Woodstock's Relay For Life is Friday, June 10

You can register now for Canadian Cancer Society flagship fundraiser

The 17th annual Relay For Life is to be held at the CASS track again

By Mark Schadenberg

Accept the baton.

Ready? Set. Relay!

Relay For Life in Woodstock is getting ready for its 17th annual fundraiser.

It is noteworthy that the format has been modified from last year.

Relay For Life will continue as previous years at College Avenue Secondary School, but the date is now set for a Friday.

Relay For Life in Woodstock is Friday, June 10, 7 p.m. – 1 a.m. and both the local organizing committee and the Canadian Cancer Society’s (CCS) Oxford County community office are truly excited about the 2016 event.

See the charts here which note the number of participants in 2014 and the dollars raised and where the financial contributions are directed to various cancer research projects across the country, along with integral funding to local initiatives such as patient transportation to appointments, peer support groups, and other forms of advocacy and education.

Over the 16 years, Woodstock’s event itself has collected more than $3 million in total.

As participants registered last year, there was less emphasis placed on teams. Good news for relaying fundraisers for 2016 Relay For Life -- as the focus on teamwork has returned. The CCS realizes that many participants are there as a group, perhaps a family raising money for a relative who died from cancer. Teams are also comprised of church groups, service clubs, co-workers, neighbours and even a collective effort from smaller villages such as Hickson, Innerkip and Norwich. Teams have also been prominent entries among youth, including schools and the always-successful efforts of the local 4H club. 

REGISTRATION FEE

This year, there will be one consistent registration fee of $15 per person. You can register online now.

However, if you are a cancer survivor and will be taking part in the survivor lap, there is no fee to attend and celebrate your success from treatments.

Relay For Life will again be featuring recognition for top individuals and teams, along with a honour for reaching a specific distance goal (number of laps) over the six hours. Accept the baton and stay on the track with your team for the entire six hours.

Theme laps will naturally return again, along with games, which are often organized by the various teams.

BUY A LUMINARY

Many other important agenda items continue, especially the purchase of a luminary to remember someone who passed away from cancer or to honour someone still battling the disease. Luminaries will be sold in public locations and through various churches leading up to Relay, and by the month of May at the Saturday morning fairgrounds farm market.

Musicians on the stage will entertain the walkers between the opening ceremony and the solemn luminary ceremony and then again until 11 p.m.

Participants can certainly register now online or by visiting the CCS office on Springbank Ave North in Woodstock. After you and your team have signed up, your friends and family can pledge you through online donations.

VOLUNTEERS

The Woodstock committee still seeks additional volunteers for important roles in the main steering committee, so if you can donate a few hours in this capacity, contact the office.

Watch this blog space for more details as the event approaches as there will be a kickoff rally coming up and other significant updates to promote.

Also, if your team has a Relay For Life fundraiser – euchre night, lawn sale, zumba fest, bake sale, car wash, golf tournament, t-shirt sales, barbecue, etc. – simply email your event-before-the event to Liz Wismer-VanMeer and it will be publicized on Facebook and this blog. Also, be sure to ‘Share’ anything you see in the Facebook ‘Group’ page which you feel is excellent information for your ‘FB Friends’ to know about because it could be a recruitment tool to attract even more participants.

Relay For Life. . . It’s A Journey. Go The Distance.

Accept the baton.

LINKS:

www.relayforlife.ca/cancer

www.relayforlifeontario.ca

www.cancer.ca

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2015/06/14/a-survivor-a-team-captain-and-a-volunteer-share-what-relay-means-to-them

https://www.facebook.com/RelayForLifeCanada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK0UsYmBnrY

Canadian Cancer Society

17^th Annual

Relay For Life

College Avenue Secondary School – Woodstock

Friday, June 10, 7 p.m. – 1 a.m.

www.relayforlife.ca/woodstock

www.relayforlifeontario.ca

Facebook ‘Group’: Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life in Woodstock

Facebook ‘Event’: Relay For Life in Woodstock

Twitter Hashtags: #WhyIRelay #AcceptTheBaton or #ReadySetRelay

CCS Oxford Community Office: 65 Springbank Ave North

(519) 537-5592

Contact: Liz Wismer-VanMeer (Pictured below)

Email: lwismer-vanmeer@ontario.cancer.ca

Ready? Set. Relay !

C&D Lanes event to raise money for Canadian Cancer Society

Relay For Life is June 10, but many other events raise money and awareness for CCS
Knockdown Cancer is January 23 at Woodstock bowling alley

By Mark Schadenberg
I'm proud of my seven years on the organizing committee for Relay For Life in Woodstock (June 10 at CASS). The event raises significant dollars for both the local community office of the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) along with much-needed money for important cancer research projects which CCS supports.
Keep an eye on this blog and www.woodstockrelay.blogspot.com over the next few months for updates. If you're looking for even more details, join the Facebook Group called "Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life in Woodstock". I know, it's a long long name.
You can also register at: www.relayforlife.ca/woodstock

BOWLING FOR DOLLARS
I remember the old CKCO TV show called Bowling For Dollars, while Woodstock's C&D Lanes is hosting two CCS fundraisers in the month of January to collect dollars. 
Firstly, 25 cents from each shoe rental this month will be passed along as a donation to CCS.
On Saturday, Jan. 23 (See the poster), it's the annual Knockdown Cancer benefit from 3 - 6 p.m. Proceeds from bowling will go to CCS, but there's much more -- silent auction, penny sale and Country 104 radio on location. 
There is also a fun challenge planned as the Woodstock Navy Vets and Norwich Merchants hockey clubs will clash twice that day -- at the bowling alley and then on the ice in a scheduled Junior C game. Since accomplished bowler Mark Baxter is part of the Merchants organization, I would bet Norwich will win that wrestling match by a pin fall. 
I applaud bowling lanes owners Dave and Carol Skillings for their efforts in raising awareness and money for CCS projects.  
According to the The Woodstock Sentinel-Review story posted below, the national association Bowl Canada this year permitted each bowling establishment more freedom in where it would direct its donation.
“This is the first year that we get to make our own donation to wherever, so it will go right to our own (CCS Oxford community office) branch this year,” said C&D manager Julie Skillings.
 

LINKS:
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2016/01/06/local-bowling-alley-is-getting-ready-to-host-a-fundraiser-for-the-oxford-branch-of-the-canadian-cancer-society
www.canddlanes.com
www.cancer.ca
www.relayforlife.ca/woodstock

Canadian Cancer Society -- Oxford County

Relay For Life details:

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If you are planning a move in Oxford County,

contact me today ! 

Mark Schadenberg, sales rep

Royal LePage Triland, Woodstock

 

A 2015 recap: WIDREB sales best since 2005

Sales topped the 2014 total by 244 in the Woodstock - Ingersoll board area

A look back at London region also included below

By Mark Schadenberg

It’s been an entire decade since real estate sales have been this healthy in the Woodstock-Ingersoll (WIDREB) area.

As we wish everyone all the best for health and happiness for 2016, we must look back at the happiness that was 2015 as everyone knows that home sales sparks a healthy local economy in general with an increase in retail sales at hardware stores, furniture and appliance outlets, and most certainly local contractors as home buyers update kitchens, bathrooms, wiring and furnaces.

With no further adieu therefore, 2015 WIDREB final sales total were 1,424, which tops 2014 by quite a wide margin as 2014 had just 1,180 sales. Look at the list below and you will quickly note the only annum surpassing 2015 was 2005 and that was the year Toyota announced it was building a manufacturing facility in Woodstock.

The 11-year average is 1,242, so 2015 surpasses that number by a significant gap as well.

Why are the WIDREB sales so impressive, you ask?

The list of reasons includes:

On-going low attractive interest rates.

Affordable living compared to Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge.

A strong local economy.
One item not on the list, however, is a large inventory of available homes because the number of active listings is far below where it normally is.

A LOOK BACK

Year-By-Year Numbers

2015: 1424

2014: 1180                2013: 1252                2012: 1066      

2011: 1158                2010: 1216                2009: 1080

2008: 1176                2007: 1359                2006: 1278      

2005: 1473 (Correct) 

Average for past 10 years: 1242

As a full-time local Realtor, in my own opinion, I do include two precautions here.

Firstly, far too many Oxford County homes are sold by out-of-town Realtors. Keep in mind, you hire a Realtor for their knowledge, which certainly includes the immense experience in dealing with conditions in an offer and negotiating skills, but it most certainly also encompasses market knowledge. If – for example – you want to move to Oxford, have your local Realtor interview two or three Realtors and then send along a referral. You local Realtor will still get paid a referral fee and you will receive ‘priceless’ market knowledge.

Secondly, if you’re thinking of up-grading for your growing family, the average price in 2015 was $245,800 compared to $244,600 in 2014, so there was just a tiny increase in equity building. However, if you look back to 2011 the average was $218,100, so over a length of time there has been a significant increase. Home ownership is a solid investment as you gain equity by reducing your principle and by watching market value rise.

GREAT NEWS

Here is a quick mathematics equation for anyone thinking about buying a bigger home in 2016 to both take advantage of record-low interest rates and to purchase more space for your family. If you bought your current home in 2004 for $180,000 (example), that same house is now worth more than $280,000. I fully realize you have invested in up-keep and improvements from flooring to kitchens to shingles to possibly a furnace and perhaps a new composite deck to replace the wood rot of the previous deck.

Without showing you all the math, and keeping in mind you may lose five years on the amortization chart, you could now easily afford a $375,000 house without increasing your monthly payments. Later this month I will do a calculation blog to show you how.

NEXT DOOR 

LONDON – ST THOMAS

The LSTAR area easily topped 2014 totals, but also recorded the best year since 2007 in total transactions. The 2014 total was 9,366 or 9.9% higher than 2013. The best year in recent times was 2007 with 9,425 reported sales.

The 2015 number is even more impressive when you factor in 2013 had total sales below 8,000.

The London Free Press story is tagged below, but another upward movement is seen in average house prices in 2015 up to $264,435 versus 2014 at $254,141.

London is an attractive large city to call home, especially when you consider the average sale price in Metro Toronto in November was $632,685.

London is an interesting market because growth in many neighbourhoods has been exponential, especially in the northwest between Masonville Mall, Arva, Hyde Park and my cousin Nick’s farm in Denfield.

“Unemployment (numbers are) down (in London). Buyer confidence is up and London is a good place to live,” said Stacey Evoy of the London St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) to the London Free Press.

Meanwhile, with the Ford Talbotville plant closure, you would guess that the St Thomas region is not thriving. 

After looking at these numbers, I would say the beginning of 2016 will continue a trend to a strong local real estate market.
OWEN SOUND
In the community of Owen Sound, the district's real estate board surpassed 3,000 sales for the first time ever. It would appear many markets in southern Ontario had strong results in 2015. 
Link: http://www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca/news_item.php?NewsID=80994

LINKS:

http://www.lfpress.com/2016/01/04/home-sales-near-record-in-15

http://www.thestar.com/business/real_estate/2015/12/30/toronto-real-estate-headlines-in-2015-include-1m-shack-super-skinny-house.html

In your move to Oxford County,

your first move is to contact me.

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)

Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

www.royallepagetriland.com

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination

Ontario's debt has risen to about $300 billion

You can send your extra dimes and quarters to the Ontario Opportunities Fund

Province's top expenses are education, health and interest on the debt

By Mark Schadenberg

The Province of Ontario has a staggering deficit and a daunting debt as it certainly accumulates over time.

However, did you know the average citizen can play their part in reducing the burden of our future by contributing a portion of you tax rebate to pay down the debt and / or the annual deficit. I know that the calendar for 2015 contributions (to charity too for tax calculation purposes) has passed and I specifically waited to post this until the old year was over.

This idea of paying off the provincial debt with a ‘donation’ is new to me, but it’s in the news, including The Toronto Star story with a link below. 

Between healthcare and education and countless other items in the Ontario coffers, I truly see the reasoning behind this contribution to the Queen’s Park, but don’t count on me counting my quarters and mailing them to Kathleen’s headquarters in Toronto.

I vote at every election, but rarely pick colours during debates like this as the Liberal regime picks up the blotter from the Conservatives. I also recall an era of Rae Days in Bob’s NDP government regime.

The ruling party attempts to decipher the difference between a need and a want, but still wastes money on projects which never happen or were poorly planned.

Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman (Conservative) has been battling for a complete audit of the ledgers at the department of housing as contracts for items such as natural gas heating fuel has not been properly tendered for competitive quotes.  

Further, the Woodstock hospital, for example, now has a moratorium on hip replacements because the local hospital has apparently exceeded its quota. Ask me about the importance of quality of life as I had a hip replacement in December of 2014 and actually now walk more than one city block, which I could not do before that. I can work, ride a bicycle with my kids and actually jog. I could write more on this topic, but I may on another day.

The premise as described in the Toronto Star story is all about assisting the Wynne accounts by donating all or a fraction of your tax refund to pay off the Ontario debt.

By the way, the Star points out the obvious and that the burden to taxpayers of the debt is the third highest expense in the Ontario budget, following – you guessed it – education and healthcare.

The Ontario Opportunities Fund as it’s called has received donations from more than 36,000 people since it began 19 years ago. Again, important to note by the blue, red or orange teams that the fund was created by the blue team after it wrestled power away from Rae, who was Premier in the years 1990-95. Rae is now a Liberal on the federal stage. Fingers can be pointed therefore at every direction, but the red ink continues to splash on the accounting tables.    

Somewhere, as much as $1.1 billion was lost to Ontario tax payers by the discontinued construction of hydro plants in Oakville and Mississauga.

The province’s current debt is calculated to be about $298 billion. The 2015 deficit is just under $8 billion.

Soon after Justin Trudeau and his red team took over, provincial finance ministers were summoned to Ottawa to banter with Liberal national finance minister Bill Morneau about the federal plan for the future. Discussion was to include infrastructure (bridges and roads), transportation and most important the simple idea of communication between the two tiers. It’s safe to recall that the federal government can sometimes smile about its monetary savings by simply funnelling less to the provinces, so the provinces then download more responsibilities and financial commitments to the municipalities.

Good News or Not?

New revenue streams are now found for the province, but are they all good ideas, such as selling beer in grocery stores and selling an important asset such as Hydro One?

  

LINKS:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/20/ontarians-urged-to-help-province-pay-off-its-debt.html

http://www.citynews.ca/2015/12/21/ontario-wants-you-to-donate-your-next-tax-rebate-to-paying-down-the-debt/

http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/credit/oof/

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/morneau-will-meet-with-provincial-finance-ministers-to-discuss-the-hard-economic-truths-facing-canada

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/23/fess-up-hardeman-tells-health-minister

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/10/long-wait-times-for-hip-and-knee-replacements-in-london-area-are-result-of-health-minister-short-changing-region-local-surgeons-say

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/11/ontario-health-minister-eric-hoskins-questions-accuracy-of-claims-made-by-london-surgeons

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/20/lack-of-funding-forces-several-london-region-hospitals-to-halt-surgeries-including-hip-replacements-at-st-thomas-elgin

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/18/rules-alone-wont-prevent-another-gas-plants-scandal-pcs

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/17/liberals-want-power-at-all-cost

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/20/wynne-talks-successes-failures-of-2015

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/12/30/how-ontario-is-changing-in-2016.html

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)

Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

www.royallepagetriland.com

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination

Local and world news, and movies and songs to remember from 2015

A look back before the calendar moves forward

Avian Flu was selected by Woodstock Sentinel-Review as top story of year

By Mark Schadenberg

We can’t begin 2016 without looking back quickly to 2015, including a review of top athletes, songs on the charts and movies on the big screen.

Another list to consider is produced by Lake Superior State University in Michigan. The school annually takes task with words and sayings they would simply banish from our vocabulary. The link is below and quite honestly you can tell the entries are based mostly on submissions from their school alma mater. My least favourite sayings by the way are: ‘Going forward’ our team must . . . and ‘At the end of the day’ it’s 11:59 p.m.   

A list to remember is the obituary notes of 2015, ranging from those who lived a long noteworthy life to 3-year-old Alan Kurdi. The link to this obit list posted by the London Free Press is below and while it’s certainly not a complete compilation, it includes people from news, sports, the arts, and even some area (regionally) significant passings as well.

From a sombre mood to something much more upbeat – hit records. Heart FM (104.7 FM) compiled its top 50 songs of 2015 and the top of the charts was assigned to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars release Uptown Funk. There are certainly different musical genres to analyze for the best of the best, but I can’t deny that Uptown Funk deserves this perch as it has a mere 1.2 billion views on YouTube. 

Bruno Mars

In local news, The Woodstock Sentinel-Review list of most read stories online is noted below, but the top story (most significant) in Oxford County was selected as the Avian Flu outbreak which effected many local poultry farms as 8 farms were quarantined. One chicken farm in particular had to exterminate 27,000 chickens.

In nearby London the top story for 2015 was the same as 2014 and that was the death of three people at the Costco store by a car driven by Ruth Burger.

In the Waterloo Region Record newspaper, there was an alphabet list of topics that dominated headlines. The link is below, and ranged from a news mega sportsplex to be built on the Conestoga College campus for the City of Cambridge to the LRT construction project to debates on boundary adjustments for municipalities.

Jose Bautista

In the sports world, there were many highlights and champions crowned, but for myself the Jose Bautista bat toss will certainly be most memorable.

In national news, the federal election had to be the top story. There is a Toronto Star story below noting their winners and losers of 2015, which would be a very good year for Justin Trudeau and a not-so-good year for Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair.

In world news, I will simply repeat the name of Alan Kurdi.

On the movie screen, every reviewer and pundit had a top 10 list, but Hollywood will tell you the top picture of the year was Jurassic World when you look strictly at box office cash registers. I’m not sure how Star Wars: The Force Awakens didn’t top the list (released on Dec. 18), but it likely will for 2016. The chart is noted below. 

I still remember actor Chris Pratt of Jurassic World from the TV show Everwood (2002 - 2006), which starred two young Canadians in Emily VanCamp and Gregory Smith.

In the stores, Big Hero 6 was the top selling DVD. 

Chris Pratt: Jurassic World

I’m looking forward to 2016. Optimism always abounds for a new year of experiences and life moments.

As we look back to 2015, it is my wish to you that the new year will be your best ever!

LINKS:

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/12/20/top-10-winners-and-losers-of-2015-hepburn.html

http://www.lssu.edu/banished/

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/carey-price-male-athlete-of-the-year-1.3381302

http://www.markroyallepage.blogspot.ca/2015/12/carey-price-is-best-of-best-in-hockey.html

http://www.thestar.com/sports/2015/12/28/brooke-henderson-voted-canadas-female-athlete-of-the-year.html

http://www.thestar.com/sports/2015/12/29/year-in-review-our-favourite-sports-moments-of-2015.html

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2015/12/24/sentinel-review-chooses-the-oxford-county-avian-flu-outbreak-as-the-story-of-the-year

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2015/12/29/the-most-popular-sentinel-review-stories-online-for-2015

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/17/the-top-100-london-free-press-stories-of-2015

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/26/london-free-press-2015-new-quiz

http://www.lfpress.com/2016/01/01/we-salute-here-some-of-the-people-we-lost-in-2015\

http://jam.canoe.com/Microgalleries/2015/12/08/22583142.html

http://site.macleans.ca/canada148/

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6215980-waterloo-region-politics-in-2015-from-a-to-z/

Top Movies:

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/movies/best-movies-of-2015/

http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/records/worldwide/2015

http://jam.canoe.com/Movies/2015/12/28/22587556.html

Top Pop Song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0

Books:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2015/11/23/revealed-the-stars-top-5-fiction-books-of-the-year.html

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2015/11/23/revealed-our-top-5-non-fiction-books-of-the-year.html

If you're thinking about joining a GREAT service club in the Woodstock area?

Call me about the Lions Club of Woodstock

Thinking about buying or selling in 2016?

Contact me today

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)

Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

www.royallepagetriland.com

(519) 537-1553, cell or text