Fred Blackstein has helped make Pembroke and the Ottawa Valley what it is today. Blackstein was a nuclear engineer in Chalk River from the 1960’s to the 1980’s before spending a few years as the Dean of Loyalist College in Belleville. Blackstein took an early retirement at the age of 44, but has been busy volunteering in the Ottawa for the last 30 to 35-years. Blackstein says the Green Machine is a group of volunteers who came together during the International Plowing Match in 1994 that brought between 130,000 to 140,000 people to Renfrew County.
He adds they had roughly 1,050 volunteers help out at the event which brought in a surplus of $650,000. Blackstein says they used $500,000 to implement a 911 phone system in Renfrew County which made a huge difference for first responders to immediately access emergency situations. Blackstein says the Green Machine has teamed up on at least a dozen projects over the last 25- years. During the ice-storm of 1998, volunteers with the Green Machine helped with search and rescue missions, delivered basic services and assisted at storm shelters. Blackstein says the Green Machine was also involved with the building of Miramichi Lodge long-term care facility in Pembroke. He adds the group of volunteers also helped develop the waterfront in Pembroke and build the 2,000 piece boardwalk. Fred Blackstein Boulevard runs along the Pembroke Waterfront Park.
When asked what his biggest accomplishment was, Blackstein says it was seeing everyone come together and get involved. Blackstein says there’s no I in “team” and he encourages residents to get involved in any way possible, whether it be through the church or local service organization such as the Kiwanis or Lions Club. Blackstein is an honorary paramedic in Renfrew County, helped out during the 2017 and 2019 floods and the list goes on and on.
A plaque that hangs in the County of Renfrew council chambers was awarded to Blackstein and is dedicated to the thousands of volunteers in Eastern Ontario they have been privileged to work with. Blackstein says many other individuals in the Ottawa Valley who wants to do their bit to make the community a better place. In 2006, the governor general awarded Fred Blackstien with the Order of Canada as he exemplifies the true spirit of volunteerism.