Wendy Bennett
My relationship with The Centretown BUZZ started when my children, now all grown with children of their own, attended Elgin Street Public School.
For a time, the parent council was in a battle to keep the school open when it appeared that attendance numbers and potential future attendance numbers were dwindling. There were people in the neighbourhood who didn’t know much about the school or, indeed, even knew the school existed.
I decided that I would write a monthly article about the school for The BUZZ. The goal was to increase the profile of the school within the community, thereby encouraging the neighbourhood to join the fight to save our school.
I wrote about school events and outings, students’ sports participation, concerts, graduations, book sales, volunteers, arts projects, gardening efforts, and so many other topics. I included photographs and quotes from students, teachers, and parents. I hope I highlighted how special our little school was at the time.
I discovered that a few of my neighbourhood friends were volunteer delivery people for The BUZZ. I decided that, if I was going to write an article, I was going to do my part to ensure that the paper, and my article, got into the neighbourhood.
I was assigned a route on the street I lived on and delivered from the Canal to Elgin Street. More recently, I took on a different route after I moved across Elgin Street.
In the past, I recruited my kids once in a while to help with delivery; these days, my grandkids are always keen to fill all the mailboxes they can reach.
In the years I’ve been a carrier for The BUZZ, I have missed some months for various reasons. On these occasions, other enthusiastic volunteer delivery people took over my route.
I’m moving out of Ottawa in the New Year. My last BUZZ delivery will be this December issue, the last issue of the year.
Delivering The BUZZ is, I think, the easiest part of producing and distributing our Centretown paper. Those who make regular contributions, report on community meetings and events, edit, collect advertisers, or package and distribute bundles for delivery put more energy and passion into the paper than I could ever muster.
But delivery is the last important stage, the one that gets the paper into neighbourhood homes.
I encourage anyone who reads The BUZZ to volunteer and become a delivery person. It doesn’t take long to do the once-a-month delivery and it’s a chance for some exercise. It’s an easy way to contribute to your Centretown community and keep your neighbours informed and engaged.
Like me, you’ll be glad you made the effort to become a BUZZ volunteer.
The BUZZ thanks Wendy! She and other volunteers are invaluable.