Previous
A few good folk
?You couldn’t help but notice if you drove down Main or Mill Street Monday afternoon, that there were a goodly number of Uxbridgers who were not sitting in front of the boob tube watching the Olympics, but were taking advantage of a fine day and a nice new holiday to take the family out for a skate on our community’s favourite outdoor recreational resource, Elgin Pond. There was a large group at Uxpool in the morning, too, for a free public swim, but there’s something about a frozen pond that’s almost irresistably attractive to a Canadian, male, female, of any age.
Part of what attracted this crowd, though, was the rare opening of the Pond’s concession booth, located next to Veteran’s Park on the east shore. Operating the booth this day, handing out dozens of steaming hot dogs and cups of hot chocolate to all the spinning hordes, were the fine men and women of the Uxbridge Kinsmen Club, one of the longest-established service organizations in the Township.
When Family Day became an official holiday just a couple of years ago, the Kinsmen instantly jumped on board to sponsor an event celebrating the occasion, and what better than a family skating party? Families, after all, have enjoyed Elgin Pond, winter and summer, since John Plank created it to power his mill in 1828. The Family Day Skating Party will become a well-loved tradition very soon.
What is remarkable about this development is that the Kinsmen already had plenty of projects on their plate, and not a whole lot of bodies to carry them out. In this they are similar to most of the other service clubs in Uxbridge - so much to do with so few members. But if a need or an opportunity arises, one of them is inevitably there. The Optimists (what an ideal name for a service group) have also begun a beautiful tradition with their Fantasy of Lights at Christmas. The Rotarians, one of the larger clubs, have adopted Africycle as a favourite project, donating a large bus for storage of the bikes until they can be sent to Malawi. All of the clubs have been extremely supportive of the Uxbridge Youth Centre as it grows and develops.
A new club has also sprung up in the last couple of years, the Sandford Lions, who join their fellows in Uxbridge and Udora/Leaskdale. And of course there are several groups unique to Uxbridge: the Bonner Boys, the Gorgons and the splendid organization which exists solely to allow young people to serve their community, the Roxy Kids.
The Kids seem to have no trouble attracting members to their fold; apparently it’s cool, and fun besides, to participate in a myriad community causes, or to even spearhead them themselves. The more they do, the more points they get toward free movie passes from the marvellous managers at the Roxy, but mostly they do it because it feels good to contribute in a meaningful way to the betterment of the place where they live.
The members of the adult clubs feel the same way, but their comrades-in-arms can usually be numbered on one hand. They are to loudly lauded for doing all they do, but marvelled at for lasting as long as they do before burning out.
There’s a Volunteer Fair coming up in April, but why wait? Become an Optimist, or a Lion, or a Kinsmen, today. Just ask a Roxy Kid, it’s a cool thing to do.
