By Bill England

Staff Reporter

Anton Milardovic had never met Michaela Kameka nor her parents, Ann and Glenn, prior to last weekend, but he have given them a gift they will always treasure.

Milardovic was in attendance for a teachers’ conference in Toronto in March when he first heard about Michaela, the Tecumseh girl who has MPS III (Sanfilippo syndrome).

“I just sat there during the presentation about Michaela, and when I saw that beautiful face, I just thought how cruel a fate for such an innocent child; I knew I had to do something,” explained the business and computer science teacher at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School in Cambridge, ON.

“This was different from many of the requests we get for donations . . . it was for a fellow teacher, which should hit home with our members, who has a four-year-old daughter, which makes it very personal for me.”

The father of two (his daughter is close in age to Michaela) quietly picked up a pamphlet at the conference, went home, and decided to put together a campaign of his own.

Support

“When I told my wife about this girl and how I felt called to do something, she supported me as I started putting the pieces together for the Million Penny Project,” he recalled.

“I got the same level of support from everyone else I spoke to about my idea.”

One million pennies = $10,000 – and Milardovic set out to reach his goal in 10 weeks.

He approached other teachers throughout the Waterloo Catholic District School Board as well as friends, businesses, and other organizations in his community– hoping all would contribute and bring the Kamekas closer to the $500,000 U.S. they to pay for Michaela’s treatment.

He even had blue ‘Hope for Michaela’ bracelets made to raise awareness of his mission.

Late surge

Just a week before his self-imposed June 15 deadline, Milardovic was short of his goal, but a late surge from donors put him over the mark at $10,550.

He and his family travelled from Cambridge to Tecumseh last weekend to deposit the pennies at the local Windsor Family Credit Union branch and to finally introduce himself to a very grateful Kameka family.  

By Bob Stewart

At the end of the 2008 soccer season, the brand new Vollmer Complex fields were as hard as pavement—rendered rock hard by the hundreds of games, the thousands of cleated feet, and baking action of the summer sun.

This year, the fields will take some additional pounding as the visiting Windsor Soccer Club has made the Vollmer pitches their home base during the CUPE strike that has shut down the Ford Test Track fields in Windsor.

But LaSalle director of culture and recreation Terry Fink is thrilled with the extra business, and with the HydroSense irrigation system that will be installed in the off-season, to keep the fields in tip-top shape come 2010.

“It’s a smart system,” explained Fink. “The sensors will actually sense when the ground needs water, so the watering of the fields won’t be based on a timer, but will be controlled by moisture.”

Fink does not know the exact cost of the irrigation system and installation, but the town has budgeted $225,000. The continuous monitoring of the fields’ moisture will also be better for the athletes, Fink said, preventing ankle, knee and hip injuries that can come from playing on an overly hard soccer pitch.

“The fields can get so hard in the summer time that it’s just like playing on concrete,” he said.

Picking up business

Picking up business from the City of Windsor has given the Town of LaSalle a great opportunity to show off the Vollmer Complex facilities, with the soccer pitches earning glowing review, Fink said, from Windsor Soccer Club officials, coaches and player parents.

Windsor Soccer Club president Dan Docherty was not available for comment prior to press time.

As far as the heavy use of the fields this season, Fink says there’s no concern: “They were designed to stand up to this kind of use,” he said.