Speak at charity event? OK, Mansbridge tells daughter

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Pam Mansbridge and son, Ryder. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

OF DAUGHTERS AND DADS... I'm not sure how many people know Peter Mansbridge's two daughters, Pam and Jennifer, grew up and live in Winnipeg, but I know one person who did. My own daughter, Erin Kangas.

Which is how I came upon the story of how the CBC's chief correspondent and anchor of The National came to be the star attraction next week at a charity fundraising dinner at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

"I don't ask my dad for a lot," Pam said.

But last year she asked if he would make a donation to the Children's Rehabilitation Foundation, the fundraising arm of The Rehabilitation Centre for Children.

"It's my favourite charity," Pam said.

Naturally, her dad made a donation.

By that time, Pam had also told my daughter -- who's a development officer with the foundation -- and Erin's boss, Christine Schollenberg, that if they ever needed Peter to do something special for them, she'd ask. And that's how Pam's dad came to donate his time on Nov. 4 for the event they're calling Encounter: An Evening with Peter Mansbridge.

Actually, it's a joint fundraiser for the Children's Rehabilitation Foundation and the Tallman Foundation.

I was curious about why Pam felt so strongly about the Children's Rehabilitation Foundation, given that she and her husband, Rick Moquin, only had their first child, a boy named Ryder, four months ago. Turns out Pam is a Royal Bank manager and was introduced to the organization when she participated in the annual RBC Cruisin' Down the Crescent walkathon, an event she later co-chaired.

And then, in the course of getting involved, Pam discovered she had friends and work colleagues who benefit from the equipment the foundation supplies, from lightweight wheelchairs, voice simulators, specialized bikes and computers to therapy equipment, customized toys and artificial limbs.

Anyway, that's the story other than to say tickets are $200 and still available by calling Rita at 453-9838.

Oh, yeah, there's one more thing.

No, my daughter didn't ask me to write this. Erin, like Pam, rarely asks her dad for anything, either.

Other than the usual.

"Will you babysit?"

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AND NOW MEET THE ANONYMOUS DONOR... We don't know who made the conditional $500,000 offer. But we do know Winnipeg Harvest is at the halfway point in its drive to reach $500,000 in matching donations from people like you. Then, and only then, will the anonymous donor's total contribution be topped up. So, if you spare a little it would help a lot. Donations can be made online (www.winnipegharvest.org). Just click the "Donate Now" box at the bottom of the web page. Or, you can call Winnipeg Harvest at 982-3581.

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STANDING CORRECTED... Pit Turenne, the general manager of Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge, wrote to say I got something wrong the other day. Manitoba doesn't have just two destinations designated as world-class by the Canadian Tourism Commission's Signature Experiences Collection. We have six. Namely, the newly anointed Hermetic Code tour of the Manitoba legislature (Heartland International Travel and Tours). Plus: Polar Bears by Tundra Buggy (Frontiers North); Marvels of Manitoba (Churchill Nature Tours); Birds, Bears and Belugas (Churchill Wild); The Lazy Bear Wilderness Expedition (Lazy Bear Lodge) and Pathway of the Voyageurs (Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge).

It also turns out Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge, which is a fly-in experience, is a finalist for the Tourism Industry Association of Canada's 2011 Traveller Experience Award, which will be announced next month in Ottawa. Who knew we have so much to offer the globe-trotting world?

Not me, obviously.

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FLOWER POWER (AN UPDATE)... You might recall last summer that citizen extraordinaire Tom Denton and Coun. Ross Eadie led a drive to place flowers in a neglected stretch of North Main where 98 boulevard planters were growing nothing but weeds. You might also recall some people said there was no use to planting flowers in that neighbourhood because vandals would just pull them out anyway.

Well, it turned out those flowers remained untouched, except by loving hands that tended to their needs, right up until they were laid to rest for the fall. Which moved Tom to eulogize those flowers about what they stood for. He called them "a delight for passing motorists... and a statement that somebody cares about North Main."

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 27, 2011 B1