Never Go to Bed on an Empty Tummy!

So new beginnings. Every time one Ambassador finishes and another starts, I’m not sure how to feel. Carys and I became quick friends and I soon found that she had a fantastic way of making everything shine. So needless to say I was sad and a little lost with the thought of her staying in London, and the Quebec Regional Ambassador Jean Brillant and I moving along to Ottawa. I neednt worry however, as Jean has a similar sense of excitement and life that I adore in Carys. So after a quick and delicious meal at the Delta London Armouries, and a fantastic nights sleep, Jean and I were off on a much anticipated road-trip to the Delta Ottawa Hotel and Suites.

Another hand-over of Prius keys!

Jean’s very first duty, upon my request, was to navigate us to Ottawa as quickly as possible (of course without speeding in the Delta cruiser!) as I had a special surprise waiting there for me, my boyfriend Aaron! Aaron flew in for the weekend to tour around Ottawa with me. We had a blast checking out the cities museums, tours and markets and dining on fantastic local cuisine, especially the Beaver Tails! One of my favourite purchases, which I am extremely proud to promote, is a necklace produced by an artist who recycles used diamond core samples. She cuts the samples into shapes and paints on them and then sells them at local markets. What a clever and fantastic way to reuse that which someone else considers waste!

Beaver-Tails!

The weekend quickly came to an end, Aaron went back to Cow-town and Jean and I found ourselves ready for his first event. Which just so happened to be where he works, at the Delta Ottawa Hotel and Suites. The event was called “Take a Bite out of Hungry!”. The staff had collected food and money for the last several months to be given to the Ottawa Food Bank. As a very clever marketing ploy, they created a bed out of the cans and boxes in their lobby. This brought out a handful of the local media, which brings more awareness to their fantastic cause. Jean and I had the great pleasure of building a night-stand out of these items as well!

As the camera lights faded, we loaded all of the food into boxes and the staff of the Ottawa Food Bank transported these items in their spacious trucks. We then all reconvened at the Food Bank itself where we were given the task of sorting the food. I have done a handful of these food drives now and this is the first time we have been given the task of sorting the food our staff has donated. It was an absolute blast and gave us an even better idea as to what goes where at the local food banks. The Ottawa Food Bank is a bit unique as it is a warehouse, rather than a direct person-to-person distribution centre. It serves approximately 136 Food Banks in the area by sending them boxes of their requested foods every week. So our job was to sort like foods with like foods into boxes, so that the warehouse workers would know who was to receive what.

Boxes of Delta donated food

Once all was said and done, the Delta Ottawa Hotels and Suites staff donated $561 and a 1/2 tonne of food to the Ottawa Food Bank, just from this event alone. What a fantastic job team!

Eager sorters!

Then we were off! Jean and I hit the road once again, this time towards our first stop in Quebec; the Delta Centre-Ville!

Suzanne