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www.spjournal.com Vol. 88 No. 47 $1.25 (GST Incl.) PM40069240 R10646

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

BY SHAUNA BURKE

Journal StaffAfter spending about $1.3 million on improving the

site, the Town of St. Paul has developed “the best stagingarea in the Lakeland,” according to Mayor of St. PaulGlenn Andersen.

“Basically it’s meant to attract more people to St. Pauland show them exactly what we have. What we have is300 km of trail right at their fingertips,” he added. Sincethe Iron Horse Trail can be used all year-round, peoplecan make use of the staging area any time, he noted.

The town is now planning to add a reunion centrebuilding and a playground to the area.

“A reunion center is a building with a fire place forpeople to gather for family reunions, gatherings or soccertournaments,” said Ron Boisvert, CAO for the Town of St.Paul. “The kids can play outside on the playground or onthe grass while the adults visit or play cards.”

As well, the reunion centre will allow people to gatherfor barbecues, family get-togethers and any other specialevents throughout the year, said Andersen.

See “REVAMPED” Page 12

Revampedstaging

area 'bestin Lakeland'

Janani Whitfield photo

Pat Laramee rolls up her sleeve to give blood at last week’s clinic, held at the St. Paul Recreation Centre onNov. 18. The blood donor clinic, organized by the St. Paul and District Lions Club, saw 212 people comethrough the door and 186 units of blood collected, surpassing the clinic’s goal of 145 units.

BY JANANI WHITFIELD

Journal StaffThe impact of a recession has sent more

people than ever looking for just a little bitof extra help putting food at the table, butthe cupboards are looking bare at the localfood bank.

“Our food bank is down to nothing,”says Samantha Van Dervoort, who worksat the Mannawanis Native FriendshipCentre. “With the recession and every-thing, we have people that have never usedthe food bank coming in to use the foodbank. There’s times we had to shut it rightdown because we’re down to nothing.”

Between March 2008 and March 2009,monthly visits to Alberta food banksjumped up by 61 per cent, an increasedwarfing every other provinces’ increases,according to Food Banks Canada, whichreleased its nationwide survey on foodbank usage last week.

In St. Paul, the food bank usage has justabout doubled since last year, and sincethis summer, Mannawanis has been strug-gling to meet the increased demand.Thanks to donations from the Co-op, the

food bank is able to give out bread everyday, but other donated items are not neces-sarily useful to the people looking for help,Van Dervoort added.

“What do you do with clam nectar?”she asked, adding that other unhealthyitems like chips are also not what peopleneed. “These people can’t live off chips.”

Peggy Grandjamb, food bank coordina-tor, agreed healthier foods were needed.Dry foods, like pasta, are always welcome,and ready-to-eat meals like soups are alsogood for those clients who live in hotelsand who don’t have access to stoves, shesays. Often, Grandjamb says she supple-ments the food bank with food she’sbought out of her own pocket.

“It’s hard to see people go hungry,” shesays, explaining why she continues to helpout.

The centre is trying to get its communi-ty Christmas dinner together again thisyear, a big feast that it holds annually foranyone interested in coming. Last year, thestaff pooled their money to make sure theevent ran, and it looks like the staff will bedoing the same this year, but Van Dervoort

and Grandjamb say donations of food ormoney would be a big help. The centrealso accepts donations of clothes and is

also looking for toys to give out forChristmas.

See “RECESSION” Page 25

Recession sparks a spike in food bank usage

MMUUSSIICC SSTTAATTIIOONN

GGrreeaatt GGiiff tt IIddeeaass

PAGE 17

Alumni awardChildren’s entertainer Alex Mahé honoured.

PAGE 13

Elves & KnightsChristmas food and toy drivegets underway.

PAGE 5

Janani Whitfield photo

Local food bank coordinator Peggy Grandjamb stacks shelves with items sent fromEdmonton food banks. Despite the extra help, the shelves are still lacking the sup-plies needed to meet an increased food demand.

Continued from Page 1The cement base, the gas,

water and electrical work onthe building, dubbedReunion Station, are alldone already, reportsBoisvert, and the buildingwill be completed over thewinter. The playgroundequipment has been pur-chased and should also beset up by next May.

The project is expectedto cost $180,000, with thebuilding being $167,000and the playground being$13,000, on top of the $1.3million the town has spentto date on the staging area.

Over the past year, 44

new fire pits and picnictables were added to thecampground located nearthe staging area and an addi-tional 44 fire pits and picnictables were added to thecamping area located nearthe RCMP building.

“We paid a fair amountbut they are well-built andwill last a long time,”explained Boisvert.

The fishpond at the stag-ing area was stocked with1,200 trout and Boisvertestimates that about 500 fishwere caught on the threelong weekends in August,September and October.

“The pond is 35 to 40 ft

deep so the fish should sur-vive the winter,” Boisvertsaid. “We are makingarrangements to have a fishbiologist to test the oxygencontent in December,January and February.”

The town will also beadding a bird watchingberm at the lake, locatedwest of the soccer field, nextspring. The costs will beminimal, and the projectwill involve mainly laborand the use of town machin-ery to transport some clayand piping to make sure it issafe for the public.

The total cost of theentire staging area projectincludes the fish pond,building the washrooms,organizing the camp-grounds, bringing in power,water and sewer lines, set-ting up the dumping stationarea, landscaping, trees andgravel.

“There are a lot of smallcosts to maintaining thestaging area,” explainedBoisvert. For instance,pumping water into thepond costs about $2,000.With money spent on build-ing a fence around the pond,installing the trees and otherwork, the cost “all adds uppretty fast,” he said.

The town is planning totrench a line from the soccerfield dugout to the pondnext year so the water canbe transferred by gravity tosave the costs of pumpingwater.

Although it seems like alot of money has been spenton the staging area, Boisvertexplained that the projecthas been supported by manyorganizations. For the workdone on the staging area,$500,000 was spent fromprovincial funding, $40,000from Soccer Facilities,$11,332 from the St. PaulElks, and $15,000 from Fishand Wildlife. CanadianNatural Resources Limited(CNRL) donated $10,000plus an additional $20,000to $30,000 for piping. UFAdonated about $10,000worth of trees to the project.Other businesses and indi-viduals donated time andequipment to the project,explained Boisvert.

An additional $59,200came from a sponsorshipgrant, which was a jointventure from the Town ofSt. Paul, the County of St.Paul and the province.

“We feel we’ve reallycollaborated a lot on thisproject, and we think (thestaging area) encompassesyouth, seniors and the wholecommunity,” said Andersen.

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12 - St. Paul Journal, Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Revamped stagingarea 'best in Lakeland'

Janani Whitfield photo

The St. Paul and District Co-op bakery staff, seen here with store mascotCooper, spent 16 hours creating 600 cakes, which were sold at the Co-op mallover Friday and Saturday. With the sale of the cakes, the store raised $1,200 tobe given to the CHLW Kids Fund.

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