Bulletin for Thursday May the 5th.
The theme of this morning’s festivities appears to have been “Meeting Interruptus” as noted by our illustrious leader Bryce. Imaging having to reprimand a fellow school principal not once but twice for disrupting the meeting - pretty funny if you ask me!
Rod Collard-drinking Guinness in Ireland as I type this- opened with Grace. Nancy Brady scared the ink out of this scribe as she tipped over her chair on me in her enthusiasm to lead us in O Canada and Jamie gave a lovely toast. The 4 way test was in the capable hands o David Dean.
Our only guest was Tina Blatchford, our speaker for the morning.
Bryce indicated that our club will be doing something to help the victims of the Fort McMurray fire stay tuned. They had a report from the Music Festival folks to let us know that both Janet and Lawrence are stepping down after many years of terrific work on that Board and that Dimitri will be joining. Very fitting as he is an accomplished musician himself. Thank you to all for their past and future service.
The induction dinner is on Thursday June the 16th at the club and is being thrown in good East Coast Fashion. Tickets are 49.99 or 2 for 99.98 - such a deal. Please see Bernie Scrivener to reserve your seats before he sees you!
Leadership courses are coming up. Level 1 is full but there are still spots left in Level 2 and Level 3. Please see Mike Molloy if you interested.
Ron Lambert took the stage and happy dollars ensued. Lovely to see Mr. Allinotte (great shirt today John!) and Deanne back among the fold. You looked marvellous Deanne and we were so happy to see you. Deanne was delighted with her dog walker and thanked the club for helping out. John was rambling about Jamie and Rick stinging him for 50 bucks in an unsanctioned Rotary Tournament in Florida. So sad.
Lawrence celebrated his son’s’ receipt of his Urologist license while in Ottawa over the weekend. and Anthony Ford Jones also in Ottawa told us of Lee’s award recognizing her advocacy for free eyeglasses and eye exams for children. Well done! We’ll miss Bruce as he going West for a month or more to be with his new grandchild when he/she arrives Renee invited us all to the Burlington Bandits home opener as he was going to be the mascot for the game. Anthony quipped that he wouldn’t need a costume. Nice.
Our guest speaker, Tina Blatchford , is the Executive Director of the Halton Children’s Foundation as well as a fellow Rotarian and Paul Harris Fellow. She began as a front line case worker and is well versed in the needs of youth in our communities.
The CAFH supports programs that directly enrich and enhance the lives of children and youth in need and assist in the increase of prevention activity. The CAFH raises funds for the Society’s programs and activities not covered by government funding. For example, one program the CAFH supports helps young adults transition successfully to living independent of the Society. Donations make real, life‐changing and wonderfully positive differences to the lives of the children and youth they serve.
They have served over 5482 children and youth since 1990.
Examples of the services that they provide include:
Educational Bursaries
These educational programs could be personal enhancement workshops, a vocational program, a Community College diploma or a University degree. Whatever the child/youth has a passion for, that their worker feels is an attainable goal, will be strongly encouraged by our Bursary committee and funded by the CAFH.
Post-Secondary Bursaries
When a youth in care graduates from high school they recognize what they must have overcome to reach that goal. To further encourage these youth they grant bursaries to those who pursue post-secondary education.
Housing:
They own one property that provides a safe haven where teenage children can live while their cases are assessed or until suitable foster parents are identified.
Youth Care:
Their Youth in Care are the future of this community; the Halton CAS and CAFH must act as their parents. They fund a Life Skills program to help connect these youth to their community and better prepare them for adult life
Sports and recreation
They provide funds to ensure children have the chance to be children and create happy childhood memories with friends and mentors.
Amongst their community partners are the Canadian Tire Jump Start Program; the Oakville YMCA; ArtHouse and the Hamilton Burlington YMCA who work with us to assist those children and youth who wouldn’t get the chance to participate in programs without a little help from their friends.
Robert Martin spoke eloquently about his connection to the Children’s Aid Society via his legal firm and Rick Howarth the scheduled speaker thanked deferred to his remarks saying he couldn’t have said it better.
Have a great week everyone and we’ll see you at the Community Breakfast this week…CeeBee
