Upon our arrival in Springdale, our forward scouts who arrive up to 2 hours before the Relay convoy, discovered that road crews decided it would be a lovely day to lay down some new tar right in the middle of our planned route. There was no way we were going to be able to have people complete their segments with paving machines and steam and tar everywhere so we had to go into creative re routing mode and change the route (something that is set months in advance) at the last minute. Thankfully we were able to come up with a good plan in enough time to alert family members and friends to the change and get them relocated to the proper places so that they were able to see their Medal-Bearer complete their segment and get lots of good pictures. It seems that Day 9 was family day as we had a few hand offs between relatives.
There are some communities along our route that just really buy in to what we are doing, and they really want to engage us and be a real part of using the Relay as a vehicle to recognize their citizens. These communities just seem to have a little more pep to them, have more supporters out on the street, and have Medal-Bearers who are outgoing, participatory, excited to be a part of everything. Today that community was definitely Deer Lake. A relatively new community (settled around 1951), it was so named because of the deer that were seen swimming across the lake. Soon after though, it was discovered that the Cervidae member in question was not at deer at all, but rather a caribou. In fact, there are no deer at all in Newfoundland. What there are though, is MOOSE (more on that later).
Our first Medal-Bearer in Deer Lake was a young man of about 15 years old. He was to begin at a small retirement village (a series of ground level semi detached units). Well, as we got set up and pulled our big vehicles in with the music playing, we soon began to catch the attention of the residents. Slowly, I began to notice that curious faces were peering out at us from behind their screen doors with a fair bit of skepticism upon them. We had some time so I thought I would approach a unit containing one of the said previously aforementioned octogenarians and see if I could interest them in a Relay pin. It is a very well known fact that old people like to collect pins. This was my olive branch if ever there was one. Well, as soon as I said hello, I was met with a smile and the door flew open. Within about 3 seconds I was invited in to meet this spry young woman’s sister and what appeared to be 3 generations of family there for a visit. Thinking I should act swiftly before I was roped into an invitation of a shortbread cookie and a game of Bridge, I quickly suggested they come outside instead with an offer to come and view the Rick Hansen Medal that was traveling across the country. Well, out they came! And this led to other peering eyes becoming more curious and they too brazenly emerged from their well doily-ed abodes to see what all the fuss was about. Soon, Deena and I were going door to door with our pins, spreading the news. The residents were so excited to talk about where they were when Rick came through 25 years ago. They had been following along on TV and had heard all about the Relay but had no idea that it would be right out in front of their houses! They were so excited and lauded us with accolades for “coming to see the old people”. We met the oldest resident there had a really nice chat with a couple ladies who very much wanted to make a donation so I waited for them to run to their purses and bring back a token of their support. We didn’t have long there (this all went down within about 11 minutes), but it was impactful both for them and for us. We love you Deer Lake!
Mother and Daughter
Husband and Wife
There are some communities along our route that just really buy in to what we are doing, and they really want to engage us and be a real part of using the Relay as a vehicle to recognize their citizens. These communities just seem to have a little more pep to them, have more supporters out on the street, and have Medal-Bearers who are outgoing, participatory, excited to be a part of everything. Today that community was definitely Deer Lake. A relatively new community (settled around 1951), it was so named because of the deer that were seen swimming across the lake. Soon after though, it was discovered that the Cervidae member in question was not at deer at all, but rather a caribou. In fact, there are no deer at all in Newfoundland. What there are though, is MOOSE (more on that later).
Our first Medal-Bearer in Deer Lake was a young man of about 15 years old. He was to begin at a small retirement village (a series of ground level semi detached units). Well, as we got set up and pulled our big vehicles in with the music playing, we soon began to catch the attention of the residents. Slowly, I began to notice that curious faces were peering out at us from behind their screen doors with a fair bit of skepticism upon them. We had some time so I thought I would approach a unit containing one of the said previously aforementioned octogenarians and see if I could interest them in a Relay pin. It is a very well known fact that old people like to collect pins. This was my olive branch if ever there was one. Well, as soon as I said hello, I was met with a smile and the door flew open. Within about 3 seconds I was invited in to meet this spry young woman’s sister and what appeared to be 3 generations of family there for a visit. Thinking I should act swiftly before I was roped into an invitation of a shortbread cookie and a game of Bridge, I quickly suggested they come outside instead with an offer to come and view the Rick Hansen Medal that was traveling across the country. Well, out they came! And this led to other peering eyes becoming more curious and they too brazenly emerged from their well doily-ed abodes to see what all the fuss was about. Soon, Deena and I were going door to door with our pins, spreading the news. The residents were so excited to talk about where they were when Rick came through 25 years ago. They had been following along on TV and had heard all about the Relay but had no idea that it would be right out in front of their houses! They were so excited and lauded us with accolades for “coming to see the old people”. We met the oldest resident there had a really nice chat with a couple ladies who very much wanted to make a donation so I waited for them to run to their purses and bring back a token of their support. We didn’t have long there (this all went down within about 11 minutes), but it was impactful both for them and for us. We love you Deer Lake!
Jonesy
You make friends everywhere you go!
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