President Mahendra Shah called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and toasted the King and Canada.

 

The Land Acknowledgement was read by Bob Miskelly and Frank led us in singing of the National Anthem. The invocation was then given by Frank.

 

Nineteen members were in attendance along with ten guests including our guest speaker Sara Cumming, Executive Director of Home Sweet Hope. Dana brought along 5 guests – her son Jad Dennaoui, daughter Judy Dennaoui, Tracey Ehl, Seamus Kealy, and Adriano Leal. Also attending for a second time were prospective members Carrie Connolly and Lynn Childs. Geoff Godard, an acquaintance of George Farrow joined us as well and Bob Dodds introduced his wife Peggy, a familiar face to us all.

 

Announcements
Mahendra reminded us of 3 upcoming events;

Guest Speaker
Mike Henry introduced our guest speaker Dr. Sara Cumming. Sara is the Executive Director of Home Sweet Hope. Sara brings an abundance of life experience and two decades of research on lone mothers, social policy and precarious employment to her position as the Executive Director at Home Suite Hope. Sara was able to pursue school, complete a PhD in Sociology from the University of Waterloo, and ultimately change the trajectory of her children’s lives – breaking her cycle of poverty. Sara brings this firsthand knowledge and experience of the plight of marginalized low-income families to all programming at Home Suite Hope. In addition to being Executive Director of Home Sweet Hope, she is a Professor of Sociology at Sheridan College.
Sara gave a passionate and inspirational talk starting with her own life journey as the child of a 15-year single mother and an upbringing trapped in a cycle of poverty. Then the chance encounter with a lady who saw potential in her and opened doors for her changed her life path to a university degree, professorship, and now Home Sweet Hope.
Home Sweet Hope provides a 4-year support program for single parents helping them achieve social and economic self sufficiency – through education and meaningful employment.  Year 1 is focused on life skills, then 2 years of college at Sheridan (with tuition fully covered by the school), then a fourth-year employment phase linking participants to good paying jobs and careers. 
Along the way Home Sweet Hope provides guidance and counselling, rent subsidy for each client, child care support, subsidized living expenses, etc. Since 2014 they have helped 105 single parents and have had a 100% success rate in each client completing the 4 year program and gaining meaningful employment. Of note the average annual salary for those completing the program is $55,000 with one individual achieving a $90,000 starting salary.
The biggest challenge now facing Home Sweet Hope is housing costs in Oakville which have increased dramatically over the past few years. The subsidy amount required to cover rent has increased so substantially (from $1200 per month to over $2,000 per month) that they have had to cut back the number of spots in the program to 24 from a previous level of 38.
Upon conclusion of Sara’s presentation, Sid delivered a warm thank you and Mahendra and Mike Henry presented Sara with a cheque from RCO for $6,200 which will cover the costs for ten months of subsidized groceries, technology support and moving cost for 2 clients.
** for members, please look at Mike Henry’s email providing Sara’s presentation 

 

Special Presentation
A very special event followed. Our very own Dana Dennaoui was awarded the Governor General of Canada Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers. The medal is intended to honour volunteers who have made a significant and continual contribution to their community, either in Canada or abroad.  Dana was notified of her award in 2019 but due to the pandemic the award ceremony was postponed until this year. Instead of traveling to Ottawa to receive the award, Dana asked for and was granted permission to be presented with the award at a Rotary Club of Oakville venue.
George Farrow was authorized to receive the medal and on behalf of the Governor General to present it to Dana. George gave an overview of the numerous volunteer activities that Dana had been involved in over the 2010 – 2019 period.  An incredibly impressive list! 
Dana gave a very personal and heartfelt thank you speech and then a champagne toast to Dana was made by all.

 

Mahendra adjourned the formal part of the meeting with a Toast to Friends and Rotarians around the world at 8:20pm.