Monday, August 30, 2010

Wow our Paddlers Rocked Nationals!

Hi everyone:
Talk about another hot, gorgeous week. I wanted to let everyone know that I'll be in most of this week, so the doors to the club and the washrooms will be open by 9am (except on Thursday for the first day back to school I'll probably be late and very emotional - ugh, my oldest starts High School, which makes me feel very old). Also our lifeguards are on duty all week, until Sept 6, from 12noon - 5pm. Please come down to enjoy the last week of our Maskwa summer.

I'm working on a number of Fall Maskwa activities so please subscribe to the blog. I would also ask you to please direct all Maskwa questions to manager.maskwa@gmail.com.

This morning I received this great email from Dan Dugie, our Paddling Director and take a look at what he has to say about our Maskwa paddlers who competed for Nationals in Regina.

"In looking at the times most races this year were quite competitive with places being decided by tenths of a second in many cases. To be among the top 9 in Canada is quite an achievement with many of our athletes finishing in and close to the medals. Well done to all!" says Dan Dugie.

Results for Maskwa athletes who qualified and placed in finals are as follows:

JUNIOR Women K-2 1000M
Alexa IRVIN, Natalie MILLER, 1st     

JUNIOR Men K-2 500M
Andrew JESSOP, Ian MILLER, 1st

JUVENILE Women K-1 1000M
Alexa IRVIN, 1st

JUNIOR Men K-2 1000M
Andrew JESSOP, Ian MILLER, 2nd

JUVENILE Women K-1 500M
Alexa IRVIN   2nd

JUNIOR Men K-1 1000M
Andrew JESSOP, 2nd

Ian MILLER, 5th

SENIOR Men K-1 1000M  B-Final
Andrew JESSOP, 4th

JUNIOR Women K-2 500M
Marielle HAWKES, Natalie MILLER, 4th

MASTER Men K-1 1000m
Peter GILES, 4th

JUNIOR Women K-4 500M
Chelsea CARR KINNEAR, Marielle HAWKES,
Alexa IRVIN, Natalie MILLER, 4th

JUVENILE Men K-4 1000M
Matthew BEAVER, Benjamin KENDALL, Nathan
MACKINNON, Jesse SCOTT, 6th

SENIOR Women C-4 500M
Chelsea CARR KINNEAR, Marielle HAWKES,
Alexa IRVIN, Natalie MILLER, 6th

JUVENILE Women K-2 1000M
Chelsea CARR KINNEAR, Alexa IRVIN, 6th

SENIOR Women C-1 200M
Marielle HAWKES, 6th

JUVENILE Women K-1 200M
Alexa IRVIN, 7th

JUNIOR Men K-4 1000M
Matthew BEAVER, Benjamin KENDALL, Ian
MILLER, Jesse SCOTT, 7th

JUNIOR Men K-2 200M
Peter GILES, Andrew JESSOP, 7th

JUVENILE Men K-1 200M
Jesse SCOTT, 7th

JUNIOR Women K-1 500M
Marielle HAWKES, 8th

JUNIOR Men K-1 500M
Andrew JESSOP, 8th

OPEN Women K-4 200M
Chelsea CARR KINNEAR, Marielle HAWKES,
Alexa IRVIN, Natalie MILLER, 8th

JUNIOR Women K-2 200M
Marielle HAWKES, Natalie MILLER, 9th

JUNIOR Women K-1 1000M
Natalie MILLER, 9th

SENIOR Men C-2 200M
Paul DEAN, Scott DICKEY, 9th

These are very impressive results and as I said in an earlier blog we're going to make sure a good portion of Nationals is funded by Maskwa for 2011.

A reminder if you haven't made your Maskwa War Canoe donation now is the time. Please take to the time to read the information on the website. Hope to see many of you around the club this week.

Friday, August 27, 2010

More Fundraisers in the Works

The week is almost over and I am soon hitting the road for our family camping trip but I have to say again how wonderful working here is. The other night a Maskwa member, Rick Davis, emailed me his idea about one, showcasing Maskwa photos and raising money for the new War Canoe campaign - talk about a great idea. I want everyone to check out this site www.redgrafx.smugmug.com. We will be adding more pics to it next week so there will be a lot more photos up to buy. I checked it out and bought one pic plus a digital pic of my son and $4 went to Maskwa. I love it when people get excited about raising money to make our club a better place for everyone. This is just one idea.

This morning Mary Negulic and I had a conversation about creating a Maskwa 2011 calendar and yes, you guessed it that's in the works. It's also going to be created so you can pick a pic (if we have it or if you have it) of your child/children and add it specific to their birthday month for an extra free. Again, people are coming forward with such great ideas I want to shout a yes!!! to everyone.

I also have to say a special thanks to my sister Cheryl Pace, who has been providing the cinnamon buns and blueberry buns all summer as the caterer for the club. Yesterday she made the most delicious 'thank you' cake for our volunteer appreciation tea that I swear to the heavens it melted in my mouth! Please check out her website at www.sweetsmilescatering.com.

I hope to see many of you next week. A reminder the canteen is closed for the season by end of today and our lifeguards are on duty until Sept 6 from 12pm-5pm. Enjoy.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Maskwa update from John Moore, the Commodore

Maskwa Weekly Update Aug 26th


Greetings :

This has been another exciting week at Maskwa as we wind down our regular programs. I bet everyone is looking forward to Pizza Day on Friday. I understand it’s all you can eat but don’t quote me on that.

Now lets talk about …..The Warrrrrrrrr Canoooooooooooe. Yes, we are on our way to investing in a brand new War Canoe.Our War Canoe fundraising campaign is taking hold and many of you have received letters.I would ask you give this serious consideration and help Mike Haley and his team achieve their goal of $25,000. Checkout the website and watch our Barometer as it rises.If you haven;t received any information concerning this campaign you can check out at www.maskwa.ca/warcanoe/warcanoe.htm. Get your name on the sponsor strip for only $150 per individual or $300 per family.That's a great investment. Thank you to all those who have donated so far.

Alas, our season is coming to a close but then we have our fall training program to look forward. We also have various events coming up so keep reading Renee’s blog and our website. We also are looking at forming a Dragon Boat team this fall.Let us know if you would be interested in participating. One more thing, I can never pass up the opportunity to ask for volunteers. We are looking for new people to serve on the Maskwa board of directors.If you would be interested in serving let us know.

We have had some growing pains during this past season. We will be making changes to some of our internal procedures and programs so we will be able to deliver a better product to our members next season. A big 3 cheers for the tremendous spirit each and very one of you have shown this season. It's been a pleasure to have served you once again this year.

Don’t forget about our upcoming closing banquet which takes place on September 23rd at the club. This will be a huge celebration of all our athletes , volunteers, parents and supporters and all that we have accomplished during this past year.Stay tuned for more details . Have a great and safe weekend.


Yours in Maskwa


John Moore


Commodore

Maskwa Quiet Week and Wrapping Up

Well a good chunk of our paddling programs are winding down this week and a lot of our paddlers are away at Nationals. We wish them all the best, but we really miss them. Maskwa gets very quiet without the normal throng of close to 300 paddlers here every day. This week we finished our pre-order foods with Booster Juice, Subway and Little Caesar's Pizza and raised close to $400 for Maskwa through this health-eating fundraiser.

With the season closing that does not mean Maskwa is closed. We are working on year-round programming and our spaces, Heritage Hall and the gym are available for rentals either per hour or on a daily basis. Our rates are very competitive so please if you or your business or organization you work for are interested in checking Maskwa out send them to either the website at www.maskwa.ca or email me at manager.maskwa@gmail.com.

Many of you have asked if I'm continuing on throughout the year at Maskwa and yes, but my hours go to half-time starting Sept 3 (picture me doing my happy dance here). That being said some members who have been using our gym have expressed interest in using it on a daily basis. While I'm not ready to commit my hours in stone yet as we're working on the schedule, I'm sure I'll be in some mornings and if you are interested in setting regular hours for gym use please drop me an email - I'm sure we can work something out.

The exciting news is Mike Haley has taken on the job of overseeing our Maskwa War Canoe fundraiser. I know the timing is tight with back to school and like many of you I have many children using Maskwa equipment but honestly paying in installments is a great idea. Nothing can beat that war canoe experience. I hope many of you, like me, will make a donation.

Our next big event I'd like everyone to have on their radar is our Maskwa Bingo, Friday, October 15 7pm-9pm - this will be our first fundraiser for Nationals next year. What that will mean is that if your son/daughter gets picked to go to Nationals next year Maskwa will be able to help off-set the costs. I know going to Nationals is a big thing for our club but it can also be very expensive for families so that's why we're raising money for Nationals in 2011. This will also mean I will need donated items from families for our prize packages. We will be creating themed baskets (much the way the elementary schools do), ie: gaming basket, coffee basket, cooking basket, gardening basket, knitting basket, book basket, movie basket, gift certificate basket etc. I'm basically open to anything. Please feel free to drop off your donations at the club or my house - 46 Nightingale Drive. I will be sending out emails with pleas for this.

So what have I learned as the Club Manager you might wonder? The first thing that stands out for me is that without volunteers Maskwa would not be the same. I can't thank enough all the volunteers who stepped up to help with the Friday BBQ, the men who took time out of their day and vacation to build our new playground (which I can't stress enough is a huge hit with the children), the women who came forward to help with our Monday Parent Afternoon Tea and everyone who helped me with the Bantam Regatta. I also learned that I've been spelling the Dugie's last name wrong all year - I'm so sorry about that!!! Sorry Anna - she kept crossing it out on the canteen list but honestly it didn't dawn on me until Dan mentioned it. Again sorry.

I'd welcome any feedback. Let me know what you thought of our year in our new club!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Amazing Week




There was a lot happening last week but I have to talk about our great Fun Day. I've attached a few pictures that Mary Negulic forwarded to me and they captured perfect our fun-filled day. Special thanks to Matt Duggie for really stepping forward to oversee the organizational aspect of this day. So events started at 10am with our sand castle competition, diving off the picnic table competition, rely and much more. Thanks so much to Boston Pizza for feeding our hungry crew. The pizza was great and everyone had at least one piece, if not two. Thanks so much for bringing along Lionel (the Boston Pizza mascot) -he was great. The kids/parents love the Boston Pizza coupons also. Our day finished with our candy toss, and the ever-fun pie in the face. Not sure why that's a favorite with the kids but they truly love it.

I would be remiss without talking about the guys who worked tirelessly to put together our new to us playground set. It was a lot more work than we, then they anticipated. Shawn McQuade and Jodi Pace worked probably more than 12hrs to get that playground in shape. The corn boil work crew party brought out a lot of families that helped like Ron Savoie, Peter Hope, Richard Nelson and a bunch more but I confess to working the corn boil so I couldn't meet or say a thank you to all who helped. So here it is - a big thanks to everyone who helped get our playground up and working for the kids.

Today, Sunday, Maskwa hosted our first Junior Lifeguard Competition and over 100 people are here enjoying our beautiful facility and having a great time. This competition is a lot of fun and a must-do for next year.

This week is our last week of Maskwa for regular programs/paddling/pre-orders and our last BBQ will take place on Friday. Please stay tuned for our upcoming events we will be planning like our Maskwa Bingo on Friday, October 15 from 7pm-9pm in Heritage Hall. We will be rescheduling our Halloween Dance to another time, probably a Valentine Dance, as we don't want to compete with Dankin Drive's very famous Halloween Dance at the Anglican Church in the area.

I have had a great summer as your Club Manager and I hope you've enjoyed it also. I know I'll see many of you over the course of the year but I want to say a special thank you to all the volunteers who made my job easier. There are so many I'm afraid I'll leave a few out but you will all be receiving a special invite from me for this Thursday at the club.

Again thanks.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Fun Day this Friday and lots of new stuff


Maskwa hosted its first large event on Friday night and all went well. I had to miss the event because I have no social life, unless it involves carting my kids around (lol), but I did drive by twice and I have to say the place looked great. I was also pleased at how well cleaned up the place/grounds were and that was very thoughtful.

This morning as the paddlers moved back the furniture from the gym room to the hall I noticed something funny....it's a ping-pong table!!! I have to say thanks so much for whoever donated it. I'm going to move it over from the gym to the hall for the kids.

A special thanks to Kathryn Arab (www.purefreedomyog.com) for donating her time all summer to offer adult and kid yoga classes. This was part of a fundraiser toward the playground and so far we raised about $120 from yoga. Yoga will take place for adults Wednesday, 10am-11am for $10/per person and Thursday $5 for children (aged 4-10yrs) from 1:30pm-2:15pm. This is our last week of our yoga program. Kathryn has agreed to be our Yoga Instructor for when yoga parties are booked at the club - so again, thanks Kathryn.

This Thursday starting at 5pm-7pm is our Corn Boil/ BBQ. It's $5/plate or $20/per family. If you are willing to help set up our new playground equipment it's a free meal!!! Talk about sweat equity. Thanks so much to Shawn McQuade for sanding the equipment down to remove the rust and for repainting it. Thanks also to Krista and Jafna Cox for helping with the paint job!

This Friday is FUN DAY - starts 10am-2pm. Boston Pizza, one of our sponsors, has graciously agreed to provide pizza for kids that day and they will be bringing along their mascot. Chad and I are still working out the events but they will probably consist of the usual, paddling races, foot races, strength testing, pie tossing, grease the hog (how could I forget that one) and of course the candy toss.

This Sunday, Aug. 22 Maskwa will be hosting it's First Junior Lifeguarding Competition. Registration is $10 and it will be lots of fun. Again we need volunteers to help at the canteen, etc.

I think that's it for now, but please email me at manager.maskwas@gmail.com if you're able to help with Thursday's work crew party & BBQ

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Pancake Day a Big Success

The weather started out a bit iffy this morning but talk about heat and sunny by mid-afternoon and I'm not just talking about the sky - our cooks cooked up a storm. Today was our second pancake brunch and while we didn't serve as many people as last time (how dare people go on vacation-lol) we did raise over $163 toward our playground fund! Special thanks to Kate Giles, Michelle Pugh-Toole, & Penny Murdock and her hubby Tom and their son Aidan for helping, and if I'm forgetting another mom please give me a shout! Honestly they run that kitchen like pros and I only had to supply the product. We're hoping to offer a spaghetti lunch for the last week of August so please stay tuned for that.

Our next big event this week is our Scrapbooking event taking place on Thursday from 2pm-4pm. This is a free event - we just want your Maskwa photos! Thanks to Mary Negulic and the teens who are so excited about this event. I'm hoping to pop up to Costco tomorrow to print off the pics people have sent my way but please if you have more bring them in for Thursday.

Friday is our BBQ day this week and plans are underway for our Fun Day on Friday, Aug 20 starting at 10am. If there is a game/event you'd like to see in Fun Day please email me at manager.maskwa@gmail.com.

Also don't forget our Corn Boil is next Thursday, Aug 19th starting at 5pm-7pm and we're incorporating it into a work party to build the playground set. So in terms of sweat equity - if you volunteer your time supper is on us!!!!

Thanks so much.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Cake walk a success

Well the music was loud and the hopes were high for our first Cake Walk event. I think a lot of moms like me would have been better off just buying a cake because those loonies sure do add up. In total we raised $104 toward the playground fund. I want to thank the Dutch Village DQ store for graciously offering a $26 value gift certificate for our event.

A reminder that if you want your Maskwa mug shot/picture in our upcoming Maskwa yearbook to email me your pics by tomorrow, Tues., Aug 10 or bring them with you on Thursday for our Scrapbooking events from 2pm-4pm in Heritage Hall.

Tomorrow is our 2nd Pancake Brunch day from 11am-1pm. It's $3 for a kid plate (2 pancakes, slice of watermelon and juice pak) and $4 for a teen/adult plate (3 pancakes, slice of watermelon and juice pak).

Don't forget every Wednesday night from 7pm-8pm in Dragonboat - it's $5 for one hour and lots of fun.

And, Wednesday from 10am-11am for $10 is our adult yoga and on Thursday (fingers crossed it doesn't rain again) it's our kid yoga in the afternoon 1:30pm-2:15pm for $5, both classes are with Kathryn Arab at (www.purefreedomyoga.ca).

That's it for now.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Great Weather - 2nd Spa Day Today





(some pics of our very successful Pancake Day - come and join us for our 2nd day of pancakes on Aug 10).

Talk about nice weather. This has been an amazing sunny summer for us all at Maskwa and it just keeps getting better. I have to tell you we hosted our first Teen Fright Movie Night on Friday and twenty teens turned out for the event which was great. Our popcorn machine blub blew up on me (yes it really did) and I had my head buried in my laptop as I tried to ignore the movie - really not into horror and I have an over active imagination anyway so seeing it play out doesn't help. Special thanks to Sean Gibson for helping chaperon and we raised $113 for Nationals!

Today is our 2nd Spa Day starting at 3pm in Heritage Hall - again thanks to Mary Negulic for organizing this. The price is $10/per person for a pedicure. Mary is also the queen of scrapbooking and she has taken the time to put together a few pictures from our last Spa Day and our 1st Pancake Day - I've posted them to the windows of Heritage Hall.

We are going to hold our 1st Cake Walk on Monday, Aug 9th from 3-4pm. It's a loonie for a walk. I am looking for volunteers to bake cakes or buy them - we need 15 cakes to make this successful (I'm baking a chocolate one and it had better not come home with me).

Tuesday, Aug 10th - the ladies are going to host our 2nd Pancake Brunch - yes! This time we're doing a kid's plate for $3 (watermelon slice, 2 pancakes and juice pak) and $4 for a teen/adult plate which will have 3 pancakes on it.

Thursday, Aug 12 - 2pm-4pm in Heritage Hall - is our Scrapbooking event - send in your pictures to manager.maskwa@gmail.com by the 10th so we can get them printed and then join us on Thursday to create the first Maskwa yearbook. Don't miss out on getting your mug in the book!

We're also working on setting a work crew party to get our playground equipment up for the kids to use. I will post a separate note when and where and we really will need muscle power and people who know how to use tools to get this put up by end of Aug.

A reminder that there is no BBQ this week.

That's it for now folks.