Attendance: 19 (including 2 guests, Dorothy Evans, guest of Basil, and Tunde Szabo, guest of Courtney, and our guest speaker)
President Danny started the meeting with a ring of the Rotary bell and a toast to The Queen, Canada and Rotary.
Program: Jacqueline Smith-Jordan on Agilec
Basil re-introduced our guest speaker to the club. Former club member, Jacqueline Smith-Jordan, then updated us on her work at Agilec. Unlike The Red Cross, where she was working last time she updated the club on her career changes, Agilec is not entirely charitable, and does do some fee-for-service work, but basically its mission is to work with people with disabilities, including vocational rehabilitation and disability management.
Jacqueline herself creates and conducts Agilec’s Government Funded Employment Programs, consisting of workshops and events. She created the “Revive Your Job Search” program as part of her application for the position with Agilec, and has since added several other very popular and useful programs for Agilec’s clients, including “Linked In Job Searches” and “Job Search for Older Workers”. She was initially the sole facilitator for these programs, but is now increasing the number of facilitators in order to allow her more time to create and implement more such employment programs.
Agilec also works for employers on a fee-for-service basis in order to assist them with corporate training programs and with successfully adding and maintaining people with disabilities in their work force.
Jacqueline fielded several questions from members, and then Mike Mushet thanked Jacqueline and praised her for her work in assisting those who would otherwise fall between the cracks in our social support network.
President Danny announced that the Board of Directors will be meeting Monday night at Rocco’s home. An email with details will follow.
It was announced that the Rotary International Convention will take place June 2022 in Houston and that deals for hotels are still in effect, but time is running out for these early bird specials.
Arthur announced that the Community Services Committee is having a meeting tonight at 7:30 pm.
Dhanni announced that Park Property Management, through Gerd, had made a $50,000 donation to our club, and Gerd was heartily applauded for this fantastically generous donation.
Sgt-at-Arms, Gerd Wengler, worked the virtual room, collecting Happy Thoughts from those present. The contributions included:
Gerd spent the weekend in Germany at a university reunion in the Black Forest and completed a $600 Million real estate deal for Park Property Management while there, involving a huge development in Cherry Hill Village in London, Ontario.
Gordon was happy with the great turnout at the Pub Night at the Stone Cottage last week.
Basil was involved in a car accident where he was rear-ended, but was happy that no one was injured.
Dhanni enjoyed her Barbados vacation where she and John celebrated 50 years in Canada.
Al Meredith has decided to visit Cancun for 3 weeks after two years of not being able to travel.
President Danny enjoyed a Rotary event at Niagara-On-The-Lake and was also happy with all of the support that he has been receiving from the Board this year.
Everyone else had a chance to share, and it turned out that we are quite a happy bunch!
A toast to The Queen, Canada and Rotary. President Danny
Attendance: 17 (including 3 guests, Susan Roper of the Scarborough Twilight Rotary Club, Karen Wilson-Moore, former member of our club, and our guest speaker)
P.P. Basil Dias introduced Susan Endicott, Volunteer Co-Ordinator for SCHC, who spoke to the club mostly on SCHC's Hospice Palliative Care Program, but did provide the background for SCHC, which began as West Hill Community Services in 1977. West Hill Community Services was involved in several community support programs, such as Meals-On-Wheels; however, at present under the banner of SCHC its services have expanded into 40 programs at 11 sites. They currently have a staff of 200+ and about 400 volunteers. SCHC's Hospice Palliative Care Program takes the terminal patient and his or her family from initial diagnosis through to the post passing bereavement process. Hospice Palliative Care operates throughout Scarborough, providing a full suite of services, including a day hospice and supports for those who wish to die in their own homes amongst loved ones.
Susan shared some stories about families, including Susan's own family and friends, who had to cope with end of life issues such as those dealt with through the Hospice Palliative Care Program. These stories personalized her presentation, providing clear examples of how such a program is vitally important for our Scarborough community.
Susan explained the process involved in selecting, educating and training volunteers, as well as explaining the benefits of volunteering. During the question period, Susan also confirmed that the screening of volunteers included a police check and Covid vaccinations or regular testing. Her team is multi-cultural and speak several languages that are prevalent in the Scarborough community. They are funded through several levels of government as well as through the United Way as well as personal and corporate donations.
Dhanni Ramdeen thanked Susan for enlightening the club on the programs offered by SCHC, adding that her brother had the benefit of palliative care and he and his family felt that this service was extremely helpful to them.
Please click on the following link to see Susan's presentation. https://www.dropbox.com/s/15dieg1iojsvjiz/SUSAN%20eNDICOTT.mp4?dl=0
Announcements:
- President Danny announced that the District will require that we update our corporate by-laws during the next 3 years.
- Barry Smith announced that the international Services Committee will be meeting in person at 6:00 pm on Tues. Nov. 9th at Remezzo Italian Bistro at Sheppard and Warden Ave.
- Arthur announced that he had delivered a cheque from the club to Lee Soda of Agincourt Community Services Association. He was surprised to learn that not only was ACSA open and working during the pandemic, but they also ran a vaccination clinic.
Sgt-at-Arms, Gerd Wengler, having been called away from the meeting, Assistant Sgt-at-Arms Barry requested Happy Thoughts from everyone and the contributions included:
- Courtney was happy that the annual Rising Sun Food Drive was the best ever. Usually 13,000 pounds of food is received, but this year it was 14,000 pounds and counting.
- Gordon is happy that his team continues to win.
- Arthur was happy with the large number of trick and treaters this year.
- Al was looking forward to having fun with his grandkids. Do you think they’re off to the ice cream shop?
- Trudy was happy for good health
- Barry was happy to be back writing novels and is searching for a literary agent for his latest.
-Danny spent last weekend getting one on one time with his youngest grandson.
President Danny then terminated the meeting and wished everyone a good week ahead.
Announcements:
Sgt-at-Arms, Gerd Wengler, having been called away from the meeting, Assistant Sgt-at-Arms Barry requested Happy Thoughts from everyone and the contributions included:.png)
