Okotoks stunt man Tom Eirikson competes in a rodeo in the 1970s. Eirkison is co-organizing and performing in a show that uses old-style rodeo events to entertain the crowd Saturday at the Millaville Farmers' Market. The show is a fundraiser to help former hockey player Sheldon Kennedy support youth who are victims of sexual abuse.

Cowboy stuntman Tom Eirikson is bringing his wild west comedy show to Millarville to help raise money for women and their children who are victims of sexual abuse.

The show called, “Once Upon A Time In The Old West,” takes place during the Millarville Farmers’ Market on Saturday, and admission is by donation to support former hockey player Sheldon Kennedy’s mission to support youth who are victims of sexual abuse. Kennedy will direct any proceeds from the event to the Rowan House emergency shelter.

Kennedy may even join the 20-plus local barrel racers, bronc riders and steer wrestlers on the stage, which in this case, is a rodeo infield.

“I’ve been involved with rodeo all my life and the stunt business in the movies, so I thought we have all this talent in this area so let’s try putting a show together,” said Eirikson. “Not everyone wants to see straight rodeo. But we want to give people a taste of the western heritage through rodeo events and add comedy into it with live stunt acting.”

The show will feature approximately 30 animals and 22 performers, many who live in the foothills communities and are earning their way up the rodeo ranks or professional cowboys.

Rodeo clown Dennis Halstead, for example, who lives east of Okotoks, will be lending his talent to the show.

“He is very, very funny,” said Eirikson of the renowned rodeo entertainer.

Other seasoned rodeo performers include retired chuckwagon driver Doyle Mullaney, First Nation standup comedian/cowboy Randy Gaudry and Millarville cowboys Ben Lowry, a bull rider, and Ed O’Reilly, a saddle bronc rider.

The cowboys and cowgirls will weave a tale of life in the old west through a series of rowdy events including cow riding, wagon racing, steer wrestling and barrel racing.

“What we’re doing is we’re incorporating a live show that is going to be experimental, because it’s the first show that incorporates rodeo, comedy and stunts,” said Eirikson. “And in the process, it’s a fundraiser.”

The events will roll out like they did when rodeo was just getting popular. For example, there were no chutes for the cowboys to get settled on the back of a bronc. A cowboy would have the bronc “snubbed up” against his horse and the bronc rider would get onto the bronc from over the other cowboy’s horse.

That’s the way it’ll be done in the “Once Upon A Time In The Old West” show.

“There’s no judges, there’s no scores, there’s no right or wrong,” said Eirikson.

The events are purely for entertainment.

There will also be an old time gunfight, starring Eirikson’s 10-year-old son taking aim at his dad from the back of a “beefalo”.

“It’s a kind of a buffalo-beef animal,” said Eirikson. “It has a buffalo-looking head, but no hump, and longhorn type of horns. He’s a funny looking creature, but he’s very docile, so it works good.

“My son will shoot me off a horse, which I’m getting too old to do, but it’s always fun.”

The show “Once Upon A Time In The Old West” takes on Saturday, July 31 from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. during the Millarville Farmers’ Market at the Millarville Racetrack. The show is free and donations for the Rowan House Emergency Shelter will be accepted.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

Stoney Nakoda youth in Morley play the guitar with an instructor provided by The Children's Legacy Foundation Gift of Music Program, which is co-funded by Alberta Safe Communities.

The Legacy Children’s Foundation Gift of Music Program offered free music lessons to Stoney Nakoda youth on the Morley reserve last year and 80 per cent of the students involved remained committed to the program and finished the school year.

That 80 per cent success rate has proven to be the magic number across North America, where similar programs have been operating for approximately 20 years.

Darryl Wernham, CEO of The Legacy Children’s Foundation, said because of the success in Morley over the past year, the Province has awarded the foundation $150,000 to expand the music lessons to youth in Eden Valley and Big Horn as well as in Morley for another three years.

“Morley was the first test and it’s so successful we want to help their whole organization,” said Wernham.

Wernham said five youth in Eden Valley will be offered guitar lessons, which cost the foundation approximately $1,000 per year per student.

“We’ll supply the instruments and we have some finances to get them into a recording studio,” he said.

The foundation will consult with teachers at Chief Jacob Bearspaw Memorial School in Eden Valley to determine which five students are the best candidates for the program.

The deal is that as long as they attend their school classes and stay out of trouble, they will be given free guitar lessons and the chance to record in a studio. They will also have the opportunity to connect with people who earn their living making music.

“We try to introduce kids to professionals in the music industry, musicians in a studio, sound engineers,” said Wernham. “We want them to think, ‘Wow, this could be my life.’ We really want to get kids excited about it. We could find a budding Eric Clapton.”

The grant funding for the program, called the Gift of Music, comes from the Alberta Safe Communities initiative.

“What interests Safe Communities is that we looked at programs like this in San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles – those are all gang centrals,” said Wernham. “They have been super successful in two man things: kids stay in school and out of gangs. In Chicago, 46,000 kids have gone through the ‘Guitars not Guns’ program since 1989 and 90 per cent of the kids have finished high school and/or went on to post secondary.”

Finding a way for aboriginal youth to want to stay in school and out of trouble is a positive move in Alberta.

“Research shows that the school drop-out rate in Alberta for aboriginal kids is higher than the rest of the population,” said Wernham. “I’ve talked to people who are concerned about kids getting in trouble, kids getting into gangs and if we can stop that – well, it’s one kid at a time.”

In Eden Valley it’ll be five youth at a time.

To access the program funding the foundation is required to match the $150,000 grant, so fundraising is underway. Foundation members are reaching out to corporations and individuals in surrounding communities for donations.

They are accepting instruments, as well as cash donations.

“It’s awesome, I’m excited about this program because of the results,” said Wernham. “We’re seeing what we’re doing for kids.

“Kids who get involved with music, their grades improve, they score better on entrance exams for universities, they do better in math and literacy – it’s been researched for a long time and it’s really, really neat stuff. They also learn what it’s like to be in a team, because a band is a team. They learn about leadership and they learn about the skills you need to be successful in the workplace, like be focused and on time.”

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

Members of the Chickwagon Foundation pose for a photo at the Calgary Stampede parade last year. The women's charity is participating in the rodeo in High River this weekend.

A signature pink tarp, identical to what has been seen racing around the on top of chuckwagons for the past 11 years, will be auctioned off on Saturday at the North American Chuckwagon Championships in High River.

The goal of the sale is to help raise funds so the Rowan House Emergency Shelter can provide a good home for women in the foothills who need help leaving an abusive boyfriend or husband.

The pink tarp is the signature of the Chickwagon Foundation, a not-for-profit charity that has been participating in the Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races over the past decade to raise awareness and funds for Calgary women in need.

This year the Chickwagon Foundation decided to expand it’s circle of care and include women in the foothills. They have joined forces with Metal Port Steel Corp. to buy Luke Tournier’s wagon at the North American Chuckwagon Championships in High River. Tournier will fly the Chickwagon tarp during the four-day event.

The pink tarp circling the track will raise awareness the Chickwagon group is in town to support the Rowan House Emergency Shelter and attract new membership.

On Saturday at 4:30 p.m. they will kick into gear and hold a live auction in effort to raise $10,000 in support of the Rowan House’s goal of building a new shelter in High River.

The most unique item up for bid is the Chickwagon tarp.

“It’s a collector’s item, because no other chuckwagon has a pink tarp,” said Leann Kruger, vice-president of the foundation. “It could be for decorating. You could use it to cover a barbecue. It’d be for people who are interested in chuckwagons — it’d be really neat for them.”

Other items to be auctioned include a set of stainless steel garden gates depicting western art, $2,000 in Metal Port Steel gift certificates, a week-long getaway for eight at Big Horn Meadows Resort in Radium, $500 gift certificates from Flight Centre Canada and a hand-made quilt.

For the past 10 years the Chickwagon Foundation has been participating in the Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races and fundraising to support the YWCA Sheriff King House, a shelter in Calgary. They have expanded their efforts to include rural shelters as well.

“For women in the country there are the same kinds of needs as in the city,” said Kruger. “In the city there are so many different outlets women can go to.

“This will help make a difference for a lot of women.”

The Chickwagon Foundation’s auction to support the Rowan House Emergency Shelter will take place on Saturday, June 26 in the Chickwagon Foundation sponsorship tent during the Guy Weadick Rodeo and North American Chuckwagon Championships at the High River Agricultural Society rodeo grounds.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

By Ray Lepage

Contributor

Every January, I attend the Dawgs banquet as the “Pastor to the Dawgs.” Some of my flock might actually be thinking “Pastor gone to the Dawgs.” I am asked to give the blessing for the food and then go on to ask God for a “repeat” championship; then it was a “threepeat” and last January it was for “four in a row.”

My track record so far has been pretty good. Thank God.

Now, my chances of success are reasonable but sadly, my topic for this issue is something much more serious and here is the question.

Is one of the reasons we have been placed on this earth by God to look after it? Yes! No!

And if we don’t as Christians, who then? And who will lead the way?

The question then becomes, what kind of job are we doing? On a small scale, just drive around this community in the spring and welcome to the litter capital of wherever. The only worse place I have seen in recent years are the back streets of Las Vegas. And before your mind goes sideways, this pastor was there for a good cause because sound new churches are needed there as well. Trust me!

I often hear my fellow townspeople complain, and the wonderful staff at Open Spaces constantly scratching their heads, but the truth is this; too many of us simply do not care.

That’s the saddest part of it all, but I am not surprised anymore.

Litter in Okotoks, c’mon what’s the big deal! Not big enough?

Okay then, how about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? My friends, we have permitted this catastrophe to happen and we all share some responsibility.

The people on the gulf will be paying the price for this fiasco for decades and we’ll sit up here and say how sad that is. And when the dust settles, when the oil is stopped and efforts are made to clean things up continue, there will be nothing left but the suffering, the questions and the accusations.

How could this have happened in 2010?

Well, how about I go out on a limb to say that BP, Transocean and Halliburton will have cut corners for the sake of profits and that leads us back to the main reason for the recent worldwide recession — greed!

And wherever there is greed, there is a business fulfilling a need. In this case, the need is North America’s insatiable thirst for oil.

We do need to keep our gas guzzling vehicles on the road, our ski boats in the water and our ATVs in the parks don’t we? Sure we do! We deserve it; we worked for it.

But then I remember travelling in Europe back in the late 60’s and they had this oil thing figured out already. You see, even in a country with shorter distances, they decided they didn’t want to pay the high price of fuel that they were being asked to pay back then.

Foothills Composite High School student Bekki Meyer delivered an emotional monologue last Tuesday educating fellow students about teen suicide.

Foothills Composite High School student Bekki Meyer has personal experiences with teen suicide and on June 1 the Grade 11 student performed a monologue about her suicide attempts and her experience with the recent loss of a former boyfriend who committed suicide less than a month ago.

“I attempted suicide twice,” said the 16-year-old. “The first time was last summer when I tried to hang myself in my room, but the rope broke. I tried again last December but it didn’t work out again.”

At the time of her suicide attempts, Bekki said she had hit a low point in her life. She felt she had no one in her life who cared about her or who she could talk to about her troubles or the grief of her dad dying four years ago.

She was also involved in a relationship with a boy who she had known since childhood, but since their relationship was on-again-off-again, she didn’t feel she could confide in him either.

“When I first told him I tried to kill myself he was angry,” she said. “That made me realize that I did actually have someone in my life who cared and that would be so hurt if I had killed myself.”

Bekki learned to move on with her life believing suicide is not the answer and no matter what she thought, she wasn’t worthless. She also moved on from her then boyfriend and has since become involved in a positive relationship with someone else.

However, about two weeks ago Bekki received a Facebook message from her ex-boyfriend to which she did not respond and proceeded to block him from her Facebook account. A week later, she received a phone call and the shock of her life. The boy’s parents told her he had committed suicide by overdosing on prescription depression pills the night before.

“I never thought he would do that,” said Bekki. “He never once hinted to me that he was thinking about it, not even in that Facebook message, but he was really depressed for a long time.”

To deal with the shock and pain of losing someone she had been close with for six years, Bekki has turned to her love of theatre and drama as an outlet for grief and as a way of healing.

“I’ve been interested in theatre all my life because even from a young age it was an escape for me,” she said. “It’s nice to get to be someone else, even if it is only for a few hours.”

Bekki added she also uses theatre as an education tool for teen suicide.

“I guess my message is that no matter what, there is always a way out,” she said. “No matter what you are going through or what you are feeling, there is always someone to talk to. Your life means so much to so many people even if you don’t realize it and killing yourself would affect everyone in your life.”

Bekki said through her theatre she has been able to gain peace and acceptance from her tragic loss and continues to focus on her studies and graduation next year.

“For now my goal is just surviving,” she said.

Many young people are scrambling to find a summer job, but a select few students will be starting a business this summer as part of a unique entrepreneur camp.

The 14th annual Alberta Youth Entrepreneurship Camp (AYEC) will be held this summer in Cypress Hills, but unlike most summer camps the main focus of this camp will be opening a store not eating smores.

The 2010 AYEC is for youth aged 13 to 15 years of ago who have an interest in business. Sixty youth from Southern Alberta will attend the entrepreneurial-based camp which combines the education of business training with a summer camp atmosphere. Campers hear from guest speakers and participate in workshops to learn the components of a business plan such as marketing, advertising, cash flows and record keeping. Youth are put into business teams where they plan a business idea, meet with suppliers and bankers, build a product or a service and on the final day of camp these youthful business ventures are open for business. Campers pay back their business loans and share their profits amongst their business team.

John Lockhart, general manager of Community Futures Highwood, said the camp is an excellent opportunity to not only learn about business, but develop some key life skills.

“They will learn about starting their own business, but they will also learn leadership and team building skills in a fun, interactive camp environment,” said Lockhart. “It is not only for youth who are thinking about starting a business, but also those looking at business skills that can transfer to any program in college, university or a career.”

Lockhart said Community Futures Highwood sends five to seven youth to the camp each summer. Youth interested in attending can apply to Community Futures to earn a scholarship to the camp.

Michelle Zeer, a business analyst at Community Futures Highwood, attended the camp as a youth and then as a youth leader as well. She said it was an outstanding learning opportunity.

“You learned business concepts and you got a taste of what it is like to be in business,” she said.

“It was a fun experience to see business from another perspective. It was very rewarding for me to go through that.”

Zeer said although her parents were entrepreneurs, following a career in business was not necessarily in her plans until she attended AYEC.

She said attending the camp sparked an interest in business for her and she followed that inspiration into her post-secondary education.

Youth interested in more information or applying to the camp can contact John Lockhart at Community Futures Highwood at 403-995-4151 or email john@cfhighwood.net. For more information visit the website at www.ayec.ca

It was a strange sight outside Foothills Composite High School on May 26 as it appeared some adults had joined students for detention and cleanup duty as they picked up litter on the grounds after school.

It was not detention, but it was a community service sentence.

Chloe Hutka, right, and Alicia McCance clean up litter around Foothills Composite High School on May 26. The Grade 11 students were participating in a Okotoks Rotary Club sponsored effort to clean up garbage and litter around the school.

The Okotoks Rotary Club approached Foothills Composite High School (FCHS) about helping to clean up the grounds surrounding the school. The litter that accumulates outside the school has been a contentious issue with residents in the neighbourhood and the Rotarians volunteered to help clean up the grounds. However, there was one condition: students had to also volunteer and help with the cleanup initiative.

More than a dozen students along with their families, teachers and 15 Rotarians teamed up and collected about 20 bags full of garbage.

Alicia McCance, a Grade 11 student at FCHS, said volunteering with the Rotary Club to help clean up the school grounds was a worthwhile experience and something she felt the students needed to do.

“We should give back to our community,” she said. “Students throw trash aside and don’t think about it. It is not just about the environment, it is about respecting your community.”

McCance said it was an opportunity for the students to have a positive impact in their school’s neighbourhood and a gesture of good faith for those residents who have had to deal with the garbage from the school.

“We just want to give back to the people who have had to deal with this,” said McCance. “We are blessed to be living in a place like Okotoks and it is not everybody, most of the students are good citizens.”

Miles Foster, a teacher at FCHS, said he is hoping to make the cleanup project an annual partnership between the students and the Rotarians.

He said he hopes the project will continue to gain momentum year after year and more students will not only get involved, but also take more pride in their school day-to-day.

“I hope the students will take ownership of the building,” said Foster.

Foster said it was also a good opportunity for the students to get involved with a community initiative which will be good public relations in the neighbourhood.

“It is good if the community sees the kids out there doing something,” said Foster.

In addition, Foster said from working with the Rotarians the students learned volunteerism and community spirit is a lifelong endeavour.

Working with the students was just as important to the Okotoks Rotary Club.

Rotary president Dick Nichols said partnering with the students on the cleanup project will show the youth the importance of getting involved.

“It is important to Rotary to sponsor youth projects,” said Nichols. “It is never too early to get kids thinking about the big picture.”

Nichols said it was also a chance for the Rotarians to have a positive impact on the community.

“We want to get out in the community and take on some real projects.”

jbarlow@okotoks.greatwest.ca

It was the beginning of the end of a long journey for a young man who is blazing a trail for Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools.

Nathan Siray, a graduate of Holy Trinity Academy, sits before Bishop Frederick Henry as he preaches the homily during the ceremony to ordain Siray as a deacon at St. James Church in Okotoks on May 15. It is the final step before being ordained a priest. Siray is the first Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools student to enter the priesthood.

On May 15 Nathan Siray, a graduate of Holy Trinity Academy in 2001, was ordained as a deacon the final step before becoming a priest.

It was an incredible celebration, not only for Siray and his family but for Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools (CRCS) as Siray is the first graduate of the school division to enter the priesthood.

Rob Allen, the former principal at Holy Trinity Academy, and a teacher of Siray’s said he knew his student would go on to great things.

“When he was in high school he struck me as a special kid,” said Allen, who retired earlier this year. “I remember watching him during final exams and he would have a rosary on his desk. I knew he was a wonderful person to have that kind of faith. He inspired a lot of people around him.”

Even Siray’s mother had a gut feeling her son’s career path would eventually lead to a life in the Church.

“I think I knew before he knew himself,” said Siray’s mother Pat. “It is difficult to explain. I just saw things and I saw him fight it.”

Pat said although she had a feeling her son was meant to follow this path, she never pushed him in that direction. She said she believed it was a path he had to find, and

follow, on his own.

“We lived out faith naturally,” said Pat. “We never said ‘do this’ but we always told him (priesthood) was a possibility.”

While his family and teachers may have seen something special in Siray, 27, he admitted becoming a priest was not something he considered until an unexpected revelation.

“I hadn’t thought much of becoming a priest,” said Siray. “As a kid I went to church with my family, it was something we did, but it was never part of my plans.”

Looking back Siray said there were several small hints, but he never followed up.

For example, when he was 14 he travelled to Paris to take part in World Youth Day and while he was there he met several Catholic youth and he realized he needed to take his religion more seriously.

Then again after high school he travelled to Nepal and he was impressed with how the Buddhist religion was such an integral part of their community.

“Their religion was such a natural, authentic part of their lives,” said Siray who grew up near Millarville. “I believed if I was going to call myself a Catholic that is what I should do.”

Again Siray put his religion on the back burner and enrolled in the University of McGill in Montreal to study history.

Perhaps God was becoming frustrated with sending Siray little hints to nudge him towards priesthood, because in Montreal, He smacked him right upside the head.

Siray’s roommate in university was a student from Kenya who convinced Siray to attend Mass with him everyday.

Believing it couldn’t hurt, Siray agreed.

Like something from a movie or even a story from the Bible, at Mass Siray experienced his awakening.

“I was at Mass and suddenly it hit me,” said Siray. “Towards the end of Mass after communion a strong sense came over me, I knew what I was meant to do.”

It was not an easy calling for Siray to accept.

“I was stunned,” he said. “I don’t even remember if I went to class that day. I just walked around campus the rest of the day.

“Considering life as a priest was not on my radar,” he continued. “I was kind of freaked out.”

Once he calmed down, Siray sought the advice of a priest at the university and they discussed his options.

Regardless, Siray knew what he had to do and he entered the seminary in Oregon and began his eight years of study which culminated in the ceremony on May 15 at St. James Church in Okotoks.

“Gradually I have come to understand my choice and I have come at peace with it,” said Siray. “(My mom) knew something I didn’t.”

For his family, seeing Siray ordained a deacon was an extremely proud moment.

“This is not something to take lightly and he never wavered,” said Pat. “My cheeks are aching from smiling so much. We were not overwhelmed because wer had been preparing for this for eight years. Probably the best thing to say is we are thankful and very joyous.”

For Siray, he said he knows this is just the beginning.

“The Bishop (Frederick Henry) impressed on me now begins the journey to a greater sense of responsibility,” he said.

Also sharing Siray’s celebration was CRCS.

“It is a tribute to the school division,” said Siray. “Faith is an important part of who they are and it should be tremendously gratifying for Christ the Redeemer and St. James. I hope I can encourage others to follow this path.”

Siray, who is studying at the Calgary diocese, has a another year of schooling before being ordained as a priest. Then he will be assigned to a church in Calgary or the surrounding area.

They also want to support after school programs, athletic and academic pursuits through financial donations. For 30 years funds raised at the Turner Valley Charity Golf Classic have been dedicated to youth in the area.

The 18-hole charity golf classic takes place on May 28 at the Turner Valley Golf Club and there is space for a total of 144 participants.

Tyler Bray, chair of the event, said the tournament invites golfers to enjoy a day on the greens in support of youth programs. The $115 entry fee covers the costs for the day and the main fundraising comes through local businesses sponsoring each hole of golf.

“This tournament started 30 years ago by the Turner Valley RCMP and every year it supports youth at risk,” said Bray.

In previous years the fundraiser has netted as much as $15,000, Bray said.

Last year was slow because of the economic downturn, he said, but they were still able to raise $8,000 to donate to youth programs.

The charity golf tournament supports several organizations, including schools in Eden Valley, Black Diamond, Turner Valley, Longview and Millarville as well as the Diamond Valley Boys and Girls Club.

“We use the umbrella slogan of youth at risk, but anything we can do to help youth, whether with education, food programs or constructive programs like the Boys and Girls Club to help get youth off the street and give them something to do – that benefits everybody,” said Bray. “We’re always concerned there’s not enough to do in these communities.”

Bray said a focus of their financial support is meal programs at schools.

“There are kids who come to school and they don’t get breakfast, they don’t get lunch, that’s just the way it is at home,” said Bray. “And we all know if a child has good nutrition, they can pay better attention in class and get a good education.”

The Turner Valley Charity Golf Classic takes place on Friday, May 28 with a shotgun start at 1:30 p.m. at the Turner Valley Golf Club. Entry fee is $115, which includes use of a power cart, a roast beef dinner and at least one prize, Bray said.

Golfers can choose to play the golf classic Texas scramble style, or individual low gross.

For more information or to register, contact Tyler Bray at the Royal Canadian Legion Turner Valley Branch 78 at 403-933-4600.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

God’s Littlest Angels vice-president Jeff Ryan estimated there are approximately 500,000 orphans currently living in the tent city being managed by the Red Cross. It takes time to determine whether a child has any living relatives, he said.

There are two fundraisers taking place this month to help generate funds needed to expand the existing orphanage sitting on 4.8 acres of land purchased in 2006.

The orphanage directors had been fundraising for the new building prior to the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12. After the earthquake their daily operating costs skyrocketed, including food and water. They also took on the burial and funeral costs for staff and even members of the community. Every one of the 172 orphans and all staff at the facility survived the earthquake, however, staff in their homes perished and others lost family members.

“We didn’t have enough money for our everyday needs, so we put the building on hold,” said Ryan. “You can’t take money from the building fund to buy groceries, but we decided that we need to build this new orphanage and build it quickly while looking after everyday needs.”

Every child who was at the orphanage prior to the earthquake has since been adopted and delivered to their new families in Canada, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Now the staff is caring for 69 children from another orphanage destroyed by the earthquake and 11 children who were dropped off.

“Kids are coming all the time,” said Ryan. “We are finding out if there are no living relatives, then we take them in. We’re preparing for an influx of kids.”

Many of the children are suffering malnourishment, in addition to suffering from a lack of human touch and care.

“We took in a boy last week who is a year old and he was five pounds,” said Ryan. “I thought there was a mistake. I thought it was 15 pounds. But he was five pounds. He didn’t have enough strength to eat.”

Four containers of essential goods, including food, tents and medical supplies, were finally released by the Haitian government. After taking four weeks to arrive from Canada the government held onto the containers for another three weeks according to Ryan.

Ryan said the donated tarps, medical supplies, rice and beans will help the whole mountain community where the orphanage is situated, not just the 80 orphans.

“The orphanage is in Peition Ville in the mountains and we’re not getting any aid from Red Cross ourselves, we are the aid,” said Ryan. “So not only is the stuff we’re bringing in the containers for the orphanage, it’s also for the whole community. It’s bad enough that we had the earthquake, but it’s hurricane season next.”

Residents of Okotoks and other foothills communities can help God’s Littlest Angels by supporting the orphanage’s fundraising events this month.

The Deb Grey Ride of Hope for Haiti takes place on Saturday, May 15. The convoy of motorcycles will leave Okotoks at 9:30 a.m. and arrive in Sylvan Lake for lunch at 1 p.m. Entry is $25 and riders are asked to collect $100 in donations.

A fundraiser featuring music by Nashville band High Valley and live and silent auctions takes place in Cochrane on May 28 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.

To make a donation or for more information go to www.glacanada.ca or contact Jeff Ryan at jeff@glacanada.ca or call 403-612-7574.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca