Winter / Spring / Summer is it really February?

So February is over, and I am not sure if it is Winter or Summer most days.  We definitely had some snow this month but overall it has been very pleasant.  This has afforded the Panda the opportunity to work on some outdoor running and just being active in the community without freezing to death.  Jackson wraps up his hockey season this weekend and although it has been a disappointing season on the scoreboard, as a team the wins just keep on coming.  It really is amazing when you have the right attitude as a player, parent and/or coach at to what can get done. As a coach I could not be more proud of our team. Abagail continues to show great promise in the horse ring, she is riding with confidence and is excited at every jump, but man is it cold standing there watching and that is with the warmer weather.

As for community based activities, The Panda has been busy doing dishes at Inn-Out-of-The-Cold and getting good food out to many folks.  In some regards it is sad to see the level of need within the community, but on the other hand the folks that come and try to make something better for themselves makes the whole process worthwhile.  It would be nice to see more effort from people to make things better, but often times change can only occur when something big happens. It is just nice to help out and know that we are there to help the folks that want to make a change.

So on that note, The Smart Panda has signed on to be the title sponsor with Big Brothers Big Sisters St Thomas Elgin this year. What better way to drive home the point that everybody needs a trusted advisor and/or partner than helping an organization do just that for kids. We are thrilled to be able to help make matches between deserving kids and motivated mentors to invoke a positive impact on our community.  Our Big Brothers Big Sisters organization supports over 200 kids throughout the area with great one-on-one programs, in school mentoring, couples matches and group mentoring programs like Go Girls, Health Bodies Healthy Minds, Game On, Eat Smart, Play Smart, and Live Smart.

The Mentoring Effect: Changing the course of young lives changes the future of communities. By every measure, Big Brothers Big Sisters returns positive results in the mental health employment and civic engagement of the recipients of our mentoring programs.  Based on statistics from Big Brothers Big Sisters Canada, for every $1 invested in mentoring by Big Brothers Big Sisters returns $18 to society, and among economically disadvantaged groups, $1 invested in mentoring by Big Brothers Big Sisters returns $23 to society. Some other interesting statistics with mentoring at Big Brothers Big Sisters:  13% higher earnings at jobs, 17% more likely to be employed, 47% hold senior leadership positions and 63% have post-secondary education.

At The Smart Panda we are excited to “Start Something”! Check out Big Brothers Big Sisters St Thomas Elgin Web Site

2016 has arrived

After an incredibly busy holiday season, January has found things to be very quiet on the community side.  At the beginning of the month we visited San Diego, Anaheim, Los Angeles and Vegas.  We got to see some spectacular sights, like horseback riding in Red Rock Canyon, riding the High Roller Ferris Wheel, Rain in Death Valley, Pandas, Ironman, Lions, Ozzie the Giraffe, and many more….

The weather has been incredibly odd, with it being colder in San Diego then Detroit and from biting cold to running shorts.  So the Panda has taken the opportunity to get out and run as much as possible.  Since taking up triathlon 4 years ago I have never ran in January in basic run gear until this year.  I really wish it would stay that way, or heck maybe we should just move to someplace that is nice 12 months a year.

Soon the MS Bike Ride will be on the radar, and Officer Scott and Panda’s wife Lisa have committed to join the team this year.  Last year team butt ugly raised over $50,000 for MS research.  Looking forward to raising even more this year.  The friends and family of The Smart Panda raised almost $1000.00 of that $50,000.00.  Once registration is complete, the new donation links will get shared out, it would (will) be awesome to be a top fund raiser for MS — lets make it happen folks!

As for the running, The Niagara Falls Barrelman Ironman has changed formats this year, and it reducing its distance to a 1.5km swim, 56km bike ride and a 15km run.  The race has been very successful in the past, and yes the Panda has even been signed up, but the training commitment has been too much to do the Ironman distance, however, this new distance is much more manageable especially given the already intense working schedule this year. So if the logistics all work out the Panda will be on course this year in September in Welland/Niagara Falls! 🙂

Hope your 2016 goals are getting off on the right foot!

Christmas Time in Panda Land!

We have been really busy in the community the past month getting the Christmas cheer out!

The Railway City Rotary Club, St Thomas Junior B Stars & The Panda organized our annual Bears for Christmas Care Campaign.  In the end we were able to get over 50 bears out to the Toy Mountain which all went to Christmas Care and out of the proceeds we put together over $1150 to buy food and gifts for families that need a little extra help making Christmas special for every kid!

This year Railway City Rotary Club was asked help out the local Salvation Army with their Kettle Campaign.  The Kettle Campaign is the biggest fundraiser for our Salvation Army and we were thrilled to be asked to help out.  We raised a lot of money on the 2 days that we were out in the community at the local grocery store but we didn’t come close to the Fire Fighters at the Liquor Store – not too sure why, hmmmm.  All the money raised goes back into our community to support many great projects and causes. It was heart warming to speak with many people about what we are doing in the community and to see the incredible generousity of our community.

The Railway City Rotary Club had their annual Christmas Party where we managed to raise several hundred dollars for the fight against Polio. Great food, Great Friends, Great Kids, even Santa made an appearance with lots of toys and gifts.  Combined with Family Christmas that saw many new faces and one old face (Gammie @ 98 was cruising in the door to celebrate Christmas with the family – Just Awesome!). I wonder what Christmas Day will actually bring …..

Getting ready to head out to Las Vegas / San Diego / Los Angeles next week for some R&R.  Going to go visit our Panda friends at the San Diego Zoo and looking forward to seeing our donation going to work!

Enjoy the Magic of Christmas – Till next month……

November has been an amazing month for the Panda. Not only did we have a fantastic month of weather which allowed for some excellent outdoor running (40+km), but we got the chance to help out the community without freezing!

Early in the month The St Thomas Railway City Rotary Club assisted the Local Legion 41 with their Remembrance Day Poppy Campaign.  Hundreds of people stopped by our location and generously donated some money and received their poppy.  All the funds raised during the Poppy Campaign goes back into our community to support various Veteran programs at our local hospitals and within the community.

The Panda got to lead the 2nd Annual Bears for Christmas Care campaign put on by The St Thomas Railway City Rotary Club.  The campaign supports the local charity program Christmas Care which provides over 1600 hampers to the community during Christmas to provide a truly Merry Christmas for all the families in the community that need a little help. We run this program in association with the St Thomas Junior B Stars Hockey Team, who collect food and toy donations every year in support of the Christmas Care Campaign.  We are extremely proud to say that we reached our goal of 100 Bears sold, and currently are sitting at 111 sold with 50 Bears being donated directly back to the Stars Toy Mountain.  The final numbers are just being tallied but the bear proceeds appear to be in excess of $1140.00 which will be going to Christmas Care this year.  The Bears are very excited to get to their new homes to put smiles on kids faces this holiday season!

So now we are gearing up to work with Christmas Care to help package up food and gifts into the over 1600+ hampers that will be going out to the community.  It is a great community project that brings out the good in everyone and puts smiles on many faces.  We also have partnered up with Salvation Army to ring the bell at the Kettle Campaign this holiday season.  I personally have never taken the opportunity to ring the bell before, but I am excited to get out help them raise funds for many local programs and projects.  Lastly, our local Inn Out of The Cold program is now in full swing and our Rotary club has been out cooking up a storm.  I will personally be doing the dishes a couple of times this month, and looking forward to seeing people enjoying good food and being safe and warm.

Till next month……

Well, it would appear that the lead up to the Christmas season is when the Panda seems to get really involved with the community.  This past month we were able to get out and help a local group by installing a new floor in one of their apartments.  Next week The Panda will be out with our Rotary Club assisting Local Legion 41 collect donations for Poppies in support of our Veterans – Remember To Remember.

Since Christmas is right around corner, Christmas Care was out talking with the Rotary Club last week, and we are excited to working with them again to help ensure families that are having tough times will have a great Christmas.  This year the Rotary Club will be selling teddy bears as we did last year, with all proceeds going to support Christmas Care, and the best part is in many cases people that buy the bears also donate them.  Last year we had almost 40 bears that went to families to put smiles on kids faces.  This year the goal is 100.

If you would like to buy a bear online and have the bear donated to Christmas Care Click:

Once the bears are all sold, we will continue to work with Christmas Care and package up food and gifts into the over 1500+ hampers that will be going out to the community.  It is a great community project that brings out the good in everyone and puts smiles on many faces.

Another project we are excited to continuing this year is working with Inn Out of The Cold, last year The Rotary Club and The Panda donated a pile of clothing, thermal blankets and made several meals to help out folks that are homeless and in need.  The first meals were served this past weekend, and The Panda will be in there doing dishes soon.

Till next month……