Submitted Press Release
Community Remembrance Project
Students and teachers involved in the Vimy 100 Trip at Parry Sound High School today announced the launch of the Community Remembrance Project, an important new initiative to honour local veterans.
The Community Remembrance Project is a partnership between Parry Sound High School, the Town of Parry Sound, the Downtown Business Association, the Royal Canadian Legion – Branch 117, and the Museum on Tower Hill. All of these organizations are asking local individuals, families, and community groups to sponsor the creation of street banners honouring local veterans, which will be put up in downtown Parry Sound every year in October and November. Vimy 100 Trip Organizer, Richard Lund, said, “Parry Sound Public School has already agreed to sponsor a banner and it would be great to see other schools, service clubs, churches, businesses, individuals and families all come forward to help us remember our veterans”.
PSHS students taking part in next April’s Vimy 100 trip to Europe donated $200 to have the first banner created to honour well-known local veterans Francis Pegahmagabow and Jack Patterson. The banner is pictured on page three.
Lund said, “Our goal is to have dozens of banners created this year, so that in 2017, the year of Canada’s 150th birthday, our community can honour the vital contribution these veterans made to the country Canada has become. I can think of no better way to commemorate our nation’s sesquicentennial.”
Jamie McGarvey, the Mayor of Parry Sound, said, “This project is outstanding. What a great way to remember our community’s veterans and to celebrate our country’s 150th anniversary. The town is 100% behind this initiative and we encourage the public to support it”.
Orders for banners will be accepted from Nov. 3rd to Nov. 30th, 2016. For $100, individuals, families, or community organizations can sponsor one side of a banner, which will honour a specific veteran who has a connection to the Parry Sound District. Sponsors can choose their own veteran to put on a banner and provide a picture of them, or they can request that the Vimy 100 students choose a local veteran for them. This project is not a fundraiser, as banners will be provided at cost; we are simply trying to recognize the sacrifices of our veterans.
The banner order form has all of the details about the program. Order forms can be downloaded from the websites of PSHS, the Town of Parry Sound, the Downtown Business Association, the Museum on Tower Hill, Moose FM and the North Star. Paper copies of the order form can be picked up at the student services office in PSHS, the Town Office, the Museum on Tower Hill, Moose FM and the North Star Office.
Order forms and payments can be dropped off to Trina Nelson in Student Services at Parry Sound High School, weekdays from 9AM to 3PM, or at the Museum on Tower Hill during its regular business hours.
Everyone involved in this project hopes our entire community will come together to honour our veterans and demonstrate that Parry Sound understands the importance of Remembrance.
