It’s Rotary Foundation Month, and there’s a lot to celebrate! As of June 30, 2025, The Rotary Foundation (TRF) has reached a monumental milestone in building itsEndowment to US$2.050 billion, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our members and friends of the Foundation.
It’s that time of year again, when you’re asked to do your part as a Rotarian and give to Every Rotarian Every Year, The Rotary Foundation’s annual campaign. Donate online to the Annual Fund - SHARE by clicking here & signing into My Rotary.
Club President John Kralt called the meeting to order and welcomed 15 Lincoln Rotarians and 7 special guests including Gerald Fitzsimmons; Affordable Housing Lincoln Representatives: Reverend Jane Capstick, Irene Romagnoli, Dr. Karl Stobbe, Anthony P.J. Van Engelen;
Legion Villa Representatives: Fred Vandervelde, Fred Stoffels.
Pod 3 members led the opening exercises beginning with Sue Foster who offered the Land Acknowledgment.
Andy Fluit followed with his suitably selected Thought for the Day... On this Remembrance Day, we must carry these stories forward so that their legacy is not forgotten. It is not enough that they are remembered — they must also be understood and honoured by future generations, lest we forget. We encourage everyone to observe two minutes of silence and to solemnly remember all those who have fought for our country. We owe them an immeasurable debt of gratitude.
Phil Goodwin offered a multi-facetted Point of Pride... It’s a wonderful day in our neighbourhood. The snow has come and golf is gone, so we soldier on! As we approach the end of the year, I had an epiphany while reflecting on all we’ve accomplished. It’s been a great year — we’ve done a lot together. From the Coldest Night of the Year walk to Sunset Music & Bike the Benchlands, everything has gone so well. Thank you all for your continued participation and enthusiasm. We also have our Christmas Breakfast coming up next month — something to look forward to! Finally, I’d like to take a moment to honour my father, who flew 106 missions during World War II and made it home safely. On this Remembrance Day, I think of him with gratitude.
50/50
Congratulations to this week's winner Bob Groh with the ticket drawn by guest Irene Romagnoli. Bob pulled the 9 of Spades instead of the Ace :(
HAPPY BUCKS
This week’s Happy Bucks were full of gratitude, humor, and appreciation for family, friends, and community — as well as heartfelt remembrance for those who served our country. Here’s what our guests and members shared:
Irene Romagnoli - Happy to be out of bed!
Rev. Jane Capstick - Grateful for her grandfather and happy to be back among friends and in good spirits.
Karla Stobbe - Thankful to be surrounded by so many interested and supportive people, and happy for the opportunity to share.
Margaret - Glad to be “back in the land of the living.”
Anthony Van Engelen - Embracing winter with a smile! Getting the snow tires on.
Rob - Busy preparing for cottage projects and writing checks — though the deck is buried in snow!
John M - Thankful the yard work was completed before the snow fell.
Bob - Looking forward to today’s presentation on affordable housing and to launching this message.
Joanne - Thankful her brother survived while serving overseas, and grateful for all those who served.
Dale - Happy to have four uncles.
Jen - Happy that Margaret is back and appreciative of the beautiful snowfall — a reminder of nature’s artistry.
Terry - Lest we forget — thankful for four uncles who served, and happy that we live in a great country.
Martha - Thankful to Lindsay and Ty for taking Joaquim out on Saturday — he had a great time.
David G - Julie has been in England for about five weeks tending to her aunt, who was recently diagnosed with dementia and moved into a care home. She'll be home tonight. David also shared that he had two uncles who flew in the Lancaster and survived. Appreciative of the fellowship and camaraderie within the group.
Gerry Fitzsimmons - Happy that Rob Foster encouraged him to come today and for the warm welcome from everyone. Thank you.
Maria - My father once told me that when you get older, little things make you happy. I’m very happy that we managed to rake the leaves in our front yard on Sunday before the snowfall.
Lindsay - Happy to have met our Rotary exchange student and to have spent Saturday evening out for dinner and go-karting with him and my husband, Ty. We had a great time, and Joaquim is a curious, grateful, and interesting person to be with.
Sue - A happy buck for Remembrance Day. My second happy buck is, as Rob mentioned, for working on our cottage deck. My daughter, son-in-law, and three grandkids helped us, and they worked like little workhorses — we accomplished far more than expected! The big surprise was my 14-year-old granddaughter, Lily, who loved every power tool we let her use.
Nancy - Happy to present today! I thought there would be just a few people from our club, but I’m thrilled to see so many familiar faces and guests. Happy to have you all here!
Fred Stoffels - Happy today and grateful in remembrance of my son, who served in Afghanistan and survived.
Fred Vandervelde - Thankful for the Canadians who served in the Second World War — without them, I wouldn’t be here.
Phil - Happy bucks for the guests who are here today — thanks for joining us!
Bill- - My wife has been dreaming of taking our red-headed grandchildren to Stratford to see Annie. We finally went — not realizing it would snow — and it was a great show!
Special thanks to Lindsay for providing this content.
PROGRAM
Rotarian Margaret Andrewes introduced the contingency of local citizens spearheading the Affordable Housing Lincoln initiative.
"It all began about a year ago when a tent & a resident appeared on the lawn of Trinity United Church here in Beamsville. Much credit is due to Irene Romagnoli, the resident, who braved several days of cold and rain & spent one whole week living homeless, sheltered only by her tent & relying on her own fortitude to find & navigate whatever resources and help she needed to try to stay warm, dry, fed, healthy and safe in Beamsville. Pegged Her Home in a Tent, Irene assumed the role of a fifty-something woman who has lost her job, has couch surfed away all her friends, is now homeless, and is sleeping in a tent in order to shine a spotlight on the need for affordable housing in our town.
Irene Romagnoli is here with us today representing Affordable Housing Lincoln, AHL. This community group was inspired by Her Home is a Tent, as initiated by Irene and supported by Trinity United Church. We are Reverend Jane Capstick, Bob Groh, Dr Karl Stobbe, Anthony P.J. Van Engelen & me - all local citizens who have diligently and enthusiastically been working together over the past several months to:
gather relevant information that accurately represents poverty and homelessness as a rising need of people seeking assistance with basic life essentials in our town
meet with municipal policy and decision-makers to assess their level of commitment and investment in enabling affordable housing development in Lincoln
identify and build relationships with allies and potential partners
identify and assess challenges & opportunities
build a strong public voice to amplify the need for and support affordable housing development in Lincoln"
Highlights of Irene Romagnoli's presentation included...
As compared to other more urban municipalities where there are encampments in public spaces and homeless people wandering the streets, the Town of Lincoln (TOL) has a mostly hidden poverty and housing crisis. There are seniors, single parent families and others who have to choose between utilities, phone plans, or clothes or whatever else has to be skipped in order to pay rent. Community Care West Niagara gives many low income residents the chance to access food without cost, allowing them to use grocery money to pay rent. This is not acceptable, nor is it sustainable.
Although the solution to poverty and this housing crises will never be a simple one-action cure, a very good start is to keep a roof over the head of everyone in the place where they will thrive. Making sure that people can meet their rent and all of the other basic costs that are associated with living a good, healthy, safe life is something that can be done. This leads to affordable housing, or attainable housing…i.e bringing equity to the rental housing industry is just as, if not more important, than bringing more inventory of rental housing to Lincoln.
In Niagara Region, affordable housing is defined as housing that costs less than 30% of a household's gross annual income. It also includes housing that is at least 10% below the average resale price in the area or rents that are at or below the average market rent. This definition is intended to ensure that households have enough money left to meet other basic needs like food, transportation, and healthcare.
Consider this scenario...
You are a single person, renting a one bedroom apartment in Lincoln… The lowest one bedroom rent in Beamsville currently is $1800. You are employed in Lincoln making minimum wage of $17.60 per hour, but for only 35 hours a week. Your gross pay is $2,640. Your rent is $1800 that doesn’t necessarily include hydro, water, internet & cable. That leaves you $840 for utilities, transportation & other necessities of life, like food. The average adult spends almost $500 a month on groceries. This leaves $340. You need a car. Gas & car insurance take $225 out of your balance, leaving $115. You need to have internet and a cell phone, which on the cheapest plans found will cost $96…you have $19 left! But wait… let’s assume your rent doesn’t cover hydro and water… Now you have some decisions to make. Do you get a second job and now work 50 hours a week? And how much income tax do you need to pay? After the higher rate of taxes being deducted, do you need 60 hours a week to make enough money after tax to meet all your bills and have some over for new clothes occasionally? Or some entertainment?
Under the circumstances, this person will likely need to search for more affordable housing and is likely to require relocation to another community. In 2024, the waiting list for single adults looking for housing in Niagara was 13 years and for Seniors, 8 years. Consequently, Affordable Housing Lincoln is advocating for affordable housing development on the former Beamsville District Secondary School (BDSS) property in Beamsville as a portion of the answer to the poverty and housing crises in Lincoln. After a lot of research, speaking with other communities that have faced the same poverty and homelessness situations, sitting through many Town of Lincoln meetings, we know that adding to the rental inventory in Beamsville is very important, but the absolute must is making those homes affordable. There are four steps to creating affordable housing and the first step is land. And this community is extremely fortunate to have the land in the town’s inventory and available. The next step, securing the portion that is needed to fulfill an affordable housing project will require the support of many people. And that ultimately is why we are here this morning.
CALL TO ACTION!
If you agree that there is a poverty and housing crisis in Lincoln, we hope you can also see that having affordable housing built in downtown Beamsville at the BDSS site, is the best action forward for the community of Lincoln. If you can see this as we do, we ask that you help spread the message, share the story we did, share the stats as we have provided and talk to your family, friends, co-workers, faith congregation and especially Town of Lincoln Mayor & Councillors. Help them not be afraid of the subject of affordable housing. Assist them in understanding that in Lincoln, unlike in other major cities, increasing rental housing inventory and keeping it affordable, isn’t about addiction and homelessness, it is about very high rents, a constant increase in the cost of living and the inability to afford safe, appropriate housing for individuals and families. Additionally, if you support affordable housing at BDSS, and in light of the Municipal Election that is coming in November 2026, push to have this poverty and housing crises as a topic of great importance during all of the campaigning and debates. Hold the people with the power accountable for caring for the people with the quieter voices, the ones simply struggling to make it day-to-day, barely keeping their heads above water.
Lincoln Rotarian Nancy Neville followed Irene with an overview of Legion Villa, the seniors’ affordable housing development project in Smithville, her hometown. While Nancy is a professional realtor associated with Julie Swayze Remax, she is leading the way as a volunteer board member with Legion Villa and heading up the team responsible for this building project. Nancy’s story portrays a model for what it takes to secure affordable housing in meeting needs specific to her community & is definitely in the interests of all affordable housing advocates in Lincoln & elsewhere.
Nancy opened her presentation with the following information...
1.Critical Need for affordable housing experienced throughout Niagara
2.Affordable Housing considered to be at crisis level
3.55+ demographic – choices are severely limited in West Niagara
4.Fixed, modest and low-income seniors are especially hard hit by the rising cost of living
5.Current Waitlist for Legion Villa is 8+ years – over 430 applicants on waitlist
6.Long time senior residents of the area have no hope of accessing affordable rental units without leaving their community
Community housing in Niagara Region is accessed through an application process whereby an applicant must choose their location preferences, complete an application form, and provide documents to verify status and income. Once assessed, eligible applicants are notified and put on a wait list to secure one of their desired placements.
She explained that Legion Villa is an established non-profit charitable organization proud to provide affordable housing to seniors in West Lincoln for 4 decades. It is governed by a volunteer board composed of community-focused West Lincoln residents with a general manager & superintendent successfully operating 2 affordable seniors' apartment buildings and property at 161 & 171 Mill Street (30 units & 32 units). Legion Villa answer to the call to action is its new capital project development - a 6-storey, 52-unit infill rental apartment building on 171 Mill St. in West Lincoln.
The project is on track for groundbreaking in 2026. To get to this point, the Legion Villa Build Team has worked hand in hand with Niagara Regional Housing, Township of West Lincoln Council, etc. to apply for seed and grant funding to complete required feasibility studies, develop the property to accommodate a new build, boundary adjustments, zoning by-law amendment, etc.
Currently, they are in the process of launching their Capital Fundraising Campaign with the support of Armstrong Strategy Group. The total cost of the new build is $25,000,000 and for Legion Villa to secure financing through the CMHC Co-Investment Program, LV needs to secure 10% or $2,500,000 from a Capital Campaign. This $2,500,000 is necessary for these 52 new units to qualify as “affordable housing”.
