WILLIAMSBURG – Dundas County Food Bank representatives couldn’t say enough about this community and how pivotal a role it played in turning a bad year into a good year for the Dundas County Food Bank.

Monday evening the Dundas County Food Bank (DCFB) held its annual general meeting at the J.W. MacIntosh Seniors’ Support Centre in Williamsburg.

The community’s support in a time of need for the organization which operates locations in Morrisburg and Winchester was evident in every report presented.

With the Olympic craze making its way into Seaway with the Student Council-run Spirit Week to celebrate the winter games, Seaway High and intermediate students alike had the amazing opportunity to  hear former Olympic athlete Sue Holloway talk about her experiences,

MORRISBURG – Some people make friends more easily that others, and that’s no different for someone with an intellectual disability.

A person’s support network is generally comprised of a mixture of family and friends, but too often someone with an intellectual disability can end up quite isolated.

“Sometimes the only contact they end up having is with paid staff,” said Brenda Laviolette, coordinator with Community Living Dundas County.

MORRISBURG–There’s a new club in town!

Calling all youth, ages 12 to 18 years. The Morrisburg and District Lions Club is in the process of establishing a LEO Club and is looking for youth who are interested in “making a difference” in their community.

“We have six members now, and we’ll take on as many as we can get,” says Lions Club president Keith Robinson. “We are setting up a LEO Club to provide the youth in our community the opportunity to get involved in volunteerism.”

WILLIAMSBURG –  The zoning amendment necessary to allow for the construction of a building supply retail facility, lumber yard and warehouse on a 14.65 acres parcel of land between County Road 2 and the Broken Second was last week approved by South Dundas council.

The zoning amendment changes the land designation from rural to commercial. It will allow Thompson Tim-Br Mart in Iroquois to build a new, larger facility at the location.

SOUTH DUNDAS – Council continues to struggle with a proposed traffic bylaw, which would regulate parking in the Iroquois and Morrisburg shopping plazas.

An attempt to put this issue to a vote at the Feb.,16 meeting failed.

Members of South Dundas council each had reservations about different portions of the bylaw, prompting all of them to support deferring the vote.

South Dundas councillor Evonne Delegarde spoke primarily about the issue of angle parking in the Iroquois Plaza.

WILLIAMSBURG – “It’s not too often we get an opportunity like this,” said South Dundas councillor Del Jones, concerning the Ontario Visual Heritage project proposal to create a documentary on this history of the McIntosh apple.

Councillor Jones, South Dundas mayor Robert ‘Rowdy’ Gillard and South Dundas economic development officer Linda Wilson attended the Feb.., 11 meeting which introduced the project to the community. Jones reported back to the other members of South Dundas council at the Feb., 16 regular council meeting.

SOUTH DUNDAS – Little growth, lost tax revenue, decreased funding and increased municipal expenses do not bode well for the 2010 budget process.

Feb., 16 South Dundas council members were given an overview of the 2010 budget by South Dundas chief administrative officer Stephen McDonald.

WINCHESTER – From the outside, Winchester District Memorial Hospital appears to be a shining example of a state of the art community hospital ready to position itself as a regional centre for health care, but what’s on the inside matters too.

Realizing this, Hospital CEO Trudy Reid and the board have taken steps to ensure that the heart of the hospital, its 178 employees, are also industry leaders.

They want WDMH staff to lead health care in bucking the trend of workplace employee stress that runs rampant throughout the industry today.

“Now that everything’s built, what we need is to invest in our people,” said Reid at a Feb. 18 press conference.

Reid explained that rather than react to the province-wide trends, this hospital decided to invest first in finding out exactly what issues are impacting staff at this rural, community hospital.