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We would like to introduce one of our partners from Southern Ontario, Cottam United Church. This partner is in the small town of Cottam, which has been considered a bedroom community for Windsor. This small but vibrant community church is holding a fundraising sale to help offset the cost of a new office on their historic church building. You can purchase a rain barrel for $55 at www.RainBarrel.ca/CottamUnitedChurch.

Cottam United Church is celebrating their 146 year anniversary and 100 year anniversary of their church building. Offices have now been added to the building to accommodate the minister and his secretary so they can continue with their work ministering to their congregation. Up until this past year the office space was the home of Rev. Kim Gilliland and he and his secretary Pam used one small 10’ by 15’ room for all their work at the church.

The congregation at Cottam United Church is a very active church for the size of the community with a very large children and youth group. They have a 35 to 40 member choir and a chimes choir and most of all they all have a good time and a lot of fun.

The church is home to a number of groups for both the youth and young at heart and they support 17 different missions that provide much needed good works both close to home and around the world.

It is hoped by the fundraiser organizers that this will be a prosperous fundraising event and they thank all who participate by purchasing a rain barrel.

So if you are in the Cottam/Windsor area, consider buying a rain barrel and supporting the needed addition to this historic building so it can continue to be home to the church’s congregation for another 100 years.

Rain barrels can be purchased for $55 by clicking here and will be available for pick up on May 25th, 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the Church parking lot located at 137 County Rd. 34W Cottam, ON. You can also support this group by sharing this information with your friends and family.

Downspout Diverter Targets Toronto’s
Downspout Disconnect Bylaw

Toronto ON, April 11^th, 2013 – Spring rains have arrived this week, so it seems fitting that RainBarrel.ca will display their latest products and rain barrel systems at booth 1546 at Toronto’s Green Living Show this weekend. A newly designed Universal Downspout Rain Diverter will assist Toronto residents to meet the City’s downspout disconnect bylaw and newly designed system components will delight DIY (Do-It-Yourself) enthusiasts interested in making their own rain barrels.

A downspout diverter redirects rainwater to rain barrels, pools, hot tubs, ponds, gardens or to any other similar water storage device or area. RainBarrel.ca’s new diverter product feeds up to six water storage devices simultaneously through various sized hose attachments. Standard garden hose attachments permit the option to locate rain barrels in gardens where rainwater will be needed rather than against a house as in most traditional rain barrel installations. A garden hose is all that is needed to direct rainwater from the diverter to rain barrels positioned in the garden.

A downspout diverter also simplifies the winterization process of rain barrels which must be disconnected or face the destructive force of expanding ice. Without a RainBarrel.ca downspout diverter, homeowners must remove (in Spring) and re-attach (in Fall) the lower downspout when disconnecting rain barrels. Diverter winter caps replace all hose fittings and therefore eliminate the bi-annual requirement to remove/re-attach the lower downspout. Rain barrels must be emptied, but the diverter and lower downspout can remain installed.

All RainBarrel.ca products are distributed through non-profit partners at truckload rain barrel fundraising sales. RainBarrel.ca is represented throughout Ontario and in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec through partnerships with well over 100 non-profit organizations, each raising funds for projects in their respective communities.

Please visit RainBarrel.ca at booth 1546 to view repurposed food grade rain barrels, Universal Downspout Rain Diverters and DIY rain barrel components on display.

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For additional information, contact Larry Pomerantz, President, RainBarrel.ca,
905-545-5577. [email protected], www.RainBarrel.ca.

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RainBarrel.ca & RainBarrelFundraising.com partner with non-profit organizations to host rain barrel fundraising sales. For more information, please CLICK HERE.

We are so excited to let you all know that we will be at the Green Living Show April 12-14 at the Direct Energy Centre! It’s the largest Green consumer show in Canada.

Please visit us at booth #1546 to view our re-purposed food grade rain barrels and our NEW universal downspout rain diverters. Learn how a diverter can help you move rain water to a number of locations (ponds, pools, rain barrels, tanks, areas that are covered and don’t get rain, etc.) and AWAY from your foundation.  We will be selling them at the show for an introductory price of $25 (regularly $40).

Come learn more about our products that won us the “Greenest Exhibitor” award at this year’s National Home Show – Canada Blooms and how they can help you meet Toronto’s Downspout Disconnect Guidelines.

You can get in for FREE (a $16 saving) by bringing a piece of e-waste! Bring a piece of e-waste for each family member and get the whole family in for free!

There will be so much to do, see, taste, and experience and tons of great kids’ activities including seeing live birds like owls and hawks! You can also see expert panel discussions & inspiring speakers and $10,000 worth of prizes to be won!

Don’t forget to check out the amazing chefs cooking local sustainable gourmet foods, sample wines & beers and you can even test drive the latest electric vehicles and green cars.

It will be a great weekend activity for the whole family!

We hope you can make it out and come say hi to us at booth #1546.

We are pleased to announce that this year`s 2013 rain barrel season will kick off this Friday at the Ancaster Lions Club Spring and Craft Show. We are now taking orders for pick up on Friday, March 29th or Saturday, March 30th from 10am – 5pm at the Ancaster Fairgrounds. Rain barrels are $50 each and can be ordered online by clicking here.

REMEMBER: Ordering your rain barrel online NOW guarantees that there will be one waiting for you to take home and setup.

We are really excited to introduce our new downspout diverters that will also be available at the show. They will be selling for $25 each – An introductory special!

Diverters are great because they attach to any standard downspout and can simultaneously supply up to six rainwater collection devices such as rain barrels, pools, hot tubs, ponds, etc. They regulate the volume of water that enters a rain barrel and therefore prevent excessive overflow through the top of a rain barrel; and they simplify the winterization of rain barrels as it is installed once and can remain in place during the winter.

About the Ancaster Lions Club

The Ancaster Lions Club – the oldest service club in the community, having been formed in 1945 – is a voluntary organization of men and women who have joined to discover great fellowship, develop leadership skills, and to serve the community.

The fellowship comes from our bi-monthly meetings held on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at the historic Ancaster Town Hall and by working at such events as Ancaster Heritage Day, the Ancaster Fall fair, Ancaster Community Services Food Drive, and the numerous Craft fairs, organized and run by our selves.

Members work together at these events to raise funds for community investment, and also for the feeling of success and inner satisfaction that comes from pulling together cooperatively. We organize and work together at our events to develop leadership skills and the good feelings that come from doing something worthwhile for others. The community is served when we re-invest the proceeds from our events back into the community.

Click here for $1.00 off your admission (Regularly $4.00) to the Ancaster Lions Club Spring & Craft Show.

We hope to see you all there!

Tomorrow is World Water Day and we would like to introduce you to one of our partners who has written an excellent article discussing this important topic. Please meet the Prince Edward County Sustainability Group. They will be hosting their own fundraising sale on April 20th and rain barrels are $60 each. To order your own rain barrel or learn more about this group please visit their webpage: RainBarrel.ca/csgpicton

Submitted by Don Ross for County Sustainability Group

“Water, water everywhere, only if we share” 

This is the clever slogan submitted by a young girl from India, chosen from over 12,000 others for the 2013 campaign of International World Water Day. This event is held annually on March 22 as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and sustainable management of these resources. An international day to celebrate freshwater started at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) by designating March 22, 1993 as the first World Water Day.

Each year World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. March 22, 2013, will showcase water cooperation, which has multiple dimensions including cultural, educational, scientific, religious, ethical, social, political, legal, institutional and economic aspects. A multidisciplinary approach is essential to blend such concepts into a holistic vision. In order to be successful and long-lasting, water cooperation needs a common understanding of what the needs and challenges are around water.

I encourage you to visit www.unwater.org/water-cooperation-2013   where you will discover a wealth of information about what needs to be done to protect our most important resource.  What follows is taken directly from the site to give you a small sip of knowledge from the fountain of information available to drink from:

“Water is vital for life, pivotal for human development and necessary to keep our environment healthy. There is a fixed amount of water on the planet and with increasing population, economic development and changing lifestyles, undue pressure has been put on the world’s limited water resources leading to increased competition for water and creating situations of potential conflict. But water can be used as an instrument of peace and development, as every action involving water management requires effective cooperation between multiple actors, whether at the local or international scale.”

“Water is a vital element for human existence and all ecosystems on Earth, naturally shared through the hydrological cycle. It is the most precious resource on our planet. The fulfillment of basic human needs, our environment, socio-economic development and poverty reduction are all heavily dependent on water. Although there is enough freshwater on the globe for everyone, resources are unevenly distributed in time and space. In many regions, clean freshwater is becoming increasingly scarce due to population growth, urbanization, changes in lifestyle, economic development, pollution and climate change. The growing pressure on water resources creates potential competition between different uses and users and makes it more difficult to manage water in a sustainable and equitable manner.”

“Good management of water is especially challenging due to some of its unique characteristics: the hydrological cycle is highly complex and perturbations have multiple effects on quantity, quality and availability elsewhere; water cuts across all social, environmental and economic activities and touches upon multiple sectors; and water does not respect political and cultural boundaries, be they local, regional or national. Water is a shared resource and its management needs to take into account a wide variety of conflicting interests.”

“Access to water can be a source of a conflict, but it is also a catalyst for cooperation and peace building. Cooperation on such a practical and vital issue as water management and drinking water supply and sanitation services can help overcome cultural, political and social tensions, and can also build trust and social peace between different groups; genders, communities, regions or states.”

“Universal access to efficient drinking water supply and sanitation services is the foundation for the fulfillment of basic human needs and contributes to the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals. Inclusive, participatory and gender sensitive governance of water and cooperation between different stakeholders can help to overcome inequity and prevent conflicts in access to water and thus contribute to poverty eradication, socioeconomic development and improve the living conditions and educational chances, especially of women and children.”

Submitted by Don Ross for County Sustainability Group
This article was originally published in the County Weekly News

Go to www.rainbarrel.ca/csgpicton to order your $60 rain barrel and honour World Water Day while supporting our efforts and PECI Student Environmental Bursary.