review
weyburn Vol.111 No. 45 - Weyburn, Saskatchewan Wednesday, November 4, 2020 - 12 Pages
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Poppy sales begin
Cuthbert commits to Queens
As the cadets are not able to meet due to COVID-19 restrictions, Legion members will be out selling poppies at local businesses. Page 8
Cash Cuthbert announced his commitment to play football at Queens University. Page 7
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New Weyburn ministries coordinator wants to serve anyone in need By Greg Nikkel The new ministries coordinator for Weyburn’s Salvation Army, Lauralee Fanning, is excited to serve the people of Weyburn, to help out any person or family who needs it. The resident of Lang took over the position about a month ago after serving as a coordinator of a street ministry in Alberta, and as a community worker in fundraising for the Christmas kettles for the Salvation Army in Regina. She grew up in Regina, and after living for five years out of province, including in Alberta working at non-profit ministries, she came back to Regina, moving to Lang about two years ago. When Fanning saw an ad for the community ministries coordinator in Weyburn, she applied for the position, along with applying for two jobs in Regina — and she was accepted for all three positions. She took the Weyburn position because she loves the community and wanted the opportunity to serve here. “I applied for it because I really wanted this job, I felt this is where I was supposed to be,” she said. “I love working with people. I believe everybody, everybody at some time needs a help up.” As a part of the Salvation Army ministry, she said this could be anything from clothing to furniture to food, or it could be just a listening ear or to pray with them if they want. “My door is always open,” she said. “Being a Christian organization
is awesome, as people are willing to share their stories.” As the ministries coordinator, she is responsible for the Christmas programs offered by the Salvation Army, and there are changes this year, in large part due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For families, the Salvation Army is asking for the support of residents and businesses to supply more toys, as they will have parents of children come in and choose three toys for each child instead of having parents supply a wish list, for those who apply for assistance this Christmas. “We have a lot of people coming in who have never used the food bank before, ever, and they have children who need to have a Christmas. We want to make sure all children will have three toys each,” said Fanning. “So we’re praying for toys to come in. As a corporation, we will be taking care of all their needs, and there will be a hamper for them.” The Christmas kettles will also be out in the community this year, but they have had to make changes there also due to COVID. The longtime coordinator for the campaign, Helen Orsted, has retired from that position, and another coordinator will shortly be joining them. Once the new coordinator is in place, she will be contacting all of those who have volunteered for the kettles before to see if they are willing to do it this year, said Fanning, recognizing some may choose not to because of concerns
over COVID. “We will take cash donations at the office,” she noted, as they will try to make things COVID safe for everyone, with protocols in place for the volunteers to follow. The Salvation Army will not be holding their community Christmas supper this year, due to COVID, but will look to helping out in other ways if they can. One of the major sources of money and food for the Salvation Army each year has been the Holiday Train, but this has been cancelled by CP Rail (again, due to COVID), but they will be doing a virtual concert with donations to be made to the food banks the train has supported in past years. “It’s different for everybody, but Weyburn and surrounding area are so generous, and we will make sure everybody is taken care of. It’s going to look different, but I believe God will supply everyone’s needs,” said Fanning. Besides donations, a big need for the Salvation Army is for volunteers, such as around their Thrift Store and food bank location, or in manning a kettle this Christmas, or even just to help sort out items at their location, she said. Her hope is to build a base of volunteers that she can call on as needed throughout the year. “We have lots of areas we could use volunteers to help, and I would love to have a volunteer base so we can become more community friendly,” she said.
New City of Weyburn signs installed
Review Photo -- Sabrina Kraft
A crew from John Hulbert Construction install a new City of Weyburn sign on First Avenue NW, right by the Souris River bridge. The signs will welcome travellers as they enter the city along Highway 39 east and west, Highway 13 east and west, and Highway 35 north and south.
SWNA Awards are presented The Weyburn Review and Weyburn This Week newspapers earned some awards from the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association’s yearly Best Newspapers competition. Normally presented during the SWNA’s annual convention in April, the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the awards were announced in a Zoom meeting with newspaper publishers this past week. Continued on Page 2
Business, development issues discussed by candidates at forum By Greg Nikkel Business and development issues were examined in detail at the candidates forum hosted by the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce for the upcoming municipal election, set for Nov. 9. Fourteen of the 16 candidates running were present for the forum, which was held virtually from the Weyburn Legion Hall, as no public was allowed in due to COVID-19 restrictions. Due to the large number of candidates, each question was posed to a grouping of three or four candidates, so not every candidate could speak on every issue. In addition,
the mayoral candidates were included in with the council candidates. One of the business-related questions asked how a candidate would help ensure Weyburn is businessfriendly. Candidate Jeff Richards was first to answer this question, pointing out he feels the city already is business-friendly, “and we should be proud of that. Are we perfect? No.” He is proud that Weyburn doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all kind of business environment, but wants the city to be able to ask a business person what they need from the city, and how can they best be served?
John Lawrence noted that in his years working for Foreign Affairs, he has lived in many different cultures and countries. “Something that resonated with me is the active partnerships,” he said, and pointed out that Weyburn has a very active Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development committee that can help businesses out. “The result is a civic pride that’s hard to quantify, but it’s really good for the city and for its citizens,” he said. Dick Michel said if he were a prospective business owner, he would drive around the city and look at its infrastructure, and
find out what services are like, such as police, water issues, education facilities and so on. He pointed out there are good schools here, and the Credit Union Spark Centre under construction “will bring more people here than you shake a stick at.” A question asked how the city can help the business community move on after COVID-19, taking note that some businesses were already struggling before the pandemic hit. Ryan Janke agreed there were economic challenges for the city, and suggested one way to help is to assist in the transfer of wealth and equity to Weyburn as people look to
move here in light of the trend towards working at home. He said if people are working from home, they could do that in a community like Weyburn rather than a large city. John Corrigan said in his response, “These are unusual times that we are in. When the pandemic hit we didn’t think it would be on this long.” He said businesses have had to adjust to operating within COVID guidelines and have had cut costs to survive, and suggested this is something the city should also be doing. The city should also create an environment for businesses to succeed, such as with taxation.
Marcel Roy said Weyburn is well situated to help businesses move on, as Weyburn has the third lowest commercial tax rate in the province, plus a high quality standard of living, and the city is easy to work with. Nick Coroluick said a regional economic recovery plan would have to include the district planning commission, and the city and RM need to continue working together along with Weyburn Tourism, the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce and the economic development committee, and all the resources these groups can provide. Continued on Page 3