Ashley Bonner will be stepping out of her comfort zone on October 18 when she takes to the stage at Showplace Performance Centre to receive a ‘Top 4 Under 40’ Peterborough Business Excellence Award from the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.

Though she will be recognized for her efforts and successes in community building and development, Bonner is more accustomed to working behind the scenes — and behind the screen.

Not only does Bonner own Smarketing, a social media marketing and management service, but she’s also behind number of neighbourhood Facebook and Instagram accounts and groups, including the East City Community Hub created for her own neighbourhood where she has spent most of her life. Through these outlets, she has organized neighbourhood events with the goal of creating community, building resilience, and encouraging local shopping.

“I’ve always been very passionate about helping the local economy,” explains Bonner, adding that with her diploma in social service work and double major in international development and psychology, she has always thought about ways to develop communities.

When her mother was diagnosed with cancer shortly after the onset of the pandemic in 2020, she slowed down her social media work, and started thinking about ways to help immune-compromised individuals like her mother during this time of emergency and uncertainty.

“My background in social work and development and social media came together to make me think, ‘what can I do to help this situation?'” Bonner recalls.

That’s when Bonner created the East City Community Hub on Facebook, to encourage people to offer their neighbours help when they could, and to ask for help when required.

“I was aware that we were isolating and had no real way to connect with our neighbours. What if my neighbours needed something, especially the seniors?”

Though she initially used Google Forms so people could offer and ask for help, she found the community would willingly post directly on social media to offer assistance, like delivering groceries and goods to those in need. Bonner eventually created a resource document to make it easy for neighbours to get the assistance they required during the pandemic. Information on the document included anything from grocery store hours to delivery services and ideas for families to entertain their young children.

“It had some really vital information in those initial days, because we were all just reacting — we weren’t really responding,” she says, adding that she was impressed by the number of people who were eagerly offering help.

Months later, in September 2020, Bonner’s mother lost her battle to cancer. Though Bonner was really struggling throughout October, she helped manage her grief by planning a Halloween scavenger hunt for the neighbourhood children who were unable to go trick-or-treating due to the pandemic.

“It brought my passion for stimulating local economy and my passion for building community together, but it also just filled me up to know that I was bringing joy to other people because I was in such a low spot,” Bonner explains.

She would partner with businesses like East City candy shop Flossophy and East Bank Variety for the participating children to collect their prizes.

“There’s research that demonstrates the more we know our local business owners, the more likely people are to shop, so these types of opportunities are a chance to get to know the local businesses and build that rapport with them and connect on a commonality.”

Bonner has continued to host the scavenger hunt every Halloween since and, now that she doesn’t have to consider physical distancing, she’s hosting the Hunter Street Haunt in collaboration with the Witch Flash Mob that Canadian Family Health Counselling organizes each Halloween. Open to all residents, this year’s event takes place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 26.

The scavenger hunts were only the first of the community-building projects that Bonner promoted using her Facebook hub. Since then, she has organized a neighbourhood yard sale that take place in East City each Mother’s Day in honour of her own mother. With local businesses invited to join the over 90 residential houses that participated this spring, Bonner explains that the annual yard sales have grown much larger than she ever anticipated. A fall neighbourhood yard sale in East City is scheduled for Saturday (September 30).

“It was all just out of my passion for community-building because the yard sale is beautiful and whether people are having yard sales or they’re out shopping, they’re meeting neighbours,” she explains. “You now have the economic activity that comes from both businesses benefiting and those having the yard sales benefiting.”

Bonner adds that over the years, she’s heard from people having come as far as from the GTA to shop at the yard sale, and she has even heard stories about families deciding to house shop in East City because they admired the community gathering that was encouraged through the yard sale.

While Bonner has no plans to stop hosting neighbourhood yard sales or Halloween scavenger hunts, she thinks that in the future she’ll be focusing more on building neighbourhood resilience, as she again did during last year’s derecho storm, when she encouraged people to use the Facebook hub to offer assistance to neighbours who had lost power.

“I love building community and I have the skill set and I have the passion,” Bonner explains. “I feel this community, this neighbourhood, has been a support for me during my grief and my healing, and it’s been an outlet. It’s been a place where I can bring myself back up, whether it’s through events or through the support people share in the group.”

While Bonner is remaining tight-lipped about her exact plans for building neighbourhood resilience, she points out there are limitations with using Facebook as it is “not designed to help build resilience.”

“A resilient community is when neighbours know each other. The less it relies on a global system, the better it is for that community. The more finances stay in that community, the more opportunities there to develop a thriving community.”

“I’m working on seeing just what I could do to build that to the next level,” she adds.

Though we might not get to hear about her plans quite yet, we do get to see Ashley Bonner on October 18 when she accepts her 4 Under 40 Award.

“It’s a very big honour and a privilege and I hope that my story helps inspire others in their journeys,” Bonner says.

For more information on Bonner’s social media services, visit smarketingptbo.ca. To keep up to date on East City community events, join the East City Community Hub on Facebook.

The Peterborough Petes wrapped up their five-game OHL preseason with a 3-1 win against the Niagara IceDogs in a home game played at Cavan Monaghan Community Centre in Millbrook on Saturday night (September 23).

The last time the Petes faced the IceDogs, at their first preseason game on September 2 in St. Catharines, the team lost in a 7-1 blowout.

Unlike that last match-up, Saturday night’s game remained scoreless for the first two periods as an almost sold-out crowd cheered on the Petes.

In the third period, the Petes’ Sam McCue scored the first goal on a powerplay, with Braydon McCallum and Jax Dubois also both scoring empty net goals. Petes goalie Liam Sztuska shut down the IceDogs, stopping 45 shots until Gavin Bryant scored.

With Saturday night’s win, the Petes ended up 3-2 in the preseason. After the September 2 loss to the IceDogs followed by a 5-3 loss to the Oshawa Generals on September 4 at the Petes’ first home game at the Jack Burger Sports Complex in Port Hope, the Petes won the next three games, defeating the Sudbury Wolves 6-4 in Sudbury on September 8, the Kingston Frontenacs 4-2 at a home game at the Asphodel-Norwood Community Centre in Norwood on Friday night, and the IceDogs 3-1 on Saturday night.

The Petes open their 2023-24 regular season with a home game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Thursday (September 28) when they face off against the Kingston Frontenacs. The Petes will be raising their 2023 OHL Championship banner before the game, with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

With this year’s Pride Week drawing to a close, members of Peterborough-Nogojiwanong’s LGBTQ+ community and allies celebrated diversity and inclusivity during the annual Pride parade on Saturday afternoon (September 23) in downtown Peterborough.

The parade began at City Hall and travelled down George Street to Millennium Park, where the annual Pride in the Park celebration took place.

Many participants in the parade took to heart this year’s Pride Week Theme of “Love. Out. Loud.” by proudly wearing costumes, holding signs and banners, and dressing in rainbow colours or carrying the Pride flag.

“This is a rally cry to be visible and vocal as we face threats from those who wish we would be silent,” Peterborough Pride organizers said about this year’s theme.

“We encourage you to embrace the theme in your participation in the parade and throughout Pride Week.”

Peterborough photographer Sean Bruce took photos of this year’s Pride parade and shared several of them with kawarthaNOW.

Trees 4 Peterborough, a community planting event in Peterborough on Saturday (September 23), saw 520 trees planted at Bears Creek Woods Park at 1210 Franklin Drive to increase the City of Peterborough’s urban canopy.

The 520 trees included maple, oak, spruce, and other native species.

They were planted with help from community volunteers, members of the Rotary Club of Peterborough, and students from the Trent University Community Research Centre.

The event was sponsored by RBC Dominion Securities, Excelsior Group, Peterborough Homes, and Merritt Home Hardware and supported by Peterborough GreenUP and the Rotary Club of Peterborough,

RBC Dominion Securities donated $10,000, Excelsior Group donated $5,000, and Peterborough Homes donated $2,500, with Merritt Home Hardware lending an auger for the planting.

Trees in urban areas improve air quality, reduce heat build-up, and provide benefits for mental and physical health. They are also crucial for mitigating climate change and reducing flooding, since one 15-diameter tree can absorb 22 kilograms of carbon dioxide and absorb almost 2,000 litres of rainfall per year.

Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay has announced its obstetrics unit will be closed for just over two weeks beginning Saturday, September 30th.

According to a media release issued by the hospital on Friday (September 21), the Dr. Gargi Bhatia Family Birthing Centre will be undergoing “necessary renovations” from September 30 until Monday, October 16th.

The hospital’s emergency department will remain open to treat pregnant women in need of emergency care. For non-emergency situations, pregnant women should consider alternate options for care such as their primary health care provider, pharmacist, after-hours clinic, virtual care, or calling Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0007.

“If you are pregnant and nearing your due date, consider contacting your primary health care provider or midwife to coordinate alternative care options for the duration of the closure,” the hospital states.

The hospital adds that neighbouring hospitals, local stakeholders, and paramedic services have all been notified in advance of the closure.

“Ross Memorial Hospital recognizes the inconvenience this may cause families and thanks our community for their understanding,” reads the media release.

With a growing number of Peterborough residents lacking primary health care, three local family doctors participated in a “fireside chat” panel discussion on Thursday (September 21) at the Peterborough Public Library to advocate for a community health centre (CHC) as part of the solution.

Retired family physician and former Hospice Peterborough medical director Dr. John Beamish, Rapid Access Addiction Medicine Clinic physician Dr. Jaclyn Vanek, and second year family medicine resident Dr. Andrea Zukowski participated in the event, which was moderated by Jonathan Bennett, board chair of the newly formed Peterborough Community Health Centre, a non-profit organization dedicated to launching a CHC in the Peterborough area.

According to that organization, with the local population growing and an increasing number of family physicians retiring, around 20,000 Peterborough-area residents currently do not have primary health care. With 10 additional local family physicians indicating they will likely leave their practices in the next two years, that number is expected to grow to 31,000. People without a family doctor or another primary health care provider often visit their local emergency department to address health concerns.

“If we want to prevent (our emergency department from being overwhelmed) and physician burnout in Peterborough, then we need a model that adequately supports complex patients and health care providers,” said Dr. John Beamish. “A CHC is that model. It confounds me why Peterborough doesn’t have one.”

There are more than 100 community health centres across Ontario. Not-for-profit organizations governed by a community board, they offer a wide range of health and social services including medical clinics, dentistry, wellness programs, and mental health support groups provided by a team that includes salaried clinicians.

In traditional family practices, physicians run their own businesses and bill for services. According to the Peterborough Community Health Centre, research suggests salaried compensation has become increasingly attractive to family physicians.

Since graduating from medical school seven years ago, Dr. Jaclyn Vanek has worked part time at Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s Rapid Access to Addiction Medicine Clinic in Peterborough. She also travels to other locations in Ontario to provide primary health care in a salaried model. She believes the community health centre model will attract physicians who could work part time at a CHC while also working elsewhere such as the hospital’s emergency department.

“It’s easy to commit to work in a CHC because it offers diversity of work and work life balance,” said Dr. Vanek. “I don’t want to be bogged down running my own businesses and feel locked into doing something past when I want to retire, which is what we’re seeing locally.”

With fewer graduating physicians opting to practise traditional family medicine, having alternative options available would help Peterborough recruit new physicians.

“The fee-for-service model is a dinosaur heading to the tar pits,” said Dr. Beamish. “No one in five and 10 years is going to want to practise (traditional family medicine). And it’s what we have in Peterborough. Unless we develop a diversity of models, we will be bereft of family physicians.”

Dr. Andrea Zukowski, who is completing her second year of a family residency in Peterborough and has practised at the CHC in Lindsay, agrees with Dr. Beamish.

“If Peterborough had a CHC, I would definitely want to stay here and practice,” said Zukowski, adding she appreciated the team environment at the Lindsay CHC.

With the Ontario government expected to announce new funding for interprofessional primary health care teams this fall, the Peterborough CHC is seeking $8.2 million to employ over 40 health care providers serving 6,000 complex patients.

“I truly believe we will be able to fill these positions,” said Dr. Vaneck. “If we can get a CHC funded, they will come.”

She added that Peterborough is losing doctors because it lacks a CHC.

“I have a colleague who lives here and commutes to the CHC in Lindsay,” Dr. Vaneck pointed out. “I work elsewhere as well. We are all losing out without this and it’s not fair to our community.”

“The CHC model is available in many other communities,” Dr. Beamish added. “It’s proven. It delivers. Peterborough’s been missed before. This is not the first ask. It’s our turn.”

For more information about the Peterborough Community Health Centre initiative, visit www.ptbochc.ca.

On National Tree Day (Wednesday, September 20), 25 community volunteers and staff from the Peterborough Humane Society and Otonabee Conservation planted 125 native trees and shrubs at the Peterborough Humane Society’s new animal care centre at 1999 Technology Drive in Peterborough.

The tree-planting project, one of the last components for the overall construction phase of the animal care centre, was supported by funding from Tree Canada, BMO, and Peterborough Humane Society.

“Our ongoing partnership with Otonabee Conservation has led to a total of 925 plants in the ground at our new facility to benefit wildlife and naturalize the property, while enhancing our outdoor facilities with shade and natural beauty,” says Peterborough Humane Society executive director Shawn Morey in a media release.

The native species planted at the animal care centre include red osier dogwood, ninebark, honey locust, and freeman maple.

The newly planted trees and shrubs will help to increase biodiversity and habitat at the site, provide shade for both people and animals at the centre, and create a visual and auditory barrier between the road and the outdoor areas used for animal rehabilitation and recreation.

“Community engagement and support is key to the success of stewardship projects like this,” says says Janette Loveys Smith, CAO and secretary-treasurer at Otonabee Conservation. “We are committed to planting trees across the watershed which also helps us locally adapt to climate change. When the community and our corporate partners collaborate to plant trees, we all benefit.”