Published in The BANAR February 2002
by Gord Hawley
The Blackburn Hamlet Youth Association (BHYA ) continues to provide quality recreation for the youth of our community. We expanded our monthly dance dates in September and October by adding a second dance on the 2nd Friday of each month at our Community Hall and a series of new dances on the first and third Fridays of each month at the Cyrville Community Centre. Attendance at our Blackburn dances remains high and traditionally January and February are two of our busiest months.
Note to parents: If you are dropping your children off at our dances during the winter months – please wait to ensure that they are able to get in! Last year we had to turn away over 50 children from our dance in January on a very cold evening because the facility was sold out!
We held our first Receipt Draw contest at the Blackburn Loeb store and want to thank Mike Dube, the store manager for his support. Our winner, Angela Jensen took home $170 in FREE groceries. Stu Wilson, won our “Guess How Many Christmas Candies” challenge — being a Scientist may have given him an advantage!
On December 21st we held our first ever Volunteer Appreciation and Silent Auction. We want to thank all the sponsors and participants for supporting this event. Our sponsors were, Molsons, Blackburn Loeb, Video Flicks, Blackburn Bingo, Sarah Cloutier, Lynn Novaks, Pineview Golf Course, Bill and Lena Humphries, Rainer Bloess and the City of Ottawa. We also want to thank the BCA executive for hosting the cash bar. For a first time effort the function was well received. This will be an annual event and and will be held on Saturday, November 2nd, 2002.
We are continuing to do additional fund raising with a series of “Receipt Draws” at area supermarkets. This summer there will be a number of fund raising BBQ’s, and we will be offering our first Christmas Tree Sale this coming December.
Upcoming events include the distribution of the January issue of the Banar, organizing some new events for the annual Fun Fair and hopefully participating in the 2002 Christmas Parade of Lights. As always we are looking for additional adult volunteers to help with our programming.