Cold but Beautiful

It has been a nice sunny weekend but the cold weather is definitely here to stay. I spent a lot of time over the past couple of weekends getting the gardens ready for the winter. Amazingly some things are still blooming including a nice Easter Lily that I planted outside in the spring. Of course the red sedum are also in full bloom and some of the Bachelors Buttons. It will not last much longer with these below zero nights we have been having lately.

In my last post, I left off by saying that my brother was having surgery in Halifax for his Crohn's disease and I am glad to say that it all went very well with the exception of lots of post-op pain. I suppose that is to be expected when you have your stomach sliced open.

My French class is going well and it is hard to believe that there is only three left. The Fall has really went by fast. I have been so busy with my new job and two courses that I probably just didn't have time to notice the days as they passed. On Halloween night we had one child come by for treats. That is down from six last year. I guess being just outside a major subdivision means that children will not come to our house after they do a cost/benefit analysis. It just is not efficient if they want to fill their bags with the most treats in the least amount of time.

Last Friday and Saturday I was in Moncton for the 1st Provincial Summit on Poverty. It was organized by the Common Front for Social Justice and the N.B. Federation of Labour. There was a great turnout of about 250 people from across the province for the conference. They were focusing on solutions that would help to eliminate poverty in N.B. I had a good time and learned a lot about the regions outside of Saint John that are also dealing with the issue of poverty. On Thursday night of last week I had the opportunity to attend an Employment Dinner hosted by the Open Door Club. It was the first dinner they had to recognize and congratulate mental health clients that have received and maintained employment over the past year. It was wonderful to see how happy and proud the individuals were when they received the certificates. It really reminded me about how much some people without disabilities take their work for granted.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Fredericton for a couple of days for a N.B. Healthcare Association Conference: 4th Annual Premiere Health Leadership Conference. It sounds like it will be a very interesting conference and a great chance to see what new initiatives other communities in N.B. are creating to address healthcare issues in the province. I will be back on Tuesday night but will be heading back up for the day on Thursday to attend a N.B. Association of Residential Agencies conference that will explore issues around housing high needs individuals in the community.

Have a great week!

Community Engagement Committee: Make Saint John your home by giving back to the community. Saint John's young residents have a lot to contribute - they just need to know where to direct their resources. The Community Engagement Committee (formerly known as Social Activism) liaises with local non-profit and charitable organizations to find opportunities for FUSION members to be involved. Partnering with the Events Committee, the Community Engagement Committee plans FUSION events that provide great networking opportunities to members and raise awareness of issues within the community. The next meeting will take place on November 16th at 7:00 P.M. If you want to get involved then email dannyj@nbnet.nb.ca.