The North End And Its Volunteers

I have lived in the North End now for about four years, since moving from my home on Corydon Avenue. My husband has lived in this house for ten years or so, but his family goes way back. They were one of the first families to move in on Cathedral Avenue back in the early 1900's. When I thought of the North End, prior to moving here, I thought it was a place I would never want to live, and definitely a place I would not want my children to grow up in. I raised them in Fort Rouge.
But, since coming to the North End, I have gotten to know a lot of great people. And I have become involved in the community this past year. That is not unusual for me, though. I was a volunteer at Earl Grey School when my children were attending there. I have always been involved in some way in my community. So, becoming a volunteer in the North End was not really out of the ordinary for me.
I received an invitation to join my residents association from one of their members, who had started reading my blog. So, I decided to contact the association and find out what they were all about, to see if it was something I might be interested in.

Well, I did join the association, and I joined a few more associations in the North End as well. In getting involved in my community, I have found that there are a lot of people who really care about the North End, and I mean a lot of people.
I have met many people from each of the Residents Associations in the North End. Some associations have COPP (Citizens On Patrol) programs, others are trying to start them up. A couple of areas have the Powerline program. Each association has people who truely care about their communities. And the North End has more. We have combined organizations that share information and help throughout the entire North End. We have a combined COPP walk, a Neighbour to Neighbour Safety Stragegy that works toward making the North End a safer place. We have the North End United that has just started up, to bring a stronger voice to the North End. And we have many, many good people in the North End who pick up litter, report illegal dumping, clean their areas up, watch for crimes, etc., who are not actively involved in any committee or organization. They are just good citizens.
The North End also has a great City Councillor now, Ross Eadie. I saw he hit the news again today. He is organizing a flower planting party on Saturday morning, to put flowers in the planters on Main Street. If anyone is interested in helping out, just drop by or call Ross at 391-6259. He'd love to hear from you. Oh, and Ross, I will be there too on Saturday.
While I am plugging events, St Johns Residents Association is going to be starting their own COPP program this year. If you live in the area of Main to McGreagor, Redwood to Atlantic and would like to be involved, let us know. You can email us at stjohnsresidentsassociation@gmail.com, or call Joy at 927-2340. And our next meeting is August 17, 7pm at Ralph Brown Community Center. Further news of the area, Picnic in the Park will be held on Saturday, August 20 at St Johns Park. And St Johns Residents Association will be holding a mid-summer clean-up the following week. Plans are still being made on the clean-up, so I can't say too much just yet. But it should be a lot of fun.
And I just want to end this blog post with a great big thanks to every person in the North End who has done something positive. Thanks for volunteering on a committee. Thanks for watching out for your block, or planting flowers in your yard. And thanks for picking up litter on the boulevard. Thanks for helping, in whatever way you have, to make the North End a better place to live. We all know the North End was not this bad 10 years ago, so we can turn it around. We can bring back the North End that everyone from the area remembers. Just one positive action at a time.
Thanks North End, for all your positive actions, and all the positive actions to come.