Liz Brown, Executive Director of Violence Against Women Services, Elgin County, had both good and bad news to share with the Club today.
First, the good news. Construction on the new Women’s Shelter is well under way and is expected, all being well, to be completed in August when an invitation to tour will be extended.
The new home will have eleven rooms (up from seven), allowing women and their children to stay together in one room; there is a capacity for 28 people in all. One of the rooms is designated for high risk women and four are designated as accessible (though all have accessible features). Most importantly, the home is designed to promote healing. Of course, the shelter is protected by effective security technology and procedures. Plans are to sell the old facility.
The bad news is that there should be a need for such a facility in this or any other community. Stays at the shelter can last from one day to ten months, with six or seven weeks being about the average. What’s more, there are some disturbing trends: shelter staff are noticing, for example, an increase in the number of women in their eighties. And violence against native women so much in the news on the national scene can be observed here as well: seven to ten women from First Nations communities use the St. Thomas shelter each year. As Liz firmly asserts, “We must act.”
Liz thanked the Club and Interact for their support of the new shelter in the early going ($1.9 million in provincial funding to complete the project came after a huge financial response from an economically struggling community). To make progress towards eliminating this evil, men and women, Rotarians among them, will have to act together.
AT LONG LAST SPRING….President Nancy welcomed guests Maggie Horn (wife of Bill) and Dave Moffatt. In honour of the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II this Thursday, God Save the Queen was sung. This is a busy week for the Rotary Club of St. Thomas. In addition to today’s meeting, there will be a Tour of Homes Recognition Dinner (to honour home owners and decorators) at the Wayside on the evening of Friday, April 22. 6 p.m. (social) for 6:30 p.m. (dinner ) (note change). Cost per person is $20. Please let Trudy know if you are planning to attend. The April 25 meeting will be a visit from MP Karen Vecchio.
Last Friday’s Keynotes Concert and Awards Night was a great success. Chair Ron Somerville noted that there were 320 people in the auditorium at the Salvation Army Citadel, so his wish for Standing Room Only certainly came true. President Nancy thanked Ron for his leadership, Elaine Catchpole for the accounts of the evening which appeared in the Times-Journal and The Weekly News, and Malcolm Rust for the publicity he created…. The President also had thanks for those who cleaned and those who worked at the Food Trailer on the weekend, including members of the St. Thomas Interact Club. So valuable was the assistance of the Interactors that the Club voted to pass on to them the $91 Canadian and $5 American it had received as donations while the Food Trailer was at the RV World event. Thanks to Don Ferguson for helping to get the Food Trailer ready; to Trish for organizing volunteers; and to Adriana for persevering through back injury. Service above self!
Stew Shouldice has got ClubRunner up and running on the revamped Club website. Congratulations, Stew! Piper McKinnon will post this week’s Rotaserver on the website....The next Rotary Leadership Institute seminars are to be held at King’s College (266 Epworth Avenue) in London, Ontario on Saturday, May 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Pre-register with Al Hardy at al@allanhardy.ca, specifying whether it is Part I, II or III you will be attending. Deadline is April 29. It’s an “amazing” way to learn about Rotary, whether you are new or old to Rotary, and, even better, the Club will pay your registration fee. Please advise President Nancy….The Railway City Rotary Club Fish Fry takes place on May 7. Tickets available online or from RCRC members…. Ed Willson was winner of the 50-50 draw. Fine Master Ron Somerville was heartened to learn that billionaires such as Warren Buffett were active in pledging large sums of money to the solution of world problems. Despite the trillions of dollars raised, they could only be described as seed money, so enormous are the problems.
HAPPY FINS- Donations of $5 to The Rotary Foundation - Annual Programs Fund - credited to the donor in celebration of something good in our lives. This practice was started in this club in 1985 to raise funds for polio eradication at the suggestion of Darwin Lowe, a member of the club.
Maggie Horn (2) – For her birthday yesterday; her brother and sister and their spouses arrived from Dayton, Ohio, to help celebrate.
Bill Horn (2) – For Maggie’s birthday yesterday.
Ron Somerville (3) – Thanks for the Keynotes Concert tributes; for Liz’s presentation today; for his son’s birthday.
Malcolm Rust (1) – For Liz’s presentation today.
Nancy Lovelock (1) – For Liz’s presentation.
Ed Willson (1) – He was delighted to see Interactors at the Food Trailer; they even made the fries his way.
Trish Shouldice (1) – For Liz’s presentation today.
Paul Blower (1) – Thanks for the visits, cards and expressions of concern during his recent illness.
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