Yes we can

It was great to see the “I Am Awesome (And I Know It!)” self-esteem and empowerment retreat for young women being named a grand-prize winner in the Aviva Community Fund competition.
It certainly indicates the importance of Renée Martin-Brown’s efforts to create and stage a weekend where girls’ aged 10-14 can come together to share, learn, and support each other, and obviously the $45,000 cheque will help it blossom even more in future years.
Just as important, though, is the underlying lesson of all this: we can accomplish anything if we put our collective efforts into it.
In this case, it was helping a girls’ retreat shine on the national stage. Last summer it was helping the Fort Frances Curling Club win $25,000 and land a live broadcast of TSN’s “SportsCentre.”
In fact, there are plenty of examples over the years where we’ve banded together to make our community a better place to live. The Townshend Theatre and Ice For Kids Arena stand today because residents dug into their wallets to make it so.
The same holds true for the new Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre and, to a lesser extent, the renovations at the Fort Frances Museum.
And, of course, district residents have access to quality health care “close to home” thanks to all the fundraising efforts to revamp our hospitals and purchase state-of-the-art equipment.
It all started with a dream, vision, or idea of one person or a group of individuals—and they all came to fruition because everyone pitched in.
Can we be crowned “Hockeyville?” Yes we can. Can we help the Border Skating Club upgrade the sound systems at both arenas through the “Tbaytel For Good” program? Yes we can.
Can Rainy River District achieve whatever we set out to do?
Yes we can.