The Upside (March 2024)
Let's focus on good things happening in and around Waterloo Region
Schneider Haus recently unveiled their new children’s Discovery Space, specifically curated for tiny hands and big imaginations, designed to embrace the “messy play movement.”
The press release notes that the “Discovery Space delivers a sensory experience, allowing children to explore different textures while immersed in carefully curated sounds created by David Villada from Wellness Soundscapes. It encourages collaboration, skill sharing, and exploration, empowering children to bring their ideas to life.”
“Our goal was to create a space that gives children the freedom to unleash their creativity and explore endless possibilities. This space exists to inspire, spark curiosity and provide a safe environment for children to connect, play, tinker and experiment.” -Antoinette Duplessis, head of content and experience at Schneider Haus.
Access to the Discovery Space is included with museum admission, children 4 and under are free. To learn more, visit regionofwaterloomuseums.ca/DiscoverySpace.
Cambridge is now home to a first-of-its-kind paper bottle making machine which will produce a more earth-friendly way of packaging liquids.
“The bottle starts off as a flat, 100 per cent post-consumer recycled board. At Kinsbrae Packaging, they print the label directly onto that board. There is an HDPE nozzle with the PET bladder inside. All of it can be thrown right into your blue bin and recycled.”
Additionally, the article notes, because the bottle is lightweight and doesn’t break, “it’s beneficial throughout the entire supply chain. The flat and lightweight nature of the pre-constructed bottles results in much less storage space on trucks and in warehouses.”
“These [paper bottles] are five times lighter than a glass bottle. They have six times less of a carbon footprint than a glass bottle. It’s just a better story. It’s a better product in every way, both from a cost perspective and also from a sustainability perspective.”
Two Guelph women are helping parents access diapers through the Guelph Diaper Relief Project which launched last fall. Organizer Lyndsay Smuck shares about the impetus of the project: “I gave birth to my son in the middle of the pandemic, and my husband had lost his job. We went through a really tough time and the community had helped us out so much, I just wanted to give something back.” Smuck says, “I finally just put it together – why don't I just have a place where people can get rid of diapers they don't want (to help people in need).”
If you are interested in supporting this work, donations can be ordered off Amazon, where they have a wishlist of current needs.
While this isn’t local, it is just lovely. For Valentine’s Day last month, the New York Times asked readers to share how they show their affection to their loved ones day-in and day-out, all year long. The responses vary from practical, to humourous, to touching. Check them out here.
Grand River Transit has been breaking records as of late, with ridership exceeding 26 million in 2023 — the most in its history!
Overall, ridership was up 48.3% compared to 2022 and 20.1% compared to the previous all-time high set in 2019. Ion ridership increased to 4.4 million riders in 2023, while bus ridership increased to 22.1 million.
According to GRT’s website, “this year’s service increases include 7,000 hours to address overcrowding and changing customer travel patterns, 33,000 hours to improve service around Conestoga College campuses and the community, 2,000 hours to support expanded service to Elmira and Breslau, as well as the addition of a MobilityPlus vehicle and a driver.”
Last month, a new stamp was unveiled featuring abolitionist and newspaper publisher Mary Ann Shadd.
“Shadd was born in 1823. In 1851, her family moved to Ontario, preparing to welcome Black people to Canada through the Underground Railroad. She was the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper, the Provincial Freeman. She was also an educator who opened a school for Black and white students in Windsor, Ont., on the site of what is now Windsor city hall, and a lawyer.”
Shadd's stamp is part of Canada Post's 2024 lineup. It is now available at local post offices.
Click to learn more about Mary Ann Shadd Carey.
I’m going to take a closer look at this issue in my next post focusing on Consumption and Treatment Services, but for today’s ‘good news’ post it’s worth highlighting that a recent study “found a 67% reduction in overdose deaths in neighbourhoods within 500 metres of supervised consumption sites after they opened. That reduction in mortality rippled as far as five kilometres from the sites.”
The KW Urban Native Wigwam Project recently shared on Twitter that they will be hosting an open house for their 32 Mill St location on April 2nd, 10am-1pm.
In other housing news, Habitat for Humanity recently shared a video to celebrate everyone who helped make the housing at 242 Kehl Drive a reality. The last of 45 families to occupy these units just moved in last month! While I’m always excited to welcome more affordable housing to our community, this one was particularly exciting for me as I had the opportunity to volunteer a few times in the kitchen to help make food for the builders at this location. Click to learn more about volunteering with Habitat.
Thanks for reading! Did I miss a local ‘good news’ story? If so, please share it in the comments below.
Thanks for these good stories and information, Melissa. And for all your posts!
I am confused. Isn't PET a type of plastic? Are they replacing recyclable glass bottles with not-really-recyclable plastic bottles with a cardboard shell?