How the May Issue Hit the Street

Distribution is an essential part of BMC News. A portion of the papers are mailed via Canada Post to most of Boyle Street, while the rest are delivered by our block carriers in McCauley. For the past several months, thanks to a very dedicated volunteer, distribution has been very smooth.

We expected that this month would be the same as all the others: he would go in his van to the distribution centre to pick up the paper in his van. Then, he would take the papers to his garage where he would bag, label, and sort the papers, before loading them back into his van. Finally, he and I hit the road to the neighbourhood to mail the Boyle Street papers and bring the rest to the homes of our valued block carriers.

Alas, this month it was not to be. The paper was picked up, bagged, labeled, sorted, and loaded as per usual. However, after driving a mere couple of blocks we heard a bizarre popping sound coming from under the van, followed by a sound similar to a tin can scraping the ground. We drove the van back to his place. Although we could not visibly see anything wrong, we knew better than to continue to drive a vehicle with an unknown mechanical problem. Therefore, distribution was temporarily halted.

Fortunately, I do have several people on backup. However, Colleen, our industrious co-Volunteer Coordinator was at work. And Tim, a co-chair extraordinnaire, was out of town on a meditation retreat. Not to be discouraged, I called Kylee, Tim's daughter and a good friend of mine. She was home with her three children -- and mini-van. I was ever so grateful that she was able to come scooting along, children in tow. We packed up the papers for the post office, and took care of the Boyle mailout that afternoon.

Kylee was gracious enough to let us use her van the following afternoon. So, my ever-faithful volunteer took a bus to get to her house, drove back to the west end where we live, unloaded his van and loaded up Kylee's, got me, and off we went to McCauley for an afternoon of delivery goodness. It was not without challenges - the driver's side door would not open, but my friend easily fixed it. Good thing, since his knees don't bend well enough to keep crawling in from the passenger's side.

We also were puttering along at one point, which we assumed was due to overheating. Not good, since the afternoon was relatively cool. After breaking for lunch, the problem remained, and we barely got to the Mohawk station on 97 street to put some gas in the tank - which seemed to take care of the problem. The gas gauge must have been faulty since it was not showing as empty, and putting only $20 worth of gas in the tank raised the gauge quite a bit. Which it should not have, according to my friend who is far more mechanical than I.

In the end, everything turned out all right. The papers reached their destinations, Kylee's van has a fixed door and $20 of gas added to it, and I can focus on working on the June issue. Once again, our wonderful volunteers came through. We just would not be able to function as a newspaper or organization without our volunteers.

Substitute Carrier

A few days ago I found out that one of our carriers was away and won't be back until the end of July. This afternoon I delivered to his route. I've never delivered to a route before, so it was quite an interesting and fun experience. The block in question was in an area of the McCauley neighbourhood I usually only pass through, as it is a distance away from most of the people I know and places where I hang out. I saw some houses and businesses I was not previously aware of, met a few dogs, and chatted with some residents. I finished up right before the big rain hit, which cut short my bike riding adventures through the neighbourhood.

Re-Distribution

The storm on Saturday right after Colleen and I did our rounds dropping off paper to the carriers did have some ill effects. I heard from two carriers whose papers got totally ruined. So, on Monday, I loaded about 200 papers on my bike to re-distribute, as well as drop off at some of the businesses we missed the first time around. It's amazing how much you can actually carry on a bicycle if you are creative (and careful. Plus, a rack and some bungee cords help.).

July/August Online

The July/August issue of the paper is now online. We have readers literally from around the world, simply because we offer a free, downloadable PDF file.

Distribution Day

Distribution is the most physical process of producing the paper. Sorting, bagging, and delivering the papers to our carriers often leaves me exhausted, and sometimes with a few cuts and bruises. Colleen and I delivered yesterday in the beautiful sunshine, which lasted just long enough for us to finish. Then, the skies opened up and it started to pour. I pulled the last few stacks of papers from the back of Colleen's car and ran down with them into the office, narrowly avoiding them getting wrecked by moisture. So far, I have only heard from one carrier whose papers got soaked and am likely going to have to do another distribution run this week.

The best part about doing distribution on a sunny, warm weekend is that we get to run into a lot of people. Some of our carriers were outside or saw me coming up to their doors, and came outside to chat for a bit. When we got to John & Kim's, we got invited to watch the cob fence building workshop that was in progress. A cob fence is an ancient, environmentally sustainable way of building, using clay mixed with straw. People were dancing around in the wet clay, getting it to the right consistency before balling it up and adding it to the growing fence. I took some pictures for the September issue.

We stopped for lunch at a new restaurant in Chinatown, Longan. It is a family business, and our servers were some of the younger family members. Service was very friendly, and the food was impressive. Look for a review in the September issue.

I hid out in the office during the storm, then came back up when the sun returned. I had to go for a walk to take some pictures of the incredible flowers blooming in the gardens and alleys of McCauley, in particular Caroline's front yard (I have never seen so many colourful flowers before on a private property) and Tim's flowerboxes that were very simple, but had excellent composition in terms of the arrangements.

We Picked It Up!

The July/August issue was ready for pickup, so Colleen and I drove out to the distribution centre, filled up the back seat and trunk of her car with papers, and headed to the post office downtown to mail out to Boyle Street. This was the first time I had ever been to the distribution centre. Basically, a very strong woman brought the papers over to the vehicle on a dolly, and helped load them in. At the post office, a friend of mine was working the loading dock, so she helped us get them into the Canada Post bin. Next? Getting the papers into the hands of our volunteer carriers in the McCauley area.

The Waiting Game

We're in that in-between period of finishing the paper, and waiting for it to come back from the printer. Then comes distribution, when we get it out to the carriers (and mail to Boyle Street via Canada Post). I usually have to keep my schedule flexible, because distribution can happen any time after we get the paper back.