Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 20, 2021, Winnipeg, Manitoba C MHK PAGE B3 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021 • WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMNEWS I CITY B 3 Halloween displays raise money For a gourd cause GABRIELLE PICHÉ T ^ HE 800-pound pumpkins in Chris Okell’s garage won’t turn into carriages. Still, he’s using them to improve people’s lives. For eight years, Okell has transformed Atlantic Giants into jack-o-lanterns to raise money for the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation. He said this year’s gourds are on the smaller side, but they’ll do the trick. “When I take out an eyeball, it’s probably 50 pounds,” said Okell, who’s used to carving 1,400-pound pumpkins, which are donated to him by farmers who participate in the Roland Pumpkin Fair. All day on Halloween — from 7 a.m. to roughly 1 a.m. — Okell is outside his house with his gourds, a donation bin, and plenty of yard decorations. He’s raised around $31,000, collectively, from people who stop by and drop off donations. “If I raise $500, that was $500 we didn’t have for CancerCare,” he said. “Whatever’s raised, it’s raised, and I’m happy.” Okell loves Halloween because of his mother, Marietta, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2010. He said she used to plan festive events in old Eaton’s stores for inner-city kids. Later in life, Okell made a mission of entertaining neighbourhood children by finding large pumpkins and carving them at his home (39 Bais-inger Dr.). “You can’t go too crazy (carving) because they’re so big,” he said, adding he sticks to carving eyes and a mouth. Marietta’s death caused Okell to convert his tradition to a fundraiser. Since he made the switch, hundreds of people have visited and donated money on Halloween. “Everyone’s been affected by cancer,” Okell said. “If they haven’t — I hate to say it — they probably will.” Okell’s pumpkins (there are usually two) are lit by red floodlights and include fog machines. It takes up to an hour to carve each one with a knife; using a chainsaw is “an absolute mess,” Okell said. Kids in the area suggest faces. Last year, Okell made Jack Skel-lington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Sometimes, young cancer patients show up at the displays. “That’s why I keep doing it,” Okell said. “There’s families out there... They need this little glimpse of some happiness, that someone else is working for them.” Randy Smith, Okell’s longtime neighbour, said he sees Okell’s friends come by to help haul the pumpkin from a truck to his garage each year. “I think it’s a worthy cause,” said Smith. PHOTOS BY JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Andrew Royal works on his Halloween display at his home in Winnipeg on Tuesday. Okell also loads a carved 500-pound pumpkin onto his truck and drives around Manitoba, stopping at places such as dog parks and corn mazes to collect money. People who can’t make it to Okell’s home can donate on CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s website (http://wfp.to/H32). “We are extremely grateful to Chris for his time and dedication in running this event every year,” Laura Curtis, CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s marketing and communications director, wrote in an email. Andrew Royal’s house, at 20 Highbury Rd., is a five-minute drive from Okell’s. He has erected a Siloam Mission donation bin near his display of skeletons, tombstones and fake guillotine marking his front yard. “People would come by, and they’d stop and take pictures,” Royal said. “(My wife and I) thought, ‘Well, why not set up a donation bin?’” Last year, people dropped off 17 garbage bags’ of clothing and three cardboard boxes of toiletries. Royal resurrected the donation bin Sunday and checks for new items nightly. It brings another layer of joy to his favourite holiday. “Being able to help others and take donations, it’s fantastic,” Royal said. “We can spread (Halloween) out over a few weeks, instead of just having one night.” gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com Chris Okell prepares to carve up a 500-pound pumpkin at his home in Winnipeg on Tuesday. Okell raises money for CancerCare Manitoba. Manitoba adds mobile air quality monitoring station IN the wake of a summer marred by forest fire smoke, Manitoba has acquired a mobile monitoring station to check outdoor air quality. The $500,000 vehicle can go anywhere with road access to determine and address the nature of suspected air quality concerns such as forest fires, smoke from stubble burning and environmental emergencies, the province said Tuesday. The mobile monitoring unit has realtime sampling capabilities to identify potential pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and ozone. The equipment can collect samples of the pollutants for laboratory analysis and can measure pollutant data. Its data will provide a snapshot of what is occurring in a community at a given time, the province said. In Manitoba, smoke from wildfires after successive long, hot, dry seasons resulted in air quality alerts being issued in July and earlier this month. The mobile station, to be ready for deployment this fall, allows for quick incident response and flexibility to quickly identify potential hazards and mitigate impacts, the province said. It’s also going to be used to support regulatory compliance and auditing activities to increase public confidence in provincial environmental air-monitoring activities, the government said in a news release. The custom-built vehicle was made in Manitoba, a government spokesman said. It is equipped with the same monitoring equipment as the province’s permanent air quality monitoring stations. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Conservation's Scott Davies shows off the inside of the made-in-Manitoba vehicle. U of M academics vote in favour of strike action MAGGIE MACINTOSH LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER ACADEMICS at the University of Manitoba have handed their union a strong mandate to take strike action amid contentious wage negotiations with their employer. Union president Orvie Dingwall indicated Tuesday the association has broken two internal records, for both membership turnout during a strike vote and the percentage of people who cast a ballot in favour of strike action. Of the 1,092 employees — 86 per cent of the union’s eligible voting members — who participated in the vote held Saturday through Monday, 85 per cent indicated they are in favour of going on strike. “It’s a clear call to administration to exercise its autonomy from the government,” said Dingwall, who represents professors, instructors and academic librarians at Manitoba’s largest postsecondary institute. In recent weeks, the union has voiced concerns about the province providing U of M with another mandate regarding staff wage increases. While the provincial government suggests such mandates are ordinary, citing its role as a steward of public funds, the union claims the move amounts to interference. In 2016, months into bargaining talks, the province secretly provided the U of M with salary mandates in its negotiations with the faculty association and then threatened “financial consequences” if the Winnipeg-based school did not follow through with the terms. Last week, a panel of Manitoba Court of Appeal judges upheld a 2020 ruling that concluded the province’s behaviour five years ago had violated academics’ rights to freedom of association. Dingwall said the union is working with its legal team to figure out next steps regarding the recent ruling. As for current negotiations, she said the union knows U of M has enough funds to come to the table and address the fact staff salaries have fallen behind. She added employees recognize the pressure that calling a strike vote puts on students, but indicated the protection of quality education is at the heart of the call for compensation. Several academics have spoken up this month about their concerns regarding recruitment and retention in faculties ranging from nursing to computer science at the university, owing to U of M’s noncompetitive wages with other comprehensive research schools. “The university will continue to bargain in good faith with UMFA, with the intention of concluding a collective agreement without a labour disruption,” wrote Michael Benarroch, president of the U of M, in a community update Tuesday. Benarroch said both parties continue to work together to conclude an agreement that supports stability in operations, an outstanding educational experience, fairness to faculty and sustainability for the school. He indicated “meaningful progress” has been made on many proposals since bargaining began Aug 5. The school’s latest proposal includes: structural changes to boost pay scales for first- and second-year employees; the continued use of market supplements; and a four-year contract with annual increases of one per cent, one per cent, 1.25 per cent and 1.25 per cent. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie Telling stories is what we do. working during the Spanish flu pandemic. caring for our community is who we are. Winnip^ free Press we know Manitoba matters "Because more opportunities available to children mean more opportunities as they grow into adults.” Lisa Koss, Youth in Phiianthropyaiumna Join together with other caring Winnipeggers. Give to your favourite Cause through The Foundation and make Winnipeg better by helping local charities. FindyourBeCause.org ’Wf. THE WINNIPEG FOUNDATION Your Community Foundation For Good. Forever. #FindyourBeCause | 204.944.9474Í B_03_Oct-20-21_FP_01.indd B3 2021-10-19 9:48 PM ;