Elmira boy celebrating a birthday by helping others
BIRTHDAYS ARE A TIME FOR
celebration, but during a pandemic, the option of getting together to mark the milestone is a challenge. Rather than keeping things to his immediate household, one Elmira boy has decided to run a food drive to share the joy on his special day.
Looking to boost community engagement and support, Braydon Weber opted to collect food and cash donations to help those most in need.
Monica Weber says her son Braydon has had other friends that have done the same thing, which is where he got the inspiration for his sixth birthday.
“He’s been talking about that since the fall when he had a few friends do that, these food drive birthday parties and so on. He had just suggested that maybe he could do it.”
The drive is being held in support of Woolwich
Community Services’ food cupboard. The team is open to donations of any kind, but there is a list of items that are needed more than others, one that includes canned pasta, Cheez Whiz, canned peas, canned carrots, shampoo, deodorant, laundry detergent, and toothpaste.
Braydon hopes to see his friends stop by to help, as well as his extended family members.
Anyone who may want to stop by to say “happy birthday” can drop off a non-perishable food item, or perhaps drop something off directly to WCS, said Monica Weber, noting Braydon’s brothers will also be taking part.
This is the second time Braydon’s birthday plans have been altered due to the pandemic.
Last year, the family had plans for an event to mark his fifth birthday, but was forced to cancel.
“He had his birthday plan with friends, but it had to be cancelled because this was one of the first weeks of lockdown. So, we did promise him that once everything’s cleared out we would have a party with friends,” said Weber.
This year’s celebratory food drive is set to take place this Sunday on Killdeer Drive in Elmira , from 1:30 to 3 p.m.
“We’re just hoping to fill up most of the back of our truck with some items,” she said, noting they’ve already received some donations from coworkers following some posts made on her Facebook and Instagram accounts, raising awareness for her son’s special day.
“Thank you for blessing people,” said Braydon.
This isn’t the first regional initiative the family has taken on. They also participated in this year’s Coldest Night of The Year, which raised $93,565 directly supporting WCS.
Social distancing measures will be in place for the party.
remains relatively high in the region – there were more than 30 new cases a day this week, down considerably from the post-holiday peak, but well above the summer numbers. Still, the numbers are relatively stable, say public health officials.
Overall, there have been 11,349 cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago. Of those, 10,788 have been resolved, a recovery rate of 95 per cent. The number of fatal cases hit 239 at midweek.
The number of outbreaks at the likes of long-term care homes and workplaces continues to fall, however, with the region currently monitoring 16 locations, down a half a dozen from a week earlier.
With the numbers stable, the Public Health department is monitoring for variants of the virus, mindful that some are more contagious than the original.
“In Ontario, over 1,000 cases have been confirmed as a variant, and over 6,500 have screened positive for a variant. We expect to see a continual increase in the number of cases locally that screen positive for a variant. At this time, our percentage of cases that screen positive isn’t growing as quickly as it is in Ontario overall,” said medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang during the weekend pandemic briefing March 12.
The region has now reported 223 cases of variants of concern on its online dashboard – 17 have been confirmed as the B.1.1.7 first identified in the U.K, and the remaining 206 have not had their lineage determined at this point.
The changing nature of the virus means it’s no time to relax our vigilance, said Wang.
“It is critical that we continue to keep up with measures such as limiting close contacts, maintaining physical distance, and wearing face coverings. These measures protect against the spirit of COVID-19, including its variants.”
With new strains and the ongoing reopening of the economy following the most-recent lockdown, the public health system is adapting accordingly, she added.
“Due to recent changes – the end of this stayat-home order – the enhanced case and contact management that we’re doing for cases assumes that any case could be a variant today. And stricter school screening guidance has led to an increase in the unseen work that public health staff are regularly engaged in to slow the spread of COVID-19,” said Wang.
Between February 22 and March 7, public health managed 2,739 contacts, monitored 117 workplaces, which is up from 74 in the preceding two-week period, and monitored nine school and childcare groups. They also investigated 75 long-term care and retirement homes, up from 63 in the preceding two period.
“Case contact and outbreak management continue to be fundamentally important to controlling the spread and are much more effective when people are limiting their non-essential social interactions and trips outside of the home.”
As the vaccine rollout continues in the region, albeit slowly, Wang warns of the importance of continuing to stay at home and follow public health measures.
“We continue to be in a risky period. While our indicators are relatively stable, the variants are increasing provincially and locally, and most healthy areas have started to experience an increase to their rights. While vaccine supply has improved, and vaccination clinics are ramping up in Waterloo Region, there will not be enough supply coming in the next few weeks to avert a third wave. Therefore, we need to keep up with our strict public health practices for at least the next few months. We still need to exercise caution, but the light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter every day.”
In Wellington-DufferinGuelph, there were 107 168 active cases, down from 168 a week earlier. That catchment area’s cumulative total was 4,947, of which 4,735 (94.7 per cent) have been resolved. There have been a total of 105 fatalities since the pandemic began, one in the past week.
The province is seeing some slight increase in the number of weekly cases, with the total now at 320,448, an increase of some 9,000 in the past week.
There have been 7,173 deaths attributed to the virus, representing a mortality rate of 2.2 per cent. The ministry reports 300,769 cases (93.9 per cent) have been resolved.
The latest numbers from Health Canada show 31,517 active cases, an increase of about 1,400 in the past week. The cumulative total of confirmed cases now stands at 915,868, with 22,519 related deaths, a mortality rate of 2.5 per cent.