The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Continuing to Make a Difference A September Right Corner mentioned Gene (actually Jean) Dion, who is making a difference by raising research funds for children's cancer. Jean not only runs a golf tournament, but also sells recovered golf balls all winter, sells T-shirts, holds a ticket raffle and solicits donations from small and large corporations. Jean dropped The Corner a note saying that he has reached a million dollars in funds at the end of this fiscal year Ð all by the drive and dedication of one individual, surely an inspiration to all charitable fundraisers. Steven Fletcher is also continuing to make a difference in Parliament even though he is only a rookie in his early thirties. He is not content to merely sit in Ottawa collecting his MP's pay and from time to time blast the other side, although he did earlier this year closely question the appropriate minister as to why nothing was forthcoming for Hepatitis C victims as promised. Not that long ago, Steven distributed a brochure explaining the Conservative Party's approach to child care. The policy is called "Choices For Parents" and insists that giving money to parents to choose their own child care options is the best way, sets up no bureaucracy and "does not discriminate against those who opt to raise their children in family, social, linguistic and religious environments." Fletcher contrasts this approach to that of the Liberals' $5 billion scheme to build a national system of institutional child care, terming it a 9 to 5 institution. Rival John Loewen claims he doesn't like the Tory plan but prefers to open more spaces by providing more jobs in the field. He is of course supported by unionized child care associations who want more jobs at higher pay, but what about shift workers, low income parents, rural people, and stay-at-home parents? A child care study at the prestigious Vanier Institute asked the following: "If you and your partner were/are employed outside the home and you had these choices for your pre-school children, what would be your top five choices?" The Results? Partner (first); grandparents (second); another relvative (third); home-based daycare (fourth); daycare centre (fifth). It should be added that a lot of working families have no children for day care, and whether they support paying for someone else's children/grandchildren is a question that has not been answered. Their names are Ken and Beck Hopkins, and they are winter Florida residents who spend a lot of time working for the US emergency organization known as FEMA. They are in New Orleans (actually in Baton Rouge) until December, working on disaster relief. FEMA got a lot of negative press for inactivity and non-help in the hurricane disaster that destroyed New Orleans, but Ken claims they got a bad rap. He mentions that there are 3,000 relief workers there from various agencies, and most are working six to 12 hour days. He mentions that the scope of the disaster is overwhelming, with 500,000 people signed up for travel trailers and 600,000 waiting to have their homes assessed. All have received at least $2,000 in immediate aid, and some much more. Ken is working his 12-hour shifts in individual assistance for the elderly and disabled. Beck says her husband is doing a fabulous job helping the handicapped, suicidal and others, and is really making a difference in the lives of the destitute. Beck is chief of staff for infrastructure, in charge of making projects run smoothly and mentioned that President Bush visited in late September (she notes: "He is shorter than I thought"). On the bad press that FEMA received, Ken says not to believe everything you read in the papers, as the 3,000 workers are "here working their tails off to help, and many are still sleeping on cots in tents." Ken and Beck are comfortably retired and don't have to do this, but they are dedicated disaster workers. Ken concludes: "Not much time for fun, but we feel really good about what we are doing." They should. They're making a positive difference.11/25/2005
