Media Release: GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES 496 NEW CHILD CARE SPACES

GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES 496 NEW CHILD CARE SPACES

Today at the Souls Harbour Rescue Mission in Regina, Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ken Krawetz announced that 17 agencies will be receiving $1.67 million in capital funding to develop 496 new child care spaces in 11 communities throughout the province.

"There is an increasing demand for child care spaces in Saskatchewan as more parents find their place in the workforce or pursue post-secondary education," Krawetz said. "Child care is a priority for the government, which is why we provided funding in this year's budget to develop 1,000 new child care spaces by the end of 2009-10. The 496 spaces allocated today will provide high quality early learning and child care opportunities, as well as support the social and educational development of young children."

Souls Harbour Rescue Mission is being allocated 60 child care spaces, and is receiving more than $200,000 in provincial space development capital funding to ready the former St. Andrew's Church for quality child care programming.

"This building was originally built with an eye to children and youth, where the founding elders said they wanted a place ‘where values can be caught as well as taught'," Souls Harbour Rescue Mission Executive Director Michelle Porter said. "Opening a daycare will bring this building back to its original purpose as well as fill a significant need in this community."

The 496 spaces are part of the Government of Saskatchewan's $4.22 million investment to develop 1,000 new child care spaces this year. The remaining spaces will be awarded to communities across Saskatchewan throughout the year, based on community readiness. This is a new process put in place to ensure communities will be able to open the spaces in the fiscal year they are allocated. Community organizations will be notified by the Ministry of Education as soon as new spaces are approved.

All 1,000 spaces will open by the end of 2009-10, bringing the total of licensed child care spaces in Saskatchewan to 11,400.

In addition to the funding of 1,000 new child care spaces, the early learning and child care sector received an additional $1.2 million to support the training of early childhood educators and $375,000 for child care for children with exceptionally high diverse needs this fiscal year. Child care centres received a seven per cent annualized CBO lift in 2008-09 and an additional three per cent in 2009-10 to support recruitment and retention of early childhood educators.



For more information, contact:

Sarah Still
Education
Regina
Phone: 306-787-1613
Email: sarah.still@gov.sk.ca

Regina couple opens doors for Souls Harbour Rescue Mission Chili Fundraiser

A Regina couple will host the third annual Souls Harbour Rescue Mission Chili Fundraiser. This file photo shows fundraiser guests at the same event in 2007.
Photograph by: Roy Antal, Leader-Post files

Leader-Post
Anne Kyle

REGINA — On Tuesday, guests will converge on Karl Fix and Sandi Beug's backyard where, for $100, they will dine on homecooked chili and listen to music performed by a dozen of Saskatchewan's leading musicians.

This is the third annual Souls Harbour Rescue Mission Chili Fundraiser where the Regina couple open their doors and Reginans open their wallets to help some of the city's less fortunate.

"Quite a few years ago, maybe four years ago, I had someone very close to me who went off the rails. I couldn't help her by giving her money directly, but I could see that she was the type of person who might end up utilizing the Souls Harbour facility,'' Beug said.

"And my husband Karl likes to entertain. He likes to throw parties ,so I approached him with the idea that we have a party and ask everyone to donate $50 and the proceeds from the party would go to Souls Harbour.''

Beug said they tried to figure out what would be the most economical thing to serve because initially they were going to be paying for everything and so they came upon the idea of serving chili.

The idea took off and soon businesses were donating all the fixings for the soiree and musicians were offering to entertain for free.

The couple also park an old half-ton truck on their driveway and collect non-perishable food items, diapers and canned food for the soup kitchen. This year guests are asked to bring pasta items to fill the truck.

While the food and drinks are donated by various corporate sponsors, Beug donates her time and sweat equity spending a day in the kitchen cooking up 300 portions of gourmet chili. Her staff at her dental clinic also volunteer their time serving up the food on the day of the party.

"We had gone on occasion to help out at the (Souls Harbour soup kitchen) but because of our work schedules it is difficult to make a regular commitment. We wanted to give something back to the community,'' Fix said.

Historically, summer is not a peak time for donations, so the money and food items collected on Tuesday will be greatly appreciated by Souls Harbour, which provides over 100,000 meals a year, said Joe Miller, assistant director at Souls Harbour. "That's a lot of food.''

When Beug proposed the idea of a backyard party, Fix said he thought it would be a great fundraiser and a lot of fun.

"The first one was three years ago. It was a great success. We had about 250 people out. We never expected that,'' he said, explaining last year they raised $25,000.

This year 250 tickets are being sold to the backyard party which runs from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tickets are available at Eastend Dental, 2069 Park St., until 4 p.m. Tuesday. Tax receipts are issued for the entire $100 ticket price.

Media Release & Public Invitation

Come to Undie Monday at the Good News Chapel Parking Lot tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.

2500 pair of underwear will be received.

Meet Brent King himself, as he tours across our great country distributing 25,000 pair of underwear to Canadian Rescue Missions to raise awareness for the poor.

What: Undie Monday
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Where:Corner of Elphinstone & 8th in North Central
Right beside Sacred Heart School

If you want to read about the Underwear King's adventures, check out
his blog: http://underweardrive.blogspot.com/

See you all tomorrow morning at 9:00!

"Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what you've got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot"
-Joni Mitchell

Balance

I learned long ago that a balanced life is impossible. We want to have our cake and eat it too! And so, we work full time, we have babies, we raise children, we become soccer moms, we look after our aged parents, we diet, we exercise, we eat more cake, we change jobs, we move, we get a dog, we teach Sunday School… the list is endless.

All good and mostly necessary things. But as we get more and more engrossed in the busyness and chaos that is our life, we forget that we need to take time to rest, evaluate, and even prune some things.

Do you have time to drive the children to music lessons, dance, two sports plus all the parties and play dates?

Is Johnny really going to walk the dog twice a day?

Are you truly able to serve on that board of directors right now?

Am I actually getting my money out of that gym membership?

Richard Swenson’s books on margin explain that we have to have room in our lives to 1) be still and hear God speak; and 2) manage the unexpected - whether it be good or bad!

Think of your life as a pie, with each piece taken up by something: family, God and church, activities, etc. If you end up filling up your entire pie, there will be nothing left to serve!

And so, without margin, or an extra pie slice, what do you do when you have to cope with sickness, loss or grief? We stifle it and it comes out in other ways that are harmful to ourselves and others.

Without financial margin, how do you pay for that out of town funeral you didn’t expect to have to attend? What happens when Suzie needs braces? What if you lose your job? Do you have 6 months of wages in your savings? Are you actively paying off debt? Or are you charging trips and cars and expecting to get to that loan one day down the road?

How do you make time for the good celebrations, such as welcoming babies and other such milestones? Sure, we squeeze these things in, but we either don’t enjoy them as we should, sacrificing the thing for which we were created: community. We are meant to live in community.

Do you feel lonely? Are you struggling with frustration? You might want to take a good hard look at your schedule. Not week to week. Not one or two late nights or overtime shifts. Look larger - at the bigger picture and life patterns you’ve set up for yourself.

Are they healthy? Is there enough change that you don’t feel stagnant? Or is there so much activity and change that you score off the charts in online stress tests?

We can’t all go away for a month at a time, especially to a Hawaii'an island. But we can be careful as to how we slice our pie, so that, when all is said and done, we have more than just crumbs on the table.

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I just bought two pair of these shoes and am loving them! I'm a sucker for "technology" - having purchased in the past the NASA temperpedic space bed and a high-tech insulating paint. :)


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Look what I found on the web today!

http://hotnews.hughpages.com/tell_13420_id_1388.php

Blog on a Plane

Recipe for Relief:

2 parts WestJet
20 parts marital bliss
3 generous couples
1part tropical island

=a wonderful, all-expense paid trip to Hawai’i for our
20th wedding anniversary!


I’m writing this on the plane, the sun is blaring in my eyes, yet it is 10:00 p.m. my time. When all is said and done, Ken and I will be arriving at our condo past midnight. I had big plans for my arrival - sit on the beach in the dark of night and listen to the waves lap the shore, or maybe take in a rooftop swim in the salt water pool (no chlorine!), or dine down the block with live Hawaiian serenade. Truth be told, sleep may prevail.

But with a month of aloha ahead, I am sure the sleep will do me good.

The year has been a good one with much ado about the Mission. Ken has been busy with the inner city church plant and a full schedule of counselling, teaching and preaching. It’s a different kind of tired when the work is spiritual. In a manner of speaking, you find yourself responsible for people’s souls.

As for me, there have been enough adventures to wear me out a little: developing an executive team, restructuring & growing staff, purchasing and renovating a youth centre and daycare, two Gospel nights, myriads of tv and radio interviews, a fund raising banquet & graduation ceremony, a Paragon award, a Women of Distinction award, two volunteer awards (Yay, Beth!), board reports and meetings, a conference, multiple speaking engagements, some business travel… well, the list goes on. I mean, what does a CEO actually DO?!

I have an awesome team, and many of the things listed I am ultimately responsible for, yet I have great people to take the lead. Still, there is a weariness in the bones that creeps in after 11 months of go go go. And so, as I bask in the sun, streaming through my airplane window, I know that I am ready for this rest.

I’m a person who seems to balance my life in chunks. For the next month, I’m incognito. I become Michelle the wife. I set aside my CEO and missionary hats. It’s just me. And just the person who knows me this way. No masks. No deadlines. No charades. No shenanigans! ;)

Life isn’t always balanced. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to achieve balance these days, at least for those of us who work full time. But rest can come in ways least expected, and isn’t always regimented in the way we wish. For me, a month off every June keeps me coming back for more. It refreshes my soul, nourishes my marriage, and revives me for another year in the service of the King.


In the Service of the King

I am happy in the service of the King.
I am happy, O so happy!
I have peace and joy that nothing else can bring,
In the service of the King.

In the service of the King
Every talent I will bring.
I have peace and joy and blessing
In the service of the King.

I am happy in the service of the King.
I am happy, O so happy!
Through the sunshine and the shadow I can sing,
In the service of the King.

I am happy in the service of the King.
I am happy, O so happy!
All that I possess to Him I gladly bring,
In the service of the King.