IT’S AN ISSUE WITH A FRIGHTENING CHARACTERISITIC

Nationally, we are starting to hear and read about more Food Bank clients showing up, who have never needed assistance previously......but find themselves, even with jobs, to be unable to feed their families after all the bills are paid. It’s a frightening reality in my opinion, because it somewhat confirms that, despite what Bay Street and Wall Street are reporting of stocks, main street is still getting the crap beat out of it, and who is paying attention? They can tell us the recession is over but the tidal wave isn’t!

While Canadians have been over-spending, during the halcyon days of the most recent real estate boom, leveraging inflated values of their holdings to expand credit, getting laid off from a job now, gives only a few weeks of wiggle room before the real damage of credit flexibility and vulnerability collide......and the Food Bank gets its newest client(s). With the current credit crisis in Europe, and more unstable conditions in the United States.....affecting us whether we fully acknowledge the impact or not, means that true confidence in the global economy is a long way from instilling anything but trepidation. To say that the shaky global market is adding to the ranks of Food Bank clientele, is a stretch of fact..... and unrealistic at present, but it may not be this way for ever. News of economic woes scare off investment and word travels fast. It may be a problem initially for the governments of Ireland and Greece, but the negativity is a cancer with great room to expand. And it is!

When we put on a fundraiser for the local Food Bank, here in Gravenhurst, run by the kindly folks of the Salvation Army, we don’t do it because of global economics or even economic news of the day. We do it because we know the local Food Banks needs are increasing every year for a wide variety of reasons, and we just want to do our part in helping our neighbors. And so far, we’re well on our way to a successful show night, on December 18th at the Gravenhurst Opera House. Please join us for a wonderful evening of music and dance.....no charge. A donation at the door would be appreciated.

Watch for more updates!

ANOTHER DONATION TO HELP US OUT FOR THE CHRISTMAS FUNDRAISER

Just to let my blog-watchers know that we are inching up slowly but steadily in donations, to help offset costs of the Christmas Variety Show, “A Night Before Christmas,” at the Gravenhurst Opera House, on Saturday, December 18th. Just this week we received news of another wonderful donation to help with the fundraiser for the Salavation Army’s community Food Bank. Each year we do this as a business sponsorship, and as a family, because we are all committed to help our neighbors in crisis, and each year we have benefitted from the support of other businesses and individuals who believe, like we do, that we must share with others in that hometown tradition which has served us well and long, since the late 1850's when the hamlet began its history in Muskoka.

We have sold tickets in the past to offset costs and raise funds but this year we decided to abandon ticket sales and go to a voluntary donation format......of both sponsorships, cash donations and non-perishable food items at the door, the night of the variety show. We weren’t sure it was going to work the way we wanted it to but so far the generosity has allowed us to move on with the show, and plan for a generous donation to the food bank. On previous occasions there was a lot of nail-biting until the final accounting was complete. This year we got the nail biting out of the way early. In the entertainment business there’s always something to worry about.....that just a tradition moreso than a negative situation.

If you can help us out with a corporate / business donation, (we will be placing with prominence, at the concert, a list of those enterprises who have helped us rent the Opera House and make a donation), please let us know as soon as possible. You can visit Andrew and Robert Currie at their music shop across the road from the Opera House, to ask about the concert and fundraising.

No donation is too small. It all goes to help keep the Food Bank shelves stocked, not just at Christmas, but throughout the year. And this is an important point we should all be aware of.......that the need is year round not just on holidays.

Thanks for your interest in this fundraising mission.....and it will be a good show with some very talented musicians.....who always volunteer to help us whenever there is a need.

WHY THE FOOD BANK?

It’s a world of despair it seems, if you are a newshound like me. I’ve always been obsessed with knowing what’s going on around me, and off in the distance. It’s why I became an historian and a reporter way back, and even though I’ve slowed down on both a tad in my elder years, I’m still as curious as ever. Admittedly the good news of the day doesn’t cancel out the bad......and of course it shouldn’t. I’m a realist and just because I refuse to acknowledge a story I don’t like, doesn’t mean it will go away or correct itself. The news about Haiti is most seriously depressing and it’s certainly a precarious day when the North and South Korea are lobbing bombs back and forth. Yet I am as much, relieved by the fact there are so many folks who are unyielding optimists, and forever compassionate, regardless the circumstances, regardless the place on earth most in need.

While many of us have sent in donations to help ravaged areas and people on this planet, we are always pleased to find out that these same folks haven’t forgotten the problems in their own home region either. And while it’s impossible to balance what should be going to Haiti, to assist with this latest disease outbreak, and what should be spent right here to help feed our citizens in need, kindness prevails despite fiscal stresses elsewhere. It is always a difficult situation to have to divide this fiscal generosity and as far as the horizon, there is need for more and better relief efforts.

We are always impressed by citizen generosity, and we know so many have tapped themselves out donating to good and important causes. And when we hold our fundraiser, on Saturday, December 18th, at the Gravenhurst Opera House.....a grand Christmas Variety Show, we won’t even ask you for a dime to come and enjoy the festivities. NO tickets will be sold. If you have the resources to offer the Salvation Army Food Bank a donation of a non-perishable food item(s) or a cash amount, we will gladly accept it on their behalf at the door. For quite a number of years now we have been able to turn over a small but significant donation to the Food Bank to help out our neighbors who have fallen on hard times. We’re hopeful this year will be the same.

It is a difficult time globally and it’s good to know we are in company of so many kind hearted folks, who have donated to aid projects all over the world.....and still offered up donations to help out their home region. Merry Christmas.

Watch for more event updates on this blogsite.

FRED SCHULZ WILL ONCE AGAIN BE MASTER OF CEREMONIES

We are pleased to be able to report that our old friend and entertainment colleague, Fred Schulz, has again agreed to be our master of ceremonies for the Saturday, Dec. 18th fundraiser for the Salvation Army Food Bank, here in Gravenhurst......, to be held of course at the Opera House. As has become a tradition itself, Fred has recorded a re-telling of “The Night Before Christmas”, as he has in the past, and it promises to be another great start to a terrific talent show “for and by the community.”

Fred has had a tough autumn season, with the passing of his mother, and we weren’t sure he was going to be able to participate in our annual Christmas Show.....so needless to say we were delighted to keep this budding tradition (of the modern era) intact.....as so many folks enjoy meeting up with Fred (the keeper of The Barge summer music program at Gull Lake) at this special time of the year to exchange greetings. He’s become the voice of our fundraising efforts locally as well as a mentor to our lads, Andrew and Robert, the show organizers, who began their own entertainment careers working with Fred many years ago on both The Barge, and at the Opera House where he was manager.

Things are shaping up and more performers are being added to the line-up. We are still looking for some corporate / business donations to offset costs of the Opera House rental.....for what will be a ticket-free event. We will be asking patrons to make a donation of cash or a non perishable food item for the Salvation Army or both if they feel so inclined but there will be no tickets required to attend.

More information on the variety night festivities coming soon to this blogsite!

FOOD BANK PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE?

HYDRO RATE INCREASES - SO TOO WILL THE FOOD BANK CLIENTELE

The disconnect between government and what’s happening in our home neighborhoods is expected, accepted and acknowledged over the decades and many past experiences.....and by the fact we know well, we, as citizens, have had to step-up and provide fundraising to help our local food bank for many years now, meet new demands. While the government, in this case provincial, fumbles through public relations protocols, and like my mother used to - give me orange juice with cod liver oil so it would taste better - you can’t fool us with the old give and then “take-back.”

Finding out this week that we will benefit from a 10 percent rebate in our ever escalating hydro bills was a nice pre-election morsel until it was revealed one day later, that we will also face a potential 46 percent increase in charges over the next five years. It’s hard to respond to something like this, other than to suggest, it will be another poverty builder in a province and country that is burdening its population to near fiscal collapse. There are many folks in our hometown who could not afford even a small increase in hydro, let alone a massive increase......which for some one on a fixed income is nothing short of debilitating. With the costs of water and taxes increasing on top of this, and food prices rising all the time, the true cost of living for real folks (not the composites illustrated by statistics alone) is becoming a serious impediment to all future success for our most vulnerable citizenry.

While it isn’t my mission to make our fundraising for the local Salvation Army Food Bank political, it really is unavoidable when you think about it. So when we wonder if our concerts, in aid of the Food Bank, are really doing any good at all, hearing news about future hydro increases for example, keeps us committed to working harder to help out our friends, and neighbors, who need the supplies the Salvation Army gathers to support an expanding clientele.

Please join us on December 18th at the Gravenhurst Opera House, in support of our community Food Bank.

CHRISTMAS VARIETY SHOW IS A JOY TO WORK ON EACH DECEMBER

It’s arguably not a Christmas tradition yet. It’s not really a Christmas pageant in keeping with those great old community events of the past but it’s in the same spirit of “coming together.” We in the Currie family think this is pretty important......because it’s what this community needs right now. A reason to come together and stop grumbling about road construction, taxes and election results, and put good neighborliness where it belongs. On Saturday, December 18, at the Gravenhurst Opera House, our boys Andrew and Robert, with the help of their mentor Fred Schulz, and Master of Ceremonies once again, will be doing their best to notch one more event onward to establish their Christmas Variety Show as a full-fledged town tradition, and making a huge attempt to fundraise for the Salvation Army Food Bank.....experiencing many new demands since this recession took hold.

Andrew and Robert, business partners in the main street music shop and studio, have been preparing their students for this Variety Show, “A Night Before Christmas” for the past six months, and many more musical friends have been volunteering to join the festivities including some talented dancers from the “Just 4 Kicks” studio in Gravenhurst.....which has really helped diversify the show’s appeal....to encourage even more folks to join a budding tradition of pre-Christmas celebration.

As an update, we are continuing to receive donations from businesses to sponsor the event, helping to defray costs of renting the Opera House. In the past it has been almost possible, under normal rental circumstances, to have much money to donate after all the required bills have been paid. This time we have opted not to have tickets for sale but to open the concert to all comers, with the request of a food item(s) or cash donation at the door, to assist our friends at the Food Bank, who work so hard to help our community 12 months each year. With donations presently, (you are welcome to join our sponsorship list for a small donation) we hope to be able to handle all concert costs before the event is held, which overall means we can submit a larger donation of food and money collected than years past. “We wanted to have our Christmas show in this elegant, historic building, but costs were hurting our capability to make it to the point we could offer much of a donation.....and as taxpayers and members of the business community, there is no way we will ask for a reduction of rental fees.....because we do understand the need to make money as well. We know we have to pay our way and we’re not in the habit of haggling for a better price. But we had to be creative in our approach, and we think we’ve found a workable solution,” says Robert. “If we can count once again, on the generosity of the citizens to help us......help the Food Bank, it will work out for everyone. And we get to carry on with a tradition at the Opera House and in the middle of the construction zone.....which should make the BIA happy we didn’t re-locate it away from the centre of town, as we have been forced to in the past.”

Our music industry friends have always been there to lend a hand, and mentor our students, and while this Christmas event will be a work of folk art more than a Rembrandt, it’s a reflection of honest goodwill, that we should come together as a community at this festive time of the year, to help our neighbors have a warm and festive season as well.

If you could offer a small donation or a non-perishable food item, you can do so in advance, by dropping in to Andrew’s Music and Collectibles,” across the road from the Opera House. And a Merry Christmas to you. Hope you can join us on December 18th.

WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT IF IT WASN’T NEEDED IN OUR COMMUNITY?

I think it would be fabulous to one day have those folks, who run the local food bank, here in Gravenhurst, to burst forth and announce to the media that there is no longer a need to supplement household groceries in our entire hometown. It’s not that we wish to close-up and cease the good work of some incredible volunteers, connected with the Salvation Army but that we could reach an illuminated, comforting horizon without such ever-expanding need.

Some folks remember when we didn’t have a food bank, and wonder aloud why we need one at all. There are critics who believe the food bank is being taken advantage of, and that if it wasn’t an available service, people in need would find another way to acquire food items.....just like they did in the old days. Truth is, there will always be critics and ignorance when it comes to appreciating the many reasons our food bank is of great importance to the well being of our friends and neighbors. It would be difficult to convince all the disbelievers out there, unless of course they were to volunteer at the food bank, to see for themselves, the need that presents itself every day, every week, every month that these present-day volunteers spend worrying about having enough supplies to carry on.

In the past, the town hall in this town, was less than a full block away from the Salvation Army operated Food Bank, yet it might as well have been miles away, for what it received in recognition. I could not be mayor of Gravenhurst, or a councillor, and not be awfully concerned about the work-load and demand at the Food Bank. It’s the welfare of our friends and neighbors unfolding over there, and it is the business of Gravenhurst Council to be aware and concerned about the increasing problems folks here are facing as a matter of day to day living. While it’s damn easy to get a politician to stand-in for a grip and grin snapshot, cutting a ribbon or co-handling a spade-handle for the media photographers, it’s another thing to find a councillor wandering into the Food Bank inner sanctum on a fact finding mission. Not just at Christmas either.....and not as a media event....but because it is an important component of our town, now and in the future. You can’t possibly fix what impedes this town from doing better economically, without clearly understanding the shortfalls that exist.....which don’t mirror prosperity but rather warn about many impending social-economic problems yet to come. With town hall now further away, they can visually miss the activity at the Food Bank most of the time. No matter how high and mighty council might feel.....having just won a popularity contest in our hometown, a sobering reality is that we need the daily help of the Salvation Army to help ourselves. What if we didn’t have the Salvation Army in our midst? Will they stay here forever? It’s starting to look like a forever situation. We should understand how potentially dangerous this is, placing so much pressure on one organization to keep up with need. We all should pay attention to this growing trend of disadvantage, as recessionary times become the norm. While it would seem that building new plazas and box stores would help ease unemployment, there are many, many other situations that contribute to shortfalls, illness and fixed incomes as examples.

Please come out and support the Salvation Army Food Bank, by attending our upcoming Christmas Variety Show at the Opera House, on Saturday, December 18th......featuring some talented performers and old friends of our annual December fundraisers, courtesy of musicians Andrew and Robert Currie , and their many music students who are always willing to help put on a good show for a great cause. Donations of non perishable food items will be accepted as admission, cash donations always welcome. Sponsorships are also needed, if your business would like to contribute to offsetting the cost of the Opera House rental.

Watch this blog site for more updates on the concert line-up.

WE WANT TO HELP OUR FRIENDS - IT’S WHAT HOMETOWNERS DO!

When our family was working hours on end, to come up with a business plan for son Andrew, initially, we had a particularly difficult decision to make. With family links and quite a bit of history, we came very close to locating Andrew Currie’s Music and Collectables on the main street of Bracebridge. When we bandied ideas about, my main concern for our two enterprising sons, was that they be comfortable with their environs right off the bat. And that meant being ready to make accommodations as well, to start modestly, and prove beyond doubt, Gravenhurst could support a music shop. My suggestion to them was that they should be a “hometown” business, not a city-slick, franchise-style outlet but rather a welcoming, friendly meeting place that evoked light-heartedness at the same time as turning a profit. They knew it was important to represent hometown values and be an enterprise our customers would feel was willing to go the distance, to satisfy a request, make a needed repair, provide lessons to a wide range of students young and old, and be a fun place to spend time browsing or just chatting.

I can’t tell you how proud we are that both Andrew and Robert, who owns Robert Currie’s Music, have lived up to their own demands, their own expectation, and have worked hard to make their humble, interesting little shop, a credit to the entertainment opportunities in Gravenhurst. It wasn’t easy as there were many obstacles and many crossroads in the past several years. We heard about a competitor who actually told a business neighbor he wanted to scoop up our customers for himself, and advertise in the gentleman’s shop......and we’re delighted to say he was told in no uncertain terms, that “those boys” are my friends, and they do a good job. This has happened on a few occasions, and on each, the interloper has been informed Andrew and Robert are tough competitors and are planning for a long business relationship with Gravenhurst.

Part of their early commitment, and they have never missed a year, was to play a role in helping the community help itself. They have participated in many fundraisers, their favorites being both the Gravenhurst Salvation Army Food Bank and The Barge, on Gull Lake, that they have raised funds for each summer, to assist with the operation budget. With their friends and associate musicians, they have made a long term commitment, to put hometown values where they should be.......and for them that means staging a community concert. As hometown businessmen, they insist on giving back to the community that has helped them flourish. When there’s a need, well, there are some keen musicians, like Ginger Graham, always ready to join the project.

Watch for more updates on this blog site as we approach the Christmas fundraising concert for the Food Bank, on Saturday, December 18, at the Gravenhurst Opera House.

LOCAL MUSICIANS TO HELP GRAVENHURST FOOD BANK ONCE AGAIN

On Saturday, December 18th, at the Gravenhurst Opera House, my lads have planned yet another Christmas season fundraiser for the local Salavation Army Food Bank, and I couldn’t be more delighted as a parent or as a citizen of this town. What makes this even more significant, is the fact they have found a wonderful group of area musicians who are willing, numerous times a year, to offer their services to fundraise for the good of the community.

This year Andrew and Robert are trying something different at the Opera House......they’re getting sponsorships to cover the cost of the rental of the theatre, and will hopefully have the required fee paid before the event is staged. It has always been a fiscal worry, trying to cover the costs of the annual Christmas fundraiser; and we are not the kind of folks who expect discounts or who would even think of trying to beat down an asking price, especially when that affects our tax revenue. With recent “added fees” taken from ticket sales however, the only way we could use this venerable old building.....which has so elegantly hosted so many, many Christmas shows in the past, is for us to open admission to the one night event on a donation basis, whether non-perishable food items for the food bank, or cash donations at the door, or both. We know we can count on this community to support our local musicians, and our all-important food bank service, kindly provided by the folks at the Salvation Army.

Watch this blog for updates on the entertainment planned for the evening.

CAN WINTER BE FAR AWAY

Standing out on the embankment, this morning, overlooking the brown, soft weave of grasses down in the autumn-season Bog,.....listening to the gusts of wind wheezing through the evergreens, and its moan from the hollow of lakeside, makes the watcher in the woods feel very isolated and cold......even though today I can clearly see the little homes that line the road of our neighborhood. It is a haunting scene none the less, yet one that evokes such strong feelings of life and after-life, as this place experiences the gradual, profound change of seasons. I could stand out here for hours, watching the transitions, awaiting the first wind-burst spirals of new snow, to dance through Robert Frost’s poetic Birches, and Washington Irving’s literary haunted hollow. I don’t mind the wind cutting through my jacket or the tips of my toes starting to tingle. I am transfixed by nature’s subtle changes, moment by moment, the play of light and shadow, on occasion when the sun pokes through the November cloud-cover, and then the violent gusts that rip down boughs and sweep these bog grasses close to the earth, covering the still-trickling brooks that tumble down the elevations toward the lakeshore.

At moments the sudden silence allows you to hear, ever so faintly, like the flow of life itself, the crystalline fall of a miniature cataract, somewhere in the midst of this quagmire of pre-history. It is at this time of the rolling year, I most celebrate the seasons. Most of my writing and art contemporaries have little use for this dull month, of lesser contrasts and much less inspiration. I find it compelling for those very reasons, and accept its characteristics with humble appreciation. I can sit here, on a fallen log, and make notes for most of the morning, and be willing to return in the afternoon if conditions are not too harsh for the woodland voyeur.

It is such a pleasure to have this oasis amidst the urban progress of the day. This is the way I choose to spend my free time in Gravenhurst.