A little more about Building and Construction Trades Council and Unionized Contractors

In my first blog post I highlighted work and support provided by the Building and Construction Trades Council of Cape Breton to Dragon Boating in our community.   Do you wonder why they do it? Why have they supported this "new" sport since the first breast cancer survivors approached them over 10 years ago? Why do they support the festival?  Why have we had a growing number of Union teams register each year?
I think, as a group (and they're a very large group,)  it's because they genuinely love living and working in Cape Breton.

I think if you watch these two videos it will help you to understand what their leadership and members realized years ago. Our healthy community is on dependent them, their members, and their partners to stay here, work hard, and set/meet a high standards. Likewise, their ability to be stay and be successful in our beautiful community requires an energetic, vibrant, healthy people who support them.

The trailer for the video on YouTube gives you a taste...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgrA6gBUJA4&noredirect=1

Then you can download the video itself from this website.
http://capebretonbuildingtrades.ca/media.html

5 Secrets to winning a race

It's that time of year again. The time of year when school finishes and we who are involved in the CBDBF start getting nervous... So much to do, and so little time to do it.

This year we're really excited about how many teams have been our practising at the Sydney Harbour Dragon Boat Club in Sydney River.  Have you seen them?  They paddle on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and they look great gliding up the harbour from the Sydney River Dam all the way to the Big Fiddle.   It's going to be an excellent competition because some of these teams are starting to get a little competitive.

Do you want to know the secrets to winning the race? There's 5 that I can share.

1. Keep your head up!  Once you're in the boat, you don't need to look at the water, it's not going anywhere.  When you look up you see everyone in front of you and the drummer which helps you to stay connected to the rest of your team.

2. Paddle in time with the rest of your team. They say slow and steady wins the race, well that's true in Dragon Boating too. Reach far ahead of you, bury your paddle blade in the water, paddle in time with everyone else, and don't go too fast, you'll do great!

3. Don't forget to Breath!  Did you ever try to hold your breath for over a minute?  I can't. Sometimes in the excitement people hold their breath but if you're not feeding oxygen to your muscles, they're going to stop working for you.

4. Balance the boat.  This isn't really all that difficult to do, but it can make a world of difference. So, when you're on the dock, look at the person next to you and if they obviously weigh more than you or are much stronger, help them to find a new buddy who's closer to their size and strength.   It's OK, we're all made different shapes and sizes, but if you do this, you're boat will go straighter and faster.

5. MOST IMPORTANTLY... HAVE FUN!! We're all paddling because it's fun, social, and healthful. If you have fun, you're a winner no matter where you place.

Who is Dragon Boating in Cape Breton?

Did you hear the announcement on 94.9 the Cape (http://949thecape.com )? The Cape Breton Building and Construction Trades Council have agreed to sponsor the Cape Breton Dragon Boat Festival again this year.  Big BIG thank you to them for their generous support!!

In the announcement they made reference to something that people often confuse, and I think it’s time I tell the true inspirational story about WHO is Dragon Boating in Cape Breton , WHY, and HOW the Building and Construction Trades Council has made it possible.   The whole story will actually take a couple of days to tell properly, for now I’ll start by giving the general overview.

There are actually 3 formal societies of people involved in Dragon Boating in Cape Breton.  They are the:  

1. Cape Breastoners Dragon Boat Team Society, formed in 2001. They are a group of Breast Cancer Survivors. Their purpose is to be a positive support of Breast Cancer Survivors for Breast Cancer Survivors. They help one another to heal physically and emotionally after suffering the traumatic experience they all know too well. Their home is at the Mira Boat Club where they store their boats and equipment.

2. Cape Breton Dragon Boat Festival Society, formed in 2007. A sister society to the Cape Breastoners, the purpose of this organization is to run the Cape Breton Dragon Boat Festival (CBDBF) every year, and the mission of the Festival is to raise awareness about breast cancer and healthy living.  Every year the team participants collect thousands of dollars in pledges for the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation, including the Cancer Centre, Palliative Care, and other areas of great need.  Meanwhile, IF  the festival itself makes a profit from the sponsorship,  registration fees,  and sale of merchandise, after paying the operating cost of running the festival,  those profits are donated back to the community to the Cancer Centre, Cape Breastoners Dragon Boat Team, and Special Olympics of Cape Breton.  

3. Sydney Harbour Dragon Boat Club, formed in 2012. The purpose of this organization is to make the sport of dragon boating accessible to the general public. They have a partnership agreement with the Festival Society, to use our boats and equipment in exchange for taking care of them and storing them all year round. They also help train steers people and provide orientation sessions for the teams once they have registered for the festival.

Obviously  Cape Breton isn’t a huge community, and we are all friends, so the story in the community sometimes gets blurred about who’s who.  When people hear dragon boat they think Cape Breastoners and/or Festival and/or Club are all the same big beast because we are all friends, and we all support one another in our efforts.

Now, HOW are the Building and Construction Trades Council involved? Well, they are the generous donors that make all this possible.  Between 2001 and 2007, they provided roughly $100 thousand worth of equipment, supplies, and infrastructure for the Cape Breastoners to operate from the Mira Boat Club.   For the past 7 years they have annually sponsored the CBDBF to the tune of $20 thousand each year in sponsorship, registration fees, and in-kind donations.  In 2010, they provided a $20 loan so the Festival Society could purchase boats and equipment eliminating the need to rent and transport boats from Toronto.  Then in 2012 and 2013 they provided in-kind donations to help the Sydney Harbour Club establish a home in Sydney River making the sport of Dragon Boating accessible to the general public 6 months of the year when it’s warm enough to paddle.

The positive impacts and spin-off effects on the Cape Breton Municipality and surrounding community of the investment made by the Building and Trades Council and Unionized Contractors is immeasurable. Every year thousands of people are benefiting from their generosity. THANK YOU!

Ruby Learns to Blog

Hi, I'm Ruby.

I'm the mascot for the Cape Breton Dragon Boat Festival.  That's a really fun 2 day festival that's held in Sydney each year.  This festival has been around for about 7 years now, thanks to the support from our community sponsors and teams. 

This blog is a bit of a marketing experiment, the organizing team has been trying lots of things over the years to share information about the festival with the general public. It's not easy, because even though they're a big group, they're all volunteering their time.  We're lucky it's such a great event, and so we have lots of support from the community.   

I'll blog later about our sponsors, but until then I'll give a shout out to the Cape Breton Building and Construction Trades Council  and all the Unionized Contractors of Cape Breton who are associated with them. Together they provide a great deal of funding and support to the Festival Planning Team. They've been the presenting sponsors for 8 years now, and before that they bought boats and equipment for the Cape Breastoners Breast Cancer Survivor team... Basically there is dragon boating in Cape Breton because these groups are so community minded!  Thanks Guys!!