Duane Hicks
Safe Communities Rainy River District saluted four local people for their continuing work in safety Saturday afternoon during the annual general meeting of the Rainy River District Municipal Association at the local Legion.
Bob Swing, chair of Safe Communities Rainy River District, presented certificates of achievement to Tyler Moffitt, Hugh Dennis, Jim Cumming, and Linda Plumridge for their contributions to district safety.
Moffitt was recognized for “his hard work and efforts put into his weekly safety columns for the local media.”
“Tyler consistently ensures season-specific information is prepared to inform and educate the public with steps for safety,” Swing noted.
“We need Tyler to keep up the great work,” he stressed.
Cumming, meanwhile, was recognized for “his hard work and efforts toward our media coverage, and his contributions toward our strategic planning and priority setting session last year.”
“Having good media coverage behind our movement is truly one of our most important entities,” Swing stressed. “Getting our messages and communication needs to the district citizens is the basis of safety education.
“Jim must be commended on his commitment to our strategic planning and priority session,” Swing added. “Jim took the Safe Communities model and rolled it into our Rainy River District model and facilitated a very successful session.”
For her part, Plumridge was recognized for “her hard work and efforts toward our media coverage, website design and upkeep, as well as her outstanding contribution to our strategic planning and priority setting session.”
“Linda was one of three individuals to spearhead the priority setting strategic planning session for Safe Communities Rainy River District,” noted Swing.
“Without Linda and her expertise, the databases and dissemination of information through the media, this endeavour would not have been a huge success.
“Thanks to her for her hard work.”
Finally, Dennis was recognized for “his hard work with the Substance Abuse Prevention Team and the outstanding accomplishments this team has achieved in the reduction of alcohol and drug abuse while under Hugh’s co-ordinated skills.”
“The district has a very high percentage of drug and alcohol abuse in our youth populations—some surveys have identified some localities to be in the 90 percentile range,” noted Swing, adding through the efforts of Dennis and his team, programs have been implemented and the substance abuse problem is being addressed.
“This will not happen overnight, but with Hugh working with our safety effort, we have a leader with vast knowledge and understanding of the who, what, where, and how of this problem,” Swing remarked.
“Congratulations to Hugh,” he added. “We look forward to your leadership this year as we tackle one of the priorities for Safe Communities Rainy River District.”
Dennis and Plumridge were on hand to receive their certificates while Cumming and Moffitt couldn’t make Saturday’s presentation.
Meanwhile, Swing noted SCRRD’s top priorities for 2009-10 are falls, substance abuse, motor vehicles accidents, and violence, as well as continuing all regular programming.
While always aiming to tackle safety issues (some of which are quite significant), Swing noted success can be achieved through partnerships, which the SCRRD will continue to build.
Some of the achievements by SCRDD, and its partners, in the past year have included:
•officially changing its name from Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition to Safe Communities Rainy River District;
•strengthening its rapport with the Safe Communities networks in Canada and the U.S., and the World Health Organization;
•being a role model as a “safe community” and recommended as a peer community for others;
•completing a priority setting and strategic planning exercise;
•delivering existing and new programs, and building partnerships;
•achieving a perfect score on its Safe Communities Canada report card;
•having 15 of its long-time volunteers honoured by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration;
•seeing the Fort Frances Times receive a Safe Communities Canada Ambassador of Safety Award (business);
•seeing local paramedic John Beaton, who runs the P.A.R.T.Y. program which teaches local youths about alcohol-related risks, receive a Safe Communities Canada Ambassador of Safety Award (volunteer);
•receiving a CN grant for a fifth year (this money was used to buy strobe lights for school buses); and
•kicking off the “Photo Voice” program, which so far has been used for traffic and substance abuse-related projects.
Swing also thanked district municipalities for their continuing support of Safe Communities Rainy River District via per capita donations.
