members e-newsletter

["Kathie Brosemer" <kathie@cleannorth.org>]

Members e-news

News, Wishes, and Volunteer Opportunities, in three sections...

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News:

* Welcome to all the new addresses on this list!  Jack Donald recently phoned the entire membership to try to sign people up to this, and he’s added about fifty names.  So, welcome aboard!  I’ve promised before, this mailing doesn’t go out more than about once a month, so you won’t be getting a ton of “spam” from us.  It will be rare that you get a members email from Clean North twice in one month (and we promise we’ll have a really good reason).

* Christmas Tree Chipping - here’s the details.  We’ll set up on Boxing Day, and accept trees from then until Tree Chipping Day, Jan 13th.  The last tree through the chipper is at 3 pm that day.  Also taking phone books, same time, same place.  Place?  Oh, right.  The northwest corner of the Cambrian Mall parking lot, next to the propane dealer.

Other items we’re recycling this year include bikes and bike parts, for the new Community Bicycle Workshop, old blankets and towels, for the Humane Society, and books for the Friends of the Library bookstore. Please pass the word at work, school, social clubs, and church, and put this into newsletters if you can.  We’re always looking for other groups to play along, too, so if your favourite youth group, seniors group, etc. wants to come aboard, have them call the office at 945-1573 and we’ll talk...

There are posters available if you have a place to put some.  Email { GOTOBUTTON BM_1_ kathie@cleannorth.org} and I’ll set some aside for you.

* At the last monthly members’ meeting, we decided that now would be an excellent time to try to get a city bylaw regulating the use of pesticides on private property.  This could take the form of an outright ban, or a milder form requiring neighbour notification, or registration of properties that you couldn’t spray lawn pesticides within 500 feet, or some similar.  David Trowbridge has volunteered to research similar bylaws in other communities, but the time is good because of recent news, such as the Supreme Court decision about the bylaw in Hudson, Quebec.

So, there’s a move afoot to form a Pesticide Action Committee, and work with a number of possible strategies.  If you’re interested, email { GOTOBUTTON BM_2_ trowbridges@attcanada.com}trowbridges@attcanada.com, so we have you on the list of people to call.  The first meeting will be in late January (after we have Tree Chipping all put to bed for another year).

* Thanks to all of you who have responded to our recent first-ever Annual Appeal letter.  It’s early yet, but so far twenty people/families have sent in a cheque, and the total has topped $2000.  So it looks like we can pay the rent for a couple more months!  It’s reassuring and gratifying that so many people support the work we’re doing.  A few new people have joined as members, as well.  All of you will get a proper thank you when we send out the receipts in January, but I didn’t want to miss a chance to say thanks now.

* Don’t forget you can check { GOTOBUTTON BM_3_ www.cleannorth.org} any time to find out the latest news on environmental issues, local to global.  Post stories you have found, too, and comment on what you see.  We post action alerts there, so you can spot a chance to write a letter and, with luck, have some influence on a decision about to be made.  Also, check out { GOTOBUTTON BM_4_ www.lists.cleannorth.org} to see the working groups for our own projects, and sign on to one or more if you want to get emails about tree chipping, computer recycling, the bike workshop, etc.

* Mark the Paint Man announces a new deal: the first Saturday of every month, from 10 am to 1 pm, he will be in the back room at the office, holding a Paint Exchange.  He can only take latex paint, so your old oil- based stuff has to wait until the city’s HSW depot opens again in April, but you can get rid of the latex now.  And you can also purchase (super cheap!) any of the latex paint he has on hand.  So you can paint the inside of the garage, the basement, pick up some primer for a wintertime painting project, all very inexpensively (and you’re reusing, too!).  See Mark the first Saturday, 10 am to 1 pm.  Also, email { GOTOBUTTON BM_5_ tellall@fireballcafe.com} to get more information.


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Wishes:

* We’re still collecting A&P register tapes for a small fundraiser.  Our deadline is January 30th, so if you have any you’ve been saving for us (or if you can start saving them), please drop them off to the office (736 Queen) by then.  If nobody is there when you come by, please put them through the mail slot at knee level in our door.  Thanks a bunch!

Other wishes:
– about 700 square feet of commercial grade carpeting in decent condition - know any place that’s renovating and would give us the old stuff?
– fluorescent light fixtures - the four foot kind, for the new basement storage space for the bikes.
– old patio stones - the 18 inch or 24 inch ones.  To keep us out of the water/mucky stuff in the basement.  Have any in the shed you want to be rid of?
– and we can use any Canadian Tire money you might consider parting with.  We use it for tools and supplies for Tree Chipping, and we buy the toilet paper for the office there, too!

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Volunteer Opportunities of the Month:

* Food for Tree Chipping:
One of the nicest things about this event is that we feed the volunteers!  It makes it so sociable!  So if you can help with one of the following items, please email Andrea at { GOTOBUTTON BM_6_ back.motion@on.aibn.com} or phone her at 942-3119.   She’ll give you all the details.

4 pots of chili  - arriving between 10:00 and 11:00 on tree chip day
4 dozen buns
small tub of margarine (does not harden)
hot chocolate syrup mix  - not powder
drink crystals -
baking - arriving throughout the day, also on Saturday the 12th
milk -1 half and half , 1 regular milk carton
coffee
Coffee Mate
propane

You can either deliver this on the day of the event, or again contact Andrea
for a drop off location.  We'll make this as easy as possible. Baking
needs to be provided on the Saturday before the event as well.

* Anyone know anybody who is coming north from the Greater Toronto Area by private vehicle before Christmas?  We’ve been allocated a shipment of wooden toy parts that would be great for our Community Christmas for Children event and other Imagination Station activities, but we need someone who can bring them to us.  They’re in Mississauga. It’s not a huge box, but it’s sort of heavy so we don’t want to ship it. Email { GOTOBUTTON BM_7_ kathie@cleannorth.org} if you can help.  Thanks!

* Couch potatoes wanted!  Our dedicated librarian didn’t quite finish - the video collection remains uncatalogued.  Can you take a few videos home, watch them, and fill in the paper form so we can get them into the library system?  Email { GOTOBUTTON BM_8_ kathie@cleannorth.org} to sign up for this – it’s the warmest and coziest volunteer task we’ve got this winter!  and I promise I won’t call you a couch potato again.

* Speaking of warm and cozy tasks - not!  We still need a couple of Site Supervisors for the tree chipping event.  We need you to be in charge of one or two shifts - a shift is three hours, and you will have volunteers assigned to you.  Your job is to keep them busy and make sure they follow safety rules.  We’ll go over all you need to know, at the site supers orientation we’ll do sometime in the next two weeks.  Email { GOTOBUTTON BM_9_ kathie@cleannorth.org}.

* Here’s a juicy one.  We get phone calls all the time, asking about where people can buy mercury-free thermometers, or composters, or a rain barrel, or a battery charger, etc.  We need a Consumer Reporter.  The idea: about once a month, you pick a particular green product, and phone around all the likely places, and collect info about who sells it, for what price, with which features, etc.  So after a while we’ll have a pretty good collection.  We can put it in our Answer Book, print in the newsletter, post it on the website, etc.  Any Brenda Starrs out there (or Brendans)? Email { GOTOBUTTON BM_:_ kathie@cleannorth.org} if you’d enjoy this job.  You could even have a pen-name if you’re shy...

* The last Tree Chipping-related call: we need a sign painter.  We have some sign material and a wish list of signs we need for this event, but we need someone with a steady hand to make these come to life.  Can you do lettering?  Can you draw a pine tree?  We need you!  Or else I’ll have to do it!  Call 945-1573 or email { GOTOBUTTON BM_;_ kathie@cleannorth.org} and save us from my ineptitude...  please!

* People for a Membership Committee.   This bunch would do things like: figure out good places to leave our membership brochure, keep the membership database up to date with a monthly visit to the office, make phone calls to straighten out any errors, even maybe do a membership drive in the spring, if you want.  Care to be on this group?  Call or email, { GOTOBUTTON BM_<_ kathie@cleannorth.org.} We’ll do tea and cookies, and figure out where we go from here.

* Write for the newsletter.  Mark the Editor (a little-known fact: he’s the same guy as Mark the Paint Man), who can be found at { GOTOBUTTON BM_=_ tellall@fireballcafe.com}, would love to include your articles, poetry, lists, cartoons, etc. in the newsletter.  He’ll be doing the next issue in January, so you have a little time to think about this.  Write on!







You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy. -- Gautama Buddha
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