*Insert project here* (Note: DJ will be posting the soundslide as I cannot)
Mar
24
Feb
24
Local Support Agencies in Demand
By Ashliegh Gehl
Local support agencies are struggling to meet an increase in service demands.
Ruth Ingersoll has seen first hand how fast the services at the Community Development Council of Quinte are being tapped. She started working with the baby box program 11 years ago and now she’s the director of community engagement.
Last October, Ingersoll said the agency noticed a huge demand in the program.
“In Bancroft, in the north, we’ve seen a huge increase in the past month of baby box use there,” she said.
Feb
24
City Councillors Differ on Homeless Shelter
By Ashliegh Gehl
City Councillor Garnet Thompson sees the need for a men's shelter in Belleville. Photo by Ashliegh Gehl
A local city councillor says Belleville’s homelessness situation is not severe, but the need for a shelter is still there.
Garnet Thompson has been a councilor since 2006 and has been trying to bring a men’s shelter to the city.
“We do have a homeless situation in Belleville,” he said. “We’re not sure what the numbers are yet, but we know that there’s people sleeping on the street because we get those requests coming into social services.”
Thompson said the city doesn’t have hard numbers due to the transient nature of homelessness.
Feb
24
Sleeping Out for Homelessness
By Christine Hosler
On cold winter nights people think about their warm beds, hot meals and just staying indoors. But for those who don’t have that option, the nights, days and weeks stretch out before them.
“Homelessness is a very serious issue that needs to be brought to the forefront of everyone’s mind,” said JJ Gascho, a social service worker student from Loyalist College. “It’s not going to help itself by simply hiding in corners and in alleyways.”
Gasho was among the 150 participants, the annual “Sleep out so others can sleep in” event to raise awareness about homelessness in Belleville. And this year’s event was bigger and raised more money than the last. Over $11, 000 was raised, including donations given during the event.
A surprise visit by Todd Smith, MPP for Prince-Edward Hastings was just in time to present the Mental Health Association with a $42, 000 provincial grant. Organizers announced that the money will be used in part to hire more staff, which organizers say is definitely needed.
Feb
24
The New Face of Poverty
By Ashliegh Gehl
Heather Barker, 28, is a Loyalist College graduate struggling to make ends meet. Photo by Ashliegh Gehl
Heather Barker knows what it’s like to live in poverty.
Less than two years ago she was living off of a jar peanut butter, unable to pay her hydro bill.
“I’d fill my bathtub up in the morning and at night time it would be the right temperature that I could have a bath before I went to sleep, because I couldn’t take a shower,” said Barker. “It was just way too cold, there was no hot water.”
In the fall of 2010, Barker was a student in the new international support worker program at Loyalist College. For the first month and half of her studies, she was doing her homework by candlelight. She didn’t have the funds to turn on the lights.
Feb
02
The makings of a men’s shelter
By Ashliegh Gehl
City Councillor Jodie Jenkins knows what it takes to get a men’s homeless shelter up and running in Belleville.
In Nov. 2007, before he was a councillor, Jenkins started to formulate a pilot project for a shelter near the downtown.
“It’s the kind of thing where sometimes the city, to a certain degree at that time, wasn’t too keen on having a homeless shelter in that location,” said Jenkins.
Two months later he occupied the old Knights of Columbus Hall near Moira and Sydney Street and started taking in men who needed a place to sleep. Jenkins said there was a lot of red tape to make the shelter operational.
Jan
26
DocFest coming to Belleville
By Jennifer Bowman
Organizers hope a documentary film festival in Belleville will get people talking about big issues.
Gary Magwood, an organizer of Downtown DocFest, said the plan is to feature up to 20 international film documentaries at various Belleville locations on the weekend of March 2-3.
Magwood said organizers have been working on plans for the festival for more than a year. It would be a first for Belleville, he said.
Jan
23
Light in father’s eyes inspires professor’s CD
By Mike Wobschall
Loyalist College professor Joe Callahan takes time away from his guitar to teach at the college. Photo by Mike Wobschall
After watching his father struggle through a stroke a few years back, Joe Callahan thought he’d never witness the “light” in his father’s eyes again.
Callahan’s father survived the heart scare and inspired Joe to create the title to his upcoming CD Watching the Light.
“My father had this sparkle in his eyes and I consider that to be the light,” says Callahan, a Loyalist College journalism professor. “It started out about him but then it ended up being about family and relationships.”
It has been a long work in progress for Callahan and his band. They started recording last October, but different schedules and availability made it hard to record together.
Jan
20
In Brief: United Way of Quinte surpasses goal
The United Way of Quinte raised the bar at The Empire Theatre last night.
They raised $1,806,820 last year, well above their $1.65 million targeted goal.
Jan
20
Dancer back on stage after injury
By Tiffany McEwen
Caitlin Gauweiler, 23, spent her life as a dancer, but after developing a knee injury she was forced to end her career. Now recovering from a successful surgery, Gauweiler plans to begin training herself to dance again. Photo by Tiffany McEwen.
Her gait is confident and smooth, one foot gliding dauntlessly in front of the other as she navigates the small living room to take a seat.
Looking at her, you would never guess that Caitlin Gauweiler, a dancer for 20 years, is recovering from surgery for a knee injury, one that left her unable to dance, bringing her world crashing down around her.
Gauweiler began dancing at the age of three, and it was all she ever dreamed of doing. At seven, she went to Fleetwood School of Dance in 1995, moving to Collingwood, and then on to the Quinte Ballet School in 2001. In 2009, she packed up her life and went to the School of Dance Ottawa for modern contemporary dance.
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