Issue 32: November 2023

Contributor: James Wood

When Jeff Buch is on duty these days, he often hears the word "Bentley" as riders walk by. So of course, he replies with "bus.”

“This has happened at least a dozen times since the video went up,” says the GRT operator. 

Buch went viral after appearing in an Instagram reel put together by GRT’s communications team.

The reel was part of a social media trend comparing different vehicles to an advertising campaign by Bentley. In it, a model touches different parts of a Bentley car and whispers “Bentley” while staring into the camera. Buch took on the role of the model for GRT, exploring a Nova bus in the GRT fleet while saying “bus.” 

Since the video was posted in late September, it has been viewed over 700,000 times on Instagram. Buch is taking his new stardom in stride. 

“I was really surprised,” said Buch, about the response. “The filming process was so much fun, and I was honestly amazed to see how well the video has actually done. I was definitely not expecting those numbers. My kids have enjoyed seeing them go up every day.” 

Jeff has been with Grand River Transit just over a year, after 13 years on the Toyota assembly line in Cambridge. His wife, Teresa Buch, is also an operator. 

The social media star looks forward to being part of more marketing efforts, and is already looking for an agent.

Contributor: Caroline Rose

National Housing Day was recognized on November 22 at the Idea Exchange in Cambridge. Organized by Regional staff and community partners, the event focused on Homes for all: a portrait of the housing continuum. The housing continuum is the range of housing types available in a community from homelessness to home ownership.

Regional staff worked alongside community partners to plan and execute this event, highlighting the great work that is happening throughout the region.

The event featured keynote speakers Dr. Erin Dej, Associate Professor, Criminology at Laurier University and Jeff Neven, CEO of Indwell. Other aspects of the event included a speakers panel and awards presented to community leaders and organizations, as well as the Immigration Partnership awards.

Award recipients above: Darlene Slater (Shamrock Co-Operative Homes), Angie Pham (Waterloo Region Community Legal Services), Michael Haller & Amy Chicoyne, Jennifer Hutton (Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region), Penny Rogers (Lutherwood), Paulander Princesses

Celebration Square was also a key feature of this year’s event, featuring 20 community organizations all showcasing their stories and successes in the community. It also provided a space for networking opportunities before and after the event.

Celebration Square participants included:

• AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo Association (ACCKWA)
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
• Central Ontario Co-operative Federation (COCHF)
• Habitat for Humanity
• Healing of the Seven Generations
• House of Friendship
• Indwell
• K-W Urban Native Wigwam Project (KWUNWP)
• Lutherwood
• Lynn Macaulay Legacy Project
• Mennonite Central Committee Ontario (MCCO PAG)
• The Plan to End Chronic Homelessness (PECH)
• Sanguen Health Centre
• Somali Canadian Association of Waterloo Region (SCAWR)
• Supportive Housing of Waterloo (SHOW)
• Social Development Centre
• Thresholds Homes and Supports Inc.
• Women’s Crisis Services WR
• Waterloo Region Community Legal Services (WRCLS)

Regional Chair Karen Redman also provided remarks stating the importance of community partners in working together on the housing crisis and announced that the Region’s Building Better Futures dashboard now shows 2,350 total new affordable units. This brings us ahead of our year three goal.

November 22 is recognized as National Housing Day across Canada and is used to highlight the importance of access to housing. This year’s event was a great example of what happens when community comes together to work towards a common goal. 

Contributor: Corporate Strategy and Performance team

Over the past few months, your input into the Strategic Plan and the new vision, mission and core value helped determine who we are as an organization, where we are headed, and how we will work together to get there.  

The statements below capture the heart of who we are, the vision we have for the communities we serve, and the ways we choose to work to achieve this vision. You may notice a slight change in the mission from the original draft – we updated it based on your feedback so that it more clearly describes how we serve the community.

Vision: A compassionate community that cares for all people, stewards the land for future generations and where everyone has the opportunity to live a good life. 

Mission: Providing essential services that support quality of life for each, and every person in Waterloo Region. 

Core Value: Care for people and the land we share. 

Waterloo Region is a part of the Dish with One Spoon wampum. This agreement means we recognize our shared humanity and land; we only take what we need; we leave some for others; and we keep the dish clean. This commitment is the foundation for our vision, mission, and core values.

As we move forward with the new vision, mission, and core value, we are also working with staff to create behaviours that detail how we will put that core value into concrete action. We will share the updated behaviours once finalized.  

We hope these statements inspire and motivate you as you provide critical supports to our growing community, and work towards the shared priorities in Growing with care. 

Yesterday (Wednesday), staff presented Regional Council with the last of a four-part draft Plan and Budget for 2024.

The budget includes proposed service level improvements for all four areas of priorities outlined in the new Strategic Plan: climate aligned growth, homes for all, equitable services and opportunities, and resilient and future ready services.

Tune in to final budget day on Wednesday, December 13 at 7 p.m. Visit the Regional Council calendar for the link to the live stream.

Contributor: Sherry Morley

While stuck on a hill in a bus full of children worried about missing their hockey game, Diane Schofield found herself standing up and saying, “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

She evacuated the bus by position and lines, and assigned parents to call Ubers for each one so they could get to the game.

It was an automatic response. “I don’t know if it’s my fight or flight response, but I have this switch that turns on that says alright, I’ve got this, I know what to do.”  

That is the mindset Diane and the team Ryan Maeck and Lauren Hebert in the Emergency Management Office (EMO) build within the organization and the community.

“Statistics show your level of preparedness for a natural disaster or other emergency will have a major impact on how you live through the response, including how you physically and mentally recover,” she says.

“Residents rely on us to know we’ve got their back. They should have confidence in our ability to respond effectively during a community-wide disaster.”

Like all EMO teams, the goal of her team is to save lives, preserve the environment, protect property, and reduce the impacts to the economy.

“In our work, 95 per cent of our time is spent preparing; the rest is spent responding and recovering as smoothly as we can. It takes months of planning to ensure that happens. It’s never going to be perfect, and that’s why we practice.”

Her team holds up to 15 tabletop and other emergency management exercises each year with certain program areas and the whole organization. The latest involved a real-time response to a blizzard, which requires a lot of coordination within the Region and externally.

“Our motto is we don’t want to be exchanging business cards when we’re responding. Relationships are a significant focus for our team and building and fostering those year over year is so important to how smooth your response is.” 

The team often takes events the Region has been involved in and moves them into an exercise scenario to address gaps. “We want to learn from the experiences and build muscle memory for future incidents. It ensures the comfort level is there for our leaders and their teams when something happens.”

“If we have advice for anyone, it is to be prepared, talk to your family about emergency plans, put a 72-hour kit together and subscribe to Alert Waterloo Region to ensure you are getting important emergency information to support your personal response and recovery.”

"This national recognition is for the entire GRT team"

Contributor: Sherry Morley

Project manager Kevan Marshall received the Young Leaders Award at the 2023 Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) awards ceremony this month.

From the CUTA website: "Kevan stands out as an exceptional project manager, boasting a track record of successfully overseeing Grand River Transit’s U-Pass programs, benefitting more than 40,000 students. His tenure has been marked by the coordination of over 11 critical transit-supporting infrastructure projects, collectively valued at over $5 million. Furthermore, Kevan played a pivotal role in the creation of the TravelWise membership campaign, which propelled program participation from 20 to 40 workplaces.

In challenging times, Kevan has proven himself as a respectful collaborator, skillfully negotiating temporary solutions during the pandemic, including U-Pass suspensions and the establishment of special refund conditions for university partners. Under Kevan’s astute leadership, Grand River Transit has achieved several notable milestones, solidifying its position as one of the preeminent transit systems in Canada and beyond."

"This award is a reflection of the collaborative spirit of the entire Grand River Transit team," says Kevan. "You've all supported me as we've worked together on amazing, innovative, and impactful transit projects that make sustainable transportation the easy choice and Waterloo Region the best place to live. This national recognition is for the entire GRT team. I will be forever grateful for all that we've been able to accomplish together."

Contributor: Scott Cressman

Our Region of Waterloo teams are doing great work to serve this community in so many ways. Every day, we can appreciate our colleagues for their efforts and dedication to making Waterloo Region a better place.

The Service First Contact Centre (SFCC) is on the frontlines of Region services, providing excellent customer service every day. This team answers calls, emails and chats to provide a critical link between residents and the Region of Waterloo. Our colleagues in the SFCC collaborate with our various departments to ensure consistent delivery of excellent services 24/7.

The SFCC team got a surprise visit last month from the Region’s Corporate Recognition Team and senior leaders, who delivered an enthusiastic thank-you for all they do. This “Pop-Up RAVE” on October 31 is something the recognition team is doing to appreciate staff in different workplaces. This latest surprise visit included CAO Bruce Lauckner and Commissioners Kim Bellissimo and Hsiu-Li Wang, who helped thank the 31 SFCC team members for the important service they provide.

When was the last time you showed appreciation to a colleague who is making a difference? Together, let’s make recognition part of our Region of Waterloo work culture. The RAVE program is a great way to do that – learn how you can send a RAVE card to say thank you.

Contributor: Gina Alderman

Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services participated in the KW Santa Claus Parade this month, collecting winter clothing donations on behalf of Sanguen Health Centre’s mobile community health van. Approximately 80 new items were donated by community members along the parade route.

Sanguen Health Centre provides wrap-around support to those experiencing high degrees of marginalization as a result of substance use, mental health, homelessness and chronic poverty. 

The snow may already be here, but it's still the fall season, so we think we can get away with this photo! Thanks to Bingying Xia in Public Health for sharing her favourite fall photo with us from Monarch Woods in Kitchener, and this caption: “Every leaf speaks bliss to me. Fluttering from the autumn tree.”

Send us your photo with a short caption, and it might be featured in the next issue!

Share your story here or at a town hall

We are looking for stories that show how we serve people in different ways, and how staff are working together to achieve our vision. Email us with yours!