In Praise of “little communities”…

I grew up in small town Ontario. My all-time favourite play is “Our Town” – although an American take on small towns. I live in a smallish city and I love communities. As a principal, one of my strengths was building community and making sure that everyone had a chance to contribute in a responsible way – as well as holding people accountable for actions that “took away” from the goal of a strong community that support everyone…including those who were struggling.

Port Robinson is a great little community – it has a ferry, a restaurant, a park, a splash pad, a Strawberry Festival, a post office that sells fresh eggs, ice cream sandwiches and freezies. It is situated along the Welland Canal so you can watch BIG boats go through the canal while biking along the path on a lazy Sunday morning. We biked 14 km today, took the ferry across to Port Robinson and then, after feeding some cats for our friends in Port Robinson, we took the ferry back and rode home.

Small communities need to remain part of our landscape. I often said this about smaller schools (more than 250 but, less than 600) for elementary students – when things get TOO big, we loose our community. I know there will be LOTS of people who prefer big cities but, when you think of the small towns scattered across Ontario – they are worth a visit – Dundas, Paris, Elora, Goderich and so many more.

As of today, I have ridden 284 km for Kid’s Cancer – with 3 days left in August, I have raised $1294 for these little warriors.

Written by Pam