Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac CD morning show. I am your host Telia Pierre. And like every episode, we're going to start off on the same note with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you spend it with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:19 Oh, she caught me loves you're listening to the next anymore.
Speaker 0 00:00:28 All right. And we're back. Okay. I'm excited about this episode. Uh, it's a return guest, so she'll be familiar to you. Um, but me and Tanner gets some free stuff because of this episode. So I'm very excited as you guys know, I don't introduce my guests. I let them do that themselves. So on that note, can you please tell everybody at home who we are and what you're about?
Speaker 3 00:00:47 Yeah. I'm Jen. Um, I'm the community engagement and events coordinator at big brothers, big sisters.
Speaker 0 00:00:54 And so what are we talking about today? Why are me and Tanner excited? We participated last year and we're excited to participate again.
Speaker 3 00:01:00 So, um, we're doing poutine week in one M and we are super excited. Um, what we're doing is we got a couple of restaurants to come on there and they created a BBBS poutine. It's big brothers, big sisters, poutine. So we shortened it out. So it's a little bit smaller.
Speaker 0 00:01:22 Yeah. I'm old, man. All these acronyms. They go over my head, but I like them. I just don't always know what they mean
Speaker 3 00:01:29 Rave. So basically, um, every $4 from that poutine gets donated back to us. Yeah. So we're really grateful for all of the amazing restaurants that came on. Yeah. We, um, we're really lucky. We actually got nine this year.
Speaker 0 00:01:44 You have to write them down. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:01:46 So our title sponsor this year is Sharika is on this night. We've got the alley
Speaker 0 00:01:52 Nanos.
Speaker 3 00:01:55 Yeah. Up in, um, with Buffalo. They've got such good food. Yeah. Um, really good monster sticks actually original Joe's we tried that one as well, so good. Best one. Poutine at original Joe's is unmatched. Yeah. We go there last year for the competition.
Speaker 0 00:02:17 We got to go to all different restaurants. Sorry for cutting you off, but that's
Speaker 3 00:02:20 Okay. Um, we have had to mix Wiggins, super excited about Brewskies.
Speaker 0 00:02:25 Oh
Speaker 3 00:02:26 Yeah. You explain it there. I haven't tried it yet, but I've got a picture and their packaging looks deadly. I'm really excited about the Z bar C bar and Anzac. Have you never
Speaker 0 00:02:39 Been, I've never been to this. You have
Speaker 3 00:02:41 The best wings ever. Hands down wings in Alberta. Z bar. Really?
Speaker 0 00:02:47 Where's this an Anzac like, just like in like the,
Speaker 3 00:02:50 And the community out there. So, um, you're going to down highway 81, right? Turn left into Anzac. You stay on the main road and it's over in the left parking lot with their grocery store. I think a couple of other stores there. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:03:06 Yeah. Huh? I'm going to go out there with Ruby on the summer. Yeah. Tanner. You can't come. I have a car Ruby. It's a 1979 mg midget. It's literally like, it's about as big as that table. Um, but if you're over six one, it's a convertible. Like you literally like you look over the top. So if I drive Ruby, Tanner's like, dude, why? Why?
Speaker 4 00:03:32 No, it's not. I don't say why you just look at me and you just go now
Speaker 0 00:03:37 That's fair. Sure. Okay. So Z bar. Who else? Who else we got here? We've got, nice to concealed. Yup.
Speaker 3 00:03:46 Definitely. And last but not least. It's 57 north.
Speaker 0 00:03:49 Great, great poutine. We ate two different poutines there. Last kick of the can, so, okay. So there was two in there that I've never been one. This is the bar that's out in Anzac. I'm definitely going to try them out in the summer. Yeah, definitely. What you said. What's the other one. It started with an M. Malana's like, sorry. Malana's I've never been there, but now I'm going to talk about you for a bit. So there you go. Um, where's Malone.
Speaker 3 00:04:13 So when you're entering what Buffalo it's in the strip model. It's on the left.
Speaker 0 00:04:18 Okay. Like instead of going right to Dickins field, you go left where the SOS
Speaker 3 00:04:23 It's in that strip mall. I think there's, I'm trying to think what else is in there? Maybe a barber.
Speaker 0 00:04:29 Yeah. There's um, there's a barber there. Um, not my barber. So we're not going to say the name of it. They're not stick with barbershop. Big shout out to Allie. I literally just came from tickled barbershop next to the black horse pub. Um, they hooked me up, but yes, I know exactly what, I didn't know that there was a restaurant in there Milana. So is it like a pizza joint? Sure.
Speaker 3 00:04:48 Pizza joint. So they didn't have anywhere to sit down. You go in and you just order and then you can go, but they've been there for a long time. Yeah. There they have amazing food.
Speaker 0 00:04:58 I'm going to try them out. My bad. I grew up in Dickens field. So like, I go to the Dickens field corner store there. That's why I know Mo teas. I don't turn out that with Buffalo. So I've never heard of them before. So, but no, we're going to, so this year, Tanner, we're going to different places, obviously. So last, last year we went to Boston pizza. Sharika was um, 57 north. There was one more. We went, we went to three in one day and then, but we did go the day before, because remember we went to it. Wasn't only three though. We to
Speaker 4 00:05:30 Three. And then we had two poutines at 57.
Speaker 0 00:05:33 Oh yeah. It was too much trying to eat all that poutine in one day was a rookie move.
Speaker 4 00:05:38 Yeah. We go to Boston pizza for the third one, had one each and tapped,
Speaker 0 00:05:42 Hardcore tap out. But I feel like, and the other mistake we made last year, just for the viewers at home there's videos, you can go check them out. If you want to last year, all of the restaurants bamboozled us and got us to try their spin on poutine. We didn't just take like regular, like cheese gravy, fries. Yeah. Like we, we tried their D which they were all
Speaker 3 00:06:06 Well, that's what the BBS poutine is. It's a different type.
Speaker 0 00:06:11 Great. Your own poutine. So that was their contest. You
Speaker 4 00:06:14 Create your own fries.
Speaker 0 00:06:17 That's right. It's not poutine anymore. That was a discussion. Me and Tanner had afterwards. They're like, listen, we should have judged them. So this year when we do it, we're going to judge them on strictly poutine.
Speaker 4 00:06:27 Keep it even across the board when you judge cause like, then you're, then it's even playing field.
Speaker 0 00:06:34 What is equal? Cause their baseline. You got to have a baseline. Yeah, exactly. So like the poutines we had last year where, um, Sharika was, it was like a east coast stuffing. It was delicious, but it tastes like east coast stuffing
Speaker 3 00:06:48 This year there, they did a poutine box with four different poutines in it. Oh,
Speaker 0 00:06:54 Sharika did
Speaker 3 00:06:56 A mozzarella poutine. One is a breakfast poutine with like hash Browns eggs on top.
Speaker 0 00:07:03 Oh nice. That's smart. Thinking out of the box
Speaker 4 00:07:08 Or in the box or in the box or,
Speaker 0 00:07:09 You know, four corners. Exactly. And then what did, uh, what did a 57 north do for theirs?
Speaker 4 00:07:17 Uh, I don't know, but you re you a very, I think it was like a, it was like a shawarma or something
Speaker 0 00:07:23 And like that don't near maybe. I don't know they did. Oh no, no, no. It was barbecue. It was barbecue. Um, they used pull pork in, uh, in their, um, barbecue sauce. It was delicious. And then it was, in my opinion, the most interesting one was Boston pizza. It was like a pizza.
Speaker 4 00:07:40 It was, it was good. But I had like, I have one bite and my body literally told me if I had one more that like the bathroom would mean cleaning.
Speaker 0 00:07:49 Great. We have to tell it was so rich. But on top of that, we had had a number of poutine prior to
Speaker 3 00:07:53 Yes. It wasn't your first
Speaker 4 00:07:55 Routine. My body can only handle so many Kurds of
Speaker 0 00:07:58 Cheese. I did not know that. I thought it would have been an easy day. I was like, I can do this all day. It's protein. Can't get enough. Yeah, you
Speaker 4 00:08:05 Can get,
Speaker 0 00:08:07 So why are all these, uh, restaurants participating? What's the whole game plan for this? What are we bringing awareness to?
Speaker 3 00:08:14 Um, we are super excited. We just got our final numbers for, um, young people served in the arm, don't get me and we hit 411. So that's with COVID that's with, you know, not being able to see people in person sometimes and not having, um, uh, facilitators for programs and running into all of our little problems. Um, this is a huge number for us. So we are super, super excited. All of the money that we raised here stays here. Right? It goes directly back to the children of our community.
Speaker 0 00:08:48 Great. Now for the people at home who don't know about your organization and who miss pronounce it and say it wrong every single time, uh, let everybody know who you are and what you actually participant, what, what the participation you do in the is all about.
Speaker 3 00:09:04 Yeah. So at big brothers, big sisters, we support young people in the community who are in need of additional developmental relationships. So all of our programs that we offer are all free of charge. Um, we have many different programs, some of them are go girls, uh, game on. So for young males and young females, we have a full circle program that is supports intentional indigenous reconciliation. Um, we have programs that run in class. We have corporate mentoring where a corporate business goes and meets with, um, younger students just to talk about how they got to where they were today and many different programs that we have.
Speaker 0 00:09:46 Cool. And now in regards to, um, roles there, I heard there potentially could be some job openings where you guys are at.
Speaker 3 00:09:54 There is. So right now we are looking for a ment, um, mentoring manager or a program manager. So that's the big one that we are hiring for right now down the road. We might also be looking for a coordinator as of right now, there's two of us, um, who are going to be in the office by the end of this month. And then hopefully once we find someone they'll be three of us, we are a much larger organization. It's just, we have facilitators that we contract. They're not in office with us. We meet them at different times and they'll come in. But, um, they are able to run all of their programs from home. Right. Just come in when they need to.
Speaker 0 00:10:33 Right. Right. Oh, very cool. So if somebody wanted to apply for this role, how would they, is there an email, is there a website? How did they get in contact with you?
Speaker 3 00:10:41 Anything, um, if you would like to see it's on indeed for the easiest way to find it is our Facebook page. If you look at big brothers, big sisters of wood, Buffalo, the link will be right there on the top, along with poutine week the event.
Speaker 0 00:10:55 Yeah. So if you want to apply for this job, you also need to go eat some poutine this week as part of the interview process, you will be
Speaker 4 00:11:05 Questioned
Speaker 0 00:11:06 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:11:08 On the original dose.
Speaker 0 00:11:09 That's right. Although we're going to try all these poutines. I still, I got to give the best poutine and Fort McMurray to date to the scale.
Speaker 4 00:11:18 It's it's not even a question when you like, cause like you don't, I think it might have to do with the lore of it as well. Like the fact that you can't just drive the train, pick one up or order one office skip that has a lot to do with it too, but it is.
Speaker 0 00:11:34 Yeah. So these restaurants that's, that's the bar for me. And although all the routines last year were great and I gave them all, they all tied for second.
Speaker 3 00:11:43 Yeah. You know what, next year I'm hoping to get Vista Ridge on because growing up, we all raved about their poutine routine back then was still the best in town. You can't,
Speaker 4 00:11:53 You can't, you can't get them involved just out of the sheer fact that it, they would just like slaughter the competition. Like that would be like, oh, Hey, let's just bring an NHL player onto the oil barons. And then we'll just watch them just white out everybody. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:12:09 That's right. Well, it's, it's like for people like us, who've all grown up and remember Fort McMurray and seen the evolution. Like now I have a little kid and he's taking ski lessons out of his fridge as after ski lessons is just like, Hey, do you want to go to the chalet? And can I get some like fries and gravy? So patina burger or something like, yeah. That's like part of the experience. So, um, listen, I just got the sign towners ready with the Mac CD minute. So he's going to hit you with some questions, you know how this goes. So I wish you nothing, but the best luck Tanner hit her with the maximum.
Speaker 4 00:12:39 Alrighty. Question number one. What is your favorite part of doing events like poutine week with big brothers, big sisters?
Speaker 3 00:12:46 Um, I love being out in the community, getting to know people and knowing that my job makes an impact. There's so many young people in, just in the RM WB. That's the big thing for me.
Speaker 4 00:12:58 Question number two. What is your favorite story of helping children through big brothers? Big sisters?
Speaker 3 00:13:04 Yeah. While I can't, um, I can't really divulge in exact, we, we have children who come in who have amazing homes and they're just looking for a friend. Maybe they don't have friends at school. Um, or we have children who come in who maybe don't have a mom or don't have a dad. So it's just amazing to see, um, mentors, you know, who come in, who are like, I want to make a difference and have that little who all of a sudden has someone to turn to and look up to and go do fun things with. Right. Um, and then it's so nice that we have the community that supports us so well. Like Mr. Esau of it, they give discounts to all of our bigs and littles that alley. They're a huge supporter of us. Right. Um, just big brothers, big sisters in general. Really just, it's just so great. Like I'm so grateful to see that the community is so supportive of us. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:14:04 Question number three. What is a way the community can help big brothers, big sisters that might shock people.
Speaker 3 00:14:12 Yeah. Um, I'm always looking for volunteers for bingos and casino nights. Casino, nays. No one wants to work until 1230. Right. Um, it's usually a short shift, like nine to 12. I think it's a shift. Um, I'm looking for that for work February. As of right now,
Speaker 4 00:14:34 Question number four. What is one program you offer that every brother and sister enjoys?
Speaker 3 00:14:43 So for them, they don't come into our programs so much as they are their own, their community-based matches. So basically we match up a big with a little and we support them through giving them gift cards to go do things. We're making them making connections with other businesses that will offer like fun things for them to do around town. Um, one of the big ones, I know that lots of them have had fun with it's Vista Ridge going out in the summer and doing the summer parks.
Speaker 0 00:15:14 Yeah. Yeah. They, they got a wicked, a skate park out there too.
Speaker 3 00:15:18 Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4 00:15:21 And your final question, what is your biggest achievement you've had since we've seen you for the last poutine week?
Speaker 3 00:15:29 Um, work-wise or personalize your
Speaker 4 00:15:35 Biggest
Speaker 3 00:15:36 Achievement? So I was at, I'm newer to this role, right? I started when I last came here, but it was six months ago as an admin assistant. Um, I did duck race and that's what I was here promoting. And I raised just over $17,000. I was so proud of myself. I was thinking, you know what, 10 I'd like to get to like 12, maybe 14, 17. I'm so excited for
Speaker 4 00:16:06 Five questions.
Speaker 0 00:16:08 There you go. Now since last time there was a personal thing that happened in your life.
Speaker 3 00:16:12 Yes. There has been, I'm gone gauged.
Speaker 0 00:16:17 Oh, you got some blue on your rig. Very nice. Yeah. I bumped into you, uh, at EVP. I think, I think like, was that the weekend that had happened? Yes, we were there celebrating. Yeah. So yeah, it was just like we're at EVP. So I was like, what's that some of the memory's a little foggy. So I was like, I didn't know if it was like, if just happened or if it happened that week, but that's a big deal. So
Speaker 3 00:16:44 We were there
Speaker 0 00:16:45 Celebrating. So that's exciting.
Speaker 3 00:16:48 We get married, um, July 2nd here at Mac island on the golf course saying
Speaker 4 00:16:56 Awesome. Let us know if you want to Mack city. Did you went on location for it?
Speaker 4 00:17:04 Get all the, the wedding guests. We can fill it all. It'd be awesome. That'd be hilarious. All we need is a, is an invite to the,
Speaker 0 00:17:11 Yeah, there you go. We're easy.
Speaker 0 00:17:17 Yeah. Your fiance he's local too. Right? Like I was chatting with him a little bit that night. I think he, uh, EK taught him. He was saying, or like it was in yeah. He went to
Speaker 3 00:17:26 Merck. That's right.
Speaker 4 00:17:28 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:17:29 Right. I know.
Speaker 0 00:17:32 Calm kid over there.
Speaker 4 00:17:33 I'll take public over Catholic.
Speaker 0 00:17:36 Yeah. So he's from here too then. So how long have you known him?
Speaker 3 00:17:40 We actually met two years ago and it's crazy because all of my friends know him and all of his friends know me. So his friend, when we started talking, he had reached out to her and was like, Hey, like, how do you know Jen? She was like, oh my God. Like I've know Jen's for years. I didn't realize you didn't know her. Right. Um, such a small world. It was just one community, but we've never ran into each other. He's huge in the baseball community though. He could fall rates and coaching after and yeah. But
Speaker 0 00:18:12 Okay, well that's huge. Well, congratulations. I knew it's like when you walked in, I saw the ring and I said, I'm going to make a point of this. So big ups to your fiance for pop the question. That's a huge, huge deal. So yeah. Listen, that's the end of our show though. So as you know, everybody gets a shameless shout out or plug before they leave. So you got the mix, the cameras, lights have fun.
Speaker 3 00:18:32 Um, I would just like to thank all of the restaurants for participating. We really appreciate it. Um, and I would love to ask everyone to go try a poutine. They all look so good. I'm excited. I'm probably going to gain 20 pounds after this week and want to go try them all race, um, and be on the lookout bowl for kids is coming up soon. Um, I'm sure we'll have another meeting and we'll that one. We're going to be looking for teams to participate in bowling. So be on the lookout. Watch our page, big brothers, big sisters.
Speaker 0 00:19:04 There we go. Awesome. Awesome. Well thank you for coming. Thanks for having me. You're always welcome to come back to promote anything or just hang out and chat with me and Tanner. Cool. So I know you'll be back again. All right. Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. That's been another episode of the Mac city morning show. Thank you so much for tuning in. It does mean the world to me, go out, eat those poutines and all to all the restaurants for participating. That's awesome. Thank you for doing it. The bar is Vista Ridge though. So let's see what we got this year. I hope you're having a great day and I'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 1 00:19:37 I just dies at desk. Another Mac city morning show Dawn.
Speaker 5 00:19:54 Yeah. Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
