UPDATE: the 2020 Christmas Mission
Help Santa deliver to children who may not have a fixed address by donating a NEW, UNWRAPPED gift to the Christmas Mission.
UPDATE on November 26th: Reps from the Mission, my coworkers and I have all been talking, trying to see if we can make Project: Christmas Mission work this year but it isn’t an option with new COVID-19 restrictions. The Ottawa Mission is even doing dinner service differently. Like Thanksgiving, the dining room will not be used.
“Because of our new food truck service, which will serve Christmas meals the week leading up to Christmas in addition to our Christmas meals for shelter guests and vulnerable community members, we anticipate that we will serve 3,500-4,000 Christmas meals from December 13 – 20.
Frozen turkey donations can be dropped off between 7 am – 5 pm at the garage entrance to The Ottawa Mission at the corner of Waller and Besserer. Please ring the bell and a staffperson will arrive to receive your donation.”
- Aileen Leo, Director of Communications at the Ottawa Mission
If you would like to donate online to the Mission, CLICK HERE.
Do you want to buy a toy for a little one in need?
I definitely have some options!
You can donate to the Salvation Army’s Toy Mountain 2020 fund by CLICKING HERE.
You can also give to CHEO’s Child Life Fund through my annual Birthday Wish campaign by CLICKING HERE. 100% of funds go towards buying games, toys, books, crafting kits, movies & other forms of entertainment (for patients aged 0-18) who may be spending the holidays in hospital.
If you have any questions about how to help this holiday season, please feel free to message me. Thank you for considering others! It just feels better to extend your hands to help lift others up, than it does to hold them down.
Same person (me) but a different radio station now (CHEZ 106) & a new way of approaching my Christmas Mission… I haven’t strategized anything just yet. Essentially, I ask for NEW toy donations for children of all ages to be given to the Ottawa Mission. Children experiencing homelessness can be sure to get something - even if Santa couldn’t find their address! There is a ‘gift room’ at the Mission where clients can ‘shop’ for their loved ones.
Gifts aren’t what Christmas is all about. Or birthdays. Or whatever. It’s not material things that mean the most to us… but over the holidays, it’s a simple gestures for some to provide a token of ‘brighter days’ to a child.
That’s what the Christmas Mission is all about. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and it’s been a success because of your generosity.
This year, I am not able to accept in person donations. Parcels cannot be directed to our radio station either as we do not have an open reception area. I’m not sure how to go about collecting toys but I hope to sort out the fine details over the next few weeks.
Please, stay tuned! And if you have a great idea, get in touch.
The AV Social Hour: 'Ghost Stories'
Been feeling haunted lately? You’re not alone. Ask and you shall receive… The Thursday, May 7th edition of our weekly Social Hour (live chat) had a theme and that theme was ‘ghost stories and spiritual encounters’. I didn’t even get to all of your stories, though some are available here and here.
One of the stories submitted by Mandy on Facebook includes pictures, so with her permission I am including that story here:
MANDY’S ENCOUNTER
“My fiancé and I went to Fort Henry in October for their haunted walk. A few things happened but the best one was coming into the bakery and all of a sudden i started getting dizzy and kept burping like crazy like I was ready to puke. Well, come to find out the spirit that died in that kitchen was not a happy one and seeing as I am an empath, I guess I was the only one she could get too. After leaving that kitchen, we went back outside. I felt this feeling come over of me and my fiancé had the camera. This is the picture he captured just as I walked out the door
What's Your Favourite Ghost Story?
Spooky tales from The Amy Volume Show on KiSS 105.3. A mix of calls from listeners, text messages and Facebook comments all from people who’ve been visited by spirits. Some kind, some not so kind.
Like most of you, I’ve been watching The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. I love a good ghost story, so I asked the question: “what’s your favourite ghost story”? It could be a television show, a movie, a legend or maybe a more personal experience.
As they say, ask and you shall receive…
The above audio is a collection of stories from The Amy Volume Show on KiSS 105.3 from October 19th, 2018.
More stories were shared via social media but due to privacy restrictions, I am unable to embed the original post. However, you can CLICK HERE to be taken to the thread filled with ghostly movie suggestions and personal tales, like these:
“One Halloween weekend at the cottage a group of us hired a medium to come and do our readings. During his last reading the medium looked out to the balcony and asked my friend ‘who is the man standing there looking at the roof with his hands on his hips’ I’m seeing an apparition! She said that’s the owner’s father who built the cottage, he was always inspecting the roof. The medium was so spooked that he left right away without saying goodbye to anyone!”
“I was living in a farm house east of the city and one night as I was about to fall asleep, with my eyes closed I saw a super bright light in front of me then as I tried to get up I felt pinned down. It happened twice. Needless to say I ended up leaving the lights and radio on all the time.” - Matt
"In the delivery room giving birth to my first child. The nurse that looked after me looked just like my Nanny who had passed away just before my daughter was born. The labor and delivery were difficult, and I had serious complications. The same nurse stayed by my side even in the delivery room and kept telling my husband and I everything will be alright. My daughter is born, and she was beautiful and healthy. We wanted to thank the nurse (who looked just like my nanny) for taking care of me and our baby. We asked staff members if we could speak to nurse Louise (my Nanny's name) and staff told us there was no Nurse Louise on the unit!"
"I have a scary story about me and my friend... [We went] to her cottage for the weekend and we were bored and found an unopened Ouija board, we started playing and it worked! We were really scared. There was a person we contacted... It was a girl and she was sixty-one and we were asking how she died… The pointer went straight to ‘goodbye’ and we kept hearing noises outside... It was a very scary experience." - Katie
“I was with my mother a few years ago at her house and we were having a conversation in her kitchen. My mother keeps her utensils in a jar on the counter, then one day when [we] were standing on the other side of the kitchen, her potato masher lifted out of the jar and flew across the room all on its own. It was SUPER creepy!” - Nina on Facebook
“An old apartment of mine in Kemptville is haunted. I lived there for over a year and I was getting really sick. I kept going to the doctors and had so many tests done. We couldn't figure out how or why I was throwing up, up to 15 times a day, sometimes more. Eventually I got fed up and went to a psychic. Turns out, I wasn't welcomed where I was living.
I have seen all my cupboards fly open. I was laying in bed once, no fan no window… Everything closed. And a little figure (child like) was coming out of my curtain from my closet, just standing like a child would wearing a sheet to be a ghost.
There were constant cold spots. My girlfriend and I were trying to film, in separate rooms, and we couldn't hear each other from 10 feet away. We were screaming and didn't hear one another. We watched the footage and we could hear everything, each other's yelling one another's name, saying come here, etc.
There were two or three suicides in that place and it got destroyed in one of the great fires of Kemptville. I moved out and I haven't been sick since…” - Chelsea on Facebook
“My husband is in the flooring business and has a lot of experience so he has people calling him all the time. This one time we got a call from a friend who needed some help. I couldn't get out of the car… I felt physically sick. I am quite sensitive. Hubby went and came back about 45 mins later. I didn't know his friend had told him something happened that night...
We go back the next day and I forced myself to go in. Huge mistake. I didn't see but I sensed things. One room a man had stabbed his wife to death and then hung himself. Moving along I came a smaller room where a baby died. Freaked out I went into the room where they were working and said I have to leave. They both look at me.
’Why? Are y'all crazy? How can you stay here?’
‘One of the previous owners wants you out he doesn't like that you are renovating his house. He tried to get you to leave last night.’
[Before leaving, I headed down to the basement] another bad mistake on my part. I felt a sense of cold at the top of the stairs. A flash of light from the corner freaked them out and when they turned and looked at me my very long hair was standing straight up. I walked over to a door and said never open it. And took off running I haven't been back and have to idea if they ever opened that door.” - Patti on Facebook
“There’s this place forty minutes outside of Pembroke called Buck Hill on Round Lake Road. I went there with friends one night and I saw the man; the story is his daughter was lost in a snow storm and he searches the bush looking for [her] and when he died, his ghost continues to look... It’s quite the story but I saw the light floating and then he was right outside my truck.”
Do you have a story to share? Contact me any time via e-mail, or join the conversation weekdays from 9AM to 2PM on KiSS 105.3 in Ottawa, Canada.
Calgon, take me away (to Nordik)!
I'm 30. I've lived in Ottawa for 12 years and I've never been to Nordik Spa-Nature in Chelsea (Quebec).
Lucky for me, that all changed the fateful day they decided to follow me on Twitter...
Thanks for the follow @NordikSpaNature! I've never EVER been to Nordik but always hear the most wonderful things. ✌🏻️
— Amy Volume (@amyvolume) June 9, 2016
My first time at Nordik was juuuuuust right. Ryan & I started with the Thermal experience. You can choose this package ($51 Mon.-Thurs./$61 Fri.-Sun.) to have access to the saunas, spas and relaxation areas. This is the one most people go for at Nordik. You could easily spend an entire day going from spa to pool, sauna to relaxation in whatever order you want (though "hot - cool - hot - rest" is recommended).
Personally, I'm not huge on saunas. I did enjoy the Finlandia sauna. It was large and offered window seating (which I took full advantage of and lay down). I found this sauna the best for breathing and comfort as smaller, hotter saunas send me into some weird anxiety "I CAN'T BREATE IN HERE" panic (best to avoid).
The Tellura area was also pretty awesome. You lay down in a sauna like room on hot stone (quartz) slabs. While laying on stone slabs may not sound very comfortable, the heat of the room and radiating warmth from the stone is very calming.
Nordik's Källa treatment is the second of it's kind in the world. Källa offers unparalleled serenity in it's silent, underground setting. Guests can achieve total relaxation as theyfloat weightlessly in pure water saturated with 12% Epsom salts.
Nordik Spa-Nature's Källa Treatment
- Purifies body
- Improve blood circulation
- Accelerate wound healing
- Stimulates creativity
- Reduces stress
- Releases physical and intellectual tensions
- Reduces inflammation
The Källa treatment can be added on to your Thermal experience for an extra $40 and is also available as a stand alone service. Click the photo above for more information.
Since Ryan and I chose to go during the day (10am-2:30pm) we didn't go all out on a fancy meal at the restaurant but we did have some light lunch at the Panorama Lounge. The food and service were amazing. They have a great selection of fresh vegetarian options, too!
My favourite part of our four hours at Nordik was actually spent in Kaskad (the total silence zone) in the Ëdena (forest beach) area. They have these large floating beds at the back where you can easily drift off listening to the sound of waves. Just as the sun was peeking out, we lay there for a while after the Källa treatment.
All in all, I highly recommend making the 20 minute drive from downtown Ottawa to Chelsea's beautiful Nordik Spa-Nature. See for yourself why North America's largest spa is the go to getaway for so many people. Treat yourself to a mini vacation today!