard and added a ton of creativity. Let’s support their efforts to help this important charity in need!!

These students adventure stems from the ‘The Social Entrepreneurs Program’. The Social Entrepreneurs Program pairs educators with volunteer business mentors, such that the students build a business venture (in this case virtually), with all profits donated to a charity. For more information click the link provided below: 

https://sites.google.com/ocsb.ca/ocsbsocialentrepreneurs

Relay for Life Committee at the Ottawa Carleton Virtual Secondary School Message

OCDSB schools are making a difference for Canadians living with cancer by hosting a Relay for Life event in support of the Canadian Cancer Society.

Relay for Life is a community based fundraising event run by many schools that raises money to fund game-changing research in all cancers. On May 28th, our team will be hosting a Relay For Life event with several schools across the Ottawa Carleton District School Board from 2-4pm. Relay For Life is important to us because we want to fund Canada’s most promising and ground-breaking research against all cancers, as well as make a difference in our community. Our event is helping those living with cancer get to life-saving treatment appointments and providing access to other key support programs.

We are asking you for any kind donations to support our event. Your donation and support will go a long way to help us to achieve our fundraising goal of $10,000 to the Canadian Cancer Society. We would appreciate any sort of donation, for example, gift cards or items as could be given away as incentives to attend our event. With your help, we can make this goal a reality, as we work together to create a world where no Canadian fears cancer. Message Kelly Pham at kpham1@ocdsb.ca for more information. 

uOttawa Medical Students GoFundMe Initiative to support Ottawa’s ICU staff

“At the University of Ottawa Medical School, we have organized a local fundraising initiative to raise money for the purchase and distribution of PPE for healthcare professionals in Ottawa and surrounding areas…The supplier we are using is a new supplier who received CDC certification for N95 production. Unfortunately, at this time the supplier is only able to give us masks and gloves…This is not a supplier that would otherwise supply to hospitals. He is not taking new clients, so our fundraiser is a way for these PPE resources to be diverted to the TOH hospital. All donations made to our campaign go towards purchasing and distributing PPE to those healthcare professionals with the greatest need. Funds are being collected through our GoFundMe page (gf.me/u/xsggwh). Since hearing about this campaign, other medical schools in Ontario have joined our initiative to protect our healthcare workers across the province by fundraising in their local communities as well. ” – University of Ottawa Medical Students.

Committee hears about Civic Campus plans from The Ottawa Hospital

The City’s Finance and Economic Development Committee received a presentation from the Ottawa Hospital outlining development plans for its new Civic Campus.

The Ottawa Hospital has completed the next stage of planning for the campus and plans to open in 2028 as one of the largest and most advanced hospitals in Canada. The facility will serve Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec and Nunavut.

The Ottawa Hospital has submitted stage two of the Capital Planning Process to the Ontario Ministry of Health for development of the new campus. As part of the follow-up to that submission, The Ottawa Hospital presented to the Committee today, sharing the proposed design. The Ottawa Hospital will also organize consultations in the coming months to give the public opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback on the proposal.

The new campus will house the most advanced trauma centre in Ottawa. The main hospital building, including the emergency department and the inpatient and outpatient clinics, will sit atop the escarpment across from Dow’s Lake. Additional clinic space, medical offices, research and education buildings and a parking garage will be located on the lower portion of the site, connected to nearby Dow’s Lake Station.

The project is estimated to cost $2.8 billion. Construction of the project will help drive the regional economy, creating an estimated 20,000 jobs along with research and training opportunities and health investments. Once open, it will offer world class health care in Eastern Ontario that will attract health care providers, researchers and students from around the world.

Crime Prevention Ottawa – Webinar Series

In Ottawa, Canada and the U.S., there have been many successful models for responding to mental health crises. We invite you to this webinar series to learn what is currently being done in response to mental health crisis situations.
Each event in the series will feature one approach to a mental health crisis response, with a presentation highlighting how and why it was developed, how it works and the lessons learned. A Q&A will follow the presentation.
To register for this free event visit www.ocphe.ca/webinars. You will not need to register separately for each event, one registration gives you access to the whole series.
  
Webinar 3
May 19, 2021, 12noon -1pm ET
CAHOOTS in Eugene-Springfield, Oregon
Guest Speaker: Berkley Carnine

To learn more about the series and to register, visit: www.ocphe.ca/webinars


Help During Self Isolation

Do you need help during self-isolation? Call 2-1-1 for information on resources from the Community and Social Services Line.

Do you need a space to self-isolate safely?

The Voluntary Isolation Centre (VIC) is for people who do not have access to an adequate shelter or cannot self-isolate safely in their own homes. To find out more or to apply please call 613-580-2424 ext. 25890 or email OPHisolationcentre@ottawa.ca.

Here are some resources that might help:

  • Access to food: goodfoodottawa.ca
  • Access to mental wellness support: counsellingconnect.org
  • Supports for seniors & adults with a disability: communitysupport.covidresponse.ca
  • Delivery of food & supplies – Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre: 613-591-3686
  • CRB- Canada Recovery Benefits information & support – Service in English & Arabic: Email hanadi.alashi@occsc.org or fidaa.osman@occsc.org