If you are a 911 Network member, you need to read this...

Just a quick e-mail to say thank you once again for the generosity of the 911 Network. You helped my family out in a time of need and we will never forget that.

I've had the summer off treatments and we will see this month what the tumor looks like on scans and plan for possible fall treatment (head radiation etc.). If I'm back in the hospital this fall you can be rest assured I will be taking full advantage of my corporate rate with the 911 Network. The phone is like a computer itself and gives me tons of things to do with it to keep from boredom. The unlimited text messaging and low cost for the data package allows my wife and I to communicate without needing the expensive hospital phone in my room. Something we couldn't afford anyhow. I send pictures back to the kids and my wife sends me the kids photos a couple of times a day. Being housed in a ward that doesn't permit children under the age of 12 means I am without my family. Last year for months at a time. I can't describe how painful and lonely that is like. Your service has truly been a "life line" for my family and I. Under our strained financial situation we might have been able to afford maybe one cell phone in the house and most likely with limitations on its use again due to our financial situation. But the 911Network's plan allowed both my wife and I to have an excellent phone with virtually no limitation to our use of them.

I wish I would've known of your plan prior to falling sick. Even then when I wasn't on sick leave and earning my full salary ... owning two cell phones at such a great rate would have been phenomenal!

Thank you so much once again. I will keep you posted with the results of my upcoming brain MRI and CT scans of my chest & abdomen ... see if we've gotten rid of any of the cancer.

Yours Truly,

Michael Paré

I just had to post this, as it is a great gesture by York Regional Police...

Subject: touching letter from the Toronto Star.

What you can get at the dollar store

Published On Fri Oct 22 2010

An ordinary day at work took a heartbreaking turn when York Regional Police Platoon Sgt. Rob Cullen was called to a home in Keswick last week. Moved and determined to honour the man found lifeless and alone, Cullen sent his story to AM640 Radio.

THE LETTER

Last night, while working in my usual role as a police platoon sergeant, we were called to a VSA . . . vital signs absent, in the basement apartment of a house just north of Keswick.

The victim was 78 years old. A retired firefighter, he had served from 1959 to 1989 with the North York Fire Department. It no longer exists, having been enveloped by the Toronto Fire Department. The victim had succumbed to a heart attack.

His small basement apartment was very tidy. Upon the walls were tons of framed photos. Pieces of history from 1940s and ’50s baseball, hockey, entertainers, and horse racing. Certificates of gratitude from the North York Fire Department, the City of Toronto, and the pigeon racing club he belonged to after he retired. He had a very organized collection of 78 rpm records from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Ella, Fats Waller . . . and he had the turntables to play them. The last album he played was Frank Sinatra.

He was very well read. Books of history lined his bookshelves, with an emphasis on Ontario and especially Toronto history. His specialty was the Avro Arrow . . . the huge limited framed edition print on his bedroom wall reflected his interest. Maybe sometime, somewhere, he saw the world’s greatest plane fly. He was a huge supporter of our troops. An article from the Toronto Sun about the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion sat on his desk. Pictures of cops and firefighters were found here and there.

But as we found out, he had no next-of-kin. As the sergeant, it was my job to notify them. I had no one to visit, no one to see. No nieces or nephews, no sons or daughters. He was truly alone.

Satisfied with what I had seen, I left the detectives and constable on scene to await the coroner, and have the body removed to its final rest. As I walked down the driveway, the constable followed me out and said, “Hey Sarge, wait up! Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. Whatdya need?”

“Sarge, they’re gonna carry this guy out in a plastic bag. All the neighbours are watching. He was a firefighter for 30 years. Sarge he’s got no one . . . we can’t let him go like that. Can you find us a Canadian flag, so that when they take him out of the house, we can lay it on the gurney when they roll him to the hearse?”

7:30 on a Tuesday night. Where to find a flag? . . . Yup, the Dollar Store. The only thing open and, sure enough, they had one. Contrary to popular opinion, not everything at the dollar store costs one dollar. At this point, the cost was not really an issue. I bought the flag, and took it back to the scene.

The coroner released the body, and firefighter Robert Wilson was brought up from his apartment. Before he left the door, the flag was draped in its full glory across him, to honour the life of a man who was willing to give it at any time. For the 50 feet it took to take him to the removal vehicle, the neighbours watched in silent respect. The people from the funeral home tucked the flag secure and removed it with him. I expect it will be buried with him, too.

For a short time, the time it takes to walk a body 50 feet, he wasn’t alone. He was a firefighter, a hero. He was a Canadian. All it took was a flag to show it.

Maybe it’s time we find our heroes before their only honour comes from a dollar store.

Amy Dempsey

Grant Love

Fire Chief

CEMC

North Bay Fire & Emergency Services

705 474 0626 ext 4801

www.cityofnorthbay.ca

So..what's happening...

Hi members,

Its been a very exciting few months with a huge growth in memberships and the decision to take some next steps.

We are launching our new website for October 12th to coincide with our radio interview with Live 88.5 in Ottawa. We are being featured on the Morning Show with Katfish and Dave. There is certainly becoming a buzz around our program and the good it has been doing for some of our members.

We are also seeing some considerable interest in our fundraising memberships program by organizations and associations, and we hope to soon have participation of one of these groups.

Please stay tuned, as I will post when our radio spot will air and keep visiting to see the new website.

Thanks for your continued support as we hunt for some new national partners.

Kind regards,

Pat McIntyre

Another donation to a good cause

Hi,

I am happy to mention that we have made another donation on behalf of our membership to the Army Run " Soldier On Fund" to help soldiers who have sustained injuries while serving.

Please visit http://www.armyrun.ca/en/fundraising.aspx (paste link into your browser)

We are looking to expand our rewards program and welcome the folks with the Canadian Forces to join our membership.

We would like to do this, as it would really help our purchasing power as well, we could contribute those particular membership fees directly to the "Soldier On" campaign.

We hope you will support our interest in doing so.

Kind regards,

Patrick

finishing the summer on a high note

Hi there,

I just wanted to remind people that we are supported by yearly membership contributions, and if you are receiving the benefits of our negotiated Bell deal, your contribution should be easy to make.

We are doing very well with new members coming on board from the Maritimes to the West Coast. We have members from all over Ontario and are seeing some new ones from the mid west.

Please keep up the good work in spreading the word and we would be happy to contribute to those in emer services or health care who are experiencing a family medical crisis.

Hope you are looking forward to seeing the kids off to school. Well, with some mixed emotions as it was a great summer for us.

Kind regards,

Patrick

Some changes to announce...

Hi,

Stephanie, the kids and I have just returned from a great family vacation in the East Coast. We are catching up on memberships and trying to return to normal working life...It was a great trip for us as a family.

I hope your summer is going well too.

I wanted to up-date everyone on some changes to our program. A month or two ago, you might have noticed that we dropped a lot of our small vendor ads for the local area of Ottawa. This was maily due to our membership overwhelmingly seeking out the Bell offer and not using our member cards for very many of the other businesses.

This was necessary for a few reasons; first of all Stephanie and I had to spend a great deal of time visiting with each business (audit) to ensure new staff were accepting and recognizing the cards. As was not always the case and it really frustrated some members when trying to use their cards. It also took a lot of time to up-date and ensure ad info was accurate.

Our plan moving forward is to continue to add members and build a strong membership base to gain support from larger national vendors. Right now we have Bell Mobility for the best plan in Canada and Marks Work Wearhouse. But with a larger member pool, we can attract the attention of some great companies.

The revenue we are earning from memberships has been going towards members of our emergency services and health care communities in support of families experiencing a medical crisis. We are also supporting our website, admin costs and paying down our operational loans.

We appreciate your continued support and hope you can refer many friends and family to join our program and cause.

Kind regards,

Patrick McIntyre
Founder

Brian Dyck (Ottawa Police) another donation

This past Saturday, I left Sandpoint a bit early to head into Ottawa to find Brian Dyck (a well liked Ottawa Police Officer), who is fighting a courageous battle with ALS.

I managed to find a parking spot at the Canadian War Museum (not an easy task) the place was busy with many walkers supporting loved ones in the Walk for ALS taking place that morning. I was amazed at the spirit of the people involved all wearing T shirts emblazoned with their family or friends name.

I located a group of Brian's supporters and followed them into the theatre where an audience listened to speakers from Bob Rae to John Baird. I was happy to hear about the funds raised by the participants and the many local companies backing the campaign.

I was there to find Brian or his family to present a cheque from The 911 Network. I did manage to finally get close to Brian, but he was moving pretty fast in his electric wheel chair and his wife and child were running along side. I did manage to catch up and quickly hand Brian's wife a cheque for $250.00 from our membership. I told her that is was simply for them. There are times when we just need to help people directly and there are times to support the global charity.

It was a brief exchange and I never really did get a chance to meet Brian. I hope our support can benefit his family to a small degree.

Thanks again for your support of our program. It is making a difference.

Kind regards,

Pat

Our members support Mike Pare and his fight

On Friday June 11th, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Mike Pare. An Ottawa Police Officer who is undergoing stem cell therapy treatment for his fight with cancer.

Mike is a very positive, warm and strong individual. He was very thankful of our donation and was very supportive of The 911 Network, as he is and has been a registered member. He commented on how important his cell plan was for keeping things working with his family life. He exchanges pictures with his wife and often uses the text features to keep in contact during long treatments at the hospital. He mentioned that I should tell the membership that it has also been great for cutting costs as there are many unexpected expenditures in the process of continuing his treatments.

We were very happy to make the donation to Mike to help with his expenses and hopefully make some of the process more comfortable. We are right behind Mike in his efforts and by meeting him personally, I believe Mike to have the character and fortitude to see through this difficult time. Keep smiling Mike!

My meeting with Mike was part of a blood donor clinic that was held in support of Mike and with emphasis on Stem Cell donation. Stem cell donners can be matched by a simple blood test and I encourage our emergency service workers and health care professionals to consider this worth while endevor to help others like Mike.

The clinic was held in the Ottawa Police headquarters gymnasium and was attended by many Ottawa Police staffers. I also had an opportunity to meet Chief Vern White while donating blood on behalf of my brothers and sisters with Ottawa Fire.

In all, I came away from the event feeling very positive about The 911 Network and what we can do for people like Mike and feeling good about meeting Mike. I admire Mike for his positive approach and wide smile which was there all morning. If you get a chance...donate and support people like Mike...Thank you to the membership for your donations and continued support of The 911 Network.

Kind regards,

Pat

Some people are happy!

Every now and again, I actually get some good feedback! I have been trying really hard to make sure that all of you understand that I am working for our membership.

You are able to get rewards for your membership, ie the Bell opportunity and save hundreds of dollars, and at the same time, donate your membership fee to a family who is experiencing a medical crisis. As mentioned, we have donated over $500.00 in the month of April towards members families experiencing child medical crisis.

This makes me feel really good about The 911 Network and what we can do to create positive results in our membership and for fellow emerg and health care professionals.

So, here is a quote I recieved tonight from a new member..."Thanks Pat

I would like to compliment you on your quick responses and your honest advice. great doing business with you...."

Regards
Michelle Frost

We do really try to ensure that we are providing our members and potential members with good service. We want everyone to know that when they make a payment to The 911 Network, that it really matters.

Kind regards,

Patrick McIntyre

The 911 Network donates to two families in need!

Thank you to all 911 Network members, as in the month of April, we have donated $500.00 to families in need within our network.

We donated $250.00 to support Lauren Lush, who's mother is one of our emergency services members. Her story aired on CTV noon news on April the 6th.

"It is very generous of you and the 911 network. I'm touched by your generosity, and can't put it into words how much this means to me and the family." "Thanks again,Evelyn, John & Lauren".

We have also donated $250.00 to the family of Geoff Wall, who's daughter's life has been changed by cancer. Our funds are in support of her mobility requirements. Geoff is another member of our emergency services team in Ottawa.

We are always interested in knowing of people in our emergency services and health care teams that are having a family health crisis. We are happy to help by providing a portion of our membership revenues to a family in need.

Kind regards,

Patrick

Some Changes are Coming

Hi there,

It has been a little while since I have entered any info in the blog...sorry about that! I have been busy with trying to finish some work around the house, entertain children at March break and fight a lot of Bell Mob fires...and oh yeah..work too.

Things are going really well right now with a lot of new members joining up and with a really good lead with The Brick. We hope to sign the Brick in a couple of weeks.

I am also considering reducing the number of businesses that support us, as many businesses have high employee turn over and this can cause us problems with members showing their cards at many of these businesses. New employees need to brought up to speed with the program or even know it exists.

We seem to do well with Booster Juice in Ottawa! But other businesses require me to spend a lot of time visiting and ensuring that the card is accepted and remembered. This is partly due to how many card carrying members use the card and how often a business sees it. I am even considering eliminating the card and simply having businesses that want to support us, issue their own certificates and cards.

I am always interested in feedback from you as to what you think? I seldome get feedback, well..except when you get a bad bell bill....I have had two great responses from new members, one said thank you for supporting emergency service members and I had a nice call today with a "thank you for what you do for us". Its amazing how this can motivate you to keep going and working at this great program.

We are looking forward to some new opportunities this spring.

Cheers

Ahhh...some relief...

Ok. So I had a good meeting with our reps from Bell Canada today. It appears that much of the storm is over with the billing crisis and account shuffling. (There may still be a few of you waiting for credits and cheques), but for the most part things are on track. Whew...and sorry you had to experience all of this.

Please let me know if there are any major issues out there, as I would like to send our Bell reps your cell number and verify where things stand.

I also realize that there has been a lot of frustration in working through this and a great deal of distrust and resentment when it comes to working with cell phone companies. While I can appreciate that this has been agrevating and time consuming, it is also not the fault of the people you are working with for the solution, myself included.

When speaking to our Bell reps, they have encountered everything from threats to personal insults thrown their way. While I have been known to get pretty worked up myself and missbehave from time to time, we still have to appreciate the fact that these people are working with us to offer us one of the best cell plans going. They too get frustrated with how things get processed and when thing go wrong. They want to have easier jobs like the rest of us.

Also keep in mind that the bill you received for the $140.00 would be a normal bill for anyone else and yours has been/ will be closer to $22 to $28 on average. (excluding extra data packages, long distance and the like.)

So...let's move forward and keep a good thing going. I am hoping that you want to continue working with us and that Bell Mobility wants to keep working with us as well...

Kind regards,

Pat McIntyre

Going crazy with Bell Mobility....

So, now your phone has been disconnected due to non payment of a huge bill...you shouldn't have received.

Where should I start with this...well it began with fraud in The 911 Network account and Bell's efforts to move our plans into an account that would see that The 911 Network was not accountable for unpaid cell phone usage.

Well, that was the theory...what has happened is a comedy of errors that is hardly funny anymore.

As Bell began moving people to the new Corporate Individual accounts, it seems the data entry clerks began making errors putting our members in the right plans, including all the free features etc. This caused many people to get billed at non discounted rates, that I had negotiated on behalf of The 911 Network...Ugh.

So, we have been advising people to pay their regular fee until this gets sorted out...what that has resulted in, due to the automation of their billing system..is to suspend these phones for non payment....double Ugh..

So, you and I both are going through hell for this. I am sorry you have had to make frustrating phone calls to talk to uninformed Bell call centre reps who further agitate our members with their ignorance of the situation. I myself am handling calls all day long and hundreds of emails.

This does not help our fundraising program...it wastes my time in generating new opportunities for our members as well as dealing with the day to day operations of The 911 Network. Triple Ugh..

So, here is what I am advising to help us get through this...(Bell hasn't offered to step in here and solve the communication issues, so I am going to try) Send me an email with your cell numbers (one's affected by the changes) with your name and email address. I will send these on to Rick Turner (Area Account Manager) He will un-suspend the phones as well as get the ball rolling to get you back in The 911 Network account with the right features.

I don't want to get into a debate as to what cell phone company is better and whether the deal is worth the hassle...please understand that I have experienced all of the same issues and have been just as frustrated. It would appear that customer service and effective service died sometime ago in the area of cell phone companies. We have as many people moving from Rogers to Bell as visa versa. I can say however, that The 911 Network has power in numbers and we are seeing this more and more. If we keep working together as a large purchasing group, we can affect change and seek greater opportunities...I am just sorry that the road to get there is often bumpy...

Thanks and send me those emails.

Yours in futile frustration,

Pat