Fireside April 2011
Sue Bannon spoke on behalf of the Midland Area Reading Council. She said literacy is a critical issue, especially in North Simcoe where over 40% of the population struggle - a number made worse by the recession. MARC has been struggling to get sufficient funding from the Province for years but Sue reports that the most recent budget promises $44 million to literacy. She expects they will benefit from this but doubts that they will ever be able to meet the needs of the area.
Even with extra funding the Council still needs support from the community - almost two thirds of their budget is raised locally. Sue thanked Rotary for its support over the years, esp. with the youth literacy project of 2006-07, an especially successful effort to help prepare elementary school students for their move to High School. Those participating saw their marks go up by 30%. She proposed the Club fund an extension of that program at a cost of $15,000.00. Questions indicated that an actual budget was not fully complete and that a large part of that 15 would be for operating costs.
Paul Hamelin and Lindsey McNab spoke about the Boys and Girls Club, bringing more numbers and some clarity to a presentation from other representatives of the B & G made to Rotary a month or so previously. They said Ron Shaw had brought the concept to the area and it had been started with a grant of $500,000.00 from the Town over 5 years. That funding is winding down and though the Town is still supporting the Club, they will be looking for other sources of funding.
The Club assists youth in their transition to contributing adulthood. Based on a scale of 40 attributes that contribute to success in that process, most of their young people score slightly less than 20. The Club helps them enhance the assets they have and seek improvement in some of the attributes they need help with. Lindsey reported that 236 kids are currently registered in the afterschool programs, that the Club has about 3,700 visits a month and that about 1,900 visits are recorded by teens. They serve healthy snacks, organize summer camps, March break camps and weekend programmes that teach leadership. They provide a safe, accessible and affordable place that is open to all. They were not asking for money but said that if they were, it would be to help increase staffing so they could reduce their waiting list.
After some discussion the membership agreed that we needed more information from MARC and that we did not support operating expenses.
Sue Hrickovian spoke to the car raffle. Mr. Weber's car, though only a year or so old, is considered a used car and so cannot be offered as a prize in a raffle. He is willing to see hs car traded in for a new one but that means finding the difference ($20,000.00) up front. Other costs proposed include printing, advertising, insurance and etc. for another $10,000.00. They propose trailering the car to events all over North Simcoe to raise interest and to sell tickets. Members would be asked to help but a part time promoter might be hired to take on some of this. With a target of 6,000 tickets Sue is asking each member to sell 50. They will cost $50.00 per or 3 for $100.00. There will be some early bird prizes.
Sue asked if those present agreed that this was a reasonable approach to a very good opportunity for the Club and the consensus was very clear that it should be taken forward to the Board and then the final plan be presented to the Club.