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Lafayette Journal and Courier
February 22, 2006 Train, a resident of Fladbury, England, is the creator of a program in which kids get together to build canoes, fostering teamwork and leadership and raising awareness about environmental issues. One such canoe was completed Tuesday night at a home in West Lafayette, the first time the project had been brought to the United States after Train started it in England 25 years ago. Cindy Tomovic, a Purdue professor of organizational leadership and supervision and former department head, and Train, the former coach of the British Olympic canoeing team, organized the project that took six days to complete. It ended with about 78 people either helping or offering support Tuesday night, Tomovic said. Tomovic and Train met four months ago at a conference at Purdue, and Tomovic said she was so inspired by Train's story (he had started a "Paddle Club" in England to help troubled kids, among other things), that she sent her son David Orczyk to stay with Train in England. While there, Orczyk and Train worked on a canoe, to be called the Liberty Bell I. After a month in England, Orczyk returned home, leaving the canoe partially finished. Three days later, on Feb. 5, he died while at a party with friends, Train said. Train flew to West Lafayette to attend Orczyk's funeral last week, and Tomovic asked him to stay and work with some of her son's friends to build a canoe, to eventually be called the Liberty Bell II. The Liberty Bell II was actually four different canoes, strapped together to make a giant catamaran, Tomovic said. One side was named the Spirit of America, and one was the Spirit of David, in honor of Orczyk. Now that this canoe is finished, Tomovic said her next goal is fundraising to build more canoes and, one by one, teach kids about community and integrity, and bring awareness to global environmental issues. It seems broad, Tomovic said, but it really boils down to youth development, bringing attention to broader political events and helping the environment. Train said by building these canoes, it's the first step in thinking about the big picture, and he wants to send America a message about working together and working with human systems. "We've started a movement of boats," he said, and "symbolically, we can bring the world together." Each canoe costs about $1,000 to create out of plywood, and now that Tomovic and Train's is complete, it will be used on the Wabash River by local kids. Tomovic said area third graders are developing a "Paddle for Life" fundraising effort. They will collect signatures on canoe paddles, and donations along with those signatures, to build more canoes. She said they are hoping for about nine boats to carry all 150 third-graders involved, but she would also be happy with at least five boats. Next year, as fourth-graders, the children will use the Paddle for Life paddles to row the canoes on the Wabash River around the time of the city's Global Fest.
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