The Journal loves a good quote. Here are 10 we liked from 2015.
10 - “Sometimes you feel like quitting. But we all work so hard at it and we love Christmas and Sarnia so much. We’re not quitters.”
- Co-ordinator Cathie Blake, on the doggedness of volunteers who stage the Celebration of Lights despite funding shortages, an aging population and space limitations this year at Centennial Park.
9 - “Your spidey senses should be tingling like all get out.”
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre spokesperson Daniel Williams, on a phone scam that allows shady telemarketers to call you with what appears to be your own phone number.
8 - “We were going by their room when I heard the first cry. I knew he just became a dad.”
- Joel Karnas and wife Vanessa became new parents at Bluewater Health on June 8. His brother Glenn and wife Katie had a baby of their own two hours later.
7 - “So the idea is, if you know what’s coming, even if it’s not great, you might be able to manage it. And that’s really what mental health is all about - just trying to get through the day and feeling OK at the end of it.”
-Lambton College professor Charlene Mahon on a new student transitioning program.
6 - “It’s like being on a bad carnival ride and not knowing when to get off.”
- City councillor Cindy Scholten on Sarnia’s interminable legal fight to close a homeless shelter run by River City Vineyard church.
5 – “It’s more than just a homeless shelter. I know how many lives were saved, how many suicides were prevented, how many people it helped get on their feet, just because the church was doing what a church should be doing.”
- City councillor Andy Bruziewicz and church volunteer on River City Vineyard’s homeless shelter.
4 - “We don’t just want to provide stuff. There are plenty of places in Sarnia where you can get that. We offer more. We offer friendship and a safe place to rebuild.”
- Daphne Bourque, initiator of Welcome Home, a Bluewater Baptist Church program that helps abused women restart in a clean apartment with furniture, food and financial assistance.
3 - “Are they going to become competitively employable? I don’t think so. A lot of people think our clients are all 20 and 30 years old and ready to work. That is not the case.”
- John Hagens, executive director of Community Living Sarnia-Lambton, on Ontario’s decision to close sheltered workshops.
2 - “We work for the happiness, not for the profit.”
-Umar Khan, owner of Your Highness, which became the fourth head shop in Sarnia selling marijuana-related paraphernalia when it opened Dec. 1.
1 – “They were able to recognize they do not need everything they want, and that there are people who just want to have everything they need.”
- Nicole Strampel, mom of twins who used their birthday party to collect for the food bank in lieu of presents.