Front page newspaper story in Bowmanville today. Trailer should be leaving here this weekend .

Jason Liebregts, Statesman photo

DURHAM - An Oshawa business and a group of Bowmanville high school students have pooled their efforts to create a link to food and clothing for some of Ontario's poorest rural residents.

A 48-foot trailer once used to haul auto parts should be on the road in the province's most northern communities from Sault Ste. Marie to Manitoulin Island within the next few weeks delivering needed supplies, says Bob Burke, president of the Bowmanville area Saint Vincent de Paul Society.

"It started in June at the (Saint Vincent de Paul) national conference," relates Mr. Burke. "We were identifying needs and nobody was able to meet the needs of the rural areas as far as servicing the poor for food and clothing." Adopting an idea from the Hamilton-area Saint Vincent conference that services the city's urban area by a mobile truck, Mr. Burke committed to getting 25 mobile units on the road throughout Ontario. The idea is to have them travel throughout the countryside providing donated food and clothing from a portable store in the trailer.

Although the organization hopes to get provincial funding through the Trillium Foundation for the purchase of the trucks, Mr. Burke wanted to launch a pilot program to see how it would work before approaching the foundation. He took the idea to Norm Mackie of Mackie Moving Systems. "I told him my dream and he gave me a trailer," that was surplus, says Mr. Burke. "Not only did he do that, he took the best of the trailers he had and his people spent a lot of time fixing it up into A1 shape."

With the trailer ready to go but with no identification on it, Mr. Burke determined he would need some other talents to create a sign for this store on wheels.

This past summer, a number of high school students helped Saint Vincent de Paul prepare for the opening of its downtown Bowmanville store by painting a mural in the shop.

"They did a really good job. I was really impressed," says Mr. Burke. Hoping to reproduce those results, Mr. Burke approached students at St. Stephen's Secondary School in Bowmanville. Not only did they agree to help but also the students have formed the first high school conference of Saint Vincent de Paul in Ontario. The group of students set to work to create a logo design for the trailer that would easily identify the store for residents in the areas it will serve.

"When this thing hits the highway you will not miss it," says Mr. Burke, who says the design will serve as a prototype for the trailers that follow.

"The students worked hundreds of hours on this. The nice thing about this project is it isn't costing the public a nickel. It's all volunteer."

The program should be ready for delivery by the middle of next week, says Mr. Burke, noting Mr. Mackie has agreed to deliver the trailer to Elliott Lake. Saint Vincent de Paul there is working with local businesses that will transport the trailer to the outlying communities a couple of times a week, Mr. Burke says.

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Saint Vincent de Paul Feast Day Celebration, Saturday September 28^th, 2002 at St. Joseph Church, Bowmanville

Please note that the program starts at NOON not 1:00 pm as previously announced. We have a very full and entertaining program.

A parishioner has donated a van to the Bowmanville store. It is presently being certified and will be officially donated on Saturday.

Sears Canada, Oshawa store, continues to donate racking and fixtures.

Blessings, Bob Burke bobburke2000@rogers.com

Sept 28^th Invite: Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Formal invitation for our big celebration on the 28^th is complete. It's really shaping up to be a wonderful event. Looking forward to visiting with as many as possible.

Please feel free to pass information on to all Vincentians. We would like as much representation as possible from as many conferences as possible.

If you have Conference Banner please feel free to bring them. We are expecting a large press coverage of this event.

Blessings, Bob Burke bobburke2000@rogers.com

Store opened on September 09, 2002. Going very well. Plenty of compliments on the new store...it's size, brightness, appearance and merchandise, plenty of volunteers and just received a new van yesterday, donated by a parishioner.

Working with a new youth conference in St. Stephens High School and a new conference in St. Teresa's parish in Courtice.

New trailer is progressing well.

Celebrations for the 28^th are on track. The Knights of Columbus are going to be providing the Bar-B-Q in conjunction with the CWL. The CWL are holding their provincial meeting the same day.

More will follow. Have been very busy and will continue.

Blessings, Bob Burke bobburke2000@rogers.com

Dear Brothers and Sister Vincentians:

Things are happening, The Good Lord works in wonderful ways.

Thanks to Brothers Rick and George, in Kitchener for dropping off a huge load of clothing last weekend. We now have more cloths than we need to open. The Good Lord works in wonderful ways.

Our store is almost ready. We had originally planned to open September 03, 2002. We postponed the opening to September 09, 2002, due to the large volume of donations.

The High School students, from our new youth conference, at St. Stephens High School have painted large murals on the walls and a picture of Saint Vincent de Paul on a 4'x6' backdrop. They have completed painting our signs and putting the logo on our windows. They will also be painting the donated trailer to be used as a Mobile Store in the Elliot Lake region. I am looking for suggestions as to the wording we should use on the trailer.

Brother Bob Burke bobburke2000@rogers.com

We have installed a washer and are awaiting a dryer to complete our laundry room. We are still waiting for our cash and Visa, ATM machines.

Everything looks good for the opening on September 09, 2002.

I took possession of our large trailer, donated by Norm Mackie, of Mackie Van Lines, Oshawa.

Brother Jack McBride, of DuraBody in Bondhead, will do the retrofit, the same company who retrofitted Hamilton's Mobile Store truck. Thanks to Sister Anne (Hamilton), we have a pretty good idea what the trailer should be equipped with. There will be plenty of racking as well as storage for non-perishable food and donations. Norm Mackie has offered to drive the truck to Elliott Lake, when ready, sometime around October 01, 2002

We would like to make sure that the trailer will be filled with warm winter cloths for Elliott Lake. If anyone else can help, it would be appreciated.

I would like to know how many other particular councils are interested in joining our trailer program.

OH YES. If you can join us on September 28, 2002, I should remind you that we establishing a new tradition at St. Joseph's parish in Bowmanville . We ask all the parishioners to bring an item of food to mass each week as part of our regular offering...Please join us.

Blessings, Bob Burke bobburke2000@rogers.com

New: Saint Vincent de Paul Store to open in downtown Bowmanville

We have rented, about 6,000 square feet of floor space, in downtown Bowmanville. We are planning to open a new Saint Vincent de Paul Store. While we have some expertise from Peterborough we are looking to anyone that might have suggestions or help for us in setting up our new premises. We plan to take possession this weekend. We are going to be setting things up on a shoestring but hope to get some shelving and racks from Sears, or other major stores.
Any help or suggestions you can provide would be much appreciated.

We are in the process of setting up a new Particular Council for the Lakeshore area. Territory will cover east of Oshawa to the west of Trenton.

Thanks
Brother Bob Burke
President Bowmanville Conference
bobburke2000@rogers.com