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(Posted 10:30
p.m., Nov. 10)
Dedicated
group hopes to breath new life into Team Ottawa-Orléans
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
A small, but
dedicated group of volunteers has taken it upon themselves to resurrect
Team Ottawa-Orléans, a community organization formed four years ago to promote
local initiatives of benefit to the far east end.
The organization
was the brainchild of Ottawa-Orléans MPP Phil McNeely and former Ottawa-Orléans
MP Marc Godbout who were interested in bringing members of the community
together to champion various projects and initiatives such as the Orléans
Health Hub, the Orléans Trails Strategy and the Orléans Oktoberfest event.
Team Ottawa-Orléans
received a $200,000 Trillium Grant in 2005 to be spread out over three years.
The money was used to hire a full-time executive director and help fund
some of their initiatives. They also received grants to purchase an event
tent and BBQ, which they rent to local community groups, and undertake a
comprehensive trails strategy which included mapping out the extensive bike
trails and walking paths in the east end.
Team Ottawa-Orléans
fell into a state of semi-dormancy by the end of 2008 following the departure
of former executive director Robert Paiement. In January, former Team Ottawa-Orléans
chair Doug Feltmate and former executive director Sandra MacInnis approached
the board of directors with a plan to restructuring the organization.
At the same time
other initiatives started to spring up such as the Ottawa-Orléans Environment
Network launched by Feltmate and fellow Team Ottawa-Orléans volunteer Peter
Levesque.
Former federal
Conservative candidate Walter Robinson also started to take an interest
in resurrecting the organization and before long a groundswell of support
began to build culminating in last week's annual general meeting which officially
signaled the rebirth of Team Ottawa-Orleans Equipe.
A number of current
and former members of TOOE's board of directors were at the meeting as well
as Innes Ward Coun. Rainer Bloess.
The first order
of business was a very brief update on the organization's activities and
the tabling of TOOE's financial statements which indicated assets in excess
of $23,000.
After the update,
Feltmate unveiled the organization's new logo and direction. In the coming
weeks and months they will focus their efforts in three key areas: economic
development, the environment and social issues.
In the near term,
they plan to work with the Orléans Health Committee in seeking the community's
input into the future Orléans Health Hub. To that end they've formed a health
working group which will be chaired by Cathie Smith Evanik.
The meeting also
saw the election of a new board of directors, all of whom signed the following
Manifesto: "Team Ottawa-Orléans Equipe (TOOE) exists to identify, nurture
and create sustainable economic, social and environmental initiatives that
will improve our community as a place in which we can all live, work and
play".
The new board
of directors also endorsed the organization's Principles of Conduct which
state that TOOE will "openly and transparently collaborate with ALL
elected representatives."
Walter Robinson
says the organization is hoping to have its new website online in both French
and English by the end of November. When it's live, the web address will
be www.TOOE.ca.
(This story
was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local
business partners.)
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