Times Reporter

 

We rest our head on them, and they make our pillows and bedrooms look nicer, but how many people have seen a pillowcase as much more than that? One woman has a goal to collect 1,000 pillowcases and turn them into sundresses for girls in Haiti before 2012 is finished. 

“I met a lady last June at a convention where my husband and I were and she was demonstrating this, and I thought what a neat idea,” said Pearl Reimer. 

The woman was Valerie Fields, who is making and sending the dresses to Haiti through her sister’s church, the Dallas Barnhartvale Baptist Church in Kamloops, B.C.

Fields first made a pillowcase dress after her daughter-in-law requested one for her daughter. When Field’s sister found out about it, it turned into a way to help people in need.

“My sister in Kamloops, her church, they have people going to Haiti regularly to a mission there, so my sister said ‘I need to know how to make these pillowcase dresses because that’s something I can do, because I couldn’t go to Haiti, it’s too hot and I would melt,’” said Fields. 

Reimer started collecting her own pillowcases after talking to Fields, and was anxious to get started. Like any goal, sometimes life gets in the way and it gets put off for a while. 

The pillowcases sat in her basement until Jan. 15 of this year when her husband was sick. Reimer came across the pillowcases when looking for something to do. 

After finishing the first 20 dresses she decided she could do more and that’s when she came up with the goal of 1,000 dresses in 2012.  There are flyers up around town, and at the schools, asking people to donate their old pillowcases. 

“The thing is, a little pillowcases, who doesn’t have a pillowcase, or what’s the cost of a pillowcase? It’s so minimal and yet to those little girls in Haiti it’s going to be worth much more than it is to us. Our sacrifice is small compared to their joy,” said Reimer. 

“The printed pillowcases are the best. Because of the print, the dirt doesn’t show as quickly, but I take solid colours too.”

The dresses come as varied as the pillowcase are, and each is the size of the pillowcase itself. It takes approximately 15 minutes to make one dress, and there is very little scrap left. 

Reimer has worked as a professional seamstress, and loves sewing. She can’t see a better way to use her talent. 

“If I do 25 a week then I’ll meet my goal of 100 a month,” said Reimer. 

She hopes to go to Haiti one day and have a chance to see some of the girls wearing the pillowcase dresses, and personally deliver them. Reimer said anyone interested in learning how to make the dresses are more than welcome to call her and she will show them. She is also collecting donations from anyone who has a pillowcase they would like to donate. 

For more information call Pearl Reimer at 403-993-6416 or email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Times Reporter

 

A film crew for Alberta Education was in Strathmore Feb. 8 and 9 to record how a new pilot project is going in local schools. Westmount Elementary, Wheatland Elementary and Crowther Memorial Junior High have all launched the project in the area. 

“It’s a literacy pilot project where we’re looking at a process piece called 13 Parameters. Then the teachers had professional learning using First Steps in Literacy, that’s the elementary one and the Stepping Out for the junior high, so it was professional development around these resources that are based on reading strategies,” said Shelley Wells with Alberta Education. 

Teachers volunteered for training for First Steps in Literacy and Stepping Out, which are taught by Pearson Professional Learning. Both programs consist of three components: quality professional development courses, comprehensive material and school wide implementation. 

This is the second school year that the schools have been implementing the project into their course directory. At Westmount four teachers volunteered for the training. 

“It’s going very well, I think the students are really picking up learning literacy strategies, comprehension. That’s really what it is, teaching comprehension strategies to students so they understand what they are reading,” said Cori Hampson who teaches 3C at Westmount. 

Some of the strategies for First Steps include What’s Your Story, Stop and Think, Clouds of Wonder, and Character Self-Portrait. 

Some of Hampson’s Grade 2 students last year had been taught some of the learning strategies. Hampson said she is noticing a difference between those who have already been taught some of the strategies, and those who are learning them this year. 

“It doesn’t matter what level they are reading at, these strategies work for all reading levels,” said Hampson.  

The Stepping Out project is a continuation of First Steps, but for the junior high level. The project was initiated through Alberta Education in five different school jurisdictions in the province. Golden Hills School Division has 10 schools participating in the project. 

Times Reporter

 

Once again Scotiabank has shown their support for both literacy and the Marigold Library system. On Feb. 8 Brenda Cermak, with Strathmore Scotiabank, presented Michelle Toombs, director of the Marigold Library System, with books from the Giller Prize short list. This was the second year Scotiabank has donated to Marigold.

“We’re very grateful that Scotiabank has taken such a leadership role in promoting literature and authors in Canada, because our authors are a treasure, they promote art and culture but they also describe the experience that human beings have in our world,” said Toombs.

“That’s where public libraries come in too, it’s all about the user experience, and now that the public is very interested in e-books and e-readers we see that there is a lot of change happening with the way people read, what they want to read, and what kind of format they use to read.”

Marigold provides the support to make sure their 35 member libraries are successful, while continuing to be a big part of community life. 

“In many cases libraries are the only place every person in a community can go to, without being prevented from going because of age, or financial circumstances or affiliation,” said Toombs. 

Scotiabank sponsors the Giller prize every year, which sees six authors picked and voted on. The winning author this year was Esi Edugyan with the book Half Blood Blues.

In 2005 Scotiabank and the Giller Prize joined teams to create the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Giller Prize originally began in 1994, and recognizes excellence in Canadian fiction with a cash prize of $25,000, which is the largest for literature in the country. 

Times Reporter

 

After seeing the success from last year’s Family Day events, the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Our Future Coalition decided to host a Great Skate event this year on Feb. 20. 

“So we as Healthy Eating, Active Living saw that it was a great event that was well attended and it had people doing stuff rather than just sitting, so we liked that part of it,” said Leanne Sauve with HEAL. 

The goal is to get people out and being active, while spending quality time with their families. Sauve said it is basically a skating party and there will be hot chocolate, food and music, and the Remax tent will be set up. There will also be picnic benches and fire pits for families to gather around. 

“It’s just bring your skates, come out and get some exercise or activity,” said Sauve.

“If anybody doesn’t have skates they can go to Home Hardware and we have the skate swap there. So anybody who doesn’t have skates can go there and pick up skates, or if somebody has skates that they are not able to use, their kids have grown out of them or whatever, they can take them to Home Hardware.”

HEAL is hoping to make the Great Skate an annual event, and are also encouraging people to be more active on a regular basis. Sauve offered a few winter fitness suggestions like skating on Kinsmen Lake whenever it is safe, going to the public skate at the Family Centre, or bundling up and going for a walk. 

Great Skate begins at 10 a.m. at Kinsmen on Feb. 20 and will run until 4 p.m.

 

Fule for Thought

 

This column is dedicated to all the men out there (like me) who are less than handy with tools and fixing things. Just because we’re manly men, doesn’t mean we necessarily know the difference between a Robertson and a Philips screwdriver. I mean, is it fair to automatically assume we know what to do in certain mechanical or repair jobs? Sadly, I have passed this lack of knowledge onto my son, as well. Last year, on a freezing cold day, his car wouldn’t start. We lifted the hood, looked at it for a few minutes, then laughed, as neither one of us even knew what we were looking at!

Years ago, after buying our first house, I decided to go on the roof to check  our fireplace chimney. It was a really warm November morning, so it was perfect to climb up on a roof (this also should have been a warning sign!). So, I raised the extension ladder against the front of the house, and actually the ladder was upside down, so I’m still not sure how I made it to the roof. I had a trusty flatblade screwdriver (if that’s the correct name) with me. Deb was having a bubble bath upstairs … and I just realized this might actually make me sound like a “peeping tom” up there! I went straight to the chimney to unscrew the chimney cap. However, the screws on my side were “Robertson” and I had the flatblade. So, I tapped on Deb’s window to ask for a Robertson. She quickly threw on clothes and brought me one. The two screws came out easily, I was like Mike Holmes! Then I noticed that the other two were Philips screws, so once again, with the tapping. Less cheerful, Deb again brought out the right screwdriver! She tossed it up again, and I went to work. Having taken them and the cap off, I realized I had no idea what I was looking for, anyway! I mean, if you’re looking for a build up of soot, and the whole chimney is black, it’s a bit of a waste of time.

I went to the roof’s edge and attempted to move the ladder over, as I was killing Deb’s flowers. As I tried to shift the ladder over, (it being upside down), the ladder clattered and collapsed itself to shorten. In a panic, I watched the ladder topple toward our family room picture window! I couldn’t look, I just waited for the shattering glass … but there was none! The ladder had collapsed itself small enough that it fell short of the window!

So … I went with great caution to the small master bath window, to tap again. 

“What now?” Deb yelled (she was not happy!) I wondered why she was so mad, aren’t baths supposed to relax you? 

“The ladder fell!” I replied (I knew she’d be right there to help me).

“Good!” was her answer. “I’m finishing my bath!”

So, I was left to basically kill time on the roof on this sunny Saturday morning. Do you know how many people pass a house on a warm November morning … a LOT! I did everything I could up there to not look like a moron. I checked imaginary loose shingles, went back to the chimney a couple of times, I even took out the screws and replaced them again! After what seemed like hours, Debbie arrived, and she set up the ladder correctly.

I climbed down and told Debbie that the chimney was in good shape ( I had no idea, anyway … I had to save some of my ego!)  

She smiled at me, and I’m still not sure if she even believed me. My attention turned to taking apart a waterbed, and moving it to the basement (that’s another sad handy-man story!).

So, those of you out there, who believe all men should be handy, please remember my story. We “Un-Handy” men may try to fix things, but any job given to us is like building the pyramids! My latest experience was building an Eliptical exercise machine. I mean, you know it’s a bad sign when the directions estimate the construction time at two hours, and it took me an hour to get it out of the box! Deb hasn’t used it yet, but I’m buying her a helmet … just in case!

(“Fule for Thought” is a slice of life humourous column that will appear in the Strathmore Times, written by long-time resident, town councillor, high school teacher, coach, husband and father of two – Pat Fule. If you would like to get in touch with Pat, you can send him an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Times Contributor

 

AMEC Environment & Infrastructure Engineering gained the Request For Proposal (RFP) contract for roads and bridges. A process examining corporate profiles, experience, capability, familiarity with county requirements, professional staff availability and fee schedules winnowed the count down to one from 13.

The Website development contract went to CIVIC Plus. Nine of the 17 companies were rejected because they did not address the items in the scope of the proposal guidelines. A process examining the attention to the scope, experience with local and municipal government, the proposed website methodology, timeline, schedule, contact persons and fees led to the final choice.

The fencing contract renewal will be revisited next week when all council members are present, as a tied vote left the council in deadlock over a contract renewal. Three members voted to extend the contract with a 3.5 per cent increase on material cost, as the current contractor was doing a good job and available locally.

“When someone is good at what they are doing, doing a good job and there when you need them…I say stay with them,” said Councillor Ben Armstrong. 

Three councillors voted to put the job to tender, even though they agreed the current job was satisfactory.

“Fair play is fair play,” said Councillor Brenda Knight, who felt other companies would want to bid for the contract. 

Dave Churchill, Transportation and Infrastructure Manager, asked whether tenders for grader blades should be included in association fees as part of the tender costs. Councillor Ben Armstrong said businesses belonging to the association gain volume sales and better prices for materials because they buy in bulk, transferring savings to the county. Non-members of the association do not have the fee included in their tenders. It represents about 3 per cent extra on the average tender. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t buy that,” said Councillor Alice Booth. “That’s just the cost of doing business.”

Council directed elimination of the fees when considering bids.

 

COUNCILLORS TO MEET 

WITH RURAL FIRE SERVICES 

Gerald Skibinsky, Protective Services manager met with Suncor regarding their emergency response plan. Suncor indicated they would keep county fire crews on ground response as they have contracted specialty crews from EnXco, for a three-year period, to be lead in emergency situations.

Councillors will meet with fire crews on March 15 to go over reporting and payment procedures, and to discuss clarification of high angle rescue situations.

WADING THROUGH 

WATER PROBLEMS

An undetermined water leak was spiking water usage in Rosebud. County investigators thought it might be a pipe break during the two-week cold spell in January. Resealing a leak in an unseated hydrant did not rectify the problem. Further investigation found a running toilet in the older church building of Rosebud Theatre. The building had not been on a water meter and crews will be installing a meter in the future. Continued monitoring will eliminate any further sources of leakage.

 

FINDING THE PHOSPHOROUS

Appointees Sarah Schumaker and David Churchill will sit as county representatives to the Bow River Phosphorous Management Plan committee.

“It’s a foot in the door, if we want to be represented,” said Churchill, who views the study as a living document, changing as more is known about how phosphorous is entering the water system. 

Schumaker answered council’s previous inquiry of target area specifics. She clarified that the area with the highest anticipated growth of deposits were targeted and monitoring equipment was already in place for most of the area.

Times Reporter

 

Strathmore High School (SHS) drama students had a chance to continue to explore the art when they performed in Aspen Crossing’s Valentine’s dinner theatre. 

The theatre takes place in the dining car, with the actors performing between dinner courses. This year’s production was ‘Will you be my Valentrain?’

Gail Whiteford writes all of the scripts and performs in almost all of the productions as well. 

“Every Valentine’s show I write has got a Shakespeare theme. The whole idea of the valentine’s one is I pick a Shakespeare and then I twist it. So this one was basically why the Montagues and Capulets got into their feud in the first place, the back story,” said Whiteford. 

Rachel Ellis, Daniel Sinclair, and Matthew Rederburg are all SHS students. Ellis played Julie Lett, Rederburg was Rome Royal and Sinclair played Rio Prince. 

“It’s definitely very different but so much fun, and I think for how young we are it’s just such an awesome opportunity to get to do something like this,” said Ellis.

“I think acting here is a fantastic succession to high school drama actually and credit to the program. I don’t think we’d be here if it weren’t for the chance to do those productions (with SHS),” said Rederburg.

“I think the fact that it is such an unusual space to act in really adds to the experience,” said Sinclair. 

Nikki Barran played Kate Lett and Wayne Hvingelby was Monty Q Royal, Rome’s father. 

“It’s so much fun, and it’s nice to be that close to the audience because you know their feedback right away so you know what works, and what doesn’t work, what you can improve in next time,” said Barran. 

The dinner’s show is heading into its third season. All of the scripts are themed around trains. Whiteford admits it can be tricky creating a new train-themed script every time, but it’s a challenge she seems to enjoy. This isn’t the first time she has written scripts that follows a particular theme.

“I was one of the co-owners of Shadow Productions in Calgary, and we were an interactive murder mystery company that was at the Dean House and Stage West,” said Whiteford.

“We closed the company three or four years ago now, because we had been doing it for 20 years and writing murder mysteries…after 20 years you just start to get tired of it.”

There are five shows a year. September is a harvest theme; October is a sort of a Halloween theme. There is also a senior’s luncheon based on Remembrance Day and the war brides, a Christmas production, Valentines and one in March. For more information or for tickets call 1-866-440-3500 or go to www.aspencrossing.com.

Times Reporter

 

It’s not every day a string quartet visits Brentwood Elementary School, but on Feb. 7 the Ton Beau Quartet stopped by to give a short presentation to the students. 

Alexa Wilks, Sarah Steeves, Alex McLeod and Linnea Thacke are doctoral students at the University of Toronto, and are involved in a two-week residency at the Banff Centre. Steeves is a former Brentwood student, and is also the daughter of Brentwood’s music teacher Carolyn Steeves.   

“We’re actually putting together a program of music, we came here to sort of intensively study this program of music that we’re going to perform in Toronto when we return,” said Wilks about the residency at the Banff Centre. 

While going to Brentwood school was a bit of a treat to reunite mother and daughter for a while, it also had a purpose.

“That’s part of the Banff Centre’s mandate … is to get music out into the community,” said Wilks.

The goal of the quartet is to keep playing as much as they can. Playing concerts and touring are important to them but they all also agreed that it’s important to continue to do outreach and play for communities and children while continuing to develop educational programs.

“We’re playing a full movement for them this morning so when they’re listening to us for six or seven minutes they can engage with what we’re doing,” said Sarah Steeves. 

Steeves said for the kids they were doing an introduction to the instruments, showing the different sounds that can be made with them. The quartet also help the students experience the ways music can invoke different emotions and images while trying to get them actively listening to the music. McLeod said they try to give them a sort of toolbox of different things they can listen for in the movement.

The four doctoral students had all performed together at various times, before one day deciding to form their own quartet. 

“We just started doing it for fun and got more and more serious. The more (we) enjoyed it, the better we got,” said McLeod. 

“I was determined not to study music until the year before high school when I started playing string quartets.”

“I think we all kind of had our moments, it’s a career you pick because you love it. It’s not going to bring you great financial success but it’s the kind of thing you really are passionate about, so I think we have all kind of grown into it over time,” said Wilks. 

Thacke has already completed her doctorate, Wilks expects to be done this year, and both Steeves and McLeod expect to finish by 2013.