In an effort to sport a newer look and feel, the Thunder Bay Public Library has adopted a new logo and hopes that the change ushers in a more dynamic entry to the 21st century.

The library gave the public its first look of the new logo on Monday, culminating an endeavour that started last fall. The library first began searching for a logo late last year, narrowing their search down to 20 designs from which the library board members made their final choice.

The library apparently wanted to select a design that had a free and loose brush stroke feel, akin to a child’s sense of freedom. The library’s board is said to have chosen from other more serious designs, finally settling on the more colourful logo the public saw on Monday.

According to Janine Chiasson, writer for Generator Strategy Advertising, the Thunder Bay Public Library sought feedback from focus-groups, who wanted a design that was colourful and full of life. She hopes that the new logo will excite and appeal to both children and adults.

The new logo is also a way of ushering in the change we see today in libraries. Chiasson pointed out that gone are the days of libraries offering only books and selected print publications.  Today’s libraries now offer a wide range of media, including free access to the internet, audio, video, and even games.

Each year, Camp Quality’s volunteers have a daunting task. The non-profit organization strives to raise $100,000 in donations yearly, a sum of money that goes to their annual summer program for kids afflicted with cancer.

Indeed, any donation can go a long way in helping them reach their goal.

On Monday, it seemed that Camp Quality’s efforts were not in vain, as AbitibiBowater’s Thunder Bay sawmill operation donated $5,000 to the organization. The mill was able to donate the money because of their achievement of having no recordable injury after 250,000 hours of operation. The $5,000 safety prize was awarded by AbitibiBowater’s board of directors.

According to Clara Butikofer, a volunteer at Camp Quality, the donation has made the organization immensely happy and will definitely help in putting up the summer camp program. She commented that every year the camp draws in over 100 children, and providing them with food and other necessities for the duration of the program requires a lot of funds.

The camp, she said, isn’t about finding a cure or researching the cause behind cancer. She points out the goal of the camp is to give these sick children a cause to be truly happy.

Bikers on big bikes have always been kind of intimidating to say the least, but for a group of motorcyclists here in the City of Thunder Bay, intidimating people is the last thing on their minds.

The bikers will be hosting an event called ‘Ride for Dad’, a campaign aimed at raising awareness on the debilitating effects of prostate cancer and the importance of its early detections. The motorcycle fundraiser was recently announced this week, and is set to take place on the 19^th of June. Three bike groups in the city are stepping up to the plate, and have pledged to bring with them as many people as they can to the event.

Organizers expect more than 250 riders to join the event, but according to Tere Mcdonald, chairman of the Bell Motorcycle Ride for Dad, the number of people expected to turn up at the event will largely depend on the weather.

Nevertheless, he’s counting on the camarederie of the riders to make the fundraiser successful. McdDonald points out that riders always stick together, travelling through highways in groups of 5 or more people. The event aims to draw in these individuals to support a very important cause, most especially to men.

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Pet owners worried about losing their furry friends were presented with an effective solution last weekend. The Thunder Bay and District Humane Society held its yearly Chip-a-thon on Saturday, drawing in over 30 pet owners from all across the city who had their pets implanted with a very small microchip.

The dot-sized chip carries personal information about the pet’s owner, helping them locate the animal easier in the occasion that they get lost. The only way the data on the chip can be read is through a special scanner used to pass over the cat or dog’s back, where the chip is injected.
The humane society normally offers the chip for $50 to $60, but for the annual event, sold it for only $35, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the humane society’s funds.

Thunder Bay and District Humane Society volunteer Sue Saretsky comments that the chip is much more convenient than regular pet licenses because the society can easily scan the dog or cat to know their name and who they belong to. She observed that more and more people are having their animals implanted with chips as the years go by.

The process of implanting the microchip is very safe and well tested, she said. The animals just yelp a bit, but after a scratch and a treat, they’ll forget it ever happened.

It’s that time of the year once again for high school prom season, and with the number of female students expected to buy dresses next month, one charity here in Thunder Bay is moving to help these young ladies get an opportunity to buy dresses for cheap.

The 2nd annual ‘Gowns with a Cause’ is a dress sale aimed at encouraging residents to donate their gently-used dresses of any color, style, and size. Those interested in helping out the cause can drop their donations at the Canada Games Complex, which serves as one of the many drop-off points scattered across the area.

The idea of hosting such an event was hatched by two women who realized that they had too many dresses that have only been worn once, stored in the closet permanently as the years passed by.

The charity’s goal is to collect gowns such as these, and sell them to teens so that they have something to wear to prom night, without having to pay that much money on something that’s going to be used only once anyway.

According to Kayla Kannegiesser, one of the charity’s organizers, the dresses will be sold at only $20 each. Aside from dresses, other items such as shoes and accessories will be up for sale, she said.

The past week was a busy one for the City of Thunder Bay’s Rotary Clubs, who spent hours packing boxes with books on Wednesday. The books will be sent to the Caribbean nations of Haiti and Jamaica in an effort to boost literacy in the two countries.

The Rotary Race to Literacy Book Drive Project is both a national and global campaign created to help promote literacy by collecting pre-used books and donating them to countries in need. The project is well on its way to breaking the existing world record for the most books donated to charity in 1 week.

The current record was established in California 2 years ago, with organizers donating a whopping total of 243,000 books collected in just 7 days. But according to Maria Hudolin, former Port Arthur Rotary president, breaking the current Guinness record is just an extra-goal. Helping those in Haiti and Jamaica learn to read is the focus of the project, she said.

In both countries, the lack of books and other reading materials for early education is a problem that’s often overlooked. The only way kids in these countries can learn how to read is if they receive help from the outside. This is especially a problem for Haiti, whose citizens are still trying to get back on their feet after a destructive earthquake devastated the country’s capital city of Port Au Prince in January.

Although the ash from last week’s volcanic eruption in Iceland is now making its way into Newfoundland’s airspace, the Thunder Bay Airport Authority isn’t worried about meeting the same problems that crippled incoming flights into Northwestern Ontario from Europe.

Ed Schmidtke, the airport’s manager of business development, predicts the ash clouds to dissipate before making it to the city. He’s confident that the airport’s departing and arriving flights will continue as scheduled, despite the number of affected airports in North America.

According to Katie Zuber, general manager for Mytravel Thunder Bay Travel, they’ve only received a few calls from stranded passengers in Europe. It’s a good thing that not many people are traveling overseas right now, she said.

Zuber added that it’s tough not being able to help stranded passengers because when it comes right down to it, there’s not much they can do when planes don’t leave the tarmac.

It’s worth noting that there aren’t that many people from Thunder Bay who leave the city during this time of the year. Those who do travel to Europe mainly do it to visit family and relatives. Zuber pointed out that flights usually peak around May and June.

Canadian officials are closely monitoring Iceland’s seismic activity for another possible eruption, one that could be more disastrous to air travel.

Due to the economic crisis that swept through North America and the rest of the globe, it comes as no surprise that the number of residents here in the City of Thunder Bay found to have been using food banks has risen noticeably over the past few years. In an effort to accommodate this increasing demand, students from Lakehead University are working on a project to do what they can and help.

Members of the university’s Students In Free Enterprise Team have sought the help of Quality Market and Saint John’s Ambulance in organizing their “Let’s Can Hunger Challenge”. The project, which is being sponsored by Campbell’s Soup, is aimed at filling at least one Saint John’s Ambulance full of canned goods and other non-perishable food items, which will then be donated to the Regional Food Distribution Association. According to the project’s team leader, Allison O’Shea, the support from shoppers at Quality Market has been nothing short of amazing.

All the collected food items will be distributed to the food banks in the region under the RFDA umbrella. You too can help out by collecting your own donations and dropping them at your nearest food bank.

Date: April 22, 2010 TO April 23, 2010
Time: 7:00pm

Paramount Live! Theatre Company proudly presents “Anne of Green Gables – The Musical” live at the Paramount Theatre. Show dates are Thursday, April 22 and Friday April 23. Shows begin at 7:00pm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 each for children 12 years old and younger.

Hosted By: Paramount Theatre
Contact Person: Leon Bullock
Phone: (807) 345-1780