Last week, members of the Goderich chapter of PROBUS leaned what Gateway is doing in their community. This active group of retired and semi-retired business professionals has already met with our group in the past, but they were excited to learn about about the new developments from our organization. We discussed the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Alexandra Marine General Hospital, the launching of Health Coaching, the success of our Retiring Well seminar series, and a fitness daycamp for grandparents and their grandchildren called Grand Sparks. The group also was treated to a sample taste of the new cereal Gateway is producing and the health benefits of this product were discussed. We would like to thank PROBUS for their continued interest in Gateway, and making rural health an important priority.

Despite some dreary weather on the morning of Saturday, August 29, 2015, a crowd gathered on the Goderich Beach for the first Gateway to Health and Wealth Trail Run/Walk. After a motivational pep talk from our MP, Ben Lobb, 47 participants raced up the Maitland Valley Trails on either 2km, 5km, 10km or kiddie trot routes. All participants were entered into a draw to win a bike, kindly donated by Dan Stringer.

This was the first fundraiser of its kind for Gateway, and our partner organization Edward Jones Financial. There is an undeniable link between health and financial literacy...a link that financial advisor Brian Hilt sees first hand. Brian was the original inspiration behind the trail run/walk event. After some interactions with Gateway through our Retiring Well seminar series, it was clear that Gateway could, quite literally, run with this initiative. 

Many people want to know how to retire well, in both a financial sense and health sense. All proceeds from this fundraiser were split between Gateway and a program called Budget Buddies run by Rural Response for Healthy Children. We are very thankful for all the participants who signed up and all the people that had a helping hand in making this happen. Thank you for supporting rural health!

On Wednesday, September 9 the District 2 & 8 Poultry Producers of Ontario gathered together at the Seaforth Golf and Country Club for their annual tournament. They generously donated their proceeds to Gateway, and we are incredibly thankful for their kindness. 

Gateway has been interacting with local poultry producers on a research project investigating lung health, lead by our own Rose-Marie Dolinar. You can read about her project in our recent newsletter. The poultry producers recognize that monitoring health of our farmers is just as important to productivity as monitoring the health of the chickens. We are thankful that the Poultry Producers have contributed financially to sustaining our organization and that they recognize the value of rural health research.