West Nipissing mayoral candidate Dan Roveda is putting his sneakers to work to raise money for the food bank. A lifelong runner, he decided to turn his “passion into action,” and has vowed to donate funds for each kilometre he runs from August until October 24th—election day.
He’s planning to reach his mark of 300 kilometers over that period, and at one dollar per kilometer, he intends to donate $300 to the West Nipissing Food Bank. He chose the foodbank because “right now, unfortunately, the donations have slowed down.” It’s a problem many food banks are facing given the high cost of groceries, and when Roveda stopped by the food bank the other day, he noticed the shelves “were getting bare.”
See: Lean times at Callander’s food bank
To fill those shelves, he’s urging his community to help if they can by donating either food or money to the food bank. Or residents can follow Roveda’s lead and organize something similar to his jogging fundraiser, that way one can keep healthy while improving the overall health of the community.
See: Dan Roveda is running for mayor of West Nipissing
A healthy community is important for Roveda, and during his first term of council he proposed creating an Active Living Committee, but the idea didn’t gain much traction at the council table, and it eventually fell by the wayside. However, if elected this fall, he wants to bring back the conversation about possibly striking the committee up.
The committee would provide policy direction to the Director of Community Services, Roveda explained, and would allow for more discussions about recreation, culture, and volunteering in the community. Currently, there is no recreation committee, and this committee would help fill that role.
“I think it’s a necessity” to have such a committee, as it allows “more voices” to be heard at council. For example, a group trying to get pickleball off the ground could take their ideas to the Active Living Committee which would then be able to advocate at council. “It would be very important for the community to have,” he said.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
