{"id":16021,"date":"2014-11-05T04:59:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T09:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=16021"},"modified":"2014-11-05T08:16:36","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T13:16:36","slug":"lasalle-volunteer-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/lasalle-volunteer-event\/","title":{"rendered":"LaSalle Event Recognizes Volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"theatreline\"<\/a>Normally, volunteer events at boroughs are pleasant afternoon receptions designed to recognize active volunteers with certificates and perhaps a buffet lunch. Not in LaSalle.<\/p>\n

LaSalle Mayor Manon Barbe fetes her volunteers in style.<\/p>\n

Last Saturday night, more than 500 people lined up for half an hour to get into the Desjardins Theatre for une soir\u00e9e \u00e9lectrisante sur la route de Memphis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One of each pair held a folded old-style record\u2014an invitation to the 2014 Soir\u00e9e de B\u00e9n\u00e9voles\u2014in their hands. Pillars of light beamed next to and around the guests. Security agents wearing all-black blocked stairwells and doors.<\/p>\n

You are the heart and soul of the borough,\u201d said Barbe, when she welcomed the audience. \u201cOur borough relies on contributions from volunteers like you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"WP_20141025_003\"Mayor Manon Barbe, MPP Robert Poeti, City councillors Richard Deschamps and Monique Vall\u00e9e, borough councillors Nancy Blanchet, Laura Palestini, Serge Declos and Jos\u00e9e Troilo, and MP Helene LeBlanc stood patiently in a receiving line greeting every person who arrived. They greeted each person with a handshake or kiss.<\/p>\n

Each guest then enjoyed a glass of red or white wine in the foyer, before entering the theatre for a concert by Martin Fontaine and the Groovy Good Times<\/a>. The star of Elvis Story was accompanied by his four-man band. Together, the group put on an extraordinary performance of fifties and sixties favourites that had most people standing next to their seats dancing to among other hits, \u201cDon\u2019t you step on my blue suede shoes\u201d and \u201cWho let the dogs out.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Note 1: This story appeared on pages 10 and 16 of the City Edition of the Suburban.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note 2: The\u00a0borough of LaSalle provided me with the following answers:<\/p>\n

How many people were invited and from which organizations did they come?<\/h2>\n

A total of 840 invitations were available to all accredited organizations of LaSalle (the number of invitations available varied according to the membership size of each association)<\/p>\n

How many attended?<\/h2>\n

650 volunteers came to October 25th’s Soir\u00e9e des b\u00e9n\u00e9voles<\/p>\n

How many borough staff attended?<\/h2>\n

“I suppose you mean to ask how many borough staff worked to make the Soir\u00e9e des b\u00e9n\u00e9voles possible,” wrote Pierre Dupuis. “It’s 24 : 10 white-collars, 8 blue-collars, 1 professional and 6 management. No other borough staff attend the Soir\u00e9e des b\u00e9n\u00e9voles.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is the budget for the event and from which specific line item does it come?<\/h2>\n

Expenses : $ 51 505 ( from Recreational and Leisure Activities and General Administration)
\nSalaries : $ 7 339 ( from Recreational and Leisure Activities and Transportation) Note :these wages represent the overtime paid to the 18 white and blue collar employees working over the week-end for the Soir\u00e9e des b\u00e9n\u00e9voles. City management or professional staff are not paid for extra work done during a week-end)
\nTotal : $ 58 844<\/p>\n

What were the attendance figures and budgets for the same event in 2013 and 2012?<\/h2>\n

2013 : 400 participants (expenses : 51,400 $)
\n2012 : 600 participants (expenses : 56,200 $)<\/p>\n

Note : salaries for 2012 and 2013 were quite certainly similar to 2014<\/p>\n

\"WP_20141025_007\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note 3: Why I was there<\/span><\/p>\n

I attended the event with Joseph Pugliese.<\/p>\n

When Legion 212 president Fred Jennings couldn\u2019t go to the event, he decided to send Joseph Pugliese in his stead. He also asked Pugliese to deliver special golden pins for poppies. Jennings, a World War II veteran,\u00a0hopes that the pin will inspire the politicians to work diligently to support local veterans.<\/p>\n

Pugliese has been asking LaSalle borough politicians questions about who attends their VIP events and what such events cost, so Jennings thought he might like to see one such event firsthand. Pugliese invited a Suburban reporter as a second witness. Both of us had to provide our names, addresses and phone numbers to the borough a week prior to the event.<\/p>\n

Pugliese picked up the invitation from the Legion to show at the door, but he didn\u2019t need it. After coats were taken at the coat check, an employee took guest names.<\/p>\n

After the performance, everyone went downstairs to enjoy a buffet of sandwiches, deli meats, croissants, cupcakes, strawberries, pineapple, broccoli, peppers etc. with tea, coffee, wine or beer, (Ironically given an earlier story<\/a>, I have an allergy to gluten, so I stuck to chips and wine.)<\/p>\n

A deejay was playing for anyone who chose to dance, but I left just after 10 p.m. before dancing got underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Normally, volunteer events at boroughs are pleasant afternoon receptions designed to recognize active volunteers with certificates and perhaps a buffet lunch. Not in LaSalle. LaSalle Mayor Manon Barbe fetes her volunteers in style. Last Saturday night, more than 500 people lined up for half an hour to get into the Desjardins Theatre for une soir\u00e9e […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23,10],"tags":[535,531,530,532,533],"class_list":["post-16021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lasalleposts","category-politics-that-matter","tag-desjardins-theatre","tag-lasalle-borough","tag-martin-fontaine-and-the-groovy-good-times","tag-mayor-manon-barbe","tag-volunteer","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-4ap","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3022,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/manon-barbe\/","url_meta":{"origin":16021,"position":0},"title":"LaSalle Candidate for Mayor (incumbent): Manon Barbe","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"October 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Association: \u00c9quipe Barbe Team - Pro action LaSalle, http:\/\/www.equipebarbeteam.ca\/ Candidate office: 1513, avenue Dollard Current LaSalle mayor Manon Barbe has served as mayor of her borough since 2003. 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A gas leak at 8 a.m. on March 1, 1965 led to an explosion that levelled two apartment buildings and killed 28 people. They also promised to create an exhibit to honour the victims. Later\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LaSalle"","block_context":{"text":"LaSalle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/lasalleposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16092,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/balconies-bricks-exterior-sheeting-lasalle\/","url_meta":{"origin":16021,"position":4},"title":"Balconies, bricks and exterior sheeting in LaSalle","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"November 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Why does the colour of brick matter so much? That was essentially the question Simon-Pierre Labelle, the president of Developement Immobilier Newman Inc. posed to Mayor Manon Barbe at the end of the November council meeting. Labelle\u2019s project at 1771 blvd. 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