Photo: Bruce Fritschew has been a crossing guard at the Lyon and Third intersection for six years, helping children cross between Corpus Christi and the Glebe Community Centre. PHOTO: HANNAH WANAMAKER
By Hannah Wanamaker
Retired public workers Bruce Fritschew and Donald McNally contribute to street safety as crossing guards in the Glebe, wearing flashy orange vests with a stop sign in hand.
Both McNally and Fritschew are especially fond of meeting kids passing through their intersections. “It’s pleasing, uplifting, getting to know people, being part of the community and getting to know the kids,” said a gleaming Fritschew.
Fritschew has been a crossing guard for six years at Third and Lyon. He greets children at Corpus Christi Elementary School on one side of the intersection and at the Glebe Community Centre on the other at the beginning and end of each school day. He has become well known to parents and guardians as well as to residents in the area.
“It’s fulfilling in a public way,” he says. “You get to meet people and interact with them every day.”
The Third and Lyon intersection carries many fond memories for him. After moving to Ottawa in his 20s, he often attended public talks that his mother held at the Glebe Community Centre. Decades later, he has returned to give back by volunteering both as a crossing guard and at the school – between his shifts on the street, he used to monitor classes at Corpus Christi while teachers ate lunch.
As a passionate independent scientist on the side, Fritschew researches different preventive methods against COVID-19 and technology to combat the climate crisis. This lifelong pursuit is motivated by his passion for science and his ambition to help society. Donald McNally patrols the intersection of Fifth and Bank after retiring from a 40-year career at Canada Post.
“When I retired two years ago, I was looking to give back to the community and I started seeing TV commercials that [the city was] short of guards and I said ‘Well, you give back to the community, why not give back to the most vulnerable which are the children’,” he shared. McNally started working as a crossing guard about a year ago, watching over the Fifth and Ralph intersection outside Mutchmor Public School. He’s also filled in at other intersections. “I’ve done a few others as a relief – one on Lyon, one on First and O’Connor – all in the Glebe,” he said. After five or six months at Fifth and Ralph, McNally was transferred down the street to Fifth and Bank.
McNally meets a wider range of people at his current post. While he especially enjoys meeting kids passing through on their way to school, he also loves meeting the greater population, from business owners and workers to people walking their pets or patronizing the strip of small shops, restaurants and coffee shops. McNally looks forward to “meeting the parents, meeting the kids and just meeting people in the community – the store owners and everyone that I see in the mornings and afternoons.”
McNally and Fritschew are among more than 300 crossing guards in school zones across the city who are overseen by the Ottawa Safety Council, a not-for-profit organization that also creates educational campaigns promoting road safety. Both guards agree their posts are a fulfilling way to give back to the community during retirement and note the importance of citizens looking out for each other. They are especially concerned about the safety of kids.
“Some intersections are pretty dangerous, that is one of the biggest problems in doing this job. People in cars are impatient,” said McNally.
Fritschew is encouraged to see so many community members dressed in the bright orange vests as crossing guards at the beginning and end of school days. But despite their numbers, the Ottawa Safety Council posted on its website that it is urgently looking for more in the Glebe and across the city. McNally says he has been encouraging people to sign up and has handed out the Ottawa Safety Council’s business cards with contact information. “I would recommend it for everyone – at least retired [people] because we aren’t paid a lot, we only work two hours a day and it is quite fulfilling.”
Hannah Wanamaker is a second-year journalism and humanities student at Carleton University.
