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Wednesday, November 24, 2010 FORT FRANCES TIMES A5

By Duane HicksStaff writer

Its clear district residents aregetting into the idea of communitytag with acts of kindness.

As of yesterday, more than 100acts of kindness have been do-nated, with more coming in, to besold off at the Acts of KindnessBenefit coming up Friday, Dec. 3at the Fort Frances Legion.

If you are looking for ideas foracts of kindness you can contrib-ute, gift wrapping, grass cutting,car detailing, or dog-walking arepossibilities, said Tannis Drysdale,an organizer of the benefit thatsa fundraiser for the CommunityChest.

How about an offer to doChristmas shopping? There maybe a guy or two who might want ahand with this come Dec. 21, sheadded.

There are endless possibilitiesof services that can be acts ofkindness that will help other peo-ple.

Everyone is invited to join inthe game. Just donate your act ofkindness, then send family andneighbours an e-mail letting themknow you have donated and say,Youre i t!

You can tag your friends onFacebook. Send pictures of youtagging your friends, or a pictureof you with a symbol of your actof kindness to thefort@fortfran-ces-chamber.com

To donate an act of kindness,contact Fort Frances Chamber ofCommerce manager Anthony Ma-son at 274-5773, in person at474 Scott St., or via e-mail at the-fort@fortfrances-chamber.com

Or fill out the form online atwww.acts-of-kindness.ca (there isa direct link to this through theTimes website at www.fftimes.com).

The benefit, which starts at 6 p.m., will feature a turkey dinnerwith all the trimmings prepared by the Legion Ladies Auxiliary,along with some live entertain-ment.

There will be sales of the actsof kindness, as well as live auc-tions (all items for sale and auctionwill be listed in the Dec. 1 editionof the Fort Frances Times).

All proceeds, in turn, will bedonated to the Fort Frances Com-munity Chest, which provides fi-nancial aid to local families tocover travel-related medical ex-penses.

Tickets cost $30 each, whichare available at the Fort Fran-ces Chamber of Commerce, RainyRiver Future Development Corp.office, and Northwoods Gallery &Gifts.

The VIP round tables of eightare sold out, but a few VIP longtables of 10 are being sold for$325 through the Chamber.

VIP tables offer reserved seatingwith the people of your choice.

The ticket sales are going verywell, noted Drysdale. We expect

them to be sold out by early nextweek.

One of the perks of attending

the benefit will be the chance to buy acts of kindness as Christ-mas gifts.

Every hairstylist at Celestes has donated a haircut and style,said co-organizer Wanda Botsford.Almost every law office donated

some legal services or a cash do-nation.

So, if you think someone inyour family should have a will andpowers of attorney, you can pur-chase the act of kindness of oneof our local lawyers, she noted.

If you have a friend, familymember, or a widow down thestreet who could use some helparound the house, you could pur-chase handyman services of MikeLeatherdale for four hours, Bots-ford continued.

If you have people coming tovisit, you can purchase a catereddinner for six by Todd Moxham,which will include a salad starter,main course, and a dessert, ofwhich all can be either droppedoff or served and cleaned up.

For entertaining your guests,you could go on a sightseeing air- plane flight over Rainy Lake that

was generously donated by RustyMyers.

Your gift could be memory-making for your family, or perfectfor the man in your life and hisguests, with a fishing trip at RosssCamp, Kabeelo Lodge, or GrassyNarrows Lodge, she added.

Bids will be taken on each of t hefishing trips in advance.

The final auction on each tripwill occur at the event, which alsowill be broadcast live on the Inter-net.

If someone wishes, bids will beaccepted in advance of the eve-ning by contacting the Chamberby Thursday, Dec. 2.

With the Acts of Kindness fundraiser for the Community Chest coming up Dec. 3 at thelocal Legion, Lindsay Hamilton has donated eight painting or drawing lessons at the LittleBeaver Cultural Centre as her act while partner Carter Webber has donated eight musiclessons for those who want to play bass or drums. If you would like to donate an Act ofKindness, contact Chamber manager Anthony Mason at the Fort Frances Chamber of Com-merce (274-5773). Duane Hicks photo

Gary Rogozinski has gotten into the community tagging forthe upcoming Acts of Kindness Benefit by committing toshovelling snow on four occasions. Submitted photo

By Peggy RevellStaff writer

Fort High students were zoom-ing around the gymnasium crash-ing into pylons and cut-outs of pe-destrians last Wednesday as theygot a taste of the new SimulatedImpaired DriviNg Experience toteach them the consequences ofimpaired and distracted driving.

Better known as SIDNE, thevehicle is the newest purchase bythe local Substance Abuse Preven-tion Team to be used as a teachingtool across the district.

When youre dealing with young people, with choices, you have toget their attention, stressed SAPTco-ordinator Hugh Dennis, refer-ring to the purchase of the battery-powered vehicle.

Furthermore, its fun.And technology, for young peo-

ple thats the hook. Its a pretty

cool piece of equipment, echoedSAPT vice-chair Aimee Beazley.Built in Wisconsin, the vehicle is

now one of only three in Canada.It was brought to the area thanksto the research and work of JohnBeaton with the local PreventingAlcohol Related Trauma in Youth program (P.A.R.T.Y.)

The $25,000 used to pur-chase the vehicle came from a$99,846.31 provincial grant forthe SAPT.

Drivers first take a spin arounda set-up course in normal modewith no distractions built in, ex-plained Beaton.

Once they go round it the firsttime, they go around it again andthe transmitter person can put it indistract modeso everything theydo has a second-and-a-half delay,he continued.

So youre always going to hitcones or [knock] people down.

After the person is done theirdrive around the course, the in-structor talks to them about whatthey did wrong and how theycould have changed their behav-iour.

The demonstration of SIDNEat Fort High was held in conjunc-tion with the Ontario-wide DrugAwareness Week as the SAPT,along with the Drug AwarenessResistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program, P.A.R.T.Y., and othercommunity programs were set upat the atrium.

The reception by the students,and thats where our target groupis, is just fabulous. They are majorengaged, Dennis enthused aboutthe number of students who cameover to talk, look at the displays,grab some free treats, and partici-pate in the activities that had beenset up.

Sitting on the sidelines and watch-

ing SIDNE take a zoom aroundthe course, Grade 11 student An- jelica French worried that fellowstudents might see SIDNE becomemore of a game that doesnt reallymean anything.

But she hoped it ultimately willshow the possible consequences ofimpaired and distracted driving.

Texting and drinking while driv-ing are a problem amongst youth,she noted.

Its gotten bigger, the prob-lem, she warned. Theres moreand more accidents of kids gettingscraped off highways because ofdrunk driving and texting thanthere is of any other leading causeof it.

So I figure if all the schoolscould have something like this, butactually have consequences to it,then maybe it will minimize whathappens.

Beaton said theyre hoping totake SIDNE on the road aroundthe district, on a cost recovery ba-sis. Those interested in booking itcan contact partyprogramfortfran-ces@hotmail.com

While the display at Forth Highwas set up in the large gym,SIDNE is best used in even biggerspaces such as parking lots, notedDennis, although the weather inthis area makes that harder.

SIDNE actually is just one of the

various new teaching aids that nowwill be available in the district.One game, Match and Distract,

is a test of sorts on multi-tasking,with the participant trying to placethe correct shapes on a boardwhile counting down from 100backwards at the same time in 30seconds.

A second time around, the par-ticipant wears headphones whichecho every few seconds whenthe instructor presses the button.

So the point is so many thingscan distract you, said Beaton. Itsnot just watching the road, turn theradio, talking to a person.

Another tool is the intoxiclockwhich helps to measure and showa person how the number of drinkswill affect their system and bloodalcohol level, and the amount oftime it actually takes to get alcoholout of ones system.

Or Walk the Line requires a

person to walk toe-to-toe along aline that beeps when they step off.Another tool they now have are

Fatal Vision Goggles, meant toshow students how drinking anddrugs impair vision and how thisaffects their actionssuch as whenwalking the line.

As part of the provincial fund-ing, SAPT will be looking to up-dating its displays, teaching aids,and presentation aids, said Dennis, pointing to items like the displayon what certain drugs actually looklike, which youth are drawn to, orprojects like the mock crash videofilmed two falls ago or the photo-voice one.

Those are the sort of presenta-tions that kids are very, very inter-ested in and respond to, Dennisnoted.

Thats what were aiming for.To get their message out about

substance abuse, the SAPT also

has driven down the presentationsand discussions to the Grade 6 and7 levels this year, Dennis added.

Those students are majorly in-terested and theyre in tune withwhats going on, he said. So theidea that its Grade 9 and up thatare aware of drug use and all that,[its not].

Its way down, Grades 5 and 6.You wouldnt believe it.

OPP Insp. John Kendrick, right, took Substance Abuse Pre-vention Team co-ordinator Hugh Dennis for a bit of a wildride last Wednesday while cruising around the Fort Highgym in the Simulated Impaired DriviNg Experience (SIDNE)vehicle. The new vehicle aims to be a teaching tool on theefffect of driving while under the influence or while bengdistracted. Peggy Revell photo

By Duane HicksStaff writer

The list of local people whomthe Community Chest has aidedover the years is long, but one ofthe more recent additions to thatlist is Dan Parfitt.

Parfitt had a heart attack this past April. When he woke up in hospital in Winnipeg, the doctorsaid he needed a transplant butwasnt specific about what thatmeant.

He was scared.After undergoing some testing,

Parfitt had a valve implanted andtwo coronary artery bypasses onMay 27. He was amazed howquickly he was able to get thisoperation, and complimented the health care system locally and inWinnipeg.

After Parfitts valve implant, his

drivers license was taken awayfor 10 weeks due to the healthimplications.

Just having to have someonedrive me around and do the lift-ing is awkward and humbling, henoted.

Thanks to my wife, Paula, be-cause she did all the driving.

The doctors told him to walk forexercise.

I wasnt an invalid, but I hadto keep my exercise in a rangewhere I didnt get too tired, Parfittrecalled.

He started with a 100-yard walkeach day during the first fewweeks. But after three months, hewas walking morning, afternoon,and evening for a total of 6.6 kmper day.

Parfitt has put a lot of work intogetting where he is now.

Like anything in life, if youwant to push, you can make it better, he reasoned. The alter-native is to sit around and makeexcuses.

I would like my independencesooner than later. I want to beable to sit down, stand up, walkwithout pain, cough and sneeze.

Im self-employed, so I justhave to get back to work, Parfittstressed. It would be nice if Icould work part-time, and givemyself time to heal, but I have towork full-time to put food on thetable.

They say it takes about a yearto heal, and that this implant willgive me another 10 years, on aver-age, he noted.

Still, the thought that he mightonly have 10 years is a cause forconcern.

Before his heart attack, Parfittwas involved in some local busi-nesses, including consulting, par-cel delivery, spring water, andvending.

It is a challenge for business- people when they fall ill becausethey have no income coming in,yet they continue to have businessexpenses and must find a way tokeep their business intact so theyhave a source of income once theyget well again.

Parfitts recovery was facilitatedthrough a cardio rehab programin Thunder Bay, which he com-mends highly and continues toattend every two-three weeks.

There was an up-front cost totravelling back and forth for thistreatment program, so Dr. RobertAlgae suggested to Parfitt that hego to the Community Chest forsome help.

Parfitt didnt ask for help payingfor accommodations, but he re-ally appreciated the CommunityChest funding his travel up front.

After six-eight weeks, once the province forwarded the travelgrant, this money was reimbursedto the Community Chest.

When he was attending histreatments in Thunder Bay, Parfittmentioned to other regional pa-tients that he was getting help withadvances for travel.

The people from Kenora,Dryden, and other locations wereamazed that we have this help inFort Frances, he noted.

They dont have anything like

Community Chest in their ar-eas.In addition to the help of the

Community Chest, Parfitt alsohas had the help of many people.

In the beginning, there was nomoney coming in to the house-hold. But then some people cameforward and gave the Parfitts anenvelope of cheques.

One lady gave us her full pay-cheque. Thank you. You knowwho you are.

Without that, we likely wouldhave gone bankrupt, he stressed.

After his implant, Parfitt had noway to get home.

I couldnt drive and Paula wastoo stressed. I called Paul Bock. Hetold me, Sit tight. I will be rightup, he recalled.

He brought a driver with himso one could drive us back andthe other could drive our vehicle.I couldnt believe it, Parfitt said.

Parfitt is driving again, but hestill cannot lift. When he deliverswater to area First Nations com-munities, his customers all helpwith the lifting.

As well, a friend comes fromThunder Bay every third week

just to help him with the lifting heneeds to do.

He has his own life, his own business to run, yet he comes tohelp me every third week, Parfittmarvelled.

Parfitt emphasized how impor-tant it is to have the help of thecommunity at times like this.

There is so much you have todeal with emotionally and cogni-tively when you have a seriousmedical issue, he said. Its wear-ing and very trying, and has takena lot out of me.

It really helps to know that people care enough to help youthrough these times.

I could go on and on aboutthe acts of kindness that people have come forward with, Parfittsaid. Without the help of Com-munity Chest, I likely could nothave gone to Thunder Bay for the

cardio rehab that I needed.And I needed the rehab inorder to get in a position to workagain.

Thats why I love the north,and want to stay here, he added.People share and care in thiscommunity.

The Community Chest contin-ues to help district residents withmedical expenses, and everyoneis encouraged to help replenishits coffers by attending the Actsof Kindness Benefit to be heldFriday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m . at the FortFrances Legion.

There will be a turkey dinner,live entertainment, and an auc-tion.

Tickets cost $30 each, whichcan be purchased at the Fort Fran-ces Chamber of Commerce, RainyRiver Future Development Corp.,or Northwoods Gallery & Gifts.

If you would like to donate anact of kindness, contact AnthonyMason at the Chamber of Com-merce by calling him at 274-5773or e-mailing him at the-fort@fort-franceschamber.com

You also can access an onlineform.

SIDNE showsdangers ofdriving whileimpaired ordistracted

Acts of kindness keep rolling in

Community Chest Champ amazed by peoples caring

Dan Parfitt