Birthdays - Greg Bobier (August 15)  and Joe MacDonald - Ed reminded members that Joe's wife Joan, had recently passed away. Our club made a memorial donation to the Rotary Foundation in her name.

 

Wedding Anniversaries - John Thompson remembered that his anniversary was today.

 

Club Anniversaries - John Villemaire (20 Years) and Ian Robertson.

 

Ed reminded members of the upcoming Horseshoe Tournament and Fish Fry on August 11th at 5:30 pm at the Waterloo Knights of Columbus on 145 Dearborn Place in Waterloo.  Spouses, partners,  and children are invited to join in the fun.  Members meals will be paid by the club, and members will be asked for cash payment for guests at the event.    This event replaces the regular Wednesday luncheon meeting.

 

Ed welcomed new member, Julie Powell, who is transferring from the Norfolk Sunrise Rotary Club.  She comes highly recommended by her previous Rotary Club. 

 

Spencer Yule has asked for a Leave of Absence due to business pressures.  Brad Enns has agreed to replace him on the Foundation Board and to lead the New Initiatives committee.

 

Troy requested volunteer help for the upcoming POGO Marathon.  This marathon supports families whose children are dealing with cancer.  Last year a number of our Rotarians helped out, and it was a lot of fun and very well organized.  The event is on September 10th at the Museum at Doon and volunteers are required to be there by 8:00 am for a few hours.  Tasks include handing water to runners/walkers, directing parking, etc. 

 

Jack Kinch won the lovely bottle of white wine (which he will consume before his wife comes home), by knowing that when the Polio Plus campaign started, 1000 children a day were infected.  Now there are a handful of cases, proving that the Rotary efforts to eradicate the dreadful disease are working. 

 

As usual, Laura Power was called to the marble buckets, but lost.  Karin Voisin and Rick Bolzon also tried their best, but were unsuccessful.  The pot grows!  The pot of money, that is. 

 

 

Alan Sharpe, Director of Development for Women's Crisis Services spoke to us about the work of the shelters for abused women and their children in our community.  Currently, Anselma House in Kitchener and Haven House in Cambridge have 58 supported bed, but have a capacity for 90.  The provincial government will only support 58 beds at this time, but Anselma House was overbuilt in anticipation of future requirements. 

 

He advised that police are called to 16 incidents of reported  cases per day, and that the Crisis Line handles about 8 calls a day from women seeking help, advice, or support. 

 

He explained that abuse is not only physical, but can be mental, spiritual, financial, sexual, emotional, verbal or a combination of all forms. 

The signs of abuse are:

The characteristics of a typical abuser are:

The shelters not only provide a safe place for woman and their children to stay, but offer legal and housing support, parenting skills, food and nutrition education, children's programming, and outreach to women in the community who do not need to enter a shelter, but who are experiencing abusive situations.

 

 

The shelters need donations to support costs not covered by Government funding.  For example, this means that programs help children overcome the generational aspects of abuse or other internal programs need community donations to continue.

 

There is a golf tournament in support of Women's Crisis Services on August 24th at Galt Country Club. A number of club members are playing in the tournament to show our support of this worthy cause.

 

Stephen Sweeney  thanked Alan Sharpe for his insightful and informative presentation.