Announcements - next week's speaker will be Kourtney Beckman from Women's Crisis Service of Waterloo Region. August 31 speaker will be Peter Jennings, "Shark Assault:An amazing story of survival"

 

Jerome Freiburger provided an update for John Vickery on the Oktoberfest lunch.  Tickets will be ready later this week.  This year payment by credit card is possible or tickets can be added to your Rotary billing.  Luncheon is Oct 7th.  Also a reminder that Crown & Anchor signup will be the 2nd week of Sept.  Looking for everyone to do two shifts.

 

Alison Scott gave a thank you for everyone's participation in the backpack drive.  She also had a request for anyone who could provide contacts for potential sponsors for the Breast Cancer Dragon Board team.  They have recently lost a key sponsor and are looking for a replacement.  Anyone with leads to contact Aliso.

 

Troy noted that a few additional volunteers were still needed for the POGO run on Aug 28th. Contact Troy if you can help.

 

50/50 Draw:  Pot was $54.00.   Neil Aitchison, Simon Adler and Bill Green all tried but no winner.

 

Guest Speaker was Kathy Lovey's speaking about Parents for Community Living.  Introduced by Chuck Thompson and thanked by Marc Engel. 

 

Kathy has a degree in Social Development and leadership training from Queens.  She has worked in social services throughout her career and has extensive community involvement.  She has been the Executive Director at Parents for Community Living since 1998.  

 

PCL was started in 1986 by parents of developmentally challenged young adults following the model of L'arche communities where supportive assisted living within the community is available.  The organization was incorporated in 1989 and working with St. Francis Church they acquired their first home on Blueridge Avenue in Kitchener. 

 

There four young men live independently with staff on site acting as "house parents".  In 1992 the format for government care of the developmentally challenged began to change and the focus moved from institutional to community based.   Funding began to be available from the government meaning the agency was no longer 100% dependent on fundraising and a second home was purchased on Crimson Cres. in Waterloo.  More staff were hired and new services such as in-home respite and transitional youth and children's respite were added.  Further homes were purchased for specialized services and respite. 

 

Today PCL has a total of 10 home and serves 32 permanent residents with over 50 receiving respite during the year.  Recent new programs include a fitness program called Dream Club and a Computer Apprenticeship program that was started with the assistance of Everton Wilmot and Wilmot Technologies.  Demand for assisted living continues to grow and more services are planned for the future.