What Counts

How, exactly, can you measure the strength of a community like ours here in Headwaters? I have no magic formula, but in this issue, some numbers tell a story. 

Erin farmers Della Campbell and Gavin Dandy of Everdale grow an astounding 20,000 pounds of fresh produce annually for local food banks. About 100 women visit the emergency women’s shelter in Orangeville every year for support in their most vulnerable moments – thanks to a team led until recently by Norah Kennedy, who has just retired after 17 years as executive director. Outgoing (in both senses of the word) Theatre Orangeville artistic director David Nairn has overseen a whopping 90 plays and musicals during his 25-year tenure. And since 2003, Caledon cancer walk stalwart Barbara Karasiuk and her teams have raised $700,000 for research. 

We also meet three local athletes in these pages who are racking up historic stats, all while pushing the boundaries of their chosen sports. Hockey players Zoe Boyd and her friend Kristin Della Rovere made history as day-oners in the PWHL, the first-ever women’s professional hockey league in North America. And who can forget Olympic bronze medallist Alysha Newman as she pole-vaulted over a 4.85-metre bar, the highest she’d ever achieved, in Paris this summer? She also set a Canadian record and stepped into a sisterhood of fewer than 10 women worldwide who have cleared that height. (Zoe, Kristin and Alysha all have ties to Caledon East. Really, there must be something in the water.) 

Some folks in this issue take on so many volunteer hours and community service gigs, it’s easy to lose count. Along with her full-time day job, Alethia O’Hara-Stephenson is also the founder of the Dufferin County Canadian Black Association, a school trustee, a community TV host and more. And retiree Linda Banks, instead of kicking back to relax in her senior years, won’t stop assigning herself new volunteer tasks and other acts of service. It’s possible these women have unlocked more than 24 hours in their day.

While we’re attempting to keep count, a tip of the toque to the professional and amateur birders who head out each winter for the Christmas Bird Count – a snapshot of how many wintering birds are in our midst. In The Hills writer and veteran birder Don Scallen chronicles last year’s count, in which his fellow enthusiasts observed 1,217 Canada geese, 732 black-capped chickadees and 374 cedar waxwings – this issue’s cover star – among others.

I imagine it’s no mean feat to keep your binoculars trained on those waxwings as they swoop and dart about. Likewise, tallying the individual accomplishments of the doers highlighted in this issue – eight of them on our annual Local Heroes list – feels just as demanding, but no less rewarding.

Though you can’t really add up all these figures, they tell us a lot about our neighbours and how their outreach and hard work radiates into the community. That’s strength in numbers, don’t you think? 

Happy holidays from all of us at In The Hills!