The attached report entitled “Food For Thought: A Study of Food Relief Organizations in the Cape Breton District Health Authority” details the results of a food relief organization study conducted for the years 2004 to 2006.  The report was completed in February 2010.   The study was conducted  as a result of urgings from local poverty activists and supported by  Cape Breton District Health Authority Public Health Services and the New Dawn Educational Foundation.  The report examines the presence and activities of food relief organizations within the communities of the Cape Breton District Health Authority. 

The report was written by Margie Gillis of the New Dawn Educational Foundation, Jan McCabe of Public Health Services, Cape Breton District Health Authority and Erika Shea of the C@P Society of  Cape Breton County. 

This is the first such examination of food relief organizations in Cape Breton  and as such provides us with a glimpse of the extent of food insecurity in our local communities.   In the opinion of the writers of this report, the study findings prompt serious questions about the health and well-being of our friends and neighbours, the state of health and well-being of our communities, and broader issues related to food insecurity within our communities.    

“It has been a long road but we are elated that the matter is now concluded,” says Rankin MacSween, President of New Dawn. “In the final analysis DND and New Dawn were able to arrive at a settlement that is fair and just.”

The $7.3 Million settlement with New Dawn comes six years after the organization discovered that its Pine Tree Park property formerly owned by the DND was contaminated.

In 2004, New Dawn discovered a leaking underground fuel storage tank, followed by an additional 35 leaking fuel storage tanks. The contamination of New Dawn’s property resulted in the demolition of 40 rental units, as well as other direct and indirect business losses. The DND announced its $11.2 Million clean-up plans in February, and expects the work to be completed by 2013.

“For the past six years New Dawn’s resources have been focused on issues related to this matter”, says New Dawn Board Chair Doug Lionais. “We are grateful that the community supported us throughout this process and we are pleased that we are now repositioned to once again attend to New Dawn’s broader community agenda.”

For some of the media coverage on this announcement, check out the following links:

Global TV - 

During the evening we will also hear from Dr. Richard MacKinnon, CBU Professor of Folklore and Canada Research Chair in Intangible Culture who will be speaking about an initiative he has been working on. Songstress, Billie Yvette Rogers, describes herself as being, “a tad weird, very loving, minimalistic, and a deep-minded individual”. She will be sharing her talents and stories about life and love through song.

“Ideas Powered by Passion” is about encouraging new thinking through speech and music. This series is meant to uncover the passions of our people through the sharing of their stories. Our previous scintillating speakers have already inspired many IDEAS guests into action, helping them to realize their own passions. We hope you will join us to hear from our exciting line-up of guests!

Please bring a friend, a smile, and your favourite mug to fill with complimentary organic, fair trade coffee or tea.

Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Location: The Loft – 3rd floor, Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design

It’s a new year and a new lineup of speakers for “Ideas Powered by Passion!” For those of you who haven’t yet made it out to our event, “Ideas Powered by Passion” is about encouraging new thinking through speech and music. This series is meant to uncover the passions of our people, listen to them share their stories, and allow them to inspire one another.

He’s a local ER doctor, community activist, environmentalist, tri-athlete, and former political candidate. But, who is Chris Milburn? What inspires him to continually give back to our community? Come hear all about Chris’s passion to create more livable communities and what is behind all that zeal!

During the evening we will also hear from Andrée Crepeau of Velo Cape Breton about what’s going on at Velo.  Local recording artist Carleton Stone will also be on hand to showcase his musical talent. Carleton and his band, Carleton Stone Drives The Big Wheel have been nominated for an ECMA!  The band’s debut album has been nominated for “Rock Recording of the Year” at the 2010 ECMAs being held here in Sydney in March.

If you come across any bugs or broken links please email carla@fresnelconsulting.com.

Written by Yvette Rogers for What’s Goin On Magazine (www.whatsgoinon.ca)

I’d received an email inviting folks out to an event, Ideas: Powered by Passion. The very title is the theme of the discussion series New Dawn Enterprises is spearheading. The premise seemed to be to listen to a guest speaker, a guest musician, and get inspired. Inspired I was. I met the most animated, enthusiastic, charged man who “keeps it real”.

Jim Mustard, the keynote speaker of the evening, discussed the Roots of Empathy program, wherein an infant is brought into the classroom setting – with outstanding results. He talked about childhood development and brain function, he talked about getting the community together from both the bottom down and the grass roots up, he talked about not waiting around for government to do something but to get started.

In about a half-hour we learned of his experiences as a human being, a parent, as a foster parent, as someone who recognizes social development as the key ingredient for any development, and one who knows on several levels why we need to bring our perspective back to the infant.

It’s not about the economy, it’s not about the environment, not entirely for their own sake – put an infant in the mix and you start to recognize reality. Babies don’t lie.

Jim delivered his story with a comic turn, well-presented research, and an animated zest that could get the most apathetic of people excited. I can’t even begin to describe the discussion in detail for I feel I wouldn’t do it justice. You have to meet this man.

Other speakers that evening were Chester Borden and Ayvery Norman of the Whitney Pier Youth Club, Lisa MacDougall from HEAL (Healthy Eating Active Living) Cape Breton, and a musical performance from Colin Grant accompanied by Donnie Calabrese.

I left feeling inspired. I left with a sense of hope for the community. I also felt like I wanted to drop by Jim Mustard’s house and gather some ideas over tea. I left thinking the Roots of Empathy program is one of the best ideas I’d ever heard of.

The Sydney and Area Chamber presented New Dawn Enterprises with the Award for Community Development.

The Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce was first incorporated in 1911 and represents over 600 businesses within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM).

Notably, the website it built to allow for easy updating and maintenance. This will allow New Dawn to keep the website current, without the hassle of html or php code. Most importantly, New Dawn can contribute blog-like news posts to the site on a regular basis, keeping our increasingly web-savvy community abreast of developments within the organization. And individuals at New Dawn can makes these contributions using the same skill-set required by a modern word processor!

Recently, locals photographers visited various New Dawn facilities to build visual content for the website. Several staff photos were taken, along with pictures of some real estate properties. Photographers will return in the coming weeks to take some final photos that represent New Dawn and its many divisions and projects.