Missed due to nature of meeting.
 

President Dave made Lisa, Linda Kenny of KidsAbility staff, as well as, Leanne Hayes a mother of one of the children going to KidsAbility programs; our bellringers for today for their tremendous efforts for kids.

 

Not done.

 

1. Peter Gary reminded members to join him for the Dom Cardillo Trail clean-up on Tuesday, June 12th at 4:30 pm. Please meet at the Stanley Park Mall over by the LCBO parking area. Gloves & bags are provided. Fellowship to follow at the Whale & Ale on Victoria St. at completion of the lean-up.

 

2. Jill Melanson gave a brief outline of the KidsAbility Fun Day last Sat. June 9th. which was another great success thanks to all the members who volunteered for the event. The weather held; the families came and the activities were awesome. Thanks to Jill and Paul Rostrup for their organizing talents and hard work making this event so successful.

 

3. Howard Pell outlined the three methods being used for the Car Draw sign up. Members can sign- up via the online 'Genius" program for St. Jacobs Market any Thursday or Saturday from July to October, as well as, other events like the Ploughing Match etc. or when at a meeting there will be a monthly poster for signing or you can just contact Howard by email. Tickets will son be printed as we are waiting for confirmation of the November date from the Rangers. New technology will be used with ticket sales by using a "square" with your iPhone to purchase tickets. In the future, there will be a session to look at how this is done.

 

4. Cheryl Ewing spoke of another opportunity to sell tickets at the "Criusin' on King " event on July 13th. The $10 fee for car participants comes to our club if we provide 24 volunteers for the event. With 300 participants , this could be a big way to collect funds.

 

4. RI Conference volunteering for the airport for Thursday, June 21st to help Rotarians coming in with directions etc. Please contact Paul R. or Dave C. if you would like to join them and carpool.
 

None this week.

 

Lisa, the administrator for KidsAbility, spoke to the group and showed some photos of the Fun Day event last Saturday which hilited the members doing their best at flipping burgers; running events and crowd control. She praised our efforts in the raising of over $92,000 for KidsAbility over the last five years.She gave some background in the types of programs offered by the 236 staff and 600 volunteers for almost 8,000 children & youth accommodated. Since its inception in 1957, Rotary has been a major player in offering help  to children with developmental delays in speech, language, as well as, mobility issues, autism and infant hearing screening. KidsAbility offers occupational and physiotherapy, speech & language development and social interactions. Even with locations in Mount Forest, two in Guelph, Fergus, Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge; there are still 1300+ children on the waiting list. KidsAbility gets support not only through donations like our Car Draw but also from endowments and legacy gifts [e.g. RIFF's].

 

Lisa introduced Leanne Hayes, a mother whose daughter has experienced developmental delays which lead to language delays causing her to be withdrawn and avoided other children. She was also diagnosed with a digestion problem, fine and gross motor disabilities and a sleep disorder. She came to KidsAbility for help and has been very grateful for how her daughter has responded and how supported she felt. They have assisted with adapting the living environment to make her more relaxed and comfortable both at home and at KidsAbility. Worked on her social skills so she could interact more with her peers and used things she could do to help her gain confidence by modelling desired behaviours. Her daughter took part in art and music programs; learned to ride a bike and is now flourishing. A heartfelt story which all could relate to.

 

After this the group was taken on a tour of the facility to explain what was offered and especially to let us see the number of new technologies that assist these children to learn and adapt. Just amazing.