Brian Elliot the CEO of Habitat For Humanity Heartland Ontario explained the three main functions of  Habitat for Humanity and their impact.  Habitat's principal functions are 1) Build projects, 2)ReStores, and 3)Family Services.  

 

The Heartland Division employees 75 people and hosts hundreds of volunteers at their projects.  Brian explained the lasting impact of home ownership.  65% of their new owners come from social housing and 60% of those access social services.  With home ownership the reliance of social services is reduced and the educational achievement of children in the program increases.

 

Each family must put in 500 hours of service to the project or community service.  The homes usually take 6 months to complete from concept, land purchase to build completion.  The mortgage is on the house is interest free and his held by Habitat.  The revenue from the mortgage is used to finance further projects.  The houses are priced at fair market value.  The mortgage are based on ability to pay and there is no downpayment. New owners are given an orientation to home ownership which includes budgeting, training on maintaining a home, and how to be a good neighbour.

John Matsui talked about his road to being an author.   John was a reporter for the London  Free Press for two decades but left to work on the "YES" campaign during the Quebec referendum on separation.  After the YES campaign he founded a consulting company named Making Headlines and was in the process of winding down the company when he started his career as an author.  With some advice from friends, who were authors, he wrote his first book Late Bite.  He finished the first draft in 16 days and after some editing published it with Amazon.   He has publish three sci-fi novels: Late Bite, Gravity Games, and Lycanthorpe Rising

 John explained the complexities of the publishing business and problems in distribution. He has several books on the way in the sci-fi genre and a number of other creative endeavours including screen plays and preliminary productions of movies.

 

The culture of creative arts in London is strong and could be a new wave of economic expansion in our city.  John gave several examples of the depth of creativity in London such as the 400+ membership in the authors/writing group in the city.  

 

A sense of humour and optimism ran through his presentation. 

Ron Posno described living with dementia.  Ron was in a small plane crash and suffered a concussion that left him in a coma for 12 days.  Concussions lead to some type of dementia in 80% of cases.  He was diagnosed with Minimum Brain Disfunction (MBF).  There are now half and million cases in Canada and it is seldom discussed.  The toll on families and care givers is significant yet we don't discuss it.  

 

Ron described the three stages of dementia and the importance of planning for the future if diagnosed.   He also talked about how to respond to someone with dementia- not "being sorry" but being a listener and showing support.  The key is living in the present and enjoying was individuals can do not what they have lost.

 

Ron highlighted the importance of having a life plan, including a will and health care advocacy.

Lorna Gunning Fratschko and Brenda Rouse proudly display the trophy they won at the Cambridge Rotary Bonspiel on March 7 with teammates Sandy Ronson and Harry Moffat

On March 1, Brenda Rouse shared her unique experience of being one of 22 Curling Rotarians from Ontario who were home hosted in thirteen cities in Scotland for the month of November 2018.  They played 19 games against the Scots in 13 different ice rinks ranging from 8 sheets in a shopping mall, arenas shared with ice hockey and skating, a converted potato storage shed, two curling rinks contained within a hotel and a barn transformed into a curling club called Greenacres.  Despite these challenges, the Canadian tour team of 16 men and 8 women reigned victorious.

 

This Rotary Friendship Curling Exchange has been going back and forth across the “pond" for 62 years. Initially, teams from Quebec, eastern Ontario and New York State participated but the tour has now evolved to the present day format of 22 Rotarian curlers from Ontario exchanging with Scotland every two years.  Over the years, the Tour has achieved legendary status as a test of skill and stamina and has been called the “trip of a lifetime”.  It has been responsible for building strong friendships with teammates and with Rotary hosts. It really is a magical combination of Rotary and Curling fellowship as the team met participants in Scotland who had toured in Canada up to 30 years ago and still remain in touch with some of their hosts.

 

A new team from Scotland will be visiting the London area in mid November 2020 which is a great opportunity for Club Members to get involved by hosting.

Joan returned from her friendship exchange to Columbia and encouraged all of us to partake of these exchanges.  While in Columbia Joan attended a project fair where numerous worthwhile projects in Columbia were outlined. 

Jim Weese summarized his research and writing  about leadership.  He found there are five critical features of good leaders: Credibility,  Contagious Enthusiasm, Compelling Vision, Charismatic Communication, and Culture Building.

Jim gave examples of each of these features and provoked questions about leadership.  In her thank you to Jim Kathleen reflected on the similarity of Rotary to the factors Jim outlined. 

Melanie Katsiov explained the work of the African Canadian Federation in bring together many of the African National groups to work on youth focused activities.  For example, instead of the Ghana and Nigerian groups working separately on a youth project, the ACF can work as an umbrella group to work on projects of mutual interest.  Some of the projects ACF works on are tutoring elementary and high school students, helping parents navigate the school system so African heritage children are not automatically streamed away from the university/college oriented programs.  ACF is also involved in community affairs, sports programs, University programs such as Western Serves.

 

Past President Jug Manocha received a volunteer recognition award from MPP Peggy Sattler on Jan. 24, 2019.  Jug was recognized for all the volunteer work he does in his own quiet way.  He is a photographer at many community events and has been a strong supporter of multi-cultural events in our community.  His support of our club and the many things we do is greatly appreciated and he is a deserving individual for such an award.

Our Sargent at Arms made a special presentation to Brenda to celebrate her engagement to Harry.

A array of tastefully understated items were available for bidding conducted by our Sgt. at Arms at our first meeting in 2019

At the December work day for Days for Girls, Jillian provided an update.  In 2018 2,203 kits were distributed in 12 countries and amounted to 396,540 school days for girls.  The work party converted bolts of flannel into 10 bins ready for washing and further processing.