EVENT BRANTFORD GUIDE BRANT PAGE 5 SIX NATIONS FREE APRIL 2021 NEW INSTALLATION specializing in propane appliances fast,friendly service O.A.C. bellcitymechanical.ca 519-732-4267 FRIENDLY VOICE FOR SENIORS, JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY Buzz Me is “SKIP’s response to the pandemic.” STORY PAGE 3 2 Entertainment & Community Guide COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS In light of the Pandemic and to help reduce touch points, please follow these guidelines when picking up your copy of BScene! • Take your copy when you’re about to leave the store • Try not to handle other papers • Please Do Not put papers back in the pile (take it home or recycle it when you’re finished) • And as always, keep washing your hands and wearing your masks! APR. 2021 Vol. 7, Edition 7 BScene is a local Entertainment & Community BE SEEN WITH Guide, showcasing the #BRANTastic features of INSIDE Brantford, Brant and Six Nations through engaging content and with the Best Event Guide in our this issue community. SCENE BScene is distributed free, every month through B key community partners throughout Brantford, Friendly Voices for Seniors, 3 Just a Phone Call Away Brant and Six Nations. BScene has a local network of over 500 distribution points including local advertisers, retail outlets, dining establishments, Community News & Media Releases 4 - 5 and community centres. For a complete list, BSCENE AROUND please visit bscene.ca APRIL 2021 EVENT GUIDE 5 As a community paper and forum for sharing BSCENE Puzzles • Sudoku 6 thoughts and experiences, the views expressed TOWN IN MARCH in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor, other contributors, advertisers Steve's Tea Company 6 or distributors unless otherwise stated. BSCENE FOOD SCENE BScene is wholly owned and published by Jason 7 Paris Twisted Treats & What's the Scoop? Freeze. All content © 2020 and all rights to distribution are reserved by BScene. Your Neighbourhood Experts 8 ADVERTISING BScene distributes 10,000 copies to over 500 Brantford BRC 9 drop locations throughout Brantford, Brant and Six Nations each month. BScene also publishes Cognitive Dynamics 9 unique online content throughout each month as well as providing the Best Event Guide in the County of Brant Public Library 10 community. We have an engaged and dedicated readership who are invested in experiencing what our community has to offer. A message from the Publisher 10 For advertising inquiries, please contact: SUPPORT LOCAL 11 - 13 Jason Freeze 226-802-2299 [email protected] NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK 14 Community Employment Service 15 The BSCENE Team OWNER, PUBLISHER GRCOA 15 Photo Jason Freeze Jason Freeze ([email protected]) Last month we said farewell to our local hero Walter Gretzky. The outpouring of Habitat for Humanity 16 condolences was tremendous as memorials popped up at the Wayne Gretzky Sports DESIGNER Not For Profit Spotlight Centre after his passing. RIP Walter Gretzky. Josef Stevens (madebyacme.com) 17 Kiwanis Club of Paris-Brant COLUMNISTS BSCENE’s RECYCLING PROGRAM Jack Jackowetz Memories of Walter Gretzky 18 The BSCENE paper stays local and supports local endeavours as much as possible. Yvonne Van De Wiele-Cooper Renee VanderHarst Walter Gretzky, Canada's Hockey Dad 19 Our publication was printed locally at Ricter Web Printer for years. After its closing, we chose McLaren Press Graphics in Gravenhurst, a family owned business. PHOTOGRAPHERS Celebrating Walter Gretzky 20 - 21 Jason Freeze From there, we distribute locally to many businesses and organizations within our A LOOK BACK - 22 - 23 grand community. Then at the end of the month, we’ll collect any left over papers EVENT GUIDE COORDINATOR / Tuscarora Township, Part 1 GRAPHIC DESIGN for recycling. These papers are recycled through a special fundraising program Edith Freeze ([email protected]) Special thank you to Heritage Canada and the Canadian Periodical Fund, with Sydenham-Heritage United Church and Hartmanns Canada. Hartmann’s Special Measures for Journalism for their recent support and grant funding. is a local egg carton manufacturer located in Holmedale that turns the papers into DELIVERIES A member of the Brantford-Brant Chamber of Commerce and Bruce Freeze the Paris and District Chamber of Commerce egg cartons, which are sold back to you at the store. The money raised through this fundraising program gets sent back to Sydenham-Heritage United Church to be used EVENT GUIDE LISTING [email protected] in their Green programs for sustainable upgrades. BSCENE prides itself on supporting local whenever we can. COVER Submitted photo. Specializing in All your BBQ needs! 403 Fairview Dr. 519-752-3151 www.strodes.ca APRIL 2021 facebook twitter instagram 3 FRIENDLY VOICE FOR SENIORS, JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY Buzz Me is “SKIP’s response to the pandemic. feet apart made it impossible to engage in conversations. fields such as social work or health care. Students themselves gain valuable life experience from speaking “I‘ve had many callers say I’m feeling blue today, or I’m with seniors, who sometimes act as mentors. feeling hopeless today and by the end of the conversation, their spirits are lifted and that’s really what our aim is. But they’re also extending the network and anyone We’re not a crisis line,” she said. anywhere, who wants to be of service to others, can YVONNE VAN DE WIELE-COOPER apply to be a volunteer by logging onto the website and SKIP’S biggest focus was initially the “Person to Person” filling out an application. Seniors with computers wanting email [email protected] program where elementary school children would visit to fill up their days with easy, safe, purposeful volunteer seniors in person. The pandemic, which has hit long work, are also urged to apply to become Buzz Me agents. roundtablepr.com Praass says the computer program is easy to With the pandemic forcing the cancellation learn and they’d especially like to hear from of in-person visits, SKIP, (Seniors and Kids seniors who want to talk to other seniors. Intergenerational Programs) like so many Volunteers are required to undergo a standard others, has had to pivot. police check and fill out confidentiality forms. And callers’ last names are not collected, The result, is Buzz Me. A simple, but highly unless the senior wants to book a “wellness” effective program/service, linking mostly call online for a specific time and wishes to university and college students, working leave their name. from their computers, with isolated seniors on their phones. What also makes the program easy to use is a partnership with Canada 211, which offers Thanks to a $99,700 one year grant from the seniors the ability to reach “Buzz Me” by not Trillium Foundation’s, Resilient Communities having to remember a 1-800 number. Canada Fund grant, Buzz Me was launched on June 211 is a federally sponsored number allowing 1st 2020, also the 10th anniversary of the people to access information about their own annual Intergenerational Day. community. Buzz Me program coordinator, Tina Praass, Submitted photos “So they can dial 211 on their phones and they says, “It was SKIP’S response to the can ask for Buzz Me Brantford and they can pandemic.” reach us, which is unique to this program,” said Praass. term care especially hard, has put that initiative on hold “You know, I talked to seniors in long term care facilities indefinitely, but Buzz Me, which recruits older students, Praass also sees value in continuing the virtual program during the lockdown and they would tell me, they only has been a successful alternative. even after the pandemic, as part of the new normal. “I got to engage with friends when they went outside for a think globally what people are waking up to, is that social half an hour while physically distanced, but in the colder Currently, there’s a team of about 16 Buzz Me volunteers, isolation is a thing. It’s been going on in long term care months, which is most of the year, they’re not getting that made up mostly of university and college students for years and this is nothing new to them,” she said. opportunity to engage,” she said. from multiple campuses throughout the area, including Brantford, Hamilton and Waterloo. Some are even Seniors wishing to receive a call from a Buzz Me agent Praass says she spoke to one woman who always looked learning remotely from home in places like Ottawa or can call 1-866-BUZZ or 211 and ask for Buzz Me in forward to the dinner hour, which pre-pandemic was the Oakville, but because they can log on remotely, they can Brantford. highlight of her day, because that’s when she would get a talk to seniors in Brantford. chance to eat a meal with her friends, talk about the day They can also book through the website https://www. and have “that social interaction.” Praass says anyone can apply to be a volunteer, but they goskip.org/buzz-me, which is where potential volunteers are especially looking for university students. It helps can also apply. But when pandemic restrictions increased, people in long them complete volunteer placement hours safely and term care weren’t even able to eat at the same table and remotely and the program is ideal for those in the “caring” with the hearing challenges many seniors face, being six 4 Entertainment & Community Guide notification to BCHU if a worker becomes sick with the region comprising the City of Brantford, County of symptoms consistent with COVID-19 at any point Brant and Six Nations of the Grand River are permitted during their stay in Canada. Workers are permitted to to access recreational services at City of Brantford complete their quarantine period on-farm.