By Barbara Phinney

Twenty-five kids ages seven to twelve, thirty basketballs, six coaches, one large gym…and you could hear a pin drop.
 No, this is not a gym teacher’s dream class.  This is Hoop Camp.  This is a rapt group of children sitting and listening to their coaches, ready to play basketball, focusing on encouraging words from both experience and the Bible.
 Started last year by Travis Tait, the Atlantic representative for Athletes in Action, this week-long intensive training camp wasn’t just designed to teach basketball skills.  There are devotional times and inspiring moments to lift kids’ spirits, hope and level of good sportsmanship.
 “My goal is to help the local church reach the communities through the medium of sports camps,” said Travis, who is also one of the football coaches for the Mount Allison University here in Sackville, New Brunswick.  “Middle Sackville Baptist Church here jumped at my idea of starting a sports camp for kids.  It’s perfect for them because this camp must be a partnership with a church that can take ownership and leadership and who wants to help the community around them.  MSBC fits the bill.”
 So why basketball?  Because Senior Pastor Vernon Vickruck is also a basketball coach and who works within the local basketball community.  “By combining the different resources and strengths at MSBC, we can reach the local community,” Travis adds.  “MSBC has the gym and people who love to get involved in outreach.”
 And many at the church, like Barbie Crossman, have always been involved in sports, especially basketball.  “It was natural for me to volunteer.  My boys both play the game and I have played and coached.  So we’re all involved in this Hoop Camp.”
 And with one goal being to reach out to the community, they’re doing well.  With very little advertising, this year’s camp filled up quickly, even unfortunately to the point of having to turn down some parents’ applications.  The families all love sending their children, getting them to learn a new skill or keep them active as the summer sports’ seasons wind down, not to mention to learn what’s really important in their young lives.  And along with great coaching, the cost for registration ensures each child receives a T-shirt, a basketball and snacks. 
 But, of course, the kids come to play.
 “I’m going to learn about basketball,” one small boy told us.
 “I can sink the ball every time,” a ten-year-old girl said proudly.  “I’m going to play basketball this fall.”
 It’s great to see how much the kids are involved in sports, and this camp gives them a great head start to the season. 
 But it’s not the main goal Hoop Camp.  Athletes in Action, the group for which Travis works, is an organization whose goal is to spread the Word of God to young people through athletic events.  “There’s no greater way to create awareness of anything, than to work with children.  Reach a child, reach a family, reach a community,” Travis told us.  “Plus it’s fun,” he added with a smile.  “My role in this camp is to facilitate the coaches’ corner with both the coaches and kids.  I do the devotional each morning.  I introduce Jesus to the kids in a way that is completely different from church, or Bible camp.”
 And in doing so, the children learn skills that go beyond the court.  The camp’s volunteers show the kids a side of their faith that rarely gets seen these days.  They show camaraderie, good sportsmanship, and a love of fun and of life. 
 “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.”
 That’s not a quote from the coaches, or even Travis Tait.  The Apostle Paul said those words 2,000 years ago.  And they will still ring true for twenty-five rapt campers this week as they learn from faithful volunteers to work hard, love God and life, and be good sportsmen.
 And that’s a slam-dunk for the community.

By Barbara Phinney

 It must have been the outdoor pool in that small Manitoban town where she grew up that helped to prepare Jessie Sheppard.  The Dalhousie university student plans to swim across the chilly Northumberland Strait this coming July.  That and her marathon training will help her tackle an even bigger challenge – Africa’s highest mountain. As long as the 26-year-old’s joints don’t give out on her.“I’ve had increasing knee problems in recent years, the causes of which remain largely undiagnosed,” Jessie says.  “I’m recovering from a dislocated knee as well.  All this strain on my joints certainly increases my risk for osteoarthritis.  However, I am very lucky that I am still able to enjoy many of the activities I wish to do despite all this.” 

And though she doesn’t expect any trouble, she knows many less fortunate, who wake up every day to pain and inflammation.  That’s why she wanted to do something to help.  “I got involved with the Arthritis Society’s Joints-in-Motion in 2005 when I trained for a marathon in Disney World.  Before that, I didn’t have anyone close to me who’d been affected by arthritis.  Here I was doing nearly everything I enjoy, while others suffer so much.” Others like her university friend, Meg Hasek-Watt.  Meg has suffered from inflammatory arthritis for over ten years, and was thrilled that Jessie is participating in Joints-in-Motion in her honour.  “It makes sense for me to want to promote arthritis awareness,” Meg says, “but I see Jessie doing it, and think, wow!  It’s wonderful to have a champion out there like Jessie.”Joints in Motion is a program run by The Arthritis Society.  Participants run a marathon or do a trek in honour of someone with arthritis.  Each participant must raise a certain amount of money, depending on the event.  By linking a high profile event such as a marathon or trek with the society, the society is able to raise the public’s awareness of arthritis. 

It’s through her work with the arthritis society, having heard the stories of many individuals living with the disease, that Jessie came to realize how it affects peoples’ lives and just how many people have it.  One in four Nova Scotians alone suffers from arthritis.  As a health promoter, someone who works at enabling individuals and communities to achieve optimal health, Jessie knows the value of good quality of life.  That’s why she couldn’t just stand back and do nothing when she saw so many suffering from arthritis.  So, as a swimmer all her life, and someone who has already run a marathon at Disney World for arthritis, Jessie decided to tackle a twofold approach to arthritis awareness. It’s not going to be easy, though.  While tourist brochures promote the warmest waters north of the Carolinas, the Northumberland Strait isn’t a swim in the local heated pool.  And then in August, she’ll tackle an even bigger trek.  She’s scaling Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.  “Joints-in-Motion is organizing the team.  The 4 of us going from Nova Scotia will be joined by the rest of the Canadian team in Tanzania.” 

Sure, Jessie can swim and run and train, but there’s one thing she can’t prepare for, and that’s the altitude.  “We’ll be going to the very peak, and at 6,000 metres, I’ll definitely experience the side-effects of decreased oxygen.  The key to a successful climb, from what I understand, is to climb slowly enough to allow your body to adjust to the altitude.  We’ll be taking 7 days to complete the climb.” She adds, “I have to do this.  Meg suffers from arthritis and does a lot of advocacy work for it.  She’s particularly inspiring and important to this campaign because she is so young - many people don’t realize that arthritis affects all ages.  I’m swimming the Northumberland Strait and climbing Kilimanjaro in her honour.” 

An amazing determination from a young woman whose knees are strained, and who has never climbed a mountain.  Jessie just hopes these events will inspire people to re-think arthritis, and realize that it’s a disease that affects many people.  “I also hope to inspire people to live more active, healthy lifestyles.  You don’t have to swim large bodies of water or climb mountains, but getting 60 minutes of physical activity 5 times per week, and eating a healthy diet, can decrease your risk factors for not only arthritis but also for many other chronic diseases.” To be inspired by her resolve, visit Jessie’s website – http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1705038 Or maybe do something in honour of someone you know who is suffering from arthritis.  And like Jessie, get the word out about it.

By Barbara Phinney

Sometimes, there is no tomorrow.
As doom-and-gloom as that statement sounds, it’s not meant to be that way, not if Shirley has her way.

Shirley and her husband learned the lesson of no tomorrow when they were on the treadmill of life, working hard to ‘have’ things.  A friend of theirs died quite suddenly, and they realized it could have been one of them. That was when they realized that ‘having’ things wasn’t what life was all about.  So a year ago, after taking the road less traveled, she analyzed what they’d done to change their attitude from wanting everything with no time to enjoy life, to appreciating what life was giving her.

“We’d started living a life of simplicity out of choice before I realized there was even a term for the beliefs we held,” Shirley said.“The term was ‘Voluntary Simplicity’.  And I felt it was important to show that life doesn’t have to be stressful and frantic… and that deliberate living can bring a wealth of rewards.  Also, many people think frugality means doing without, and I wanted to point out that frugality is about making wise choices, not about deprivation.

All of these ideas eventually came together and became Choosing Voluntary Simplicity.”
So, knowing that this was too important not to share, Shirley put it on her website.  “I have huge hosta gardens and I was taking a lot of photos, and had started posting them and hosta information online.”
The site grew from that.

Since then, Shirley has expanded her website to offer advice and encouragement in all areas of life.  Her site, http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/ has become a sort of like a general store/meeting hall/grandma’s kitchen kind of place where sage advice is balanced with wholesome food and relaxation.  The articles listed in the sidebar under “Voluntary Simplicity/Simple Living” are about her personal experiences with a simplistic lifestyle.

“My blog motto describes it best, I think,” she adds, “About finding balance in your life, connecting with who you are, and creating a lifestyle where you wake up each morning feeling a sense of fulfillment and excitement about the day ahead.”

With that motto as her guide, she’s been able to show people ways to improve their lives.  “People often write to me privately and tell me that something I have written has totally changed their lives,” she told us.  “One of my favorites was from a woman who was on the verge of divorce.  She told me that after reading my article: http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/how-to-be-happy-in-a-mostly-un-world/
“She was able to change her attitude and the way she was thinking, and her attitude toward her husband became so different, he wanted to know what had happened. 

When she told him, he read the article, and now their entire relationship has changed.  They are very happy together now and appreciate each other, their home, and their circumstances.  I get e-mails from her every few weeks.  It’s a wonderful feeling to know that something I wrote has helped someone.”

She adds, “Think carefully about how you are spending your time.  Is your life full of activities or scheduled events that are meaningless to you?  Frugality of time is sometimes more important than frugality of money.  Start doing things that bring you joy and stop doing some of those things that cause you to feel stressed and unhappy.”

 And she is adamant about relationships.  “Appreciate your family life and enjoy the people you love.  Spend time with each member of your family and build strong relationships… make the effort to become a genuine part of each other’s lives.”

By Barbara Phinney 

“I thought I would be a good idea to open this venue with a fundraiser.  I didn’t know I’d be turning away groups.”
But that’s what Brian Doncaster ended up doing last year.  And an even odder notion about it was that his venue was just an old barn. 
Doncaster had bought the old barn after learning a bit about it and getting to know its owners.  “It attracted me.  It was 150 years old and was starting to decay.”
But he hadn’t really considered it would be good for anything but storage until after he’d been following his youngest child, Naomi, around to various bluegrass concerts.  She plays the fiddle and other instruments, so they were plenty busy traveling to different venues.
“That’s when I realized that we don’t have anything like this in Sackville,” Doncaster mused.  “We needed something, and here I had this old barn that was just decaying, a building that I’d bought almost on a whim.  It was a shame because it was a nice, big barn with no use.”  So the ideas of needing a concert site and using the barn just started to gel for him.  He ran his ideas past his friends and they loved it.  That’s when he got to work on fixing it up.  “It was great.  We had volunteers helping to get the barn ready.  We had to put a new floor in, then of course, give it a good cleaning, build a stage and add the necessary plumbing.” 
And out of all that, Doncaster knew that the inaugural concert should be a fundraiser.  “That’s when I called the Fire Hall.”
Yet, Doncaster doesn’t know why he decided on Sackville, New Brunswick’s fire department for the offer.  He just thought it would be a good idea.  Regardless of the reason, last year’s fundraiser was a great success.  With both the barn and yard full of people, the fire hall raised funds for a thermal-imaging camera.  Now he wants to do it again this year.
“We’ve just added a balcony, so our seating has gone from 250 to 300.  It’s even become a family affair doing all the work for this fundraiser.  It takes months to get ready, and yet, it’s amazingly easy.  The fundraiser lasts for 12 hours, with 10 groups playing all day.  All the money raised goes to the fire hall.”
That’s when he realized he’d have to turn bands away.  When he started, he had no idea how much everyone wanted to be a part of a fundraiser.  And how much the local firefighters jumped on board. 
“I offer the barn, and arrange for the groups,” Doncaster said.  “And the fire hall does the rest.  They have great enthusiasm for this.  We don’t canvas the community for anything.  The fire department does everything.  They provide the food for the BBQs and offer fifty-fifty draws throughout the day, and one of the best things about the event is that the musicians play for free.  Everyone has been very supportive.  The interest this has generated is phenomenal.”
Doncaster is excited about the lineup of musicians who’ve offered to play this July 12th.  Natasha Richard and Family, Sackville Citizen’s Band, Little Nashville, Harry Haynes, Bordertown, Pic-n-Grin, Uniake Ramblers, Royal Hicks, and Mountain Rush, are among the talent this year.  And the full lineup and information will soon be at:
http://www.freewebs.com/themusicbarn/2008firemensfundraiser.htm
In this age of new buildings and melding heritages, it’s nice to an old barn, once used for animals, offering its shelter and preserving our local musical heritage.  While most of us can’t do what Doncaster is doing, we can drop by, encourage the musicians and support our fire department.  Rest assured, they won’t be turning us away.

 By Barbara Phinney

There’s absolutely nothing ‘green’ about it, but it’s all environmentally sound.  It’s the Blue Bag Club, the brainchild of Sackville, New Brunswick’s Co-op Store.         

What’s more, as added incentive, a customer could win $25.00, just for being part of it.         

“We call the contest the Blue Bag Club because our reusable bags are blue,” says Sherry Bickerton, the manager of the Sackville Co-op.  “Every time a member or customer uses their bags, they get a ballot for a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate.  The draw is once a month.”         

And the response has been tremendous.  “As far as I know,” Sherry added, “we’re the first store to do this incentive.  And now, because they heard about it from our council and Manager meetings, some of the other Co-ops around are doing it, too.  Our Member Relations Manager came up with this idea and the cashiers made it happen.”         

But before that, Co-op’s head office held their own contest to see which store could sell the most Blue Bags.  That store would win $500.00 toward their staff Christmas party.  And, with that kind of incentive, the Sackville Co-op got plenty motivated.  The cashiers would ask members and customers to purchase the bags.  They even had a promotion whereas you could buy one bag and get the other for free.  Everyone supported the contest and before long, the Sackville Co-op won the head office’s contest.           

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By Barbara Phinney

It was an addiction that the high school wanted to proliferate.  It was making money for a select group in the school and it had the staff’s approval.         

But the students first needed to admit their addiction.  Emma, bravely, started the confessions.  “Hi, I’m Emma, and I’m an ecoholic.”         

They were all ecoholics in that room, all students aching and wanting and driven to do something about the environment.          

Except in this case, it was just a video done by Tantramar Regional High School’s Earth Club.          

“The reason we felt compelled to do the video was mostly for the contest we were entering it in!” Justin, the Earth Club president, admitted with a smile.  “We entered it in the Aliant Get Green Student Video Contest, as part of the International Symposium on Business and the Environment held in Moncton in the fall of 2007. Our earth club had always discussed fundraising ideas, and this contest seemed to stand out!”         

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