BONAVISTA, N.L. — Volunteers spent Friday, Dec. 20, delivering freshly baked apple pies and Mary Brown’s vouchers to single seniors living on fixed incomes in Bonavista, Elliston, Spillars Cove and Trinity Bay North through a special project dubbed “A Christmas2Remember”.
An initiative of the SaltWater Community Association, the project aimed to ensure people who may need a little holiday joy will know they aren’t forgotten, said SaltWater CEO and former Bonavista mayor, Betty Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald said Jamie Best, campus manager at the College of North Atlantic (CNA) in Bonavista, was instrumental in engaging faculty and students in the college’s Cultural Culinary Arts and Tourism (CCAT) program to make and bake 100 pies.
Pennecon and Hickman Motors, Clarenville, also played a big role in making the campaign a success, she said.
“Their sponsorship provided us the means to purchase all the ingredients for the pies ... The product was sold to us at a discount by MacKey's Independent Grocer, Catalina."
Mary Brown's in Bonavista donated a portion of the cost of the voucher each recipient will receive, and the balance was paid from funds SaltWater received from sponsors, Fitzgerald added.
The partnerships SaltWater formed for the project reach far beyond this province.
DeMont’s Transport in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia donated the transportation of the 800 apples.
Conglom in Quebec donated the containers for the pies while CargoNet shipped them free from Halifax.
Best said both students and faculty members Katie Hayes and Roger Dewling, were “very enthusiastic and honoured to be approached by SaltWater Community Association.”
“It was a chance for our students to use their skills to give back a little during Christmas,” he said.
The partnership is great one, he said, not only for those who will receive a pie but for the students involved in the initiative.
(The instructors) will expose our first year CCAT students to a hands-on learning experience with this project, as well as an experiential learning opportunity impacting the community right from their classroom. You can’t ask for a better win than that,” he noted in a press release.
Meagan Mullowney is one of the students who helped assemble pies on Dec. 19.
“I put the pastry on top of the sugar and cinnamon-coated apples and I was involved with the timing of when they’d go in the oven,” she said.
Mullowney is from Witless Bay but is living in Bonavista to attend the CCAT program.
“It’s great to be involved in something like this, especially when people reach out and do things for those in the community at Christmas time,” she said.
CNA’s Dean of Academics, Applied Arts and Tourism, Brenda Tobin, said the project was a wonderful way and meaningful time of the year to see CCAT faculty and students lend their culinary helping hands to the project.
“It is always wonderful to see these new opportunities being created and I extend my very best wishes to all those involved,” Tobin said in a press release.
SaltWater is a registered non-for-profit organization that strives to help the communities it serves by offering scholarship programs, anti-bullying and anti-racism initiatives and social enterprise ventures.
Fitzgerald said in January 2020 the organization will focus on raising money for scholarships for high school graduates.
“I always wanted to see communities come together to work on issues. And I think SaltWater is going to bring this about by connecting with other groups and organizations to get the job done. Because through partnerships, things happen,” Fitzgerald said.
For more information on visit www.saltwatercommunityassociation.com, call 709-218-7955 or visit SaltWater Community Association Inc on Facebook.
SaltWater Community Association board of directors
April Chaulk, secretary-board member
June Abbott, board member
Robyn Shaw, board member
Tracy Fitzgerald, treasurer-board member
Cindy Lee Tucker, board member
Crystal Templeman, chairperson-board member
Betty Fitzgerald, advisor CEO
Sponsors of "A Christmas2Remember"
Pennecon
Hickman Motors, Clarenville
Conglom
CargoJet
CNA
Mary Brown's - Bonavista
MacKey's Independent Grocers, Catalina
DeMont's Transport - New Glasgow
Volunteers
Members of SaltWater Community Association board of directors
Craig Pardy, MHA
Fred Cuff
Hickman Motors Team
