Past-President Adrian welcomed all to our meeting today.
Adrian DeCoo was very happy to meet with past president and honourary member Joe Dwyer and accept a $150 donation to the club.
Shawky Fahel is very pleased and proud to have established a scholarship at Carlton University in Journalism related to American/Pakistani studies.
Oksana Tereshchenko is happy and pleased to pass on thanks to Shawky Fahel for all his assistance to here and her family in settling in the region as Ukrainian refuges.
Lumi Mironescu is very happy that her son has decided to continue to pursue his studies in broadcast production. She is also happy to have been able to take our exchange student Jonas to the Wellesley Apple Butter and Cheese Festival on the weekend and spend some time with him there.
Elena Shpinel is delighted that after her five years in Canada she now has her Canadian Citizenship.
Ernie Ginsler is very happy that our club is again support the Peace Scholarships at Conrad Grebel University this year with a $2,000 donation. This initiative, which Ernie initiated five years ago now has all five local clubs involved.
Club Announcements
Membership Proposals
The Board has approved the membership in the club applications from two prospective members:
Vince Cerullo of 104 MacKay Crescent, Waterloo in the classification of Certified Financial Planner, sponsored by Adrian DeCoo
Mike Harvey of 135 Fairfield Avenue, Kitchener in the classification of Broker / Realtor, sponsored by Hubert Singh.
Any member who opposes either of these membership proposals must put such opposition in writing and forward it to the club secretary (Bill Proctor, bill.proctor@bell.net) no later than Thursday, October 12.
Online Auction Fundraising Campaign
This will be our only major fundraiser this year and it is critical that all members get involved. The Digital Support Package has been sent out and members will be contacted by committee members to respond to any question they may have. There are three main ways club members can support the auction:
Solicit – Product and/or Sponsors - $500 in total value or greater for each member
Promote – To Friends, Family, Colleagues – Display our Lawn Signs at Home and at Work
Shop – Great Deals for Us Too – November 4 to 18
In addition, some assistance will be needed in preparing the lawn signs and putting them up in the community. Be sure to respond to the Event invitations that will be sent out.
Pickleball Tournament
Our club, mainly through our Ukrainian Support Committee, together with Pickleball of Wellington Waterloo Region (POWWR) is helping to run a
Pickleball Tournament on October 28 as a small fundraiser. Invitations to participate in the Tournament have been sent out. In addition a few additional helpers at the event will be needed and an Event Invitation will be sent to all members.
Nutrition For learning Program at Forest Hill P.S.
This support program is up and running again this year. We have 16 members involved and the schedule for the first part of the school year has been sent out. Members involved in the program are asked to please be sure to mark their dates on their calendars. Any questions about the program can be sent to Martin Jones.
A Better Tent City
Our work at A Better Tent City is continuing with our support in the areas of site maintenance on Tuesday afternoons and cooking / baking at various times depending on the volunteers availability. Members interested in helping out are asked to contact Neil Swayze.
To start our program today we had Sharon Gilroy Dreher, the founder and CEO of Toasty Toes provide an update on their program.
- Founded in 2013
- Provided in excess of 130,000 pairs of socks in 2013 to 2019
- Forged a partnership with WR Community Foundation
- 2020 Established the ToastyToes Fund
- Pivoted from collecting physical socks
- Accept only monetary donations & issue tax receipts
- Have raised in excess of $170,000 since 2020
- The ToastyToes Grants provide the agencies flexibility in when and how funds are used
Some testimonials:
Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region
Brrr! It's getting cold outside! Thankfully our hearts are warm because of support from T
oastyToes Waterloo Region this past year. The
#ToastyToesFund ensures cozy dry socks are available to our clients so that basic needs are met & they can focus on the vital work of healing after an assault.
Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region
Thank you t
o @ToastyToesWR for providing Women's Crisis Services with funding for Socks to keep the women and children we support warm all year long.
oneROOF Youth Services
On days like today, we're grateful to be a recipient of
the #ToastyToesFund! Their support gives us the funds needed to ensure our youth have the dignity of fresh, warm socks. Thanks to @ToastyToesWR & @WRCommFdn, we're facing this harsh winter with a sock stock a mile high!
Sanguen Health Centre
As always, we send all our appreciation to
@toastytoeswr. Through their support we are able to buy large amounts of socks to distribute on our Mobile outreach programs. This is such an invaluable donation. The numbers of unhoused & precariously housed folks is increasing due to the housing crisis, and keeping your feet warm & dry is an important preventative health measure.
Overall the program provides many gifts to the recipients:
- Gift of warmth
- Gift of health
- Gift of comfort
- Gift of dignity
Help warm hearts & toes
Please follow ToastyToes & share our message
Twitter - Instagram – Facebook - LinkedIn
@ToastyToesWR
Our next presenter was Paul McIntyre-Royston, President and CEO, Grand River Hospital Foundation, who gave us information on the Hospitals Care Never Stops Campaign and the Future of Care Campaign. Paul was introduced by Trevor Eaton.
Starting with Grand River Hospital Foundation as CEO just before the pandemic, PMR (as he is called by his colleagues) has worked with our community and the Foundation team to launch the $258M Care Never Stops Campaign. The Foundation has evolved to a $25M a year organization that is responsible for all volunteers, communications and a vision to completely evolve the patient experience.
Just before the Hospital, he was the Canadian Olympic Foundation CEO, supporting team Canada in PyeongChang. For the previous 7 years, Paul reinvented how people view libraries philanthropically while growing the Calgary Public Library Foundation to more than $300,000,000 raised in public and private support. His transformational work at the library and its foundation led to PMR being named one of the Top 40 under 40 in Calgary in 2015.
Starting his fundraising career at U(W) in 2004, Paul's 20 years of experience in fundraising, 12 of which as a CEO, spans several sectors including healthcare, education, sport, municipal organizations and not for profit. Paul is an alumna with the University of Waterloo where he graduated with a Bachelor of Mathematics. PMR grew up in KW and is delighted to have come back home with his spouse and 5 daughters. When he isn't contributing to building a world class health care system in our community, Paul can be found biking the trails with his family or planning out his next entrepreneurial venture.
Here are some highlights from his presentation
A Little History
In 1893, when our community was in need of a genuine advance in medical care and had a burgeoning population, our cause began. The Seagram family stepped forward and offered 95 acres of land if and only if the citizens would fully fund the Hospital before the first brick or beam was laid.
The citizens responded with a roar. Kitchener and Waterloo rallied the community and raised $12,000 from donors, who made gifts ranging in size from 25 cents to 50 dollars. Together in 1895, our predecessors built what has become Grand River Hospital out of their generosity, philanthropy and belief in each other and this remarkable place.
For the foundation, our aspiration is to rally the citizens of our communities to ensure world class health care right here.
OUR NEXT STORY
Grand River Hospital's vision is a world class health system supporting healthier lives. When we think of world class, we are referring to a health system that is among the best in the world in terms of experience for the people we serve and our teams, health outcomes, and sustainability as a system.
Our vision is bigger than just our organization, as we are only one of the many contributors to health care that serves our community; our health system is interconnected, so to reach world class, every one of us will need to rise to the occasion.
SOME GRH FACTS
- Provide care at seven locations
- Larger than SMGH, CMh and GGH combined
- One of Top 3 Cancer Centres in Ontario
- 5,000 plus members
- Provide 3 Regional Programs
- 1,000,000Paients yearly with St. Mary’s G.H
- 13 plus babies born every day
- One of Top 10 Emergency Rooms in Ontario in 2022 and 2023
FUNDING AND CARE AREAS
- 74% of funding comes from Above and Beyond Government Support
- 26% of funding comes from Community Support through the Foundation covering
- Together, funding covers about 95% of current needs
The hospital serves several care areas (percent of funding for the area)
- Learning and Innovation (9%)
- Mental Health (12%)
- Grand River Kids (11%)
- Emergency and Critical Care (9%)
- Patient Experience (28%)
- Continuum of Care (14%)
- Grand River Regional Cancer Centre (14%)
- Kidney (3%)
MRI TOGETHERSt. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital are partnering to deliver world class health care for our growing region. We are committed to an innovative, integrated, and collaborative approach to health care while preserving the independence of both organizations and maintaining our unique histories and cultures. We know that collaborating on this project will allow us to build something better together than we ever could by going it alone.
SERVICE CLUBS
Our a vision to connect with all types of service clubs that are aligned with supporting the health and wellness of our community. The health system touches all of us from birth through life, and the care never stops.
This is about a long-term approach and alignment as we create a world class health system for each and all of us.
THE FUTURE OF CARE TOGETHER
Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital are partnering to build a new, joint hospital and modernize existing hospital facilities in Kitchener-Waterloo.
The criteria for site selection has been determined:
- Contain a minimum of 50 acres of contiguous land and be comprised of lands that have sufficient frontage and depth that are suitable for the development of a hospital.
- Must align with the service delivery model the hospitals have put forward to the Ministry of Health.
- Proponent must be a person or entity with the ability to execute a transaction to convey the proposed land.
- Be free of natural topographic and soil conditions, including, water features, flood plains, landforms, or conservation designations that would limit the suitability of land for a hospital.
- Be serviced, or serviceable in a suitable term, by natural gas, electricity, Regional water, Regional wastewater, and communications infrastructure. If not currently serviced, a clear timeline for servicing must be presented
- Have attributes that allow for the creation of a Heliport that meets the requirements of Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) 2019 1, Standard 325.
- Contain no known heritage or archaeological features that would pose impediments to development.
- Not adjacent to incompatible industrial uses or railway corridors.
The Selection Committee:
- Karen Coviello – Former City of Waterloo Councillor and respected leadership executive with Habitat For Humanity Canada, who also brings significant experience as a community volunteer and advocate
- Janet Davidson – Widely honoured former executive and CEO of multiple hospital systems in Canada, who also brings clinical care experience, and experience as a senior public servant in Canadian health care systems.
- Mike Murray – Former long-time CAO with the Region of Waterloo, brings extensive community involvement, as well as significant experience in finance, land-use planning, and the development and delivery of large-scale infrastructure projects.
- Altaf Stationwala – A well-respected hospital CEO who led the recent completion of a new hospital build, as well as Chaired the Lakeridge Health Expert Panel new hospital site selection process in 2022.
- Carl Zehr (Chair) – Long-time former Mayor of the City of Kitchener and Region of Waterloo Councillor, he has served on numerous Boards and is a well-respected senior executive and leader in the community.
They are currently about to enter into step 5 of a 7 step selection process:
- Launch the site selection process and public call for panel candidates
- Establish the site selection panel
- Consult stakeholders on the draft site selection criteria
- Establish the criteria to evaluate sites
- Identify potential sites
- Evaluate potential sites
- Make a recommendation to the BFCT committee / boards
For more information go to futureofcaretogether.ca
