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Letter: Grandmother pays tribute to a Northern Life newspaper carrier

‘Cody is honest, compassionate, reliable, responsible and very respectful’
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Cody O’Brien Grondin, 12, misses his job as a carrier for Northern Life. (Supplied)

Sadly, after 47 years, the presses have stopped for Sudbury's Northern Life newspaper. The March 26, 2020 edition was stamped “Final Edition”. During the ownership transition, layoffs followed, including the hundreds of part-timers who packaged and delivered the Northern Life. 

Among the part-timers was a “paperboy” named Cody O`Brien Grondin, my grandson. Cody started delivering the Northern Life when he was eight years old. 

Cody is honest, compassionate, reliable, responsible and very respectful. He was faithful to his delivery venture for four years until the March 26 last edition.

Over the years, Cody received numerous praises from his customers — they loved him.

Cody lives with his single mom and, with his new job, was excited to contribute to household expenses. He was also looking forward to putting money aside for college. 

As the picture shows, he received his first paycheck at eight years old. Of course, he was disappointed when he lost his position and at the same time, his wages. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many jobs out there for a 12-year-old boy.

As a proud grandmother, I needed to share Cody’s story with you. We don't really need to teach kids to handle themselves responsibly in the world; you just need to teach them that they have the power to contribute positively, and to relate to them so that they want to do so. The bottom line is that kids will be responsible to the degree that we support them to be.  

Thank you to every kid out there taking on responsibilities to make a positive impact on the world.  

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve, the damage to the job market looks likely to be deep and long lasting, so to all the employees of Northern Life and to all of you who have been laid off for an undetermined period of time, I wish you all the best in your search of a new project or endeavour.

Louise Grondin
Greater Sudbury