Now in its third year, Quit & Get Fit, funded by the Government of Ontario, highlights the benefits of exercise to help someone quit smoking. The program is based on research that shows physical activity can help reduce cravings and manage withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting smoking.

32 year employee Ken Murray who works in Galvanizing will be the first employee to start the Quit and Get Fit program, “The thing that caught my eye was the amount of support offered and the fact that I will have someone to be accountable to” Ken said. When asked what he hoped to achieve, “Quit. Done. Finished… my family would be thrilled.”

Graham Browne Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Administration was on hand in support of Ken and others participating, “this is a unique partnership that will help employees who want to quit smoking, we are pleased to be able to offer this program to our employees as part of our comprehensive health and wellness program, Personal Best.

“We are thrilled that ArcelorMittal Dofasco has chosen to be one of our Quit & Get Fit sites,” said Andrea Stevens Lavigne, Vice President of Provincial Programs, Ontario Lung Association.

“A workplace cessation program provides an effective setting to reach tobacco users on a regular basis, while benefiting employers in the areas of lost productivity and employee absence due to illness from smoking.”

According to Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-term Care in Ontario, Tobacco related diseases result in $5.8 billion worth of productivity loses every year.

All participants in the Quit & Get Fit program receive a series of free personal training sessions that combine smoking cessation support with fitness and health information.

Another program that ArcelorMittal Dofasco employees, Quit & Get Fit participants, and all Ontarians who are planning to quit smoking are encouraged to access is the Canadian Cancer Society’s The Driven to Quit Challenge.

Launched earlier this month, the Challenge invites tobacco users to break their addiction for the chance to win a new car, a dream vacation or cash. For details about The Driven to Quit Challenge, Ontarians can go to www.DrivenToQuit.ca. Registration is open until February 29, 2012.

If you haven’t been out enjoying the mild winter yet, you are missing out on an incredible birding season in Hamilton. So far this January there have been two hot spots for birds in Hamilton, one, along the Bayfront Trail below Dundurn Castle, where significant rare warblers have been found since the middle of December. Which leaves the second hotspot, the Dofasco Trail. The east end of the Dofasco Trail has been known as a bird watching hotspot for some time now, and this winter it has proven itself to be very popular with not only the birds but also with bird watchers (including myself).

The centre of the activity on the Dofasco Trail is right where the trail intersects with 10th line and the Railroad tracks. If you want to see a variety of raptors, hawks and owls, this winter it seems these two hotspots are going to be the place to be in Hamilton.

Redtail Hawks, Harriers (Marsh Hawks), Kestrels (Sparrow Hawks), Rough Legged Hawks, Turkey Vultures and Northern Shrikes have all been spotted where the trail crosses 10th Line. So far Short Eared Owls have not been spotted, but they should be showing up soon, (if history repeats itself like other winters). Short Eared Owls are usually seen flying over nearby fields just before dusk, searching for their prey.
Hawks are common in the winter but they have been seen in unusually high numbers this season, and have brought along some rare birds with them.

You may find yourself asking “Bruce what is with all of the hawks?” The answer simply put is the abundunce of Meadow Voles, and right now there is no snow cover making the voles easier for aerial predators to find them. Meadow Voles also know as field mice, are small rodents that are dark brown or grey in colour, have four short legs and burrow in the grass where their tunnels are in places that are easily visible in the tussocks of grass even in the low wet fields.

Harriers are not unknown as winter visitors to the agricultural areas in Hamilton but at 10th Line, they are almost guaranteed to be spotted, and up to four at a time!
Rough Legged Hawks find their winter home in Southern Ontario. They summer in the Arctic. They come in two colour phases, light and dark. Light phases have only been seen so far. They are about the size of Redtails but appear to have narrower wings and may be seen hovering low over the fields searching for rodents.
Both Adult and immature Redtails can be seen. The adult has the rusty red tail and the immature hawks have a brownish tail. They are both the same size.

The Northern Shrike, a rare bird, at any time is usually seen in the field that is full of hawthorn trees which happens to be north of the trail immediately east of 10th line. It is a small aerial predator not much bigger then a blue jay. They feed on small birds like sparrows and meadow voles. Shrikes are known as butcher birds. They often will impale their prey on the sharp thorns on hawthorns. For more information on shrikes check out Conservation Halton, Mountsberg Raptor Centre video all on Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes.

In this same area a Bobolink has been seen in the field to the south of the railroad tracks and to the east of 10th Line. Bobolinks are rare in the summer and to see one in January is astonishing (considering they usually flock south to Argentina.) In the same fields you may also see Eastern Meadowlarks. Again another bird that should be much further south. These birds are not expected to be around much longer as the real winter starts to set in.
In this area bird watchers are also seeing Horned Meadowlarks. The novice bird watcher may have some trouble in finding all of these species but there are plenty of other birds that are easy to identify.

To find some easy birds walk along the Dofasco Trail west of 8th Line along the Vinemount Swamp Boardwalk heading west. There is good flock of Robins there feeding on Buckthorn black berries. Yes Virginia, there are Robins in Hamilton in the winter especially where there is open water and Buckthorn trees.

Along the Boardwalk expect to see Black Capped Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, Blue Jays and Winter Wrens. Winter Wrens are the smallest bird in the swamp and sometimes they make themselves easy to see. The wrens are usually hiding under the boardwalk and fly out from under it when they hear your footsteps. Look for a small brown bird with a small tail trying to hide from you.

Even if you are not interested in birds, the Dofasco Trail with Ontario’s longest boardwalk is always exciting. The Dofasco Trail runs from the Devil’s Punch Bowl on the Stoney Creek Mountain to 11th Line in Winona.

Remember to keep your eyes and ears open and you may just spot one of the many birds in the area, this winter.

Written by:

Bruce Mackenzie
Manager Customer Service & Operations.
Hamilton Conservation Authority

Sustain Our Great Lakes is currently inviting applications for competitive funding through its Stewardship Grants Program and its Community Grants Program. The Requests for Proposals are available at http://www.sustainourgreatlakes.org (Click on Apply). Please consider submitting an application by the February 15, 2012 deadline.

The Stewardship Grants Program supports large-scale habitat restoration and enhancement projects that will have enduring and significant positive impacts on the ecological condition of the Great Lakes basin. Grant awards will range from $150,001 to $1.5 million.

The Community Grants Program supports habitat restoration and enhancement projects that simultaneously: 1) improve local habitat conditions and 2) build local conservation capacity. Grant awards will range from $25,000 to $150,000.

Sustain Our Great Lakes will host a 2012 funding opportunity webinar on January 11, 2012. Webinar participants will learn about the Sustain Our Great Lakes funding priorities and application process, see examples of past projects, and receive tips for submitting competitive proposals. The webinar will begin at 11 AM Eastern Time/10 AM Central Time and last for approximately 1 hour. Webinar participants can register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/544871304.

Please contact Todd Hogrefe, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, at 612-564-7286 or todd.hogrefe@nfwf.org for more information.

Sustain Our Great Lakes is a bi-national, public–private partnership that sustains, restores and protects fish, wildlife and habitat in the Great Lakes basin by leveraging funding, building conservation capacity, and focusing partners and resources toward key ecological issues.

www.sustainourgreatlakes.org

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As Christmas Eve approaches the employees of ArcelorMittal Dofasco are wrapping up their 99th annual Christmas toy and food drive.

Yes for now close to 100 years, employees have been hosting many BBQ’s, casual days, bake sales, walkathons, chocolate bar sales, food drives and much more throughout the year to raise money to support their local community.

Many ArcelorMittal Dofasco employees volunteer throughout the city of Hamilton and the surrounding communities, on Boards, coaching many sports, training volunteers or just sharing their passion with others.

Now more that ever the need is so great in our community and the good folks at ArcelorMittal Dofasco step up to answer the call.. so much so…

In addition to raising money one dollar at a time, many many of us at Dofasco give a little bit of our paycheque every two weeks to our Employee Donations Fund. Each small payroll deduction really adds up. On Monday, Rebecca Kwiatkowski, Bronko Jazvac and I did a “lunch run” in the spirit of giving. With cheques in hand, we stopped by Mission Services, St. Matthew’s House, Good Shepherd, Wesley Urban Ministries and Neighbour to Neighbour to deliver a combined donation of $65,000. This after Rebecca, Bronko and our colleagues Shannon Clark and Laurel Hines had delivered $63,000 to Foodshare earlier in the day. What a moving day to be able to make an important contribution of food to families.

I know that money can buy a lot of food as I still remember when, now 50 years ago, on Christmas Eve the Salvation Army placed a Christmas Hamper on my family’s door step. All they said was “Have a Merry Christmas”, they wanted nothing in return… how can I ever thank those generous people.

The ArcelorMittal Dofasco employees just wanted to give an extra special gift to those who do so much, as they help the folks in the community everyday of the year.

“And to all a good night” on behalf of all the Employees of ArcelorMittal Dofasco wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Tony Valeri, today announced the company’s corporate gift of $250,000 to the 2011 United Way of Burlington & Greater Hamilton’s 2011 Campaign on CHCH Morning Live. Employee representative Larry Meyer also announced a $250,000 gift from the Employee Donations Fund, producing a cumulative a gift of $500,000 in support of the United Way.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco and its employees have also collectively announced a challenge to the community – all new donations, corporate or individual, made to United Way in the final month of the 2011 Campaign will be matched by the company and employees, up to $50,000.

“The employees of ArcelorMittal Dofasco are committed to giving back to the community. We know that our gift today will make the community stronger and change lives,” said Employee Donations Fund representative, Larry Meyer. “We’re also inviting all companies, both large and small businesses, private and public sector and individuals that call Hamilton home to rise to this challenge and give back too. Together we can change our community.”

As the United Way of Burlington & Greater Hamilton’s 2011 Campaign enters into its final month, the organization is nearly halfway to reaching their goal of $6,999,999.

“We understand that in order for our business to be successful, we must have a successful and vibrant community,” said Valeri. “The United Way is enriching our community, creating opportunity and changing lives and we have high hopes that the businesses and citizens in the community that currently do not give to the United Way will take on this challenge and donate.”

“We continue to be inspired by the generosity of ArcelorMittal Dofasco and their employees,” said Len Lifchus, United Way of Burlington & Greater Hamilton CEO. “Their commitment to building a stronger and more vibrant community is inspiring and truly illustrates the power of every donation and every dollar. Change starts here, with ArcelorMittal Dofasco.”

DONATE NOW!

[Above photo courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator]

Imagine trying to concentrate, when all you can think about are hunger pangs and having something to eat. This is the reality faced by many children and youth arriving at school without any food to sustain them an entire school day.

Halton Food for Thought operates 140 breakfast, healthy snack and emergency lunch programs throughout Halton Region. Programs are unique reflecting each school environment: full breakfast programs, in-class snack programs, front hallway grab-and-go stations, senior students and volunteers delivering food baskets to classes or packed lunches for students who routinely arrive at school without food. Programs are confidential, non- stigmatizing and provide a warm and welcoming environment

Child hunger in Halton?

Hunger is a reality many families face each and every day in Halton. Some have been impacted by the economic downturn, losing not only their jobs, but their homes and most sadly, their dreams. For many, turning to a social service agency was unthinkable. Now, they express thanks that our program was there to help. Hunger exists, it is merely hidden.

A simple solution to a complex problem

It is well documented when food is provided, a whole new world opens for children and youth. There is evidence of increased confidence, risk-taking, resiliency, improved social condition, better attendance, a reduction in bullying or behavioural issues and overall academic success. Although food provision may appear a simple solution to a complex problem, the impacts are astounding. One cannot underestimate the impact of hunger.

The High School Initiative

In 2011, Arcelormittal Dofasco supported a new program launched at Pearson High School in Burlington. The program engages at-risk students aged 13 – 18 years looking to leave school due to extreme poverty conditions and considered at-risk of homelessness. Students are provided meals cards allowing one healthy meal each day in the school’s cafeteria.

Throughout Halton, 480 students participate in this program. An outcome evaluation conducted in 2010 concluded of the 480 students engaged in this initiative, 89% remained in school, receiving credits toward high school graduation.

We are well aware one of the most effective ways to eliminate poverty is through a good education. Arcelormittal Dofasco’s support of the Pearson High School programs provides hope for students who would otherwise leave school. It is a meaningful contribution impacting a sector of students often forgotten and lost in a complex social service system.

It takes a Village

It’s a whole community approach. The agency receives 50% of its funding from the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services and local United Ways. The remaining 50% is raised though donations and fundraising events. Parents who can afford to pay for meals do so, while funds generated through community or corporate donations support those who cannot afford to pay for meals provided through Halton Food for Thought. Investing in this program today, will realize cost savings for many years to come, diminishing the need for costly health and social service intervention.

Greg McEwan, Project Accountant, is one of 50 global colleagues selected to be a volunteer at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Q. What was your main motivation for becoming a Games Maker?

A. There are so many reasons why I wanted to do this. I have a passion for travel. I love sports and particularly love watching the Olympics. I love meeting new people, learning about their
cultures and becoming immersed in their diversity. I think being a Games Maker will mean being in a positive environment where everyone comes together to celebrate sport and common goals. All of these things make this a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Q. How, when and where did you find out that you had been selected from hundreds of
submissions to be an ArcelorMittal Games Maker? What was your reaction?

A. It was the fall of 2010 and I was sitting at my desk working when I found out I was chosen to be a Games Maker. My first
reaction was disbelief. I was required to submit an essay as an application to be a Games Maker. I could not believe that my essay was selected and that I was actually going to the Olympics or
Paralympics. My second reaction was pride. I was so proud to be part of something so important and have the opportunity to represent my company in such a meaningful way. Finally, I felt elated that such a unique life event had been presented to me. I could not wait to share the news with everyone I knew and certainly had difficulty
concentrating on my work for the remainder of the day.

Q. How did family, friends and colleagues react to the news?

A. I am in such a positive work environment. As soon as the news came out, a group of colleagues had gathered around my desk to express their congratulations. I was touched to see that the news made them just as happy as it made me. My Parents and in-laws were extremely proud and could not wait to boast to other family and friends. My wife, on the other hand, expected no less from me.

Q. You will be representing ArcelorMittal as one of over 70,000 Games Makers at the world’s biggest sporting event, and, with the help of your communications colleagues, sharing your story as you go so that your colleagues can feel a bit closer to ArcelorMittal’s sponsorship of London 2012. How do you feel about this important responsibility?

A. I feel that this is a big responsibility that could easily be overwhelming. However, I am ready for the challenge and will be at my best. I think it’s great that ArcelorMittal is playing such an active role in this event. I am also conscious that my actions will reflect on the company, which is why I will do my best to be a good ambassador for the company.

Q. Is there anything in particular from your career at ArcelorMittal that you believe has prepared you for being a Games Maker?

A. I have been with ArcelorMittal Dofasco for 6 years now and I strongly believe that my work experience has helped to prepare me for what I expect I will experience as a Games Maker. At ArcelorMittal Dofasco, I work with a multi-generational workforce that has a wide variety of expectations from the work I deliver. As part of my everyday job, I need to manage multiple priorities to meet expectations. ArcelorMittal Dofasco also fosters a culture of teamwork and emphasizes that people (not just
the work people produce) is important. Within such a culture we all pull together and work hard when required. I expect a similar culture and similar expectations in my role as a Games Maker.

Q. What are you looking forward to most?

A. I can’t narrow it down to just one thing. I am looking forward to seeing Olympic/Paralympic events live and up close, meeting and forming friendships with people from other countries, and seeing the beautiful and historic city of London.

Q. What do you hope to bring back to your colleagues and your work?

A. I hope to bring back best practices from my international ArcelorMittal colleagues as well as a renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm to my colleagues and work.

Q. What do you think and how do you feel when you see the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the iconic sculpture and observation tower being built in London?

A. I feel amazed that the Company for which I work can build something so prominent and inspirational. It certainly makes me proud to be part of an organization of this scale and one that is willing to contribute so much to this important international event.

My Solidarity Holiday started at the airport counter justifying to the agent why my bags weighed so much. I explained my bags were stuffed with pins, T-shirts, towels and maple syrup for a humanitarian project in the Ukraine. That was enough for the agent to wave the standard $150 surcharge for extra baggage. At the other end of the journey were some 600 kids at “Happy Camp”, an ArcelorMittal overnight camp on the Black Sea. The kids, from 6 to 16, are all family members of ArcelorMittal employees that can spend 3 weeks of their summer at the camp.

I was there with several ArcelorMittal colleagues from Brazil, Mexico, France, The Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and China. We had to present to the campers about our country and then each day we worked with different groups of the kids. The language is Russian – a lot of the kids speak only broken English, but they tried so hard.

For my presentation, I prepared PowerPoint slides about Canada and Hamilton, and brought souvenirs for the kids to keep. I shared a bit about our culture (and made sure to include hockey!) and our geography.

The camp activities included a lot of drama and dance and there was a show everyday. We had to practice our last show for 3 days! One of the performances had groups of the kids presenting each of the countries. For our show, the kids wore the Canada t-shirts I brought, sang an Avril Lavigne song and danced. I brought out the Canadian flag.

Every morning the kids did their exercises on the beach in the morning, then had breakfast. The rest of the morning they practiced for their shows. From 1:30 to 4 everyone, even the older kids, had sleep time.
I shared a room with the two other guys on the trip from France and from Mexico. Our accommodation was modest – I brought pictures home to show my kids so they had an idea of what it was like. The stuff they do at Happy Camp is incredible. The dance and drama with full costumes is unbelievable. Every night was a full on show! Plus, I felt like a movie star. Everywhere you went there were pictures, pictures, pictures. The last day of the show, a little girl asked for my autograph on her arm. Then another. Then another. Even on the day we arrived there was a welcome team that sang for us. It was overwhelming.

While our group wasn’t able to have a plant tour like the other Solidarity teams I was fortunate to be able to meet and talk to the other employees on my team from all over the globe and learn what their sites are like and what they do. This is my 33rd year at Dofasco. This really opened my eyes to ArcelorMittal to see what we are doing as a global company. Since I’ve been back I’ve been emailing my new friends from other ArcelorMittal plants. We all miss the kids and the excitement of the trip. The experience changed me and I hope more of my colleagues will have a chance to experience this.

I was sitting in the departure lounge in Toronto looking at the Air Canada 777 outside the window and awaiting the departure of my flight to Frankfurt Germany. I was on the first leg of my journey for the ArcelorMittal foundation to work with Habitat for Humanity, an assignment which took me to Skopje, Macedonia, located in the central Balkan Peninsula in southeast Europe.

I was extremely excited about having the opportunity to help H4H during the experience of a lifetime, as well as the chance to learn about a new culture and make new friends with other ArcelorMittal employees from different parts of the world, all with the hope of making a small difference in a place of need. The members of our team of volunteers included employees from Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Morocco, and a few ArcelorMittal Skopje employees.

Habitat for Humanity builds homes for people in need. The organization provides an opportunity for families to construct their own homes, then repay a long term, no interest mortgage. In exchange for this, the beneficiary family must put in many hundreds of hours of “sweat equity” into the construction of the home, as a sort of down payment.
After arriving in Skopje, our first day was spent in the resort city of Ohrid. We swam and had some fun getting to know all of the team members over lunch and dinner and also taking in the sights of the city.
On our second day we visited the ArcelorMittal Skopje facility and met the CEO Mr. Juan Pedro Navarro and his staff. We also toured the cold rolling mills.

Then we were off to the village of Veles, site of the build. After a safety orientation, teams of 3 were assigned tasks for the week and we were also introduced to the beneficiary families. After a quick tour of the site and some of the finished homes, we proceeded to get to work. As these homes were nearing the finished state the tasks were painting, staining, landscaping/concrete and the building of wood storage units that would hold the wood used to heat the boiler for the cold winters. Stan (South Africa), Saul (Mexico) and I choose to build the wood sheds. After reviewing the design we set out on fabrication. Our goal was to complete one 6-compartment shed by the end of the week. We worked so well together that we managed not only to refine the design of the shed which sped up fabrication, but we completed 2 sheds in the week. All this working in extremely hot conditions – 42C!

We were paired up with an ArcelorMittal Skopje employee for a home visit to really experience the lifestyle and culture. Not only did my partner Sasha open up his home to me, but his wife and children were thrilled to talk to me and practice their English. We had a fantastic Macedonian dinner and also enjoyed time with his friends. The group was eager to learn about Canada and I was eager to learn about their culture. I had brought his family some Canadian gifts such as maple syrup, Canada t-shirts, small stuffed polar bear and moose for his children and of course a can of Tim Hortons coffee and travel mugs. They in return presented me with items to bring home for my family.

This truly was the highlight for me of the week. During the week, I found that 10 strangers from various parts of the world can come together and in a short time become very close to each other. I now have 10 new very good friends. I know that if I was to ever visit one of them in their country they would welcome me with open arms just as I would them if they came here. While communication sometimes
made it difficult we managed. So in one week we overcame physical and some communication barriers to help in a time of need.

Over the past two years, ArcelorMittal Foundation has co-sponsored the Most Mira (Bridge of Peace) Youth Festival in Kevljani, Bosnia and Herzegovina which unites post-conflict communities through workshops for children.

The festival activities are focused on bringing together youth from different backgrounds to work on various arts projects. This past May, eight volunteers representing the United States, Romania, Canada, Poland, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic joined together to help teach journalism, drama, music, arts, dance and circus skills to 500 Muslim (Bosniak), Serbian and Croation children. The real objective is to bring together these communities and create a fun series of workshops to encourage teamwork.

Our Foundation team set up its headquarters and accommodation in a log house at the Kozara National Park mountains.
The founder of the ‘Most Mira’ (The Bridge to Peace) project, Kemal Pervanic explained that these fields had witnessed the massacre of hundreds of people during the Bosnian war.

The children of Most Mira number some 600 and are from the last two grades of the local elementary schools. They were bused to the area from Monday to Friday, to have lunch and work on their projects in the afternoon. The Festival ended with a grand finale on Saturday, May 21st with students presenting their finished projects.

I worked with Ablon Aziz, of Hamburg, Germany (ArcelorMittal wire plant) providing support for Media Team activities planned by a group of five volunteers from Britain who arrived one week earlier. The Media Team provided direction and support for approximately 60 students divided into groups of 20. The three project areas were photography arts, creation of a newspaper and film making.

Students decided on membership in each group and the final product of their work. Our Team encouraged a mixing of students from different backgrounds. Some of the students spoke English and two instructors spoke the local Serbo-Bosnian language. My knowledge of Polish and Russian also helped the communication. We certainly all quickly learned the importance of body language in understanding the subject and, besides, it provided some good fun.

Each day at the Festival started at the headquarters with a briefing for all teams and warm up exercises, followed by site preparation, meeting students, distributing lunch, direction for students with development of the project, water and clean up duties. Thanks to cooperating weather, most of these activities were outdoors.

The grand finale of the week was a presentation attended by locals and officials of the final work for all the teams. Our publishing group presented newspaper pages, the photography team presented a number of collages and the film media team showed a short clip of the students’ arrival at the site. Each group made a presentation to their peers, teachers and instructors explaining the development process.

Leadership of the two local ArcelorMittal open pit mines (iron ore and limestone) arranged daily meetings with representatives of the local NGO, visited a school for children with special needs, where children presented a song and danced. After the performance, I took the opportunity to thank them and distributed small gifts from ArcelorMittal Dofasco and the City of Hamilton. Our team met with CEO and executives of the local mines and visited an open pit iron ore mine at Omarska. ArcelorMittal Prijadore mines also arranged a gala concert and dinner for all volunteers and staff of the Most Mira Project.

In this short and super busy week, we learned a lot from the students, appreciated a local culture and were totally surprised with a warm welcome from the local population. I feel that my presence there contributed to the small seed that all involved hope will flourish to a unity for the local population.