Russell
Prairie Collective Co. reopens in grand style
Sometimes, things just fall into place - it’s almost like they were meant to be.
That’s the feeling you get when you walk into the new home of Prairie Collective Co. on the corner of Main Street and Assiniboine in Russell.
The stately old building with its grand entrance and beautiful front façade, was the first ‘official’ post office in Russell with grand high ceilings and an ambience that is perfectly conducive to the antique furnishings that Jeremy and Jessica Jamieson lovingly restore and sell out of the new building.
Check out the full story in this week's Russell Banner!
Bringing cancer care closer to home
Cancer is a disease that has impacted everyone and every year there are many fundraisers that are held for cancer research and treatment.
The family of the late Glen Kendrick has been dedicated to raising funds for Expanding Community Cancer Care in Russell for quite some time and they are putting on another fundraiser this year.
“We’re not exactly sure how many years we’ve been fundraising for cancer, but the first time we did it as a family team, was as Team Kendrick in the Relay For Life in 2008, in Roblin,” said Betty Dayson. “At that time, the money we raised went to CancerCare Manitoba.
We tried to do something every two years and then in 2012, we did a walk and the money we raised went to the Russell Chemo Unit. This was around the same time that plans were being discussed to renovate and expand the Russell Chemo Unit.
For more check this week's Banner!
Your best friend who is trained to save your life
The weather was perfect for a walk with your best friend - and their friends. On the last Saturday in May, hundreds of people from across the country met with their canine and human friends and set out on a bit of a trek for the Pet Valu Walk for Dog Guides. Here in Russell just around 20 people showed up at the dog park on the west side of town.
With the money still coming in (you have until the end of June to get your pledges in or make new pledges online) it’s hard to keep a grasp on the evergrowing total.
The Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides is a national charity that was created by the Lions of Canada. Its mission is to empower Canadians with disabilities to navigate their world with confidence and independence by providing a Dog Guide at no cost and supporting them in their journey together. Since 1983, Lions Foundation of Canada has been providing specially trained Dog Guides to men, women and children from coast to coast.
In addition to training Dog Guides for people who are blind or visually impaired, Dog Guides are also trained to meet the needs of Canadians with hearing, medical and physical disabilities, epilepsy, autism, diabetes and for professional agencies assisting people in traumatic situations. And they truly are life savers. All Dog Guides and required training, including transportation and accommodation, are provided at no cost to qualified applicants. Lions Foundation does not receive any government funding and relies on the support of fundraising events like the Pet Valu Walk for Dog Guides.
This past year the Lions held their 2021/2022 Pet Valu Walk for Dog Guides both in-person and virtually. Thanks to the incredible support of volunteer walk organizers, participants, donors, and their title sponsor, Pet Valu, they were thrilled to announce they raised an impressive $1,017,626!
Read the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald!
Thank you, thank you, thank you...
Almost a decade of work came to fruition last week when ground was broken for the new Community Cancer Care unit in Russell.
“First of all, I want to thank everybody that is here today to show their support for this wonderful long awaited event,” Gloria Tibbatts, president of the Expanding Community Cancer Care Committee (ECCC) said.
“Our Expanding Community Cancer Care Committee has worked tirelessly for eight and a half years fundraising for this new chemotherapy building which is now happening.”
It’s been a long road for the committee which has been headed up by Gloria Tibbatts and Judy Forsyth as they navigated the changes over the years. “Over the years, ECCC has worked with three Ministers of Health, two different premiers, and two Prairie Mountain Health CEO’s,” Tibbatts said.
Read the full story in this week's Russell Banner!
One of our nicest, best kept secrets
It’s one of the nicest, best kept secrets of our area. Parkland Linc Inc has been around for decades. For just about twenty years, their office has been located at 20 William Place. And even that isn’t well known.
It’s tucked into the south corner of what used to be the Peace Park - now the location of the new Twin Valley Co-op food store.
While there’s so much more to the entire Parkland Linc Inc program - they employ 16 people in their independent living program – the building at 20 William is home to their day program and a commercial kitchen.
Simply - and officially put - Parkland Linc Inc delivers otherwise unavailable services to intellectually challenged individuals in our region with services that provide individuals with the opportunity to live, work and develop to their fullest potential in their home communities.
The day program is an important part of their operation. During the week, clients can attend to this program that encourages daily life skills. “The people who are in residence tend to have less dexterity, they may be aged or have a lower cognative scoring,” Parkland Linc Inc’s Executive Director Roberta Senek explained. “ And our mandate is to encourage daily living,” The daily living can take on many forms, whether it be cooking and cleaning or planting and nursing seeds to be transplated into the raised garden beds at the centre.
Check out the full story in this week's Banner!
You know you’ve made it when...
In these parts, having your name up on the Wall of Fame at Major Pratt school is a pretty big deal....
There’s no less than three Olympic medalists on there - and one medalist from the Pan Am games.
There’s a fighter pilot, a novelist and a publisher, a championship golfer, a world class horseman, an umpire, and an auctioneer and a couple of local brothers who were the talk of the town when they were down in the states playing university hockey. The idea of recognizing the lifetime achievements came from long-time educator Eldon Montgomery who taught here for years and acted as vice principal as well.
As fate would have it, years after Eldon came up with the idea of the Wall of Fame, his son, Jon Montgomery would grace the display after winning the gold medal in mens skeleton in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver after defeating the heavily favored Martin Dukurs of Latvia by just 0.07 seconds.
Now, there’s a guy from Binscarth whose making a name for himself in Canadian country music with home-grown singles lingering on the Indie Country charts for months.
Get the full story in this week's Russell Banner!
The best Binscarth casino ever
It’s always fun. But this one was the best casino night in Binscarth - ever!
“It was the the most successful casino night we’ve ever put on,” Nolan Bradshaw who chairs the Park and Pool committee said.
Once all the bills were paid, just slightly under $14,000 was raised. “Its going to go a long way to help fund the new washroom and shower facilities that we’re doing as the first portion of our three year plan.” The first phase of the Binscarth Park and Pool committee’s is to construct a 4 Unit Campground washroom/Shower facility with the build to start at the end of April 2023. It will include a wheelchair accessible washroom/shower unit, along with three individual washroom/shower units and a mechanical room. This facility will be located in the middle of the campground for easy access for campers and tenters. A cement pad and septic holding tank will be installed prior to the start of the new building construction. The Binscarth Park & Pool was the Centennial Project for Binscarth and area in 1967. Since that time, it has undergone many changes, upgrades, and enhancements to make it the viable, busy hub that it is today.
Get the full story in this week's Russell Banner!
Taking their classroom to the skies
The clubhouse of the Russell Flying Club was absolutely packed with kids and their parents this past Saturday. In just a few hours, seven members of the Russell Flying Club worked together to have 82 kids taken up for flights around the area.
As they have (almost) every year for more than a couple of decades, the members of the Russell Flying Club took kids up in their personal planes, donating their gas and their time.
Bruce Christopher, a long time member of the club explained that every year, the grade six students of Major Pratt take a Theory of Flight unit in school. “We go in and have a chat with the kids who are taking the class,” he said. “The idea is to get kids interested in flying and these flights give them a practical application to the theory they’ve learned in school which is why we have an age limit on the kids we take up.” Whenever possible, the kids who have taken the flight training at school are put up in the front seat, next to the pilot, giving them a hands on take at what they’ve learned. This year, the addition of another pilot, Bruce said added a special element. “We had a young lady from Roblin flying this year,” he said. “Which was really nice to have the young girls seeing a female pilot.”
There’s no stopping a Fierce Female
There’s chanting and cheering and lots of smiles. Skills are learned on and off the ice.
And friendships are made by the players, the parents and the volunteers who are so integral in making Fierce Female Hockey work.
Fierce Female Hockey is the brainchild of former U of M Bison player Amy Doerksen.
The camps were launched last year in Brandon. In only a year, the word about the all-female hockey camp is out and spreading faster than the water off a Zamboni on ice.
So much so that their two day camp this June in Brandon was a close to an immediate sell-out with a growing wait list.
Read the full story in this week's Russell Banner!
New rules for Lions Prairie Classic
Big Fish.... It’s always about who can catch the biggest fish. But changes in fishing regulations in this province will mean you’ll see some operational changes to the Russell Lions Prairie Walleye Classic.
The main change is that anglers are no longer allowed to possess a fish over 45 cm. This, says Kevan McCarthy who co chairs the Russell Lions Prairie Walleye Classic alongside Ritchie Davidson, means that the traditional weigh in on shore will not happen for any fish over 45cms.
So what about the much sought after Big Fish prize? The money that was traditionally allocated to the Big Fish Prize, McCarthy said, will be redistributed over the top ten tournament prizes which, based upon a full slate of 120 boats are: $25,000 and trophies for first place, $8,000 and two Hummingbird Helix 7 MSI G4 locators and trophies for second prize, $4,500 and $1,000 in Russell Video Pro Fishing Gear and trophies for third place.
From there on down, 4th place is $4000, $3,250 for 5th place on down to $1,250 for the 10th place finisher. As the release stated, the committee members are not a big fan of the catch and photo release method, saying that the traditional “in person” adjudication of the fish is much preferred.
“Catch photo release, in our opinion, has too many variables that we simply don’t understand at this time” McCarthy and Davidson said in the release on their Prairie Walleye website.
Check the full story in this week's Russell Banner!