Brothers Dressler in the News

Spotted in today's Globe and Mail, an interview with the two craftsmen who are designing and building our table!  Click here to read the story.  Lars and Jason Dressler are exhibiting their work this week at IDS11 -- the Interior Design Show 2011 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from January 27th to 30th.

The YMCA of Northumberland's Story

This length of rope was cut from a coil owned by Kevin Fast, a world-record holder for pulling the heaviest vehicles over 100 feet.  His extraordinary feats of strength include pulling three fire trucks, a house, and a 416,299 lb CC177 -- the heaviest plane in the Canadian Forces.  This year, Kevin will pull a train full of animals in Florida and deadlift two elephants in Mumbai.  Wherever he goes, he performs these amazing acts to raise money for community causes. 

Kevin and his family are long-time members of the YMCA of Northumberland.  While opportunities for travel and good works are many, he delights in coming home to his community, his work as a Lutheran pastor, his family and his YMCA.  He loves, he says, the YMCA's family atmosphere and training with his sons and many friends.  Kevin believes that his Herculean strength is a gift that he was given to serve the community.

This rope was donated by Kevin to demonstrate the YMCA's role in developing each person's natural strengths and their sense of responsibility for each other.

The YMCA of Greater Moncton's Story

This iron rail spike connects the YMCA of Greater Moncton to one of the earliest and greatest Canadian dreams: a transcontinental railroad.  In response to the needs of Grand Trunk and Canadian National Railway employees, 19 YMCAs across Canada provided recreation, literacy support, reading rooms and accommodation -- healthier and necessary alternatives to the saloons and other diversions found along the rails.

This pioneering work earned a place for the YMCA in the hearts of many railway men and their families, not only in the nation's history books.  When a new YMCA facility was built on land reclaimed from Moncton's old CN yards, this spike was unearthed.  It was presented by the Canada Lands Corporation to the YMCA to acknowledge this historic partnership.

This spike commemorates the YMCA's role in realizing a national dream.  It is evidence of the YMCA's responsiveness to changing needs and its strength as a community anchor. 

The Family YMCA of Prince George's Story

This bell was a gift from the Y's Men's Club of Saskatoon to its counterparts in Prince George in 1968.  The gift marked the opening of the Prince George Club's first squash courts -- a development that paved the way for the city's first multi-service YMCA facility in 1975.  The presence of the bell signified that a meeting was an important one.

More than 30 years and countless meetings later, the YMCA of Prince George is a vital charitable organization offering dozens of programs for all ages from ten facilities throughout the city.  Never doubt the power of small groups of like-minded people -- working together across geographic boundaries and over time -- to turn a big vision into an even bigger reality.

The sound of a bell, like the YMCA, calls people to action.  The bell is a symbol of its role as an organizer and mobilizer of the community's resources.

The YMCA of Lunenburg County's Story

Lunenburg County is known worldwide for its Balsam Fir trees.  In the right growing conditions, they can reach a height between 40 to 60 feet.  It takes 12 years for a tree to grow to maturity.  More than 130,000 seedlings are produced annually by the oldest trees in the forest to ensure new growth.  Popular Christmas Trees, every part of the Balsam is useful including its resin which is the main ingredient in cold remedies and optical glue.

The YMCA of Lunenburg County was planted two decades ago in the same soil that nourishes the Balsam Fir.  Rooted in the need for quality, affordable child care, it has grown into a centre of community with a full range of practical programs.  It is generating and tending young seedlings now, including a partnership with the Nova Scotia Community College to serve its Bridgewater campus.

This Balsam Fir reminds us that the YMCA is a renewable resource for sustainable community development.

The YMCA of Sarnia-Lambton's Stories

The city of Sarnia is a border town.  It is the place where the Bluewater Bridge links Ontario and Michigan.  This bolt is the same as the 350,000 bolts that make up the second span construction, 155 feet above the St. Clair River.  Its size belies its strength.

The municipality of Chatham-Kent bridges rural and urban communities.  This piece of barn board comes from the farm of a famous settler: an American woman, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, who bridged the greatest divides of her time -- gender and race -- to be the first black woman to go to law school, publish a newspaper, and vote in a general election.  Her descendent, Dolores Shadd, has carried on her family's activist tradition through her work with farm women and on agricultural issues in Canada and in other countries -- work that earned her an honourary YMCA membership and Chatham's first YMCA Peace Medallion in 1989.  

The town of Goderich is known for its deposits of salt.  Its salt bed was discovered in 1866, making it the first on record in North America.  More valuable than gold to early settlers, salt preserved and seasoned food.  Sifto, the largest salt mining operation in the world, is located here.  It was an generous supporter of the YMCA's newest facility.

The YMCA of Sarnia-Lambton is part of the landscape of these communities, like the Bluewater Bridge, the Shadd Family Farm and the salt mine.  A strong connector.  A base for generations of civic leaders.  An essential element.

The YMCAs of Québec's Story

This YMCA membership card belonged to Francis E. Grafton.  A friend of George Williams, Francis immigrated to Montréal in 1847 when he was 27 years old.  By 1851, he and a group of friends had planted the YMCA idea in the city.  He stayed in close contact with YMCA developments across the ocean and was credited with drafting the Montréal YMCA’s first constitution.

According to archival records describing the YMCA's charter members, Francis provided “the most consistent leadership to the Montréal Association during the first ten years of its existence.”  An advocate for cooperation among YMCAs in North America, he was also a founder of the Canadian confederation of YMCAs -- the forerunner of YMCA Canada.

This document reminds us that YMCA membership has the power to transform lives and communities -- locally, nationally and globally.

The YMCA of Stratford-Perth's Story

This chisel was donated by Ken Grace, who was one of the more than 500 men who worked in the Stratford Steam Shops in the 50s -- on the eve of the transition from steam to diesel locomotives.  Ken and his co-workers used this chisel to remove rust, scale, soot, grease, oil and asbestors from inside and outside locomotive boilers.

Back then, the city of Stratford was best known as a major railway junction.  40% of the city's workers were employed by Grand Trunk and later the Canadian National Railway.  For a long time, the majority of Stratford YMCA members were also railway employees.  The YMCA's second facility was built on company land.  The building, including the pool, was heated with steam piped in from the Shops.  When the steam was on, the YMCA was hot.  When it was off, it was said that the play on the basketball court was just a little faster.

This tool helps us remember that the YMCA is shaped by the same forces that shape the city.  The engines of economic growth and social innovation are fueled by hard work -- on and off the courts!