Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:07 Hello, Fort McMurray. How are you doing today? Welcome to the Mac city morning show. Thank you for tuning in. I am your host, Elliot, Pierre, as always. I just want to thank everybody who's tuning in right now means the world to me. If you're watching it live or recorded or the clips afterwards, listen, every view to me warms my heart, and I know you are very busy and you could be doing a million other things. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for spending the time with us here at the Mac city morning show. We'll get to our guests in a second, but before we get there, Tanner hit them with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:41 It's about time we started this year is the Mexican morning show.
Speaker 0 00:00:50 All right, Tanner. Um, I really liked those intros, man. Yeah, they're fun. Yeah, they are fun. And they're different. I don't know if no people know that, but uh, I think how you line it up. It's like one consistent one for the whole week, but then every week you change what the intro is going to be. Exactly. Yeah. So we'll switch it every week for a month. There you go. Nice little Easter egg. So if you're at home, checking out the intro, definitely. Uh, it changes. I don't know if you've noticed that yet, but that's what happens. So without further ado, we're going to get to our guest. Once again, I don't introduce the guests. I let them do that themselves. So Tanner hit our lovely guests with the camera. And can you please introduce yourself who you are, what you're about and just get us it
Speaker 2 00:01:26 All right. I'm Amanda to coast with the Fort McMurray boys and girls club.
Speaker 0 00:01:31 Okay. So Amanda boys and girls club, that's a pretty sweet organization. It is. Yeah. So the nice thing about the boys and girls club, which I don't know if everybody at home knows, but you guys, uh, just reopened in December. We did. Yes. So what shuts you down
Speaker 2 00:01:47 The flood? Yeah, the beautiful flood.
Speaker 0 00:01:49 Yeah. It definitely impacted your building dramatically to say the least. Yeah, absolutely. The entire place. Yeah. So from top to finish, you guys had a gut job. It took a little bit of time, but actually the contractors worked pretty quick. How long were you guys shut down for roughly?
Speaker 2 00:02:04 We were shut down from the end of April until about December 12th. So the entire time right on tractors were amazing. Yeah. The, the job in there is phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. It's so gorgeous to walk in there now and see it fresh. And the kids are back and enjoying all their new toys and
Speaker 0 00:02:26 That's awesome. So for the people at home and it will, uh, people have preconceived notions about what the boys and girls club is. I know I did as a kid. Um, but it turns out from downtown city to city, uh, the mission of the boys and girls club locally, um, changes. It really depends on what the community is all about. That, uh, establishment is in. So here in Fort McMurray, what does the boys and girls club really focus on?
Speaker 2 00:02:50 So we focus on the development of the children of no matter what ages there are programs, every, every program has an outcome. The outcomes are based on the child's development. So what a, what a one-year-old old needs to what an 18 year old needs and everything in between. So we provide a daycare out of school care. And that includes the teacher's convention, which is in a couple of weeks, Easter break in a couple of months, summer camps, and as well as Christmas and any other, um, at a school Fridays and, and whatnot. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:03:28 I didn't know that that's I honestly didn't know that, like I thought I knew what you guys did, but, and I know a lot of what you do. I didn't know that you guys were revealed. I thought it was a, like, if your kids were registered, you could go there, like on like a regular date, K rotation. I wasn't aware that you were able to drop in during like extended gap times.
Speaker 2 00:03:50 We can end this moment because we have space for the enrollment that maybe previously we might not have been able to, but definitely now we have the space to welcome everyone.
Speaker 0 00:03:59 Awesome. That's a great service for people in the community, especially on like, um, for some people at home, they might not know this, but in Fort McMurray more often than not kids have that Friday off. And so if you're a parent like myself who works like that, that Friday, sometimes it's a little bit awkward. You need to look for some childcare options. So the boys and girls club is one of those options.
Speaker 2 00:04:20 And we also have youth programs when we're open, when COVID, um, was not around, which were absolutely incredible. Um, we had, um, the autism society, but programs for that. Um, now we will be moving to an online platform and doing some virtual virtual camps and programs and dropping off packages to the door. So the kids can do whatever it is online with their friends as best we can. Well, while we're all dealing with COVID.
Speaker 0 00:04:50 That's awesome. Yeah. It's tough. It's tough. But I know like the boys and girls club and a lot of other non-for-profits in town have definitely tried their best to like kind of work around COVID uh, keep your participants engaged. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Now in regards to yourself, I know you're not born and raised in Fort McMurray like myself and Tanner. Not too many people are, were we're unicorns. Right? Tanner. I would say, I'd say that doesn't involve where we're from you go. I like it. Um, but where are you
Speaker 2 00:05:18 From? I'm from Nova Scotia. Nova
Speaker 0 00:05:21 Scotia. All right. What part of Nova Scotia?
Speaker 2 00:05:23 I'm a little tiny, small town called Mulgrave, which looks at Cape Breton, but we're still mainlanders. It's a very important piece.
Speaker 0 00:05:32 I have been informed many times over my life that there is a difference between Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. Yeah. Although as far as you learn in high school, that like, it is one place when you go there, they go out of their way to tell you that it's not. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And so what brought you here to Fort McMurray?
Speaker 2 00:05:50 Um, I went to school for pharmacy technician and I applied to every single pharmacy in the entire province. Right. Entire province, not one job offer. I applied to three pharmacies in Fort McMurray and I got three job offers.
Speaker 0 00:06:03 Okay. There you go. So how, uh, how many years ago was that? Roughly? 17. 17 years ago. Okay. Well you're here. You might not be born and raised here, but you've definitely settled some roots down here. Yeah, definitely. That's awesome. So what about the community, um, kept you here?
Speaker 2 00:06:20 Um, this community is incredible, right? The opportunity that it provides. So I realized that I like to talk too much in order to work in a pharmacy, You know? So, um, I became a realtor, um, got involved in the community even more. I got to meet people and just, you know, just walking in your Walmarts and your coffee shops and whatnot. And it feels like a small town. Right, right. And the second like, Oh, Hey, my daughter lost her Teddy bear at the playground. You're going to have 10 moms that say, Hey, I put it here. I saved it here. Let me drive it to you. It's her bedtime. Like you don't get that everywhere.
Speaker 0 00:07:05 Yeah. Yeah. The sense of community here is definitely something else. There's no, there's no doubt. Do you get, uh, prior to, COVID obviously a chance to go back to Nova Scotia from time to time.
Speaker 2 00:07:15 Yeah. Mostly every year I would go back. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:07:18 Now I got to ask once again, cause it's one of those things Fort McMurray's home to me. So it's not one of those places where I'm like, Oh, I got to get back home because I'm already home. What is it about the East coast that makes East coasters need to go back so often I would think the ocean, the ocean. Okay. I get, I get water. I'm a Pisces. I like water. What about the ocean? Because it's not warm there. It's not like you're jumping into swim. Yeah, no, like in the summertime,
Speaker 2 00:07:50 In the summer, I mean not, no, not in December. Right. But as soon as, as soon as the ice is off work, we're there.
Speaker 0 00:07:59 Yep.
Speaker 2 00:08:00 And even just to sit on the beach and just listen and just the energy of feeling of just being there right. Is plus, you know, we tend to have families and grandparents that we need to, to keep up with as well.
Speaker 0 00:08:14 Right. Okay. Now, in regards to the boys and girls club for the people at home who don't know, you guys are doing a 50, 50 on ongoing 50 50, can you tell me bi-monthly can you explain to me and to people at home what this 50 50 is all about and how they can participate in it and potentially win some money?
Speaker 2 00:08:33 Absolutely. So as most people, we have lost all of our fundraising events. So we had to get a little creative and try to figure out what else would work. Um, so we said, let's do a bimonthly 50, 50, so you can go online to our website and click purchase a regular ticket, but there's also an option that you can purchase in advance. So there's another button you click, Oh, Hey, I'd like to have a ticket for the next six draws, boom, boom, click. There's also an option for each transfers or credit cards. So we hope to be able to connect everyone that wants to be part of the draw. Right. Um, the draws growing each, each draw, which is amazing. And we've, we really hope that we'll be able to replace some of the events that we had to cancel.
Speaker 0 00:09:26 Cause yeah, the boys and girls club definitely had a number of events that were kind of staples in the community from I'm going to butcher it. I know I'm going to get it wrong, but I'm going to try anyways from a junior who to Chateau BU junior, junior Boosie. See, I told you I was going to butcher it. Yeah. I was close. So yeah. So this is hopefully going to supplement some of the revenue loss because well, obviously you can't be putting on those events. So it's a, bi-weekly 50, 50, the easiest way for people to, well, to get involved is going onto your website. What's the website,
Speaker 2 00:09:59 The FM bgc.ca.
Speaker 0 00:10:01 Okay. So definitely later on for you guys at home, we will put that in the, uh, little comment area underneath the video. So if you're interested in getting some 50 50 tickets, definitely it's a good way to support the boys and girls club. Uh, they do some amazing things in the community and uh, this way you actually have the opportunity to win some money. So the cool thing I like about the 50 50 though, is that like it is biweekly. Um, so you do have like an opportunity to kind of get that satisfaction of like seeing who wins. And hopefully I won and if I didn't win, I can buy another ticket down the road. Yeah. So yo, you are seeing it grow week after week though. So that is, that is promising awesome.
Speaker 2 00:10:43 We're very thankful for the community. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:10:46 Now there's something else that you guys can do. And this is a big thing for me. I know during tax time, um, I like to, uh, give some of my money to non-for-profits, uh, cause it helps in regards to, uh, kind of curving my taxes a little bit. So it's something that I don't think a lot of nonprofits really promote that they do that often, but you guys, um, are able to take donations, um, to offset people's taxes, um, through like supporting you guys. So how does that work?
Speaker 2 00:11:13 So again, you just go to our website, the same one just says, uh, donate now, and you can go in and you can do a one-time donation or you can do a recurring donation and whatever, recurring monthly, annually, whatever you'd like that to be. And at tax time you're supporting us instead of the government.
Speaker 0 00:11:33 Yeah. Well, listen, the government, that's the reason they give you tax write offs is they want you to support non-for-profits right. So you're giving your money somewhere and it's a, to an awesome organization in town. So they can go to your website, donate there, get a tax receipts, and then it can offset some of their taxes. Just like if they're investing in RSPs or T FSAs or anything. Yep. Cool. Awesome. So now you've had a bit of a different career, like you said, you came here to work in a pharmacy, then you got into real estate. So boys and girls club very different from being a, a pharmacy. So how did that transition take place?
Speaker 2 00:12:09 Um, so I really loved the flexibility of being a realtor. Um, and then things changed. You know, I changed as a person. I loved it the career, but um, I moved to BC for a couple of years. And when I was in BC, I was doing foster care. So heavy, heavy into supporting kids. And I mean, I had my own child and I know how I parent and what happens, but to see, luckily I've never seen what I saw in BC. Right. So now I have a different eye when I look at children and some of the children have amazing parents that just need support. So when I came back to Fort McMurry, I looked around and said, you know, what can I do that has some heart, um, I love to plan events. Um, and I saw this job come up, like helping kids, planning events and one what? So I applied right away and I was so excited and got the job and it's, it's, it's been so fulfilling.
Speaker 0 00:13:14 That's awesome. Oh, that's great. It's like, yeah. Following your heart, doing what you want. Doesn't even feel like work when you're doing it. Right. Yeah. Awesome. All right. Now we're getting to the part of the show where we put you on the hotspot a little bit. So I don't know if you've seen the show already, but we have a segment called the Mac city minute. And this is where Tanner is going to ask you some questions. So just ask her off the top of your dome. I think there's only five questions, so it's not too bad, but are you ready? All right. Tanner hit her with your questions.
Speaker 3 00:13:45 All right. Question number one for you. How has working with children changed your view of Fort McMurray?
Speaker 2 00:13:52 Change my view at Fort McMurray. Hmm. Um, I can see, I see the programs that the community offers now and I can say, Oh wow. You know, girls Inc is amazing. The boys and girls club is amazing. So it's to be able to show that, wow, this community really sees the need and, and is they're providing it.
Speaker 3 00:14:20 What's something that you've learned with, from working with children that you wouldn't have learned working with adults.
Speaker 2 00:14:26 Oh gosh. I want to say keeps me young, you know, always laughing and having fun and just, you know, when I pre COVID, I would walk through the daycare and the kids would be hi banana every day. Just melt your heart.
Speaker 3 00:14:46 Okay. Question number three. When you came to Fort McMurray, uh, what did you think of it and how has that changed?
Speaker 2 00:14:54 Fort McMurry? When I first moved here, so I have a massive family. I'll have 50 plus cousin in Fort McMurray. So I didn't, I knew kind of knew what I was getting into from them. Um, at the beginning it was very work, work, work. And then I slowly watched it grow into a community. The wives started coming the families more playgrounds, more programs. So I've, I've watched it transition over the years.
Speaker 3 00:15:25 Next question. What is your East coast guilty pleasure.
Speaker 2 00:15:29 Oh, the fiddle, listening to the fiddle. I can't play it.
Speaker 3 00:15:35 And, uh, last question. How has fostering children helped you with your work at the boys and girls?
Speaker 2 00:15:41 Oh, it's just, I see everything out of with the different lines. Cool. Those have been your five questions.
Speaker 0 00:15:49 When you said the fiddle. I was like, what are we talking about here? Like I was at a delicacy. Is that a, so a fiddle. You're talking about like, Oh, it's called a fiddle on a violin basically. Yeah. Okay. So tell me a little bit more about the fiddle and how that is a guilty pleasure for you.
Speaker 2 00:16:05 Um, well, I was in dance. What kind of dance? Clogging clogging, but not like the Holland clogging. I was just going to ask step like an advanced step dance, I'll say, okay. And it's spaced with the fiddle in the background, then it can be any kind of music. But since we're from the East coast, that's probably what my instructor chose at the time. Okay. Yep. So I have, uh, uh, Fort McMurray, born and raised daughter that I say, listen to this music kid. And she clogged. No, she doesn't dance like me, but, uh, she listens to it and he likes it every once in a while the bagpipes will PIP up and she'll be like, that's kind of cool, but I can see how that'd be a little annoying I pitch. But, but it's home. It feels like home. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:16:54 It's like music. There's nothing wrong with the good like bagpipe or like you said, fiddle. There's definitely like, I've been to the East coast a lot. Um, people are surprised actually. How many times I've been to the East coast? Like I think I've been to Newfoundland itself at least 23, 24 times in my life Cape Breton five, six Nova Scotia in the twenties as well. Yeah. I've spent a lot of time with the East coast and it is something when you do go into like the bars or the restaurants there, even if you're walking down the street, like you are hearing that type of music more often than not. So I could see how that would be like a good memory for you of back home when it happens here in Fort Mac. And there are a lot of people from the East coast and Fort Mac, let's get that out there.
Speaker 0 00:17:36 I don't think that's a surprise to anybody, our Mac city morning show intro and outro. We actually got somebody from the East coast to talk some East coast slang for the intro outro, because like, it's such a part of this community, right? So although I'm born and raised here, Fort McMurray little fact for the people watching at home outside of St. John's Newfoundland, we have the most amount of Newfoundlanders anywhere else in the world outside of St. John's. So there's not even a place in Newfoundland that has more East coast or Newfoundland or sorry in Fort McMurray, outside of their capital,
Speaker 2 00:18:13 You'll be influenced in Lebanon, all the East coast stuff.
Speaker 0 00:18:15 That's it. That's why I love garage parties. Keep my boys hanging out in the garage all the time. It's what we do. I thought it was a Fort McMurray thing. Always, honestly, when I was a kid and we're like, all the dads are in the garages. And like, as you grow up, you party in your garage too. I'm like, Aw, this is so Fort Mac. And then I went to the East coast. I'm like, Oh, we ripped it off from you. Guys' normal. Yeah. Globally. Not everybody hangs out in the garages. Yeah. So that is the end of her show. 20 minutes. It just flies by, it always surprises me how quickly it goes. So before the guests go, though, most people are so humble. They don't like to talk about themselves or their organizations. Um, so that's kind of what the show is about promoting positivity and what people are doing in the community. So before I let you go, once again, who are you? Where are you working? What are you trying to support? And how can people get involved?
Speaker 2 00:19:10 I'm Amanda to coast with the boys and girls club of Fort McMurray. Um, we could use your support. We have room for enrollment, your tax time, and even third-party events. If someone wants to put on a fundraiser for us, we're happy to help them be part of it and do what we can, anything at this point. We're very, we're very grateful for, for the community support.
Speaker 0 00:19:32 Awesome. Great. All right. So, uh, that is the end of the Mac Sydney morning show. But before I sign off today, uh, we're going to start a countdown next week, but, uh, I'm just going to talk about it again today. Before we start the countdown, me and Tanner are going to be taken down these cameras and maybe some of the lights and maybe the audio equipment we don't exactly know yet, but on February 15th, we are going to be at the thick wood barbershop next to the black horse pub Holly live on location family day. So it's going to be exciting. Uh, you know what technical difficulties happen here. So we'll see what happens there, but Tanner, I'm pretty excited about it. Yeah. It's going to be fun. We'll see what happens. Maybe we'll get some haircuts. Maybe you'll get a haircut. You need one. Yeah. I think you need a haircut. You, I think you do too though. I know a group, my hair grows back fast, getting a little long there. Oh geez. Other than that, Fort McMurray. My name once again is Elliot Pierre. This is the Mac Sydney morning show. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. And we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 1 00:20:35 <inaudible> talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
