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The 22nd Annual Rotary Community Auction is on now!!

The Rotary Community Auction brought to you by the Rotary Club of Cataraqui-Kingston is our major fundraiser, providing funds to support our worthwhile projects.

We are excited to show you the fantastic array of items up for auction this year! From dining to golf to automotive to travel and much more!

To see the items for up for auction, and to register as a bidder, go to www.ckrotaryauction.org

Watch for our members on the WS Daily show on CKWS TV the week of November 11th as we talk about the auction, our club and the work we do.

Are you an established professional who wants to make positive changes in your community and the world? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. We provide opportunities for youth development, partner through local grants with other organizations to meet community needs, and collaborate with Rotarians internationally to serve in Kenya, India, and other parts of the world. Become a Rotarian and join our diverse group of business and professional leaders in service and fellowship.

Annual Report 2017-2018

Foundation Committee

Nov 26, 2019 7:00 AM

Annual Community Paul Harris Awards

Annual Club Christmas Party

Dec 10, 2019 7:00 AM

No meeting this week

Dec 24, 2019 7:00 AM

No meeting this week

Dec 31, 2019 7:00 AM

View entire list...

Judy Bierma and Anthony Gifford, Kingston and Area Shared Seniors Alternative Living

Posted by Elizabeth Cohoe on Nov 12, 2019

John Farrow introduced our guest speakers, Judy Bierma and Anthony Gifford. John remarked that has been looking forward to this topic because he has two adult children still living at home! Anthony and Judy emailed the club through our website asking to come and talk about their alternative housing arrangement, as they would like to talk to organizations like ours to promote a new way to look and co-operative housing.

Judy and Anthony lived on a boat for 13 years. When they came off the boat and wondered what to do next, they came up with the idea of sharing a house with other people like themselves. They are now sharing a five bedroom house with two other people (and looking for another housemate). They started with a good friend who came here from out west. One bedroom might be kept empty and may be used in the future for guests. They are doing this for financial reasons - average pensioner income is going down, while housing costs are going up, and assisted living is very expensive. In assisted living, people can't help each other with daily tasks because of liability. Judy and Anthony were looking not only for financial assistance, they want the social interaction shared housing provides. Statistics indicate that people living together call 911 and visit emergency rooms much less. Loneliness is biggest health problem for seniors.

They each staked $70,000 for the down payment and per bedroom cost is $600 a month . Filling the house isn’t a problem, there is a waiting list. Anthony was here to promote the model, not their house, because they are full now.

Benefits include a lower cost to the city than for subsidized housing, and a lower carbon footprint. A significant portion of greenhouse gasses are produce by home heating, so full houses are more environmentally friendly. The house also only has two cars for 5 people. He and Judy wouldn’t have likely planted a garden but with a group it turned into fun and it added to their food. He believes they create a smaller carbon footprint.

Down side? Of course you step on each others toes from time to time, but you are in control and have more freedom. Acceptance of the model is a challenge, because our society today isn’t big on sharing. Anthony wrote a book called “Dare to Share” to talk about our need to learn to share more in our society.

Judy and Anthony are making their house a non-profit model but other models are possible, like should we allow or not allow pets? Compared to what it costs the city for affordable housing, Judy and Anthony's model seems pretty appealing.

Questions.

Who owns the house? There are different ways of dividing ownership. Presently they are “landlords”.

Are there issues with inspections? Run as single-family place so no tenant - landlord dynamic.

Do people sign agreements? No. People can be "voted off the island".

They ease people in, beginning with a short visit and extending to overnight etc. They have a waiting list.

Robert Reid thanked our speakers with our traditional loaf of bread.

Paul Van Nest - My Tour of Bomber Command in England - Remembrance Day Meeting

Posted by Elizabeth Cohoe on Nov 05, 2019

John Farrow introduced our guest speaker Paul Van Nest, who is a keen student of history. His latest trip was to England to visit sites related to Bomber Command. Hearing about this is a natural fit as our Remembrance Day meeting.

The tour started on October 1^st. This was Paul's fifth tour with leader Ted Barris, former CBC Radio personality. Many don’t know much about WW2 other than what they've seen war movies. One should also know about the tremendous loss of civilians as well as military.

For Bomber Command the losses were appalling. Over 55 thousand died, which was 44% of those involved as Bomber Command Airmen. Also, 8,500 were wounded. Paul showed us sobering statistics about killed and wounded and captured as prisoners, which equalled 60% casualties. You have to go back to the American Civil War to see these kind of casualty statistics Bomber Command was a group name that included Britain (RAF), Canada (RCAF), Australia, New Zealand and South African troops. One in five of dead were Canadians.

Paul told us about the aircraft used for speed and bomb capacity. Crew on each aircraft was 7 and he showed us photos of aircraft and crew. Paul talked to a survivor who was tail gunner. This man talked about his experience and said that your crew were your friends. Outside of that they didn’t know if they would ever see them again. The man had a unshakable belief in his pilot.

More photos showed us where the crew were located in aircraft, both Halifax and Lancaster.

Yorkshire, Lincolnshire both had a large number of airfields because they were a long way away from action in France and London. Only a few German bombers flew into that region.

By August 1940, Fighter Command was almost on its knees. To relieve the pressure, the British sent 81 bombers to Berlin, and that was followed by Germany retaliating by bombing London. By 15^th September bombing of London escalated, including night attacks.

These were all parts of the famous Battle of Britain.

By 1942, Arthur Harris (aka Butcher Harris or Bomber Harris, depending on your point of view), was appointed as commander in chief of Bomber Command and they went on the offensive. Civilians really suffered in England and Germany from the bombing campaigns - the English bombing campaign was very controversial, and not commemorated in England until 2012.

Paul, with the group, toured airfields and museums, where they could still see things like control towers. He was in one that was set up as a museum as it was during the war. Also, as part of the museum, you could see taxiways, bombs and Lancaster aircraft. Paul explained the difference between a Lancaster and a Halifax. There are no Halifax aircraft left flying, and only a couple of Lancasters.

Paul showed photos of aircraft interiors showing where the crew had to be for 8 – 10 hours in minus 40 degree weather. Planes were vulnerable from rear and underneath, hence the need for a tail gunner. He described a bit of what a tail gunner had to endure, and told us some couldn’t bail out fast enough because of where they were in the aircraft. Soldier ingenuity helped save some airmen from poor aircraft design quirks.

Paul also spoke about a family member who was involved and was killed on a bombing mission. He showed us photographs of his cousin and recalled with sadness the last time they were together Paul met with another family member and he now has letters home from from his cousin. This will be the start of some serious research for Paul. He spoke about what it was like to see memorabilia and news items. Paul saw his cousin's grave marker in Germany several years ago. He finds these memories to be intense. He found a cousin in remembrance books in England.

Following the presentation, a minute of silence was observed.

Jim Rymerson thanked Paul with the traditional loaf of bread.

Bernie Allard and John Farrow - World Polio Day - What does it Mean to Rotarians?

John displayed a picture of a man in an iron lung from about 9 years ago; there are still people living in them. The picture is from the video: The Final Inch. This video talks about the last phase of Polio eradication. Anyone who would like to borrow the video can ask John.

World Polio Day is Thursday, October 24th. Hajira Wilson, a powerful force for polio eradication work in this area, died recently and will be honoured at the meeting of the Kingston Rotary Club on Thursday/ Consider making a donation in her honour.

John asked Bernie to come forward and speak first. Bernie is a past PolioPlus District chair, working to get our more than 60 clubs involved. Thank you Bernie, for that work.

Bernie spoke about Rotary and Polio. In 1973-74, everybody knew about polio. As a matter of fact, we have one survivor in this club, our senior member Terry Hicks. He was told he would never walk again, but he’s still doing well at the age of 90+. The Philippines were having many Polio cases and decided to do something. The Salk vaccine had just appeared. One Rotary Club in Illinois was asked if they would help with immunization, which they did. It was not talked about much again until 1985, when it was decided that for the 100th anniversary of Rotary in 2005, we would get rid of this terrible disease, which had up to 300,000 cases per year. The 1987 Munich International Rotary Convention, which Bernie attended, was the first start of a real campaign to raise money; a German car company offered a car, to be delivered anywhere in the world, for a draw at 100 DM per ticket. Then an appeal was made to clubs around the world to meet the goal of raising $120 million dollars. But Rotarians are dumb and stupid and they don’t listen, so the raised over $250,000,000! Since then, we have had four other major campaigns. These have raised over 2.2 billion dollars in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which doubles our donation every year.

Bernie told us that one of saddest pictures he has ever seen is that of an 8-year-old boy in Venezuela limping away dragging he leg. He was the last case in the Americas. We have now reached a point where there are two countries left in the world, Afghanistan and Pakistan with wild Polio virus. 99% of cases are on their borders, where tradition, ignorance, and stupidity, means that Polio is still crossing the border. Three years ago we were down to 17 cases; this year unfortunately there have been 88. It just keeps going. In Afghanistan, all cases were on the border except for one case in the north-east of Afghanistan; people have no idea where it came from. For us, polio is a flight away, for them, it is just one kilometre away. We are dealing with the idea, held by some there, that we, by giving immunization to the children, are causing more problem than not. It’s very difficult to break these taboos. In immunization days around the world, many Rotarians, including his daughter Françine and a friend who spent two weeks in India, give the vaccine to children. In the Middle East and Muslim countries, we need women to do this work since men cannot enter the home alone. Normally volunteers pay their own way, but are hosted by local clubs. We give six other vaccines, including measles, along with polio. It’s a never-ending problem. If we were to stop these immunization days, within 10 years we’d be back to up to 400,000 cases a year. For a country to be declared Polio free, it has to be free of cases for three years. Nigeria was again declared Polio free last summer. We must continue immunization, and also re-visit these countries, with WHO, to ensure that the program continues forever. A donation to Polio Plus is something that everyone should consider. You can’t take it with you in the end, you won’t miss it, and you know that somebody is going to win, and that somebody is everybody.

John Farrow:

After the Toronto RI Convention, John became interested in the health aspects of polio and the need for surveillance. Rotary is already planning for what happens after final case.

What is polio? There are three types of virus. Type 2 & 3 have been eradicated, which has led to a change in the formulation of the vaccine used. Polio has been around since Egyptian times. There was an outbreak in New York City in 1916 that paralyzed 27,000 people and killed 7,000 in the country. Humans shed the virus through their stool, so transmission is closely related to sanitation. The Salk Vaccine came along in 1955, administered by injection, and Sabine’s oral vaccine came along in 1960.

Why did Rotary come to focus on polio? The book A Century of Service has a chapter on Polio. Rotary had been working with Crippled Children, through a strong association with Easter Seals, for years. We started with smaller campaigns, including work in the Philippines on one of the first immunizations. Amelda Marcos, “the shoe lady”, wife of President Ferdinand Marcos, was Minister of Health and so had to sign off to give approval. Neither the WHO nor Rotary were really comfortable with the idea of a global effort. Rotary wanted to retain autonomy of individual clubs in deciding on service direction. Nevertheless, after the initial work in The Philippines, RI decided to go all in. It was the first time that Rotary started looking for major gifts.

In the 1988 RI Convention, RI moved from control to eradication. Why eradication not control? As Bernie said, it’s only a walk away. It’s only a plane ride away. Right now, there are 70.8 million people in the world that are displaced (UNHCR’s annual Global Trends Report, June 19, 2019). Millions of people are on the move, Syrians refugees are being monitored very closely because they are living in appalling conditions ripe for the spread of any kind of disease. We also have to face the anti-vaccine movement. The United States of America is about to lose its measles-free declaration, because many think vaccinations are dangerous or not important. Surprisingly, the last case of Polio in Europe was just in 2015 in the Ukraine. In 2016, the year of the World Cup in Brazil, the virus was discovered there in the sewage system. The WHO currently monitors sewage systems in 34 high-risk countries around the world.

Why do we use the oral vaccine? It’s easier to make, cheaper, and easier to distribute, especially with volunteers - you can’t send them out with syringes. The oral vaccine is better at controlling outbreaks and conferring herd immunity, helping to stop transmission. However, the oral vaccine, in rare cases, can mutate and cause vaccine-derived polio, so there is a small risk. Once we eradicate polio (we’ve targeted $4.2 billion for the final push), we can move, with a lot of training and money, to using the injected vaccine (dead vaccine). But then all live vaccine will have to be destroyed.

We have to keep vaccinating in eradicated areas. We need stores of vaccine for that and for outbreaks. The WHO also investigates 100,000 cases of paralysis around the world to determine causes—polio, encephalitis, or others. This is the largest non-military effort in history. It takes a huge army of volunteers. But what happens after the last case? We will continue to vaccinate in the 60 highest risk countries, and continue to monitor cases of paralysis. We will replace the live oral with the injectable dead vaccine, and will destroy all of the live virus vaccines. The PolioPlus program will monitor where the virus is stored around the world, making sure they’re secure.

What’s the “Plus” in PolioPlus? See Rotarian, October 2019 (vol. 198 #4). Vaccination has left a legacy of health care improvements in the countries where immunization has been conducted . Some countries need clean water more than vaccine, so bringing clean water to them is part of the work. Jobs are needed for the disabled—polio survivors are helped by Rotarians to find work. Additional medication is included with the polio vaccine, including Vitamin A. That is estimated to have prevented 1.25M deaths from other diseases. Surveillance systems in place have been used to thwart other outbreaks, e.g., Ebola in Nigeria, and Yellow Fever. Often we are giving out bed nets during vaccination. Malaria might be the next thing we try to eliminate. And we are engaging survivors, who become the best advocates for encouraging vaccinations.

Bernie: In 2008, an American Family went to the Middle East on vacation and came back with 3 children with the polio virus (which was not publicized) - the last known case in the U.S.A.

Donations may be made to The Rotary Foundation Canada (label PolioPlus), by cheque or online.

Ana presented a loaf of bread to John and Bernie to share, in thanks for their work and their enlightening presentation.

New Canadians Sharing their Experiences

President Ana introduced our two speakers this morning.

Thandi Nkole (said as Tandy eNkolay) is a Quality Improvement Specialist Lean Six Sigma yellow belt by profession with several years of work experience in health, manufacturing, education and the non for profit sector. She’s been in Kingston for 8 years and is an alumna of Queen’s University, Health Care Quality program. Thandi also holds a prior degree in Parasitology from the University of Zambia. Thandi was also an Interactor during her high school years in Zambia.

She is passionate about quality and equity and enjoys working with teams and implementing new initiatives. She was also the first participant in Newcomers Empowering Business Collaborative Conversations, partnering with HARS (HIV/Aids Regional Services) help them initiate a health and safety policy. She now works at KEYS to help implement the Workplace Inclusion Charter.

Carla Arias had connections to the Rotary club in Bolivia but moved to Kingston in 2016 with her Canadian husband. With a Bachelors in Business Management and a Masters in Corporate Finance, Carla worked for nearly 25 years in finance in Bolivia. Her positions have included seats on two Boards of Directors, auditing for NGOs, United Nation projects and other institutions, Senior Auditor of Price Waterhouse Coopers Bolivia, and CFO of Ernst & Young Bolivia.

After moving to Kingston, Carla found work as a financial clerk and volunteered at ISKA (Immigrant Services of Kingston and Area) to help newcomers with tax returns. Rather than continue to seek local jobs in finance, she has felt a desire to be involved in community work and is passionate about helping newcomers in Kingston. Through her own experience as well as volunteer work and personal interactions, she is very sensitive to the needs and situations of immigrants and refugees in Kingston.

A former client of KEYS, Carla recently completed her training as an intercultural inclusion coach through Newcomers Empowering Business.

Thandi and Carla then took centre stage

Carla talked about her personal experiences on being a newcomer to Canada, and Thandi presented information about the different things that KEYS is doing to welcome newcomers to Kingston.

Carla came to Canada just over 3 years ago with her daughter, and married a Canadian. In Bolivia she had a career that she had built over many years. Her parents were part of Rotary and she experienced hosting a Rotary Youth Exchange student with her family. Later, she went to Michigan as a youth exchange student herself! On arrival in Canada as an adult, she felt like a nobody, no one knew her, and life was so different from her life in Bolivia. Her experience and credentials didn’t count here. She started to do taxes for immigrants, feeling fortunate to get a job after trying for many years to get one. She was really happy about this but people didn’t seem to trust what she was doing because she was an immigrant. so it took a long time to prove herself. She always had someone supervising her which wasn’t easy. Carla feels that immigrants come with a lot of knowledge as well as dreams and only need an opportunity to show what they can do. They do feel an undercurrent of not actually being welcome. People aren’t ready to deal with someone different. As a result, many immigrants are not working in their area of expertise.

Thandi reported that a study was done this year at KEYS. In Kingston, 95% of people surveyed actually see immigrants positively. Thandi showed stats from the study. Few residents actually have any intercultural knowledge in spite of their wanting to welcome newcomers. So, how can you help? You can contribute to Refugee Resettlement Services, donate goods and services, hire a newcomer, volunteer, for example with English language tutoring. Or, be a mentor, and help them to connect with other people who can be helpful, and help them to network. And especially embrace the Inclusive Workplaces Charter. Champion inclusion in your community and workplace. (ed. note - for more on the charter, go to https://www.cityofkingston.ca/-/keys-and-the-city-host-the-inclusion-charter-launch-promoting-inclusion-and-diversity-in-the-workplace)

Questions?

Have the programs that you have introduced been going long enough to understand their effectiveness? No. It is too soon.

Is KEYS a city of Kingston initiative? Yes in collaboration with other organizations..

Can immigrants call Keys and ask for help? Yes.

John Gale commented that as an immigration lawyer he hired a refugee a couple of years ago. She had come from Rwanda and was a lawyer there. Actually, she escaped from there. Failures were his not hers as he didn’t really know how to use her talents. In terms of this presentation, the problems are with the local employers not managing them well. Now he feels that she was a missed opportunity.

President Ana announced a networking workshop to be held at the Odd Fellows Hall. It will take place on Saturday, November 23^rd 9 – noon. The 4 Rotary Clubs are involved, and it is part of the Supporting New Canadians (SNC) initiative. The purpose is to allow newcomers to Canada to be able to network with Rotarians, and be able to benefit from their expertise in different areas, and in doing so, perhaps find their own place in Rotary. Please come out on November 23^rd. The KEYS mentorship program for youth is going to be used in our Pathways program.

President Ana decided that she would like to do something in her retirement and she has been mentoring Sam and Sam has a job now. Ana and Sam should be an example for us all.

Thandi and Carla were thanked with the traditional loaves of bread.

Mac Johnston, newspaper reporter for 40 years

Posted by Bill Egnatoff on Oct 08, 2019

Guest speaker Mac Johnston, newspaper reporter for 40 years was introduced today by John Farrow

Mac talked about his background; born on a farm in Hastings County, Mac was schooled in Belleville and attended Kemptville Agricultural College. While working a summer job as manager of a retail store in Madoc, Mac dropped into the Quinte Hotel and met a former teacher who told him about a sports news reporter job with the Belleville Intelligencer. The teacher felt so strongly the Mac should apply for the job that he had made an appointment for an interview the next day! Mac got the job, which entailed a 5:30 a.m. start time and many split shifts. Next, the Trentonian City Desk position came open, a great opportunity to show Mac's initiative. Mac connected with City Clerk, learned about city budgets and got involved in reporting on city council. This offered Mac an opportunity to explore other types of reporting, like some agricultural reporting, and writing a story about a man named “Charlie Brown”—what it was like to have a famous name. He then started doing stories on local people with famous names—Pierre Trudeau, Maurice Richard, etc., which earned him an award. Mac and his wife raised a family in Trenton, then got a job in Cornwall with the Standard Freeholder, which was in a downturn cycle, with only four, inexperienced reporters; he had politics, then took on school board reporting. But his wife, from Galt, was not happy there. When visiting her home, he saw ad for working at the Guelph Daily Mercury. He got the job, but only after the manager checked whether they could steal him from one Thompson paper to another. In Guelp there were four reporters and three bureaus, linked by teletype (this was 1971). Then in 1972, Mac got the City Editor’s job.

Mac really wanted to be a managing editor or to be a Queen’s Park or Ottawa editor. He finally got an interview for an Ottawa bureau job. which he got. So Mac and his family moved to Ottawa, the start of 40 years there in the Ottawa Press Gallery. Mac described the Press Gallery as an 'interesting' place - at the time there were 143 journalists accredited to Parliamentary Press Gallery, but just 2 years later, 320 people. An hour after anything is spoken in House of Commons, the 'blues' come into 350 North. This was a rough draft of Hansard, but pretty clean, providing the press with direct quotes. Then the reporters would go for interviews, but there was no phone communication, so the reporters had to know what was going on in order to catch ministers. The result was a real scrum. Major stories of day were covered by Canadian Press and there were 48 papers in Thompson chain. Mac had to keep tabs on 71 Members of Parliament. He saw a lot of interesting things, people trying to influence politicians and their staff and to convince reporters that there’s a story in their interests. There was also a lot of socialization, including in bars, with ministers. Mac admitted that he left the Hill because he was drinking too much. He then became assistant editor and manager of The National Legion Magazine, a for-profit company, and he stayed at that job for rest of career.

Mac has been to more than 60 countries, sometimes with politicians, many times on his own. Generally, Mac said that politicians are reasonable to deal with, but some that are very manipulative with the press.

Q: Is print media dead?

(do at a later date as part 2)

Q: If you were in Washington how would you handle Mr. Trump?
A: Mac has been reading Washington Post since Trump was nominated. The U.S. is a very different climate. There’s spin on everything. Much more polarized. Reporters won’t have access to Trump unless they’re from a Republican supporting paper. Very much polarized, also in American media. In Canada, much more balanced.

Jim Rymerson thanked Mac with the traditional loaf of bread.

Roger Romero - My Work with Pathways Kingston

Posted by John Farrow on Sep 24, 2019

Bill Egnatoff introduced Roger Romero from Pathways Kingston by stressing our club's strong connections with the program, and that we know that the program works. Bill also noted that we have had Pathways students participate in Adventures in History.

By way of background, Roger noted that Pathways is dependent on partnerships, like the United Way, one of the first organizations to offer support to their program. Pathways is part of the Kingston Community Health Centre, and they both serve primarily an area of the city that faces significant challenges. Roger showed a video talking about how he faced challenges as a young refugee from El Salvador, and tied that to his dedication and that of the entire Pathways staff, many of whom have been with the organization since the beginning. This is an important aspect of their work, the kids they serve need consistency.

Roger is the Program Coordinator for Pathways Kingston, meaning he oversees the after school programs and Pathways' strategic partnerships. Pathways is present all across Canada, helping students who face challenges graduate from high school and build a successful future. From it's beginnings in Regent Park in Toronto, Pathways addressed four pillars for success - advocacy for the students, mentorship, financial resources (usually to address food security issues), and one on one help of a graduation coach who supports the student even outside of academics. Relationships are the key in the process.

Pathways Kingston opened in 2010, and they are starting to see the change in the community. Why are they associated with Kingston Community Health Centre? Because KCHC addresses the determinants of poor health, low education being one of these factors. Pathways is just one part of a 'wrap-around' approach to health care in Kingston's North end. Students dropped out at twice the rate of the rest of the city in this area. Other statistics gathered by KCHC back up the need for support, especially the fact that the average family income is $23,000 less than other areas of the city. The goal for Pathways was to help the students in their service area finish high school and be prepared for the transition to post-secondary education. The results are impressive - in both the applied and academic streams, Pathways students are much more likely to go on to post-secondary education, beating averages by more than 20%.

Pathways target is to serve about 325 students per year, and they have served over 1,000 students, and have 300 alumni. The students attend all area high schools, and remain with the program for all 4 years of high school. These students have complex lives which affect their schooling. The have ACE's - adverse childhood experiences. These traumas create toxic stress in the brain and can adversely affect the student's health and education. And these ACE's can cause problems to subsequent generations. Pathways addresses this by forming a bond of safety and trust with their students. The workers don't do things for their students, they do things with their students, empowering them to get what they need. Peer support is also important.

So everything is rosy, right? Not so much. When the students went on tp post-secondary school, they fared poorly, often dropping out. They couldn't make the transition, often dropping out with large debts and taking low paying jobs. The national organization didn't have a solution, so Pathways Kingston came up with the idea of having a worker dedicated to helping graduates connect to the support network that Colleges and Universities provide. Again, results were amazing - 80% of the students stayed in post-secondary school, and those who did drop out were still connected and offered help on what to do next. That's where Rotary comes in - helping raise the money to fund this program for 3 years, finding mentors, hiring graduates, and more. Roger wants to help create the next generation of Rotarians. These kids want to give back, they want to work and be successful!

Roger was thanked for his presentation by Robert Reid.

Claire Grady-Smith, Sherlock's Escapes

Posted by John Farrow on Oct 01, 2019

Claire joined us this morning to talk about Sherlock's Escapes, a relatively new type of escape room experience in Downtown Kingston, based on the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. Claire began by telling us about her Rotary connection - in Ottawa, when she was 17, Claire was a Rotary exchange student in France!

Claire is a marketing consultant who works online for small businesses. Sherlock’s Escapes is one of her clients, located in Downtown Kingston in the Lasalle Mews. There are several Sherlock Holmes themed rooms, and each room is an active story that you’re launched into the middle of – like you’re in the centre of a board game and you must figure out clues to move from room to room. There are puzzles, locks, hidden passageways and doors, and lots of laughter and good times for everyone are guaranteed! Sherlock's has 4 physical escape rooms, 2 portable rooms and a pop up room. Soon they will be travelling to Thailand to participate in a retreat using an entire hotel as a themed escape. Sherlock's also partners with corporations on team-building retreats.

Escape Rooms are a large challenge to market because you can’t show what they look like, and each room is only good for one experience, assuming you solve the puzzle and don't need to come back to try again. To help, they’ve rebranded recently with a new logo, website, etc. and are trying harder to get the word out. Sherlock's is also developing activities for kids to get them off the couch and interested in active fun. Claire recently was drawing caricatures for kids using the escape rooms (she is also an artist and currently has a show at The Elm Café!). The experience is great for all ages - kids as young as 7 have come in with their grandparents. Couples, families, and even Rotary Clubs can try it! They also travel to parties, weddings, etc. and run puzzle games (dress up style) for up to 100 people. As soon as you enter, you're in Sherlock’s lounge!

Escape Rooms started in Japan – where they are a little more computerized than here in Canada (walking around a room and clicking on consoles for clues). Escape room implementation here is more social and interactive.

Questions:

What are the safety/insurance implications? Many! The Fire Marshall loves us. So everyone's safety is guaranteed, there’s always an open door.

What’s your success rate? About 20%. If you get out in time, you feel REALLY good! And we want you to come back and try again, so we don’t tell you the solution if you fail. 25 minutes is the record!

Claire was thanked for her presentation by John Farrow with a (unlocked) loaf of bread.