The Peterborough Humane Society is planning to expand its Safe Nights for Pets (SNooPy) Program in support of pets in need of temporary emergency boarding due to non-preventable situations — and you can help the organization win funds to support the expansion by voting in an online contest.

For more than 20 years, the program has supported individuals fleeing domestic violence with a free and anonymous place to keep their pets safe for up to 30 days as needed while they focus on regaining their freedom and stabilizing their future.

“We know from research that one of the things that prevents individuals in those awful situations from finding a better solution is the consideration of pets,” says Si Grobler, the organization’s manager of donor relations. “The Peterborough Humane Society decided to make that one decision a little bit easier for them and be a resource to support these individuals.”

Since the program first launched, the boarding time has increased from 21 to 30 days in response to the need in the community. Having accommodated 34 pets through the program just last year alone, the Peterborough Humane Society ensures temporary boarded animals are fed, cared for, played with, and offered companionship — all free of charge.

“We take care of that just to give them the opportunity to move on and find a better situation,” Grobler says. “If we can be a support where an individual can deal with this awful situation and then come back and get reunited with their pet, that’s a win-win — and not only for the pet, but obviously the owner — and a win-win for our community, as it’s not an extra pet that might otherwise be wandering outside.”

In recent years, however, Grobler says the charity has seen an increase in demand for temporary boarding for pets belonging to individuals facing other unplanned emergencies.

“SNooPy was always focused on supporting people fleeing domestic violence, and now we’re interested in expanding it to hospitalizations, floods, fires — any of those situations where an owner just needs temporary housing and boarding for their pet until they’re back on their feet,” says Grobler. “We want to provide more support to our community when they need emergency boarding because the need is there.”

Earlier this month, the Peterborough Humane Society submitted a video explaining the planned program expansion to the McDougall Community Contest, an annual online competition organized by McDougall Insurance, the largest insurance brokerage in eastern Ontario. The contest is open to non-profit organizations and community groups across Ontario who are seeking funding for a project that benefits the community.

The contest will award three prizes worth a total of $10,000 based on the three submitted videos that get the most votes on the contest platform by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 31st. First place receives $5,000, second place receives $3,000, and third place receives $2,000.

Grobler explains that, were the Peterborough Humane Society to win any of the prizes, the funds would be going towards “loving care and medical attention” for the pets being sheltered through the SNooPy program.

“When a pet comes in, obviously we provide food and water and our staff and volunteers will socialize and play with the pet to make sure its well-being is being looked after, but we also provide medical care,” he says. “One of things we want to do with SNooPy is provide a free spay and neuter for individuals that need the service so the owners don’t have to worry about that after the fact.”

While of course it depends on the health and situation of the animal, Grobler guesses that with the $5,000 top prize, the Peterborough Humane Society would be able to board and support about 50 more pets through the SNooPy program.

“We think it would be really wonderful if, for an individual in a really bad situation, we can look after their pet, give them good care and attention, and spay and neuter so the pet goes back to them stronger,” Grobler says. “That’s one less thing that they need to worry about after the fact. This is something we can do, and this is how we’ve decided to help our community.”

Regardless of whether or not the Peterborough Humane Society wins a prize from the McDougall Community Contest, Grobler assures the expansion will happen one way or another.

“We will find funds and we will do what we can to make sure that we help more families in awful situations,” Grobler says. “Our community needs it.”

To vote for the SNooPy expansion video, visit platform.votigo.com/fbcontests/showentry/McDougallCommunityContest2024/3749343.

Those in need of anonymous support through SNooPy can contact the Peterborough Humane Society 705-745-4722 ext. 200.

It’s a new generation of 9-1-1 out there.

Peterborough County is beginning a multi-year program to verify home address numbers to ensure emergency responders throughout the county have access to complete and accurate address data. The county is preparing for the data needs of Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1).

NG9-1-1 is a nationwide program that involves collecting more precise location data to match first responders to a caller’s location. With work occurring between 2025 to 2027, NG9-1-1 “is designed for today’s digital world,” Peterborough County noted in a media release.

Landline owners will continue to have their home addresses recognized, but cellular callers will more accurately transmit their co-ordinates to emergency responders.

Tammy Sikma, Peterborough County’s manager of corporate data and GIS, told kawarthaNOW residents can expect to see Peterborough County staff on the roads this summer in their county marked vehicles. The employees will be wearing uniforms and carrying identification badges as they travel throughout the county to verify civic addresses.

“Next Generation 9-1-1 or Next Gen 9-1-1 or NG9-1-1 is a program rolling out all across Canada and it also exists in the United States,” Sikma said. “It’s basically an update of the old 9-1-1 system that was developed decades ago, implemented in Peterborough County in 1999, to handle analog calls — when your phone was plugged into your wall and the address was stable — to now handle the actual 90 per cent of calls, roughly, that are made by cell phone (users).”

“Right now, your position with a cell call is dictated by the strength of the cell towers that it’s bouncing off of and (responders) try and triangulate that call, and that’s why there are a lot of questions about (exact location),” Sikma explained. “The positioning will become better as the cell phones now transmit the position of the caller, and the new system is built for digital, so it places the call on a map and it shows the boundaries that the different responders fall within so your point is located within those boundaries.”

NG9-1-1 is regulated by the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), with guidance from the commission’s Emergency Services Working Group comprised of telecommunication service providers, public safety answer points (call centres responsible for answering 9-1-1 calls), and 9-1-1 industry specialists.

The public can assist the county in its efforts to migrate to NG9-1-1 in the following ways:

• Keep address signs clear and visible at the roadway or on structures at all times in accordance with the township requirements.
• Download the What3Words app to mobile devices and provide the unique three words to emergency dispatchers to help first responders pinpoint a location when residents aren’t at a location that has an address. For example, callers might be hiking, boating, or doing farm work when they require emergency assistance.
• Verify their address, street number, street name, and location using the Peterborough County and First Nations address authenticator tool at ptbocounty.ca/addresstool.

The CRTC is taking the lead on NG9-1-1 because it regulates telecommunications providers — the telephone and cell service companies that create the networks that connect 9-1-1 calls to emergency call centres. When a 9-1-1 call is received, these centres dispatch emergency responders, such as police, firefighters, and paramedics, the CRTC explained on its website.

NG9-1-1 will give Canadians improved emergency services using world-class telecommunications networks, the CRTC noted. The move to NG9-1-1 will occur gradually in the coming years.

To learn more about NG9-1-1, visit the CRTC website at crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/911/gen.htm.

Local philanthropists Patricia and David Morton have donated $500,000 to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation to support mental health and addictions care at the regional hospital.

In recognition of the couple’s donation, new signage for the hospital’s emergency department waiting room was unveiled during at a private family event on Wednesday (May 29).

“We’re incredibly grateful to Patricia and David for stepping forward once again for our hospital and health care in our region,” says PRHC Foundation president and CEO Lesley Heighway in a media release, adding that the donation will help transform the quality of the patient experience in the hospital’s mental health and addictions crisis response unit.

“Their gift will serve as a beacon of hope for countless individuals and families affected by mental illness and allow PRHC to transform physical spaces and lives,” Heighway added. “Their generosity mirrors their compassion, underscoring our shared belief that by supporting mental health and addictions crisis treatment, we can break down stigma, elevate the standard of care, and create inclusive environments where individuals feel valued, cared for, and understood.”

The Mortons were moved to direct their donation to the crisis response unit after the family suffered a devastating loss, when a 26-year-old family member took his own life last year following a years-long struggle with depression and anxiety.

“Our family has experienced the terrible toll that mental illness can take,” Patricia says. “We know that we’re not alone and that there are many people and families in our communities fighting the same battles. We decided to give to better, safer, and more accessible mental health crisis spaces at our hospital so we can improve access, raise awareness, and make hope and recovery possible for more patients from Peterborough and our surrounding region.”

The Mortons have long supported PRHC, both as donors and volunteers, and wanted to turn their personal tragedy into hope for people with mental illness and their families.

“We believe that by making sure people in crisis have a safe, secure, and supportive environment to go to for assistance, we can help prevent others from experiencing the devastation of losing a beloved family member or dear friend to mental illness,” David says. “Our hope is that this contribution will serve as a catalyst for positive change and inspire others to join us in giving to the future of mental health care in our community.”

According to Jennifer Cox, the hospital’s director of mental health and addictions, PRHC and other hospitals across Canada have seen “staggering” increases in the number of mental health patients in recent years.

“Patient visits to the unit have more than doubled over the past ten years, with more than 3,600 visits last year alone,” she says, noting the emergency department crisis response unit is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week because a mental health crisis can happen at any time.

“The Mortons’ gift will help us increase the size of the unit by 50 per cent,” Cox explains, adding that the donation will allow the hospital to create a dedicated waiting area for children, adolescents, and their families and to build a secure 72-hour short-stay area for high-risk patients in need of reduced stimulation and enhanced nursing care.

“With the help of the Mortons and donors like them, we’re investing in a healing environment for mental health and addictions patients, providing them with a safe and appropriate space to rest while seeking emergency intervention,” adds PRHC president and CEO Dr. Lynn Mikula.

Patricia and David Morton have a long history of philanthropy in the Kawarthas. Over the past four years, they have donated $200,000 in support of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton’s services for women and children experiencing gender-based violence in Haliburton County, and they have also made generous donations to other organizations including Trent University, the Peterborough Humane Society, the United Way of Peterborough & District, and the Morton Community Healthcare Centre in Lakefield.

Young Northumberland entrepreneurs can kickstart their dreams this summer of owning and running their own businesses.

The Business & Entrepreneurship Centre Northumberland (BECN) is calling on young innovators, creative minds, and kids with a passion for entrepreneurship to apply for the “My Future My Career” kids’ entrepreneurship program.

The free program helps children and youth, ages eight to 14, launch or grow their own business during the summer break. The BECN offers business guidance and provides participants with a small micro grant of up to $500 to help fund their business expenses.

“The My Future My Career program launched in 2021 and has helped 32 youth begin their entrepreneurship journey so far,” noted Kailyn Coupland, Northumberland County business development co-ordinator, in a media release.

“Children who participate in the program will have access to free support to help launch or grow their business and will have the opportunity to showcase their business at our youth entrepreneurship showcase at the end of the summer.”

Each summer, Staples in Cobourg hosts the youth entrepreneurship showcase, which is similar to a trade show. The event, which runs from this year from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, August 14, features young business people from the BECN’s two youth programs, including the “My Future My Career” program and the “Summer Company Program” — which is a similar program for high school and post-secondary students. Community members can stop by the event to check out the services and products and support the younger generation of entrepreneurs.

The BECN strives to be Northumberland’s leading source for small business support. It connects entrepreneurs with information, strategy, resources, education, networking, and micro grant opportunities to help business owners succeed. The BECN offers multiple student-based programs, such as those above, and supports various school partnerships throughout the community.

For more information and to apply for the BECN’s “My Future My Career” kids’ entrepreneurship program, complete an online application by June 18 by visiting northumberland.ca/en/becn/kids-business-start-up-program.aspx.

Successful applicants will be notified on June 21. There is a competitive process and,due to the availability of funds, not all applicants will receive a micro grant, the BECN noted.

The application is geared to children who are keen on entrepreneurship. The microgrant will help support costs such as marketing, supplies, and equipment.

“This program is a great opportunity for children to begin the entrepreneurship journey and potentially prepare for the next available youth program, Summer Company,” the BECN notes on its website. “Fostering the entrepreneurial spirit, the program will help provide the confidence for kids to start or continue their own business venture.”

The BECN is a service delivered by Northumberland County in partnership with the provincial government.

You don’t often go on vacation expecting to make friendships so strong that you lean on them through the toughest of times. But, for Millbrook resident Kristy Hiltz, that’s exactly what’s happened.

For the fifth year in a row, Hiltz has sold hundreds of seedlings, plants, and produce in support of a family she met by chance on a diving trip to the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador in 2018.

It was there that Hiltz — a veterinarian who owns Sherbrooke Heights Animal Hospital in Peterborough — and her husband David McNab learned that one of their “absolutely excellent” diving instructors, Christian, was working strenuous hours on the week-long cruises to financially support his 18-month-old daughter Johanita, who needed treatment for a brain tumour.

“It just killed me that we were down there on a boat having the time of our lives, with people who were acting happy and pointing out whale sharks, when the reality of their lives couldn’t have been more different,” recalls Hiltz. “Christian was working himself into the ground with superhuman efforts to save his daughter. He would have done anything and, in fact, was pushing himself so far beyond his limits.”

Initially, Hiltz, McNab, and the other vacationers who were on the cruise donated money to the family to take away some of the financial burden, but even after returning home, they continued to stay in touch.

“We ended up really connecting with this family,” says Hiltz. “We’ve stayed with them several times, and their children, honestly, are like our grandkids. We’ve become extremely close.”

Thing got even worse for Christian during the pandemic when travel was restricted, as diving instructors lost all of their income and his family’s savings were being depleted to pay for Johanita’s medical bills.

At the time, Hiltz was already a “gardener to the extreme” who says she gets in over her head every spring when she gets her seed catalogue. Always ending up with a surplus of plants, she knew she didn’t want to throw them out, so she started selling them and donating the proceeds to Christian and his family.

“I decided I’ll just sell these extra vegetables and plants and I’ll actually grow more, just as a thing to do, and then try to raise some money for these folks,” she says. “And that’s what I did.”

Over the years, Hiltz has has used her large garden plot and greenhouse to grow and sell everything from heirloom seedlings to raspberry canes, many different types of cherry tomatoes, varieties of pepper plants and hot peppers, broccoli, corn, cabbage, beets, zucchini, and more.

In her first year, Hiltz raised over $3,000 for Christian’s family and, though every September she tells herself she won’t be doing it again, she continues to do so year after year. This year she’s already raised $1,800 for Johanita, who is now seven years old and has completed her chemotherapy.

“She’s just an extraordinary kid with a ready laugh,” says Hiltz. “She needs ongoing speech and language therapy as well as physical therapy, so we shifted from trying to raise money for her chemotherapy treatments to raising money for these treatments that help her to engage more fully in her life.”

VIDEO: Johanita and her mother in Ecuador (video by David McNab)

One year, Hiltz also donated some of the proceeds to the New Canadians Centre, as Hiltz and McNab are regular supporters of the organization.

The couple is well known for their philanthropic work, including helping to bring Syrian refugees to Canada, raising funds for earthquake medical relief in Turkey and Syria, supporting a young female farmer in Kenya and the education of her adopted son, and more.

In 2021, McNab — a retired OPP officer — received the YMCA Peace Medal for his acts of kindness towards other and, in 2023, was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club of Peterborough and was also inducted into Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame.

As for Hiltz, she has raised more than $10,000 for Christian’s family in the past five years, with both her and McNab reaching out to their social media networks for support.

“They have been supportive in so many different ways, helping Johanita and through other fundraisers we’ve done,” Hiltz says. “Facebook friends always will come out and help and it’s always so fun to deliver those plants to them. They’re so excited about getting them in the ground, and then having their first tomato harvested — it’s so exciting all season long.”

One person purchased seeds for little planters which were then distributed as gift goodies following a baby shower. Similarly, another buyer purchased a plant after losing her own child to cancer.

“This was a very meaningful way for her to help out a child and a family who’s experiencing the same thing that she and her family have,” says Hiltz.

Hiltz and McNab’s good deeds have come full circle, too. Through helping Johanita, they have deepened their relationships with others that had been on the cruise.

Hiltz has also been in a situation where she needed the help of someone she hardly knew, and that person didn’t give it a second thought.

“We’re been so blessed with the people that we’ve met,” Hiltz says. “We just see so much of the worst in people (in the news), but there’s lots of good out there too. Sometimes you do see it, and meet extraordinary people who just reach out, make sacrifices, and help people out they’ve never met.”

Hiltz and McNab never seem to stop giving back. She will soon be launching another fundraiser by selling her pottery. Proceeds from the sale of the bowls and mugs will be split between the Brock Mission Primary Care Clinic and the Farley Foundation, which helps low-income pet owners. The latter will be done in memory of her friend and fellow veterinarian Dave Heaton, who passed away in March.

“My favourite way to give is an intersection of (monetary donations and volunteerism) — giving my time and energy to raise money for the various causes I support,” Hiltz says.

“I think the act of service — be it in volunteering or in fundraising — is the best way to build bridges between people, communities, and even countries. It is in the act of service to others that we forge the bonds that connect us all.”

Environment Canada has issued a frost advisory for the northern Kawarthas region for Wednesday night (May 29).

The frost advisory is in effect for northern Peterborough County, northern Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, and Hastings Highlands.

Patchy frost is possible overnight on Wednesday as temperatures fall to single digits near the freezing mark.

Environment Canada recommends taking preventative measures to protect any frost-sensitive plants and trees.