Getting the job done can sometimes be a grind as Al Dorman demonstrates while working on the town snowblower as it was in the shop for some adjustments. But it wasn’t long until the giant snowblower was back on the job and filling up town trucks with snow for disposal. Each truckload hauls away an estimated 15 cubic yards of snow off the streets. Crews have also been spreading sand at some intersections to keep vehicles from sliding through. ©Provost News Photo. Print version in January 12 Edition of The Provost News. Want to Subscribe to The Provost News? Click here.

Group Heading to Help Orphans in Thailand
A church group is making plans to travel to Thailand next month to help at a mission as well as making improvements to an orphanage.

Allan Murray of Hayter who is a member of the Chauvin Gospel Centre says that funds have already been sent to start on mission projects. About a dozen church members including Grant and Denise Hager and former Hayter resident Murray Hager will travel to the Asian country that was among others recently devastated by a recent tsunami.

The church sent $4,000 to help with a ceiling project in a girls’ orphanage as well as painting. The church also sent $5,000 to help deal with the tsunami relief work.

Plans had already been made to travel to Thailand before the disaster struck so plans have now been modified because their church mission is dealing with many people coming with no passports, money and other problems. Apparently a nearby university has been shut down so it can be used as a dormitory.

Murray says that the group will be there for 10 days and wants to see how the rest of the world lives . . . “to see conditions others live under.” The orphanage provides education for girls that might otherwise be sold into the sex trade in Thailand. He says it gives them a better chance at life. The Hayter resident has never been out of Canada or the U.S. but “It’s work as far as I’m concerned.”

The church members had originally planned to travel to the Ukraine but there are reports of the Mafia causing problems there right now.

The decision to travel to Thailand was made only a few days after the Ukraine trip was called off.

The orphanage is located inland in a hilly area of the country and volunteers apply to help. They also have to pay their own way (around $2,000 each) plus expenses when they get to Asia.