members e-news

[Kathie Brosemer <kathie@cleannorth.org>]

Members e-newsletter


1.  Annual Meeting and Blackout Party at Mockingbird Hill Farm
2.  Cell Phone Recycling
3.  Household Special Waste Depot Closing
4.  Help in the Office?
5.  World Buy Nothing Day

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1.Annual Meeting at Mockingbird Hill Farm

It's this Friday!  In honour of the Great Power Outage of 2003, and the 
continuing local system instability since then, our Annual Meeting will be 
off the grid.  We'll meet at 5:30 at Mockingbird Hill Farm for a campfire, 
food and fun, and a trip through the corn maze (which may be haunted!). 
Dress warmly - the forecast so far is cool and dry.

Bring food to share - that can be cooked over a campfire, heated on a 
Coleman stove, or served cold.  You know which will be most popular!  RSVP 
- 949-3862 or kathie@cleannorth.org.

Please come!  We want to see you!

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2.  Cell Phone Recycling

We've just signed up for a new and exciting one.  PhoneBack Canada 
refurbishes old cell phones and gives them to organizations such as seniors 
centres, women's shelters, and programs that serve disabled people.  So 
they become a significant security measure for vulnerable people who 
otherwise couldn't afford one (there's no charge to call 9-1-1 on a cell 
phone).  The ones they can't refurbish, they recycle "to best environmental 
practices."

So we're collecting them.  We get a small premium for them, too, so it may 
turn into a nice little ongoing fundraiser for us.  We have some glossy 
posters they've sent us, so if you want to put one up at work, get in touch 
- kathie@cleannorth.org - and I'll get one to you.

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3.  Household Special Waste Depot Closing

Got poison?  The depot closes for the season very soon (no heat in the 
building, remember?).  Last day is October 25.  So don't delay - the last 
day will be very busy, so get there before then and avoid the lineups. 
They're open Fridays and Saturdays, 8:30 am to 4 pm.

They take paints, varnishes, stains, pesticides, automotive fluids, 
batteries, and many other types of "special" waste.  Directions:  From 
Great Northern Road, turn into the industrial park at the entrance opposite 
Esquire Honda.  Go all the way to the back of the park, where the road 
curves to the right.  The Depot will be on your left, just as you complete 
the turn.

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4.  Help in the Office?

We could use a few good people, to spend one or two, two-hour shifts per 
week, helping out at the office.  There are four of us regulars now, plus 
some assistants via work placements, and the usual Clean North drop ins who 
stop in to pick out a job from the Jobs for Anybody bin.  But we could use 
a few more "regulars" so if your schedule would allow a two-hour stint, 
weekly, we'd love to have you.

You'd basically answer the phone and help callers find the information 
they're looking for.  We have an Answer Book to help, plus we post 
information about the latest hot topic that all the callers seem to be 
asking about this week (they do run in cycles).

You'd also help out with an ongoing project of your own choosing, or pitch 
in with whatever needs doing at the moment, to keep you busy in between 
phone calls.  It may be designing a new window display, scanning some of 
our old photos from past events, folding the paper newsletter, getting a 
mailing ready for a workshop, or tidying up the Imagination Station after a 
work party has left it a mess.  There's always something to do, and plenty 
of project ideas just waiting for some attention.  Email 
kathie@cleannorth.org if this sounds like fun.

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5.  World Buy Nothing Day

It's a backlash against corporate consumer culture that defines our worth 
as humans by how much we can spend.  Find out more at www.adbusters.com.

What shall we do locally?  Ideas wanted...

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stay warm, come to the party, have a great Halloween...

kathie