Behind-the-scenes food pantry supporter hopes to up its chilly game

September 7, 2016 · 0 Comments

In September 2011 a few loaves of Aurora-baked bread started a movement that has helped feed countless people across York Region. Five years on from these humble beginnings, Lifecorps Food Share is looking to step up its game.

Community builders hit dance floor for kids who “can”

Civic and business leaders are gearing up for 2016's Dancing with the Easter Seals Stars.

GO Parking deal shouldn’t go beyond six months: Council

Council votes to do “everything possible” to ensure the contract between Metrolinx and Our Lady of Grace is nipped in the bud before it comes up for renewal.

Cameron Morrison named Aurora’s Athlete of the Year

A stint wearing the red and white, the leading rookie scorer at the USA’s highest junior level, and a pick in the NHL draft have all highlighted an amazing year for Cameron Morrison.

Celebrate your roots at Aurora’s re-booted multicultural festival

Aurora’s cultural diversity will be proudly displayed next Saturday, September 10, as the Town of Aurora hosts its re-booted Multicultural Festival. Based largely on a multicultural festival held in 2013 in conjunction with the Town’s Sesquicentennial Celebrations, this day of music, dancing and food, henna body art, children’s activities and more, all celebrating Chinese, Greek, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and South Asian Cultures, will once again return to Ada Johnson Park and there is only room to grow.

Big Brothers Big Sisters has a “Wow” moment after rough patch

There is a “glimmer of hope” on the horizon for Sarah Dame. Exceptional growth in York Region, and meeting the mentorship needs of the Region’s children in need, have made the Aurora-based organization face “a very rough few months,” according to Big Brothers Big Sisters of York’s (BBBSY) Executive Director Sarah Dame.

Hall of Fame honouree Murphy left a lasting legacy in Aurora

Though Mike Murphy may no longer have roots in Aurora, the NHL’s Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, legacy lives on. In the mid-90s, Murphy Hockey School filled a void in the Aurora Minor Hockey community it continues to serve to this day.

Enough talk and more action needed as Legion “Raises the Roof”

By Brock Weir When Dave Franklin transferred to the Aurora branch of the Royal Canadian Legion over 20 years ago, the hot topic was putting a new roof on their Industrial Parkway North home. Two decades later, Mr. Franklin is now President of branch, and the hot topic is much the same. Now, he says, it is time to change the conversation. The Legion is in the midst of their new “Raise the Roof” campaign, a series of initiatives designed to raise capital to finally make their new roof a reality. Based on estimates from tenders issued over five years ago, the Legion estimates they will need in the ballpark of $100,000 to bring the roof to fruition and have designed a series of initiatives to help them reach their goal. “We have been having this conversation several times over the years and I just declared this year, which I believe will be my last as president, it is time to stop talking about it and begin the process of raising money to get a new roof,” says Mr. Franklin. “Talking about it is not going to change it. We have set out some goals to try to accomplish creating money as quickly as possible.” Last month, the Legion held a yard sale to raise some cash. This follows on the heels of the July “soft launch” of a new lawn sign initiative, which was rolled out at their annual Christmas in July lunch. An initiative of a Legion member, for $20 apiece, Legion members – and members of the public alike – can purchase a lawn sign bearing the evocative motto “I will remember them” above a field of poppies. “It is a matter of continuing to remember those who served their country and have gone abroad and put themselves in harm’s way and try to protect our way of life and our standard of living so we don’t succumb to the problems they are having abroad with terrorism and the horrible things that are happening in the Middle East,” says Mr. Franklin on why the public at large should take a moment to consider the state of the Legion’s roof. “I think this current campaign is something that highlights and brings to focus the fact we have yesteryear’s vets and we have today’s vets. We need to incorporate and encompass both of those groups. “We don’t have many of yesteryear’s vets left, but we have many and a growing number of today’s vets and they deserve to be remembered for what they have done. We have paid a lot of attention to those who are injured and have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders, and things we have drawn financial support to but, in general those who have gone to serve their country and have come back into the community and have worked to provide and continue to support their communities and their country have kind of been lost. “That is one of the things the Legion has tried to do: bring focus to the fact we need to remember those people who answered the call and haven’t suffered in the way people have talked about such as Invictus and other programs we have.” Signs are now available to purchase from the Legion’s Club Room at 105 Industrial Parkway North, but if you’re looking for another way to support the campaign, watch this space. The Aurora Legion has secured the go-ahead from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) to hold a Chase The Ace-style lottery, which recently raised over $2.7 million in a similar initiative in Nova Scotia. The Legion is not looking to replicate that success to quite a degree, however, receiving the green light to raise as much as $50,000. “It is a deck of 52 cards, put them in envelopes, shuffle them around, and until the ace of spades is selected, the draw continues to build. 20 per cent goes to the winner of the draw of the week,” says Mr. Franklin. “30 per cent goes to the community, and 50 per cent goes to the licensee. We’re not going to be that grandiose in our goal [as Nova Scotia], but if we do two or three different draws successively, we should probably have a new roof.”

Veterans to be remembered and celebrated this fall with street banner program

Each year, Aurorans pause on Remembrance Day – and the Sunday before it – to remember the fallen and pay tribute to those servicemen and women who were able to make it home with services at the Cenotaph and a parade down Yonge Street.

Aurora Farmers’ Market honours bumper crop of volunteers

Over the past 16 years, the Aurora Farmers’ Market has become a Saturday morning meeting place for countless Aurora residents, but there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes on to make it possible each market season.

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