The Community Matt Program is in place again after it was nearly cut due to lack of funding from the provincial government.
Lola Strand, the coordinator for Family and Community Support Services, says now that Premier Jason Kenney has made the announcement for additional funding, the program will be going ahead.
Strand says normally the mat program is started earlier in the year. However, because they just received notification of the funding, they are hoping to have it start up by Christmas.
Originally, the mat program was started in 2015 and run by volunteers. In 2019 the program was run by staff, and it has continued that way since then. Currently, Strand says they are looking for Mat Program Supervisors so they can get the program operational.
Strand says because of the late start to the program, town council wanted to make it clear that if there were an emergency where temperatures dropped below a certain level, the program would open up temporarily.
Emily Hickman, the mat program manager, says she hopes this will be the last year they have to run the program as they are looking into other options for the future.
“We’re hoping to replace it with something more sustainable, just because relying on the whims of the provincial government to know whether or not we’re going to be able to provide this service is very stressful,” says Hickman.
Right now, she says she can’t give many details about the alternative project. Hickman says the project they are looking at isn’t a guarantee, but if it goes through it would rely less on government funding.
While the program has needed volunteers in the past, Hickman says that isn’t the case right now. They have staff to overlook the service.
What they do need are donations.
The Drayton Valley Thunder players recently had the chance to see if their team-building skills held up off the ice.
Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services Chief Tom Thomson says the team has been getting to meet and exercise with fire services members for some time.
“We’ve done it for a couple of years now,” says Thomson. “It kind of came about after we did a fire prevention night with them.”
During the program at the fire hall, the players get to learn some of the basic skills that new recruits have to master, as well as work on team-building and bonding. Thomson says the event is as much fun for the firefighters as it is for the players.
“They learned how to do the skills, had a chance to practice the skills and then at the end, we had a relay group challenge,” says Thomson.
He says being a junior hockey player can be pretty stressful for some kids. Getting away from the rink and doing an activity outside of the sport can be really beneficial, says Thomson. The program at the fire hall helps the players work on skills that are needed in the game in a different, more relaxed setting.
“As the night went on, it was really interesting to watch how they would help each other accomplish the skill or the task, how they would try and find efficiencies to accomplish the goals,” says Thomson. “You really saw a lot of the newer players on the team come to the fore in terms of leadership.”
One of the benefits for the fire department is that they have the opportunity to spark an interest in a career with fire services. Thomson says hockey players are team-oriented, understand the chain of command, and are physically fit, all things that would work well with fire services.
“It’s been a positive thing for us and for them,” says Thomson.
Jeff Truitt, the general manager and head coach of the team, also believes in the importance of giving the players some time off the ice.
“We were excited to be there,” says Truitt. “It’s something different for the guys during a long hockey season.”
He says it’s important for the players to get out into the community and meet with different businesses and services that they can learn from.
“It’s a very noble occupation and there’s lots of different facets to that operation, what they serve, what they do,” says Truitt. “The pride they take with it rubs off on our team.”
Truitt says they do get invites from other organizations, but one of the challenges for the team is their packed schedule. Between school, volunteering, practices, and games, there isn’t a lot of time for the players to participate in group activities outside of the rink. He says there have been times in the past when they were invited out, but they weren’t able to make it work.
“We’ve had a few, and we enjoy doing it,” says Truitt.
Along with learning some firefighting skills, they’ve also taken some cooking classes recently, says Truitt. He says they try to focus on life skills the players will enjoy doing and can use later on in life.
“The firefighting night was a great time for our guys as a team builder, as an experience, and we thank the fire department for having us.”
Locals line up to call for vote on separation
Residents were lined up all the way out of the doors of the MacKenzie Conference Centre last week to sign the Stay Free Alberta petition, which aims to bring a referendum for Alberta separating from Canada.
Marlin MacDonald, the co-provincial lead for the area covering Drayton Valley, Devon, Beaumont, Leduc, Spruce Grove, and Stony Plain, says the petition only needs 177,000 signatures to be put forward to the province for a referendum on the question of separation.
The proposed question for the referendum is: Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?
Officially, the petition kicked off on January 3, and canvassers have until approximately May 2, to collect the signatures. Should they have enough signatories, MacDonald says the referendum could take place as early as the fall.
January 16 was the first time the petition was available in Drayton Valley as there were delays in getting the pages printed. However, more than 200,000 people had signed a letter of intent to help speed up the petition process, allowing canvassers or members of the organization to reach out to those individuals for signing the petition.
MacDonald says he’s not worried about the 465,000 signatures that the rival Forever Canadian petition garnered earlier this year.
“Their question is on policy, where ours is on constitution,” says MacDonald. “Their referendum was to… change policy so that we couldn’t have another referendum for five years.”
The petition ran from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and was located next to an information session about Alberta independence that ran from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Jason Lavigne was the emcee for the event and introduced attendees to Nadine Wellwood, a chartered investment manager, and Bruce Pardy, a law professor from Queens University, respectively.
About 200 people listened as Wellwood discussed the economic viability of separation and Pardy spoke about possibilities open to a new country with the chance to create a new constitution.
A similar event took place on Saturday afternoon at the Buck Creek Hall and drew a steady steam of people looking to sign the petition.
Local resident brings relief efforts to the Philippines
The devastation caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi left shockwaves around the world, and one local resident knew she had to step up to help with relief efforts.
Before Kalmaegi hit Thailand and Vietnam in the beginning of November 2025, it ran through the central provinces of the Philippines, where it was known as Typhoon Tino. Several provinces were hit hard, but the most damage was in the Cebu province, where Marve Walwal grew up.
According to GMA Integrated News, 150 of the 269 recorded deaths in the Philippines were in Cebu. Walwal says her hometown, San Isidro, Talisay City, was only a 20-minute walk from one of the hardest hit areas in Cebu.
When Walwal heard about the effects of the typhoon, she had already had a trip planned to visit her father toward the end of November.
“At first, I was just collecting bottles and clothes to help a little bit,” says Walwal.
Then her boss suggested she reach out to the Drayton Valley Community Foundation about their crisis relief grant. After applying through the Drayton Valley Multicultural Association, Walwal was granted $10,000 to offer aid to those affected by the typhoon. She also partnered with the Cebu chapter of the UNIFIED Inglewood Association, which is a Filipino teacher association based in California, United States, to secure the grant.
Walwal says Inglewood was already involved in relief efforts after a 6.9 earthquake hit only a month before the typhoon.
Because Tino had hit so close to home, some of Walwal’s childhood friends and acquaintances were affected. She also had the benefit of connections with people who worked in the local government for the area.
“Most people in the town office are mostly my childhood friends,” says Walwal.
While she was down there from November 28 to December 18, Walwal did her best to ensure the funds went directly to those in need to avoid any corruption. The only organizations involved were the multicultural association and UNIFIED Inglewood, and the relief efforts provided by the funding are still underway in Cebu.
Walwal started at the relief centre in her hometown, bringing the donated goods with her and inquiring about how she could help. She says they chose to help those who were at the relief centre because those individuals did not have family or other support they could go to for help.
“We made a list,” says Walwal. “We needed some utensils, medication, this and that. We were able to help at least 250 people at the time.”
She says there were a lot of volunteers at the centre, and she had brought together several volunteers and family members to help her with her own efforts to help. Knowing the patrons at the relief centre were being looked after, she decided to look for areas where she could be more effective.
“Then I met some people who said the government hadn’t gone to their place because it’s a remote area,” says Walwal. “[They were in] an area where no vehicles can go there …and they don’t have transportation to go there.”
Across the Philippines, more than 600,000 homes were damaged, with 75,000 needing to be replaced. Walwal’s father encouraged her to build homes, but she knew they were limited to how many they could build. They had to carefully consider which families they could help out.
She says they plan to build six homes for families in remote areas. They already have contractors who have stepped up to the task and are volunteering their time. All Walwal has to do is provide the supplies.
Since Walwal is back in Canada, the UNIFIED Inglewood Association is acting on her behalf in Cebu. As the housing projects come up, Walwal is sending them money to cover the costs of roofing materials, lumber, and other items necessary for building a home.
While she’s confident she will be able to help some families, Walwal says she’s paying attention to the costs of goods. Once the rebuilds start on a larger scale across the province, the prices of some commodities will rise due to demand, and it may impact the number of homes she can build.
Though her trip home was tempered by the damage caused by Tino, Walwal says she still enjoyed reconnecting with friends and loved ones. She says there were moments that showed the resilience of the people in her hometown.
“They are already devastated, but children still play there as if nothing [had happened],” says Walwal. “They are resilient.”
Anyone who is interested in donating funds to help with the relief efforts can reach out to the Drayton Valley Multicultural Association at 780-514-5249
Gratitude can go too far
I am grateful that I don’t have to be grateful for something every single day.
Yes, you read that correctly. I don’t have to find something to be thankful for on a day when my car breaks down on the way to work, I find out I forgot to send off that one cheque, and my child tells me at about 8:30 p.m. that they need two dozen home made cupcakes for the next morning.
Gratitude is something we all need to practice more often, but the current trend of journaling about the many things you appreciate each day can be toxic. I mean, honestly, how many times can you be sincerely grateful for that first sip of coffee every morning?
To use a word my dad always used when I was little, people are putting a little too much em-PHAS-is on the wrong thing.
A rote practice of gratitude journaling can lead to something called toxic positivity. This is a condition in which people feel it’s so important to be positive that they ignore their negative emotions and don’t process them.
A good example of this trait is Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. This is a woman who at first appears to be a kind older woman who loves cats way too much. But as we get to know the character, we see that all of her cheerfulness and positive attitude are a cover up for her anger and racism.
The movie Inside Out also demonstrates this point as we see the character Joy, who also deals with toxic positivity, try to suppress Sadness because she believes Riley should always be happy. The main conflict in the movie is Riley’s struggle with accepting and processing the negative emotions that are a normal part of life.
We even have an idiom for this kind of situation. Someone who is looking at a situation through rose-coloured glasses is indeed seeing all the positives in a situation, but they are also overlooking important details that they don’t want to accept. Sometimes, a car is a lemon, and the salesperson’s fumbling attempts at flirting are just a scheme to get you to let your guard down.
Scientifically, studies have been done showing the benefits of gratitude journals. It can reduce stress, help with sleep, reduce anxiety and depression, and do numerous other things. However, those achievements are only successful when the person genuinely feels the gratitude.
Imagine coming home after a long weekend away to two feet of fresh snow on your driveway and six inches of compacted snow on your front sidewalk. You are tired, cold, and looking forward to getting into your favourite pair of pyjamas, but when you get to your front door, you see a ticket for failing to clear your sidewalks.
The argument for gratitude could be something like, at least I have a sidewalk and driveway to shovel, or this is a great opportunity for me to try out my new snowblower. However, another healthy way to look at the situation is saying, well this sucks, and I’m not happy about this.
Another commonly used idiom is everything in moderation. The same goes for gratitude. Yes, you should be grateful for many of the things in your life, and if you feel like your life is lacking, you should look at what you do have. At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge and feel the negative things.
Go forth, dear reader, and allow yourself to feel the anger. The next time your coworker steals your pop out of the fridge, I encourage you to drop an f-bomb and express yourself. You’ll feel much better.
Auxiliary supports several important services
Last year was a busy one for the Drayton Valley Healthcare Auxiliary.
Doreen Beckett, the president and manager of the Drayton Valley Healthcare Auxiliary Thrift Store, says they raise funds for the Drayton Valley Hospital, the Serenity House, and the Breton Extended Care facility. Last year, they spent several hundred thousand to support those spaces.
The organization, which raises funds through sales at the Thrift Store and at the gift shop in the Drayton Valley Hospital, was able to donate $180,000 to the renovation of the palliative care room, $70,000 to the eSIM lab, while also purchasing an ICG machine, an ultrasound machine, replaced windows, replaced furniture, and more in the last year.
Along with practical donations, the Auxiliary also spent money on Christmas decorations to help keep spirits high.
Beckett says in the past, the facilities would provide the Auxiliary with a wish list of items they wanted, and the organization would put funds towards those projects or equipment. Today, they receive information packets about different projects and from there they choose how to spend their funds.
“We have purchased a lot of things last year,” says Beckett.
While they spent a lot of money in 2025, it isn’t always easy for them to raise the funds in the first place. The Thrift Store relies on donations from the public as well as the sales to the public. However, over the years, they’ve had to adjust the times they’ve had to make changes to what donations they will accept and what conditions those donations need to be in, as well.
“It’s been good since we put the gate on,” says Beckett. “We cannot go without having the gate closed.”
She says volunteers have to go through every donation they receive to make sure it is fit to be sold. In many cases, people have donated items they believe still have some use or use the drop-off as a place to save some money rather than going to the dump.
“It’s cheaper to dump it there than it is to take it to the dump,” says Beckett.
With the gate up, Beckett says donors have to wait until someone is present to accept the items. At that point, the volunteers can turn some of the items away. If unwanted donations are left, then the Auxiliary has to cover the cost of the dump fees to get rid of them.
After taking a break over the holidays, the thrift store opened again on January 6. Their hours for drop off are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with shopping hours running from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. On Thursdays, the drop off starts at 7:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. with the store opening from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
That was the year that was
That’s just about a wrap for 2025. With the end in sight, it’s time to look back and reflect on the good and bad of the last 12 months.
Starting at the top, it was a mixed year for Justin Trudeau. On one hand he was able to step aside as prime minister without being chased by an angry mob. On the other hand, he had to go on a date with Katy Perry, which was something nobody wanted to see.
It was a bad year for Katy Perry.
In other celebrity news, Taylor Swift took time off from counting her enormous pile of money to get engaged to a man in a ridiculous hat.
We said goodbye to Robert Redford, Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, Jane Goodall, Gene Hackman, Connie Francis, Jimmy Swaggart and a host of other people of varying degrees of fame or notoriety, but who are no doubt missed by those who loved them
Pierre Poilievre probably wishes he could have a do over of the last 12 months. Back in January he seemed all set to be next Top Canadian. A couple of months later he had the look of someone who’s woken up to find his dog had left a little surprise in his favourite underwear and then run off with the next door neighbour.
Meanwhile Mark Carney spent much of 2025 with the look of a man who’d unexpectedly found fifty bucks in the pocket of an old suit and was wondering if he should tell his wife or keep it to himself.
In sports, the Blue Jays came this close (I am holding my thumb and forefinger about a centimetre apart) to winning the World Series, but then didn’t. It was fun while it lasted though.
It was a huge year, spectacular really, very very spectacular, probably the best year ever, for tariffs and the people who like them.
But it was a dreadful year for the man formerly known as His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleigh who I think we’re now supposed to refer to as plain old Andy W.
Closer to home, the municipal elections brought some new faces to town and county councils. The new people are still feeling their way in, so we’ll have more of a sense of how things are going to shape up from a municipal perspective in a few months.
The Omniplex got a new mural on the outside wall and a new name too. It is now called the Team Auctions Centre, for those of you who like to keep track of that sort of thing. I intend to continue to call it the Omniplex, because I am too old and stuck in my ways to change. Incidentally, I noticed a while back that you can tell how long someone has lived in Drayton Valley by what they call the store now known as Your Independent Grocer. To me, it will always be Extra Foods, while some of my friends still call it Blocks. Keeping up with the times? Not us. No sireee. We’ll leave that to the young folks.
And that’s your lot. Or at least it’s all I have room for. Thanks for sticking with us through the year that’s (almost) gone by.
There will be no Free Press next week, because of Christmas. We’ll be back, bleary eyed and wondering where we left our car keys, on January 1 of a whole new year!.
See you in 2026.
“If somebody wants to help the program out, we do take financial donations which can be made payable through the Town of Drayton Valley,” she says.
Hickman says they can also take some items, though their space for storage is limited. Some of that includes winter gear, such as gently used coats, waterproof gloves, toques, or scarves. She says some items, like crocheted afghans, are too bulky for their clients to carry around, so while the thought is appreciated, they would prefer blankets that can provide adequate warmth while being compact.
The Drayton Valley Thunder players recently had the chance to see if their team-building skills held up off the ice.
Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services Chief Tom Thomson says the team has been getting to meet and exercise with fire services members for some time.
“We’ve done it for a couple of years now,” says Thomson. “It kind of came about after we did a fire prevention night with them.”
During the program at the fire hall, the players get to learn some of the basic skills that new recruits have to master, as well as work on team-building and bonding. Thomson says the event is as much fun for the firefighters as it is for the players.
“They learned how to do the skills, had a chance to practice the skills and then at the end, we had a relay group challenge,” says Thomson.
He says being a junior hockey player can be pretty stressful for some kids. Getting away from the rink and doing an activity outside of the sport can be really beneficial, says Thomson. The program at the fire hall helps the players work on skills that are needed in the game in a different, more relaxed setting.
“As the night went on, it was really interesting to watch how they would help each other accomplish the skill or the task, how they would try and find efficiencies to accomplish the goals,” says Thomson. “You really saw a lot of the newer players on the team come to the fore in terms of leadership.”
One of the benefits for the fire department is that they have the opportunity to spark an interest in a career with fire services. Thomson says hockey players are team-oriented, understand the chain of command, and are physically fit, all things that would work well with fire services.
“It’s been a positive thing for us and for them,” says Thomson.
Jeff Truitt, the general manager and head coach of the team, also believes in the importance of giving the players some time off the ice.
“We were excited to be there,” says Truitt. “It’s something different for the guys during a long hockey season.”
He says it’s important for the players to get out into the community and meet with different businesses and services that they can learn from.
“It’s a very noble occupation and there’s lots of different facets to that operation, what they serve, what they do,” says Truitt. “The pride they take with it rubs off on our team.”
Truitt says they do get invites from other organizations, but one of the challenges for the team is their packed schedule. Between school, volunteering, practices, and games, there isn’t a lot of time for the players to participate in group activities outside of the rink. He says there have been times in the past when they were invited out, but they weren’t able to make it work.
“We’ve had a few, and we enjoy doing it,” says Truitt.
Along with learning some firefighting skills, they’ve also taken some cooking classes recently, says Truitt. He says they try to focus on life skills the players will enjoy doing and can use later on in life.
“The firefighting night was a great time for our guys as a team builder, as an experience, and we thank the fire department for having us.”
Residents were lined up all the way out of the doors of the MacKenzie Conference Centre last week to sign the Stay Free Alberta petition, which aims to bring a referendum for Alberta separating from Canada.
Marlin MacDonald, the co-provincial lead for the area covering Drayton Valley, Devon, Beaumont, Leduc, Spruce Grove, and Stony Plain, says the petition only needs 177,000 signatures to be put forward to the province for a referendum on the question of separation.
The proposed question for the referendum is: Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?
Officially, the petition kicked off on January 3, and canvassers have until approximately May 2, to collect the signatures. Should they have enough signatories, MacDonald says the referendum could take place as early as the fall.
January 16 was the first time the petition was available in Drayton Valley as there were delays in getting the pages printed. However, more than 200,000 people had signed a letter of intent to help speed up the petition process, allowing canvassers or members of the organization to reach out to those individuals for signing the petition.
MacDonald says he’s not worried about the 465,000 signatures that the rival Forever Canadian petition garnered earlier this year.
“Their question is on policy, where ours is on constitution,” says MacDonald. “Their referendum was to… change policy so that we couldn’t have another referendum for five years.”
The petition ran from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and was located next to an information session about Alberta independence that ran from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Jason Lavigne was the emcee for the event and introduced attendees to Nadine Wellwood, a chartered investment manager, and Bruce Pardy, a law professor from Queens University, respectively.
About 200 people listened as Wellwood discussed the economic viability of separation and Pardy spoke about possibilities open to a new country with the chance to create a new constitution.
A similar event took place on Saturday afternoon at the Buck Creek Hall and drew a steady steam of people looking to sign the petition.
The devastation caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi left shockwaves around the world, and one local resident knew she had to step up to help with relief efforts.
Before Kalmaegi hit Thailand and Vietnam in the beginning of November 2025, it ran through the central provinces of the Philippines, where it was known as Typhoon Tino. Several provinces were hit hard, but the most damage was in the Cebu province, where Marve Walwal grew up.
According to GMA Integrated News, 150 of the 269 recorded deaths in the Philippines were in Cebu. Walwal says her hometown, San Isidro, Talisay City, was only a 20-minute walk from one of the hardest hit areas in Cebu.
When Walwal heard about the effects of the typhoon, she had already had a trip planned to visit her father toward the end of November.
“At first, I was just collecting bottles and clothes to help a little bit,” says Walwal.
Then her boss suggested she reach out to the Drayton Valley Community Foundation about their crisis relief grant. After applying through the Drayton Valley Multicultural Association, Walwal was granted $10,000 to offer aid to those affected by the typhoon. She also partnered with the Cebu chapter of the UNIFIED Inglewood Association, which is a Filipino teacher association based in California, United States, to secure the grant.
Walwal says Inglewood was already involved in relief efforts after a 6.9 earthquake hit only a month before the typhoon.
Because Tino had hit so close to home, some of Walwal’s childhood friends and acquaintances were affected. She also had the benefit of connections with people who worked in the local government for the area.
“Most people in the town office are mostly my childhood friends,” says Walwal.
While she was down there from November 28 to December 18, Walwal did her best to ensure the funds went directly to those in need to avoid any corruption. The only organizations involved were the multicultural association and UNIFIED Inglewood, and the relief efforts provided by the funding are still underway in Cebu.
Walwal started at the relief centre in her hometown, bringing the donated goods with her and inquiring about how she could help. She says they chose to help those who were at the relief centre because those individuals did not have family or other support they could go to for help.
“We made a list,” says Walwal. “We needed some utensils, medication, this and that. We were able to help at least 250 people at the time.”
She says there were a lot of volunteers at the centre, and she had brought together several volunteers and family members to help her with her own efforts to help. Knowing the patrons at the relief centre were being looked after, she decided to look for areas where she could be more effective.
“Then I met some people who said the government hadn’t gone to their place because it’s a remote area,” says Walwal. “[They were in] an area where no vehicles can go there …and they don’t have transportation to go there.”
Across the Philippines, more than 600,000 homes were damaged, with 75,000 needing to be replaced. Walwal’s father encouraged her to build homes, but she knew they were limited to how many they could build. They had to carefully consider which families they could help out.
She says they plan to build six homes for families in remote areas. They already have contractors who have stepped up to the task and are volunteering their time. All Walwal has to do is provide the supplies.
Since Walwal is back in Canada, the UNIFIED Inglewood Association is acting on her behalf in Cebu. As the housing projects come up, Walwal is sending them money to cover the costs of roofing materials, lumber, and other items necessary for building a home.
While she’s confident she will be able to help some families, Walwal says she’s paying attention to the costs of goods. Once the rebuilds start on a larger scale across the province, the prices of some commodities will rise due to demand, and it may impact the number of homes she can build.
Though her trip home was tempered by the damage caused by Tino, Walwal says she still enjoyed reconnecting with friends and loved ones. She says there were moments that showed the resilience of the people in her hometown.
“They are already devastated, but children still play there as if nothing [had happened],” says Walwal. “They are resilient.”
Anyone who is interested in donating funds to help with the relief efforts can reach out to the Drayton Valley Multicultural Association at 780-514-5249
I am grateful that I don’t have to be grateful for something every single day.
Yes, you read that correctly. I don’t have to find something to be thankful for on a day when my car breaks down on the way to work, I find out I forgot to send off that one cheque, and my child tells me at about 8:30 p.m. that they need two dozen home made cupcakes for the next morning.
Gratitude is something we all need to practice more often, but the current trend of journaling about the many things you appreciate each day can be toxic. I mean, honestly, how many times can you be sincerely grateful for that first sip of coffee every morning?
To use a word my dad always used when I was little, people are putting a little too much em-PHAS-is on the wrong thing.
A rote practice of gratitude journaling can lead to something called toxic positivity. This is a condition in which people feel it’s so important to be positive that they ignore their negative emotions and don’t process them.
A good example of this trait is Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. This is a woman who at first appears to be a kind older woman who loves cats way too much. But as we get to know the character, we see that all of her cheerfulness and positive attitude are a cover up for her anger and racism.
The movie Inside Out also demonstrates this point as we see the character Joy, who also deals with toxic positivity, try to suppress Sadness because she believes Riley should always be happy. The main conflict in the movie is Riley’s struggle with accepting and processing the negative emotions that are a normal part of life.
We even have an idiom for this kind of situation. Someone who is looking at a situation through rose-coloured glasses is indeed seeing all the positives in a situation, but they are also overlooking important details that they don’t want to accept. Sometimes, a car is a lemon, and the salesperson’s fumbling attempts at flirting are just a scheme to get you to let your guard down.
Scientifically, studies have been done showing the benefits of gratitude journals. It can reduce stress, help with sleep, reduce anxiety and depression, and do numerous other things. However, those achievements are only successful when the person genuinely feels the gratitude.
Imagine coming home after a long weekend away to two feet of fresh snow on your driveway and six inches of compacted snow on your front sidewalk. You are tired, cold, and looking forward to getting into your favourite pair of pyjamas, but when you get to your front door, you see a ticket for failing to clear your sidewalks.
The argument for gratitude could be something like, at least I have a sidewalk and driveway to shovel, or this is a great opportunity for me to try out my new snowblower. However, another healthy way to look at the situation is saying, well this sucks, and I’m not happy about this.
Another commonly used idiom is everything in moderation. The same goes for gratitude. Yes, you should be grateful for many of the things in your life, and if you feel like your life is lacking, you should look at what you do have. At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge and feel the negative things.
Go forth, dear reader, and allow yourself to feel the anger. The next time your coworker steals your pop out of the fridge, I encourage you to drop an f-bomb and express yourself. You’ll feel much better.
Last year was a busy one for the Drayton Valley Healthcare Auxiliary.
Doreen Beckett, the president and manager of the Drayton Valley Healthcare Auxiliary Thrift Store, says they raise funds for the Drayton Valley Hospital, the Serenity House, and the Breton Extended Care facility. Last year, they spent several hundred thousand to support those spaces.
The organization, which raises funds through sales at the Thrift Store and at the gift shop in the Drayton Valley Hospital, was able to donate $180,000 to the renovation of the palliative care room, $70,000 to the eSIM lab, while also purchasing an ICG machine, an ultrasound machine, replaced windows, replaced furniture, and more in the last year.
Along with practical donations, the Auxiliary also spent money on Christmas decorations to help keep spirits high.
Beckett says in the past, the facilities would provide the Auxiliary with a wish list of items they wanted, and the organization would put funds towards those projects or equipment. Today, they receive information packets about different projects and from there they choose how to spend their funds.
“We have purchased a lot of things last year,” says Beckett.
While they spent a lot of money in 2025, it isn’t always easy for them to raise the funds in the first place. The Thrift Store relies on donations from the public as well as the sales to the public. However, over the years, they’ve had to adjust the times they’ve had to make changes to what donations they will accept and what conditions those donations need to be in, as well.
“It’s been good since we put the gate on,” says Beckett. “We cannot go without having the gate closed.”
She says volunteers have to go through every donation they receive to make sure it is fit to be sold. In many cases, people have donated items they believe still have some use or use the drop-off as a place to save some money rather than going to the dump.
“It’s cheaper to dump it there than it is to take it to the dump,” says Beckett.
With the gate up, Beckett says donors have to wait until someone is present to accept the items. At that point, the volunteers can turn some of the items away. If unwanted donations are left, then the Auxiliary has to cover the cost of the dump fees to get rid of them.
After taking a break over the holidays, the thrift store opened again on January 6. Their hours for drop off are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with shopping hours running from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. On Thursdays, the drop off starts at 7:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. with the store opening from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
That’s just about a wrap for 2025. With the end in sight, it’s time to look back and reflect on the good and bad of the last 12 months.
Starting at the top, it was a mixed year for Justin Trudeau. On one hand he was able to step aside as prime minister without being chased by an angry mob. On the other hand, he had to go on a date with Katy Perry, which was something nobody wanted to see.
It was a bad year for Katy Perry.
In other celebrity news, Taylor Swift took time off from counting her enormous pile of money to get engaged to a man in a ridiculous hat.
We said goodbye to Robert Redford, Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, Jane Goodall, Gene Hackman, Connie Francis, Jimmy Swaggart and a host of other people of varying degrees of fame or notoriety, but who are no doubt missed by those who loved them
Pierre Poilievre probably wishes he could have a do over of the last 12 months. Back in January he seemed all set to be next Top Canadian. A couple of months later he had the look of someone who’s woken up to find his dog had left a little surprise in his favourite underwear and then run off with the next door neighbour.
Meanwhile Mark Carney spent much of 2025 with the look of a man who’d unexpectedly found fifty bucks in the pocket of an old suit and was wondering if he should tell his wife or keep it to himself.
In sports, the Blue Jays came this close (I am holding my thumb and forefinger about a centimetre apart) to winning the World Series, but then didn’t. It was fun while it lasted though.
It was a huge year, spectacular really, very very spectacular, probably the best year ever, for tariffs and the people who like them.
But it was a dreadful year for the man formerly known as His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleigh who I think we’re now supposed to refer to as plain old Andy W.
Closer to home, the municipal elections brought some new faces to town and county councils. The new people are still feeling their way in, so we’ll have more of a sense of how things are going to shape up from a municipal perspective in a few months.
The Omniplex got a new mural on the outside wall and a new name too. It is now called the Team Auctions Centre, for those of you who like to keep track of that sort of thing. I intend to continue to call it the Omniplex, because I am too old and stuck in my ways to change. Incidentally, I noticed a while back that you can tell how long someone has lived in Drayton Valley by what they call the store now known as Your Independent Grocer. To me, it will always be Extra Foods, while some of my friends still call it Blocks. Keeping up with the times? Not us. No sireee. We’ll leave that to the young folks.
And that’s your lot. Or at least it’s all I have room for. Thanks for sticking with us through the year that’s (almost) gone by.
There will be no Free Press next week, because of Christmas. We’ll be back, bleary eyed and wondering where we left our car keys, on January 1 of a whole new year!.
See you in 2026.
She says they have noticed that some people have donated clothing items by leaving them in a park for someone to find. But she says this isn’t a very practical way to get the items to those who need them. “All it takes is a snowfall or rainfall and those items get wet and frozen and are no good to anyone,” she says. The preference is to have the items donated to them so they can see them properly distributed.
In the past, clients were able to cook some food for themselves when they used the mat service. However, Covid has made that difficult, and right now the clients are not allowed to use the kitchen. Hickman says donations of home cooked meals or baked goods also can’t be accepted because of government policies.
What they do instead of the meals, says Hickman, is put together a bag of snacks for their clients. This might include fruit cups, granola bars, puddings, hardy fruit like apples or oranges, and other similar items. She says if someone would like to donate those types of food, they would be able to use them.
Hickman says other items to consider are things like laundry soap, feminine hygiene products, and thermos’ with a good seal on them.
How do I love thee? … Ummm
Close observers of current events, or anyone with a pulse for that matter, has probably noticed that the world is a pretty crappy place right now. How crappy? Well, it’s as crappy as it’s ever been as far as I can remember,
Elevator back in action
After a wait of several months, residents at the Wishing Well once again have a working elevator.
Since October last year the elevator has been out of commission while the province waited on parts for the repair.
Did somebody say the F word?
A long, long time ago there was a push to build a fieldhouse in Drayton Valley. It began as an idea to create a dedicated space for indoor soccer. That sounded just dandy. Then some other folks got involved and they added all sorts of stuff to the proposal
Wild Rose to charge for busing
Due to a gap between provincial funding and actual transportation costs, the Wild Rose School Division will be charging busing fees for students beginning in the 2026/27 school year.
