Member Update: Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004

EDMONTON — More than 2,000 people lined up for beef burgers, chicken burgers, veggie burgers and hot dogs at AUPE’s Grandparents Day picnic held on the Legislature grounds today.

Participants devoured most of the 2,000 beef burgers, 500 smokies, 500 chicken burgers, 50 veggie burgers and about 3,000 containers of pop, juice and water.

And even though the skies were threatening as the first seniors and AUPE members drifted in to the event, a little sun soon shone through as the air filled with the smells of barbecue cooking.

AUPE President Dan MacLennan thanked the volunteers and members of the AUPE Women’s Committee who made the event possible, as participants enjoyed free burgers, dogs and soft drinks to the musical accompaniment of the Raging Grannies.

“The volunteers did a great job of improving the Grandparents Day barbecue this year, recruiting more volunteers, running more barbecues and filling a canoe with ice and pop, a great idea,” MacLennan said later.

“As well as the huge number of people who walked down from their offices in government buildings nearby, many of our members who work with residents of long-term care facilities came and brought some of the seniors they care for,” he said.

A few politicians, political aides and news reporters from A-Channel, CBC television, CBC radio, the Edmonton Sun and the Edmonton Journal circulated through the crowd of picnickers, who sat at long tables on the grass of the Legislature’s south lawn.

Speakers included MacLennan, AUPE Vice-President Lynne Gingras, Opposition Seniors policy critic Laurie Blakeman and Johnathan Dockman, the Airdrie youth who has been retracing Terry Fox’s steps across Canada to raise cancer research funds and awareness.

“By any measurement, this event was a huge success,” Gingras said later.

“We had an opportunity to honour Alberta’s seniors and to press the government for the facilities and programs that seniors need and deserve,” added Gingras, who is also chair of the union’s Women’s Committee, which organized the annual event.

Gingras said earlier that as a union representing a large number of continuing-care workers, AUPE is very concerned that the contribution by Alberta’s senior citizens continues to be recognized, and that all senior Albertans are treated with dignity and respect.

“One goal of this event was to honour our seniors and celebrate their accomplishments,” she said. “But we were also here today to show our concern that the needs of all seniors are made a priority for our society.”