The 2013 Enerflex MS walk is shaping up to be a big success this year as 83 walkers and 12 teams have already confirmed their registration for the event.
    This year’s walk will take place at the Badlands Community Facility (BCF) on Sunday, May 5.
    “We’re really encouraged by the youth that are coming on board, because they are essential for keeping it going, and the enthusiasm from the locals is just great.” said this year’s MS Walk coordinator, Shauna Brown.
    Interesting new incentives have also been added to this year’s walk for all Alberta participants.
    For every $1,000 in pledges raised by participants, they are entered to win free airfare for two anywhere in the world, courtesy of WestJet.
    “I’m actually very proud of Drumheller, because we’re ahead of a lot of the bigger communities right now,” said Brown.

This year’s MS Walk coordinator, Shauna Brown, and regional director of the Central Alberta chapter of the MS Society of Canada, Lorraine Evans-Cross collaborate on ways to make this year’s walk a huge success. The walk is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 5 at the Badlands Community Facility.

    Brown is confident in surpassing this year’s goal, set by Red Deer, of raising $40,000 in funds.
    “I think it’s really doable,” she said.
    Breakfast and warm-ups will begin at 9 a.m., with registration at 9:30 a.m., and the walk taking place at 10 a.m.
    No changes have been made to the walk route this year, which is slightly less than 10 kilometres, and will start and finish at the BCF.
    If people decide to participate in the walk but don’t feel they can walk the entire distance, check points have been arranged for them to stop and get shuttled back to the BCF.
    A “fun run” will also be held at this year’s event for anyone choosing to run the course instead of walking it.
    The run will not be timed and anyone choosing to run the course will be entitled to a 10 minute head start to help eliminate the amount of traffic on route.
    Red hair streaks and shoelaces will also be made available to the public to help raise some extra funds for the walk.
    “A major portion of the money raised from the walk comes back directly to our community for our support, and the rest goes to research,” said Brown.

    The Little Explorers Childcare and Discovery Centre will be hit hard by Alberta Human Service’s decision to end the $7,500 Quality Enhancement Grant for accredited childcare centres across the province on April 1.
    According to Craig Loewen, press secretary for the department, the grant was cut because it had achieved its goal of helping childcare centres qualify for accreditation.
    Nevertheless, daycare operators are upset over the loss of the grant, which enabled them to provide better programming and additional training for staff.
    “There might be a lot of established daycares in Alberta right now, but for someone who’s just starting out, this is painful,” said Nola Wallace, director of the Little Explorers Childcare Centre.
    She explained that the Little Explorers are still in the accreditation process, having only been in operation for less than two years.
    “That money was essential,” said Wallace, explaining that a certain standard of excellence is required for all accredited childcare programs in Alberta.
    “We have what is required to be a daycare, but to be an accredited daycare, we need multicultural items, a more advanced library and more toys. Basically all of our resources need to be held to a higher standard.”
    The Little Explorers Childcare and Discovery Centre is a non-profit organization, meaning that any money made is invested directly back into the daycare.
    Wallace mentioned that she was grateful the government hasn’t taken away her professional development funds – funds provided by the government to give specially trained employee’s a top-up in addition to the regular pay they receive –  although she fears that they too may now be in jeopardy.
    “If it had affected their pay, I really don’t know what we would have done,” she said.
    Although raising fees for the daycare may be one alternative to recoup the financial losses, Wallace affirms that it is not set in stone.
    “Because we’re in the accreditation process, we don’t want to bail out on that. We want to keep on going, but it will make things tough.”
    Despite the setback, Wallace has faith that Little Explorers will be still be able to continue moving forward without making any detrimental changes to the program.
    “It’s not going to get us down, we shall overcome,” she said.