Each year on November 15, people in North America celebrate National Philanthropy Day to show appreciation for the those who give generously in support of the betterment of their communities.

Locally, the Peterborough Regional Health Care (PRHC) Foundation is celebrating National Philanthropy Day by acknowledging all the donors who have helped raise $49,492,814 for the hospital — a significant milestone in the $60-million Campaign for PRHC that aims to reimagine healthcare delivery in the region.

“I’m so grateful for how much this community values and supports our hospital — it’s what makes it so special,” says PRHC President and CEO Dr. Lynn Mikula. “Every corner of PRHC has been touched by the generosity of donors, which has helped ensure patients can receive the highest standard of care and treatment right here at home.”

While government funding supports operational costs of the hospital, the purchase and replacement of equipment and the advancement of technology is funded entirely by donors. Funds raised through the Campaign for PRHC are advancing medical care and introducing additional lifesaving services and pioneering treatments to the regional hospital.

“The outcome of reaching 82 per cent of our $60 million campaign goal will touch so many people at different points in their lives — from the birth of a child to supporting our elderly as they age,” says PRHC Foundation President and CEO Lesley Heighway. “The community has really stepped behind the campaign and sees the need for it.”

The impact of the funds raised so far is already being felt around the hospital through a number of investments completed or underway, including the upgrade of two cath labs with state-of-the-art technology, the upgrade and renovation of the interventional radiology suites, and the development of the new purpose-built Scotiabank Youth Eating Disorder Day Treatment Clinic.

“We have the benefit now where we can actually turn back to our donors and point at everything they’ve helped to accomplish here so far,” says Heighway. “It’s just remarkable — there’s nowhere in the hospital where the donors haven’t transformed care. Everywhere we go within this hospital, we see the result of community supporting community.”

That includes a donor-funded investment of $4.57 million for two new cutting-edge CT scanners, an essential upgrade that is helping PRHC’s healthcare professionals diagnose injuries, cancers, and other illnesses sooner, while also allowing for more scans to be done.

“We’ve done our best to keep up with new equipment and technology — much of it thanks to donors — but there’s more to be done,” says Dr. Mikula. “There are incredible advances and critical treatments that we could be offering here at PRHC, and lifesaving new services that could help make sure fewer patients have to travel outside the region to get the care they urgently need.”

That includes donor-funded investments like the $1.5 million that has allowed the hospital to acquire a second MRI machine, after having operated with just one for the past 15 years. The upgrade will facilitate more than 5,000 additional procedures every year, with faster, high-resolution imagery and a more comfortable experience for the patient.

“These advancements will help to address and reduce the challenges related to wait times and offer a more efficient patient care experience,” says Heighway. “Every time we make these major investments, they come with so much advancement. Care becomes much more streamlined, so it’s much better for the patient.”

Current donations are going towards the in-progress construction of a courtyard outside the hospital’s Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). The last of PRHC’s six donor-funded courtyards, the purpose-built courtyard will provide some of the hospital’s most vulnerable patients with access to an outdoor space. Currently, PICU patients have no access to the outside, despite their stays being weeks or even months long.

“Having that courtyard will be a safe space and a beautiful space in a natural environment,” says Heighway. “These patients will be able to go out there with their psychiatrists or social worker or their friends or family. It will be a nice place for them to receive care and access the outdoors like all the other patients here at PRHC.”

A major priority area for the Campaign for PRHC is to raise funds for a $2.5 million investment in the future of cancer care diagnostics through digital pathology. This innovative technology will digitize slides to create images that can be easily shared, managed, and interpreted, leading to improved analysis, multiple-angle views, better opportunity for collaboration, and reduced turnaround time.

At a time when there is a system-wide shortage of pathologists, the hospital’s donor-funded investment in digital pathology will also encourage world-class healthcare professionals to make a career at PRHC.

“When physicians are coming to PRHC to interview, it’s a two-way street,” Heighway explains. “As the hospital is interviewing the physician to see their skills and credentials, the physician is also looking at the hospital, questioning if the practice and technology is there and if they can deliver excellent care. Having donors invest in this campaign to help us bring that level of technology here also helps the hospital recruit the best physicians.”

As its gets closer to meeting the Campaign for PRHC’s $60-million goal, the PRHC Foundation is also inviting members of the community to think about and share their connections to the hospital.

“We really embrace the entire community to get involved in whatever way they can,” Heighway says. “If it’s a financial donation, that’s wonderful, but if it’s sharing stories, that’s also wonderful because those will really galvanize our community. We would love for people to step forward and share their stories of great care and what the hospital has meant to them, because it will inspire other people to consider their own involvement.”

As for making a donation to PRHC, there is no better time than National Philanthropy Day.

“National Philanthropy Day is all about the community and people in the community who are stepping forward and giving from a place of gratitude, because they’ve had great care and they’re paying it forward,” says Heighway. “It’s their kindness and generosity making things better for those who need it tomorrow and into the future.”

“We have the energy and the imagination to address any obstacle that comes our way,” adds Dr. Mikula. “We just can’t do it alone. Donor support is critical to our success.”

For more information on the Campaign for PRHC or to make a donation, visit prhcfoundation.ca. To volunteer as a campaign ambassador, email foundationeventsonline@prhc.on.ca or call 705-876-5000.

This branded editorial was created in partnership with the PRHC Foundation. If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.

There’s a new resource in Peterborough intended to help keep a roof over people’s heads by resolving conflicts and improving relationships between tenants, neighbours, and landlords in the city.

During a time when access to affordable and suitable housing is becoming increasingly difficult, Annie Hedden, manager of the housing resource centre at CCRC, hopes the housing mediation program helps provide some solutions for Peterborough residents.

CCRC is partnering with the John Howard Society of Peterborough to offer the housing mediation services to Peterborough residents, according to a media release. Housing mediation is aimed at helping tenants resolve issues and challenges that can be uncomfortable, cause stress, and even lead to people losing their rental units.

“The hope for the impact of the housing mediation program is to facilitate opportunities for discussion and collaboration between landlords and tenants, between roommates, and between neighbours to resolve conflict, disputes or disagreements,” Hedden told kawarthaNOW.

“The aim is to prevent these types of interpersonal conflicts from eventually leading to housing loss. We know that interpersonal conflict is a major contributing factor influencing people to leave their homes, and that sometimes small resolvable issues can lead to loss of housing and homelessness.”

Aspects of the housing mediation program include short-term services, like conflict coaching or assistance to instigate a difficult conversation, often in one or two sessions. Residents can also access more intensive services, such as more formal mediations between the affected parties.

“Participation in the program is always voluntary and the level and length of service depends on the needs and wants of the people involved,” Hedden noted.

When asked about when residents should consider connecting with the resources through the housing mediation program, Hedden said, “people should reach out for help anytime they are having a difficult time communicating with a landlord, roommate, or neighbour.”

In addition, landlords can reach out if they are having difficulty communicating with a tenant.

Hedden said the issues range from something as simple as a disagreement over washing dishes to something more complex, like resolving a landlord and tenant issue that would otherwise be heard by the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).

That could include a neighbour disturbing the peace in a rental complex, for instance, or an eviction.

“One of the major benefits of our program is that it’s more accessible and faster than applying to the LTB, and co-developed solutions tend to be more enduring and longer lasting than decisions handed down from an external authority,” Hedden explained. “Housing mediation prevents housing loss and homelessness. In a time of housing crisis, it is more important than ever to keep people housed.”

Hedden said it’s “extremely difficult” to find housing in the current rental market. Rents are very high and the vacancy rate is very low. People who do manage to find new housing tend to find units that are more expensive than their previous units, and that are less adequate to meet their needs.

“Housing mediation can prevent the physical, emotional, and financial costs of moving and the upheaval of leaving your home to find a new one,” shed said. “For folks who have recently left their housing due to disagreements or personality clashes, housing mediation can help uncover the root of the issue, improve relationships within the housing unit, and facilitate a return to housing.”

The program is being offered through a “unique partnership” that brings together the housing resources and supports offered by CCRC’s housing resource centre with the transformative mediation expertise of the John Howard Society of Peterborough.

Tenants can self-refer or be referred by a community organization or partner. For more information or to book an appointment, contact Laura Greenwood at 705-743-2272 ext. 202 or email lgreenwood@ccrc-ptbo.com.

A non-profit charitable organization, CCRC provides both professional counselling and housing resources and is also a partner in the Peterborough Domestic Abuse Network and the Family Services Employee Assistance Program. Prior to 2021, CCRC also provided credit counselling, financial literacy, and debt management services.

The organization that became CCRC was established in 1998 when the Catholic Social Service Bureau and Volunteers and Information Peterborough — established in 1956 and in 1971 by groups of concerned local citizens who saw a need for services — merged to become Family Counselling Services and Volunteers and Information Peterborough. In 2001, the organization was renamed Community Counselling Resource Centre, shortening its name to CCRC in 2016. In 2021, all CCRC services were consolidated at a single location at 540 George St. N. in Peterborough.

For more information on CCRC and its programs, visit www.ccrc-ptbo.com.

The Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough (EFry) is shining a light on local community leaders who are making a difference in their fields and, in turn, providing a reason for hope during challenging times.

That’s one goal of the society’s upcoming fundraising event on November 27 that includes the presentation of “Rebel with a Cause” awards to local change-makers.

The 2024 recipients are Cheyenne Buck (drop-in program coordinator for One City Peterborough), Kelli Marshall (Indigenous enrolment advisor/dancer for First Peoples House of Learning at Trent University), and Jocelyn Enright (community engagement coordinator for Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre).

EFry will recognize the three recipients with an awards ceremony, which is part of an overall evening of entertainment for those who attend the fundraiser taking place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27 at Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough.

Kristal Jones-Craighead, EFry’s morning drop-in program coordinator at Trinity Centre, told kawarthaNOW it’s important to acknowledge the change-makers and highlight the contributions they are making in the community.

“Those who work within helping professions don’t choose their field for praise or accolades, yet they remain some of the most deserving of praise and accolades,” Jones-Craighead said.

“It is important to recognize the very good work that so many are doing — work that often goes unnoticed and unappreciated,” Jones-Craighead added. “There is so much heaviness all around us but, like Mister Rogers taught us, you’ve got to look for the helpers.”

“When you take a moment to inventory the accomplishments, unwavering empathy, and innovative thinking of Rebel with a Cause award recipients, things begin to feel a little lighter, we feel more inspired, we contribute to building a more inclusive community and continue to dismantle systems of oppression — one meal, one dance, one delegation, one tiny home, one anti-oppressive business practice at a time.”

This year, EFry is introducing two new awards categories that recognize the efforts of community partners and businesses that work in thoughtful and creative ways “to support and uplift vulnerable communities experiencing challenges associated with mental health, addiction, homelessness and criminalization,” a media release noted.

The inaugural recipients are Peterborough Action for Tiny Homes (PATH) with the Radical Audacity Award and Arising Collective with the Business Excellence Award.

This year’s EFry awards event raises money for its morning drop-in program at Trinity Centre. For five days a week, the program provides breakfast, shelter, and resources to as many as 79 people.

EFry is promising a “fun evening” for people who attend the November 27 event, which features a performance from Babe Chorus and a reading by Peterborough poet laureate Ziysah von Bieberstein. There will also be fundraising endeavours including a silent auction, a 50/50 draw, and a photo booth.

“Mostly, attendees can expect to leave feeling energized from being in a room with so many radically audacious, empowered, and deeply kind community-builders,” Jones-Craighead said. “It is our hope that attendees feel entertained, inspired, and excited that they’ve helped to celebrate some incredible people while raising funds for essential resources in our community.”

Tickets for the event, which is sponsored by LLF Lawyers, cost $25 and are available online at showplace.org or in person at the Showplace box office at 290 George St. N. Tickets include a light dinner and refreshments.

EFry is a not-for-profit organization that has worked for more than 15 years toward ending the criminalization of poverty, mental health, addiction, and domestic violence.

Friends of Bonnerworth Park, a citizen group fighting the City of Peterborough’s $4.4-million redevelopment of the greenspace off Monaghan Road at McDonnel Street, has suffered two major setbacks in its efforts to stop the project from proceeding.

The group has learned that the legal firm it had hired, Kraemer LLP of Kitchener, is withdrawing from the case, and that its notice of an application for a stop-work injunction will not be heard by the Superior Court of Justice on November 25.

Meanwhile, the City of Peterborough has continued full steam ahead with construction work at the park, which began on November 5. The city subsequently closed the park to the public on November 7 for the duration of project that, as approved by city council, will see 14 pickleball courts, an expanded skate park, and bike pump track installed.

That was the same day, according to a media release issued on Wednesday (November 13) by Friends of Bonnerworth Park spokesperson John Gerelus, that the group learned its legal counsel was withdrawing from the case.

“On November 7, the Friends of Bonnerworth Park received the shocking news that our lawyer must withdraw from the case because of ill health and is closing the firm,” Gerelus writes.

Four days later, Friends of Bonnerworth Park also found out the November 25th hearing date for the stop-work injunction was not going ahead.

“On Monday, November 11, the city’s outside counsel informed our departing counsel that a clerical error was made by those that scheduled the hearing for November 25, and that most civil matters are to be heard in the spring of 2025.”

In a media release also issued on Wednesday, the City of Peterborough confirmed “There is no injunction against the project and there is no scheduled court date.”

“Reports that the application by Friends of Bonnerworth Park will be heard by the Superior Court of Justice on November 25, 2024 are incorrect,” the release states. “The city has been informed that the applicant’s current law firm, Kraemer LLP, does not intend to handle the injunction application going forward and that Friends of Bonnerworth Park plans to retain new legal counsel.”

According to Gerelus, Friends of Bonnerworth Park is indeed “currently in discussions with another legal firm and examining options, including filing an emergency motion/application for an early hearing date.”

As for the City of Peterborough, it intends to fight any stop-work injunction application in court.

In a closed session on Tuesday afternoon, prior to a public meeting on the draft 2025 budget, city council met as general committee to discuss the stop-work injunction application.

According to the city’s media release, city council approved direction “to authorize the city to respond to the injunction application in the Superior Court of Justice.”

Gerelus said Friends of Bonnerworth Park was advised the following day by the city’s legal counsel “that the city has rejected our request for a stay in construction at Bonnerworth Park, and that it will defend its actions in court.”

Prior to these setbacks, it appeared Friends of Bonnerworth Park had some momentum in its fight against city hall.

The group raised more than $43,000 through a GoFundMe appeal for donations to cover legal costs associated with the injunction filing and the subsequent hearing and, on November 7, had served the City of Peterborough with a notice of application for an injunction.

With files from Paul Rellinger.

Police are investigating after shots were fired in a Peterborough neighbourhood late Tuesday night (November 12).

At around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, officers were called to 850 Fairbairn Street, a 36-unit townhouse located between Parkview Drive and Highland Road that is operated by the Peterborough Housing Corporation, after multiple reports of gun shots.

Upon arriving, officers learned that multiple units of the townhomes were struck with bullets and several more bullets were fired into the air. Police also found shell casings on the ground.

No one was injured in what police are calling “a disturbing incident” and the seventh shooting in Peterborough in 2024.

“It’s just a reminder of the violent acts that follow the illicit drug trade,” said deputy police chief Jamie Hartnett during a media conference late Wednesday morning (November 13) at the site of the shooting.

Police are looking for three male suspects, all dressed in dark clothing, who left the area in a dark-coloured sedan heading north on Fairbairn Street, possibly out of the city. There may have been a fourth suspect in the vehicle, which police believe may have been in the area prior to the shooting.

“We’re just thankful that no one was injured, or worse, from the brazen actions of the suspects last night,” Hartnett said.

“There’s no question Peterborough is feeling the pinch of the big city with the criminal activity and the violent crimes that are ongoing,” Hartnett added. “The safety of our community is paramount, and we will band all our resources for this investigation.”

Other than being connected with the illicit drug trade due to what police call “the drug sub-culture in the community,” police are not aware of the motive for the shooting.

Acccording to detective sergeant Josh McGrath, who also spoke to media, police do not believe the incident is connected to a shooting at the same location in May, when a 24-year-old Oshawa man suffered a gunshot wound to his leg.

In response to a reporter’s question noting the shooting occurred on the same day that city council was reviewing the police service’s draft 2025 budget, Hartnett noted it’s “all hands on deck” for a criminal investigation like this, with additinal police resources diverted to the initial invetigation.

“We’ll have upwards of 20 investigators right now trying to identify (the suspects),” Hartnett said. “We try to front-load it at the beginning. It’s critical in the first 24 to 48 hours to try to identify (the suspects) and we’ll continue with that.”

Police are asking anyone with information about the incident, or anyone who may have driven in the area of Fairbairn Street and Parkview Drive in the last few days and has dashcam footage, to contact Peterborough police at 705-876-1122 ext. 555. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit a tip online at stopcrimehere.ca.

Over the course of a marathon public meeting at Peterborough City Hall on Tuesday night (November 12), city councillors heard from 33 registered delegations providing feedback on the city’s draft 2025 budget.

Most of the delegations were impassioned pleas from arts and social services organizations asking councillors to reject a proposed 25 per cent across-the-board cut in city funding to the organizations, which could threaten the financial viability of as many 75 organizations while only saving $286,000 — less than one per cent of one per cent of the city’s $411 million operating budget.

Tuesday night’s three-and-a-half hour public meeting of city council’s general committee followed a meeting earlier in the afternoon where councillors received presentations on the 2025 budgets of the police, paramedics, and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), and received reports on the 2025 budgets for Peterborough Public Health, Fairhaven Long-Term Care Home, Otonabee Region Conservation Authority, and Peterborough Humane Society.

At that meeting, Peterborough police chief Stuart Betts argued for an 8.8 per cent increase to the police’s 2025 budget, instead of the three per cent increase proposed in the 2025 draft budget, insisting the police could not meet community safety and policing requirements with only a three per cent increase. The requested 8.8 per cent increase, if approved, would increase the proposed 7.8 property tax rate in the city’s 2025 draft budget to 8.75 per cent.

DBIA executive director Nour Mazloum and board chair Sacha Lai-Svirk presented on the accomplishments of the organization, as well as its plans for 2025 to increase revenue and decrease expenditures and its long-term version. They argued against the proposal in the 2025 draft budget for the city to eliminate $150,000 in funding to the DBIA.

That funding was the result of a 2017 settlement between the DBIA and the city, after the DBIA agreed to drop its appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board of the city’s decision to allow a casino at 1400 Crawford Drive instead of in the downtown core. Under the settlement, the city agreed to pay the DBIA $150,000 annually for 20 years — funding that the DBIA has been using for events, promotion, and security.

The police service’s request for an 8.8 per cent budget increase and the cut in DBIA funding were both referenced by some of the registered delegations during Tuesday night’s public meeting. Chaired by councillor Dave Haacke, the public meeting began an hour later than scheduled and continued until 10:30 p.m., after all 33 delegations were heard.

Of the 33 delegations that addressed council during Tuesday night’s public meeting, each speaking for five minutes, 17 were community organizations that would be affected by the 25 per cent cuts or other possible reductions proposed in the budget:

• Joy Simmons, Kawartha Youth Orchestra
• Sue Ditta, Electric City Culture Council
• Chad Hogan and Joe Grant, Market Hall
• Leslie Menagh, Artspace
• Mark Wallace, New Stages Theatre
• Debbie Keating, Art Gallery of Peterborough
• Ken Doherty, Showplace Performance Centre
• Scott Lale, Showplace Performance Centre
• Alan Wilson, Brock Mission
• Christie Goodwin and Michael Newnham, Peterborough Symphony Orchestra
• David Wesley, Peterborough Historical Society (Hutchison House)
• Rob Davis, Peterborough Folk Festival
• Bill Kimball, Electric City Culture Council (also Public Energy Performing Arts)
• Sue Sauve and Raymond Dart, Peterborough GreenUP
• Diane Therrien-Hale on behalf of Anna Eidt, Peterborough Children’s Chorus
• Annie Hedden, Housing Resource Centre, Community Counselling Resource Centre
• Nico Koyanagi, OPIRG
• Rhea Shahe, Community Race Relations Committee
• Patricia Wilson, Community Race Relations Committee

Business owners Lisa Couture of Couture Candy and Jack Henry of OmniWorks Design also made delegations objecting to the proposed cuts, as did several citizens including PRHC emergency room physician Dr. Thomas Miller, Deborah Berrill, artist Alexandra Box McCoy, Joanne Bazak-Brokking, Margie Sumadh, Roy Brady, and more.

“These cuts will be more damaging to the city’s economic future than any dollars that they save,” said Mark Wallace, artistic director of New Stages Theatre, which has received a community investment grant from the city. “Last year, the $9,900 granted to New Stages led to $85,000 returning directly to the pockets of the community, to its businesses and residents.”

“That doesn’t even count the tourism and economic impact of the over 2,000 people who are coming to our shows, who are coming downtown. The people who are shopping for Christmas presents or dining at restaurants. Some of them come multiple times a year.”

“It doesn’t count the impact on community togetherness and belonging. It doesn’t count the impact on increased foot traffic downtown that increases safety. It’s just the economic impact, and that’s just one organization — that’s New Stages, one of 75.”

Wallace also pointed out the city’s own strategic plan enthusiastically promotes the city’s arts and culture community in its first few pages.

“We are a big part of the good news story the city is using to sell what makes us a great place worth living in and investing in,” Wallace said.

The discrepancy between the city’s promotion of arts and culture and the proposed 25 per cent cut to arts organizations was highlighted in an anecdote shared by Christie Goodwin, general manager of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra (PSO), during her comments to council.

“Two weeks ago, just ahead of the PSO’s opening concert, I was contacted by the City of Peterborough staff, asking permission to have a photographer attend our concert,” Goodwin recalled. “The stated purpose of the documentation was to update the city’s database, making photos available for use on city websites, social media, and promotional materials.”

“I very excitedly shared this new with the orchestra, and had all 60 musicians on stage — and my musical director (Michael Newnham) — complete the waiver forms, thinking this was a harbinger of good news. Surely the city was going to increase our funding if they were gathering assets to use the PSO as a selling feature. Two days later, this draft budget came down.”

The comments from Wallace and Goodwin reflected some common themes that emerged from all the delegations that presented to council, some of which are highlighted below.

• A blanket 25 per cent cut to all arts and social services organizations does not consider the impact on individual organizations, some of which may be unable to survive such a cut. The ability of organizations to obtain grants from other funders often depends on the demonstrated level of municipal funding support they receive.
• A ripple effect may compound the impact of the cuts even further. For example, a 25 per cent reduction in city funding to Market Hall Performing Arts Centre and Showplace Performance Centre may force both not-for-profit venues to increase their rental fees, making the venues too expensive for community groups.
• The economic benefit the city receives from its investments to the arts far outweighs the cost of that investment, in part because arts-related events draw both locals and visitors who spend money at local businesses (retail, restaurants, hotels and motels), particularly in the downtown area where many of the events take place. Like the ripple effect that may compound the impact of the cuts on other community groups, the cuts may also have a similar effect on local businesses.
• The city’s investment in both the arts and social services organization is an investment in the well-being of Peterborough citizens.
• A vibrant arts community encourage people to move to Peterborough, including physicians and other healthcare professionals.
• An increase in the police budget to $36.1 million (or to $44 million if council approves the police service’s request for an 8.8 per cent increase) should not come at the expense of social services organizations, as police cannot replace these services, many of which provide the social supports that help prevent crime.
• There is a contradiction between the city’s willingness to spend $4.4 million to redevelop Bonnerworth Park, which is opposed by many residents mainly due to the inclusion of 14 pickleball courts and the loss of greenspace, while cutting grants to arts and social services organizations to save $286,000.

For the most part, there were few questions from councillors to the delegations that presented. Councillor Kevin Duguay, who posed the most questions, commonly asked organizations whether they serve people from Peterborough County and, if they do, whether they receive any funding from the county — presumably implying that some organizations should be seeking funding from the county.

City council meeting as general committee will review, discuss, and debate the draft 2025 budget from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on November 18 and 19. No public delegations will be allowed at these meetings. The mayor is expected to present the draft budget to city council on December 9, when registered delegations will have another opportunity to present to council.