Our weekly lunch meeting was held at the Concordia Club.
Announcements:
- Jim Evans is celebrating a birthday on January 14th.
- The Drayton Entertainment Theater Show fundraiser ended up raising $500. The show set aside for Rotary was cancelled due to low ticket sales, but some tickets were able to be redirected to other shows and the proceeds from those ticket sales will be directed to our Grants Committee to distribute though Grant Applications.
- Our regularly scheduled January 18th Lunch Meeting is to be replaced by a 5-Club dinner to be held on Thursday January 19th at the Granite Club. Everton circulated a link to the meeting for those wishing to attend.
- Karin provided a big thank-you to those that were able to help with her pre-Christmas request to support a couple of Families supported by Hospice and facing challenges at Christmas time. Extra funds raised though this request (approximately $400) are being held in a Rotary Youth Fund at Hospice for future needs that might arise.
Trivia:
Question: What was the grand prize awarded in the 1994-1995 Duck Race?
Answer: A Ford Windstar Van (lease) was the grand prize. Todd A. Correctly guessed the answer and was awarded a Rotary clock.
50/50 Draw:
The prize pot was estimated at $69.00. Graham Gardiner drew the first marble and lost. Ray Danbrook on the other hand, marched to the front of the room with one goal on his mind – the black marble. Well, sure enough Ray was successful in finding the black marble and winning the prize pot! Congrats to Ray.
Guest Speaker:
Laxmy Neelakantaiha, and Marsha Schlueter from the YMCA of Three Rivers presented on their Employment Services and Mentorship program for new Canadians.
The mentorship program has been designed to connect new Canadians with professional skills and qualifications with existing professionals in their field. The Mentorship program is intended to introduce new Canadians to the local labour market, to help them to build a new professional network and to help them gain insights into how their respective professions look in a new setting. The Mentorship program can be accessed through an application process and supports for skills such as english language proficiency are provided.
The people they work with must be permanent residents living in Waterloo Region for three years or less, with level 7 English literacy, certification in their field, and other proofs of their professional work in their native country.
It is about meeting with the professional for a time limited period, and sharing what you know about the job situation here, making connections if possible, and generally helping them orient themselves to be ready to work here. It is not about finding a job for them, although that happens sometimes. There is no expectation for that outcome.
The current list of professional mentorship opportunities is quite long and well rounded. YMCA is always looking for new Mentors to support the program.
In addition to the Mentorship program the YMCA also offers many other programs from learning the Power of Trades, to helping with school enrollment and settlement, language services, computer training, community connections, citizenship support, diversity and inclusion and many others. The YMCA also actively partners with other agencies specializing in many of these areas.
Mac Graham thanked our speakers with a certificate from Operation Eyesight.
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