After a period of hardship, the Evans family finally has a reason to smile this Yuletude season after receiving a special present that’s just too big and too unique to fit under a Christmas tree.

This year, Trisha Evans and her two sons have recently received a brand new home, courtesy of a local Barrie Charity.

According to Melody Edwards, representative for the charitable program Habitat for Humanity Huronia, Evans and her kids are very excited to move into their new home. In fact, Trisha gets teary-eyed every time she pays the house a visit.

Evans and her family are just one of the privileged families selected to be given a Habitat Huronia home, which has been under construction since August this year. The house will be home to Evans’ two young boys, aged 6 and 7. Both suffer from PMD, or Pelizeaus-Merzbacher disease, a rare type of neurological degenerative condition that causes weakening of the muscles, involuntary movements, and slow learning of motor skills.

And while the new home may not be finished before the 25th of December or Christmas Day due to construction problems, Evans doesn’t really care, and notes that she’s blessed enough to even receive a house for free.

The City of Barrie is not one to take a break during the holidays. In fact, local groups of all types are working double-time to make the Yuletide season special for their respective communities. And because of all that dedication, Barrie’s residents have another event to look forward to before the year ends.

Locals and neighbors from nearby communities are invited to celebrate the Spirit of Christmas with Christmas with the Family, a special presentation featuring plenty of assorted Christmas Pop favorites. Children and families are in for a treat as familiar Christmas tunes both new and old play throughout the night, guaranteeing a magical and special night for everyone one in attendance.

The presentation will also feature guest conductor Danielle Lisboa and renowned cellist John Trembath. Lisboa will be doing a short talk called the “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”, which is a wonderful and informative way to spend the Christmas season with friends and family.

The concert is set to take place at Barrie’s Central United Church on December 20, 2009. The show officially starts exactly at 3:30pm. Tickets are priced at $80.00 for adults, $40.00 for students and $8.00 for children below 12.

For more details and information on the event, log-on to www.huroniasymphony.ca.

The City of Barrie’s popular yearly calendar just turned green for 2010.
To encourage Barrie’s residents to live environment-friendly lifestyles next year, the City’s 2010 waste reduction calendar got a “green” makeover, complete with an eco-inspired theme.

According to the city’s waste management representative Christina O’Neill, the new calendar is aimed at helping Barrie locals manage their lives in the most eco-friendly way possible.

The calendar, which was recently included in the city’s local paper comes literally in the color green, and was also made with equally “green” methods.

Aside from sporting a new color, the new calendar was printed using recycled paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which O’Neill hopes sends enough of a green message to Barrie’s locals.

As always, the calendars still comes with some handy tips and general information. This time however, the trivia and pointers are more centered on environmental issues. Each month features new tips and information, making the whole calendar packed with a wealth of knowledge.

The calendar also offers the same list of contact numbers of important city services, city departments, and important dates found in past calendars. This time around, trash and waste collection schedules have been included as well.

The City of Barrie’s Christmas Cheer might’ve been created to help the less fortunate, but right now, it needs some big help of its own.

Christmas Cheer is a holiday charity program aimed at raising funds to provide help to hundreds of needy families during the yuletide season. But it’s facing a brick wall right now, due to cash shortage.

According to Kory Hopkins, spokesman for Christmas Cheer, this year the fund is over $100,000 short, although he adds that the same scenario happened last year, when they lacked $70,000 to make the goal. He says that all it takes is just one more small push, but he knows that Barrie’s citizens can pull it off, just like they did last year.

Organizers estimate that over 1800 families or 4900 people will show up at the event on the 22nd of December. To cope with that larger number, the program has enlisted roughly 400 volunteers to help out in distributing donations.

This year, the fundraiser set a goal of $207,000, with the last day of donations on Friday noon this week. The big event is set to be held at the Flags Unlimited building’s parking lot, a spacious area fit to accommodate the droves of people expected to show up.

When Jeff Lehman first set up the Facebook group to help save Barrie Central last Wednesday; never in his wildest dreams did he imagine the account to amass over 1,500 followers in less than a week.

In fact, 24 hours after the setting up group, 927 members signed up for the cause. Another two hours later, it broke the 1000 mark. As of last Friday, the group boasts of 1500 members – and that number is still growing.

Lehman was nothing short of flabbergasted by the huge number of people who came to help save Barrie Central.

A Peak behind the Problem

In 2008, the public school board decided that Central needed to be replaced by another building, largely due to the declining number of enrollees at the institution. However, the proposed project went without the support of Ontario’s Ministry of Education.

According to business and facilities superintendent Carol McAulay, the school faces a tough problem of declining pupils in spite of the steady population growth. The school board needs to work on reinvigorating Barrie Central, as more and more students are opting to enroll at private schools.

What’s in Store for Central?

Lehman knows that the Simcoe County District School Board wants to rebuild Central. The only problem? Where to get the funding. According to him, the Facebook group is just the start, as he and his friends plan to hold more activities to help stop Central’s closure.

The city of Barrie is currently searching for another partner to help in the development of a new hotel-convention centre in its downtown district, after the original developer BrightStar, failed to meet the city’s conditions and agreements.

According to Councilor Jeff Lehman, representative for the downtown district, due to the current economic crisis, BrightStar was unable to meet the city’s requirements and was thus forced to back out of the deal. A time limit on the proceeding was apparently not met.

Lehman says that the next step for the city to take is to open the project to other firms and contractors. He adds that plenty of groups are interested in striking a partnership with the city.

The new partner (if any) will be tasked to finish the work started by BrightStar, who have started to make significant progress on the hotel conference centre. No changes will be made on the center’s plans.

The hotel-convention centre is slated to house around 144 hotel rooms, a meeting and convention area that seats at least 650 people, boutiques, restaurants, and commercial space for other retail outlets and the like.

Depending on how negotiations go, the project might include underground parking and condominiums.

Whatever the case, the project is expected to generate much-needed jobs for the city of Barrie – certainly great news to start the New Year with.

Barrie’s Monsignor Clair School is doing its way to help the community by taking part in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights write-a-thon, a letter-writing movement that aims to encourage world leaders to protect and uphold the importance of human rights.

Over the past few days since the school has joined in on the cause, students have been busy typing and writing their letters.

Student Connor Reikou comments she’s proud to have written 4 letters so far. She hopes that the government leaders she’s written to hear her message and help bring peace and protect children.

The Write for Rights program is a yearly activity that is part of the annual International Human Rights Day, which takes place on December 10. The students from Monsignor Clair School, have been given a head start, writing as many letters as they can before the arrival of the big day.

The children’s letters will be sent to government leaders in Columbia, Darfur, Chad, Solovakia and here at home and the United States.

Children wrote to Canada’s leaders to help Aboriginal children have access to health care.

Rachel Jovitt, another student who wrote some letters herself, said that writing to people and sharing her ideas feels good. She comments that children have opinions too; it’s just that nobody ever listens anymore.

After what seemed like an eternal wait, Dancing with the Stars Barrie’s gala is finally taking place on Sunday.

Aside from providing a source of fun and wholesome entertainment, the competition also serves as an avenue to raise funds for the Barrie Public Library’s satellite branch in the south.

And in true “Spirit of Christmas style”, some of Barrie’s most recognizable faces slipped on their dancing shoes to help the important cause and vie for the competition’s top spot.

Since its start on November 4 this year, the Tranter Institute has been largely responsible for organizing and setting up the fun competition.

To help out the amateur dancers perform at their peak levels, professional and seasoned dance instructors were brought in to demonstrate slick moves and give dancers advice on how to give the competition their best shot.

Gala tickets are priced at $25, while a VIP ticket on the other hand costs $50 with a complimentary limousine ride to and from the event, and dinner at the acclaimed Shutter’s Restaurant. If you want to have a peek at the contestants’ looks and dance moves, you can log-on to www.tranterinstitute.com.

The gala is set to take place at the Georgian College Theatre, with some surprise performances awaiting those lucky enough to score tickets on time.

A woman who has worked for years with people with disabilities received the first award of its kind named after the late Robert Kerr.

Heather Hollingshead won the first ever Robert Kerr Accessibility Award, given to her just recently at Barrie City Hall.

Hollingshead, who was surprised to receive the honor, commented that the award was dedicated to those afflicted with all types of disabilities. And while Barrie has made improvements in accessibility, the city still has a long way to go to make things perfect. She further notes that at any given moment, anyone can have a disability, making it important for the city to make accommodations to these individuals.

Heather Hollingshead serves as the regional services coordinator for the Canadian Paraplegic Association. Just recently, she celebrated her 25th year with the group. Over the years, she has forged a reputation for herself as a woman who never tires to be a fierce advocate for the cause.

Among the individuals she has helped are people with spinal injuries, empowering them with knowledge and information to make their lives a bit better.

The award recognizes the efforts of an individual or group to promote awareness of people with disabilities in Barrie.

Students and teachers from elementary schools like the Algonquin Ridge Elementary School are doing their part to help out the community by participating in “Hidden GEHMs”, which stands for Giving Everyone Happy Memories Talent Show.

Among those who are excited to help those in need, is 10-year old Melissa Bennett, who signed up with Alqonquin Ridge’s Commit to Character program.

The talent show, which features schoolchildren from Public Schools in Warnica and Algonquin, also serves as a fundraiser for the Out of the Cold program, which is based in Barrie.

The program aims to provide homeless people in the area a place to sleep and stay, as well as regular hot meals to ease their hardship and make things more comfortable for them during the winter months

According to little Michelle, it only makes sense to give those less fortunate with things we take usually take for granted, like hats, coats, and food.
She’s currently busy preparing for the upcoming show, which is happening at the Barrie Collegiate auditorium.

It’s a show guaranteed to warm the hearts of those in attendance. Not only will spectators marvel at the city’s pool of young talent, they’ll also get a chance to spread some Christmas cheer, with all proceeds of the event going to Out of the Cold.