Festival City Newsletter November 30

Posted by Vincent Hill 
 
The Rotary Club Of Festival City
President:  Linda Jones
Minutes of the meeting of Nov 30, 2010
 
Guests:  Tyler Canal is a guest of Brian Rivers and a potential new member.  Wendy Orchard is our guest speaker.  R.E.S. Marina Bruschi from Brazil.
 
Rotary Duties:
Date        Prize Donor    Prayer Reader        Speaker Thanker     Club Greeter
Dec  7   Dianne Yundt     Lynn Bowering            Susan Fox           Carolyn Dingman
Dec 14  Bill Helmuth       Susan Thomson                                       Anna Sherwin
Dec 21  Brian Rivers       Jack West                                                 Bob Shannon                  
 
Coming Events:
Dec  7   John Slater – classification talk
Dec 14  Club Assembly
Dec 21  Christmas program
 
Draw Prize: David Moore donated the prize won by Deb Stacey-Rivers
 
Announcements:
  1. Christmas Open House: Linda Jones invites club members and their significant others to her house on Dec 5 anytime between 1 PM and 3 PM for Christmas Cheer. Linda is at 45 Long Drive, 4th house on the right off Romeo St.
 
  1. Salvation Army Christmas Kettles: Volunteers are reminded to report for duty on Thursday Dec 9 at Zehrs.
 
  1. Heritage B&B Christmas Tour: Dec 11 and 12 from 1 PM to 4 PM. Five houses will be showcased.  A signup sheet was circulated.  Spots are still available particularly on Sunday.  Contact Kent Chisholm if you can help.
 
  1. Youth Project Donation Boxes: Please return your donation box before the last meeting. The donations need to be counted before the year end.
 
  1. Board of Directors: The next meeting is Dec 15 at Lynn Bowering’s condo.
 
  1. Marina Bruschi: Marina is moving to the home of Jack and Donna West for the next stage of her exchange.
 
  1. Paul Harris Fellow Nominations: Suggestions for nominations should be emailed to David Harvie. Indicate why you feel the nominee deserves the award and also have your nomination seconded by a club member.
 
Guest Speaker: Dianne Yundt introduced her long time friend Wendy Orchard.  Wendy is the Executive Director of Meals on Wheels and Neighbourly Services. The non-profit organization provides support for Seniors with the goal of helping them remain in their homes.  There are 17 000 clients receiving 58000 services last year with the help of 500 volunteers putting in 13 000 hours of work. 
 
The Meals on Wheels part of the service is in its 41st year. Last year Spruce Lodge made 16 000 hot meals for M.O.W. and the Apetito company of Brampton prepared 6000 frozen meals.  78 volunteers deliver the meals.  M.O.W. also has a “Diners Club”. Clients come out for a social meal two times each month at Greenwood Court, Knox Church, the Windmill Co-op and at other locations.
 
There is also a “Friendly Visit” program whereby volunteers visit Seniors for 1 hour each week for a chat.  The “Telephone Reassurance” program involves someone phoning a Senior every morning to check up on them and to see that the client has taken all the necessary medication and is mobile. If there is no answer the next of kin are called or in some cases the police.
 
One of the newer initiatives is the “Wellness Program”. This is preventative in nature as it provides exercise classes by trained professionals 5 days a week.  The objective is to keep Seniors maintaining their strength.  Participants range in age from their 50’s to their 90’s.
 
Transportation is the largest program. There is a pool of vehicles which take Seniors to appointments both in town and further afield. Some trips are social in nature. This very expensive program has access to 25 vehicles and makes 75000 trips per year.
 
The organization is undergoing a transition through amalgamation with two other services. The Town and Country Support Service of Huron County and the Mid-Western Adult Day Service will join with M.O.W. and Neighbourly Services under the new name of “One Care”.  One phone call to One Care will access all services required by Seniors.
 
Wendy was thanked by Anna Sherwin.