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REMINDER! It’s SPRING GRANT TIME!

Applications for our Community Service Project Grants are now being accepted for both our Regular Community Grants - Deadline: April 1^st, and our New Initiative Mini-Grants - Deadline: April 15^th,which are especially designed for elementary or secondary school clubs or small start-up projects. PARTNER WITH US!

Rotary Club of Johannesburg Morningside

Mar 09, 2021 7:00 AM

Joint meeting

Heather Nogrady

Mar 23, 2021 7:15 AM

Fireside Chat: Meeting our fellow Rotarian Heather Nogrady

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Speaker February 23rd, 2021 - Mara Shaw, National Farmers Union

Ana Sutherland introduced our speaker Mara Shaw, who is the Executive Director of the National Farmers Union of Canada. Before her presentation Mara gave us an update on her daughter Karena whom we all know. She is attending Carleton University now, and is Co-President of their Rotaract Club.

Speaker Points:

The National Farmers Union is not really a union as we know it, but a common voice for policy development. For example, it was this group that influenced the decision to keep bovine growth hormone out of Canadian milk.
Our food system is fragile, and during Covid 19, farmers have been adapting. Consumers are preferring local sources and farmers’ markets are important for this.At this time, may have turned to online sales.
The NFU is concerned about the issue of migrant workers.
The NFU is committed to combat racism, they have called for universal child care and pharmacare, they have stood with farmers in India, and are working on climate solutions.
Their website is www.NFU.ca.

Speaker thanks was provided by John Farrow.

Speaker February 16th - Nikki Beaulieu, Development Manager – Kingston Interval House

Nikki thanked our Club for the commercial washer and dryer that will be installed shortly at their Robin's Hope Centre. This will enable them to expand their important clothing program to their clients.

Speaker February 2nd - Update on Pathways FAR Project

John Richards welcomed our two guests, Roger Romero and Jon Oosterman from Pathways for Education Kingston. Roger moved to Kingston with his family from El Salvador in the early 1980's (he has spoken about his experiences as a new Canadian to our club - Ed.). Roger is Program Coordinator for Pathways and is a Friend of Rotary with our club. A graduate of Brock University in Psychology, Roger oversees the after school programs and partnerships for Pathways Kingston. Jon Oosterman is a graduate of St. Lawrence College in Psychology and has worked at Pathways for over 5 years. Jon is the new Facilitator of Alumni Relations (FAR) - where the program name comes from.

What is Pathways? An national organization started in Regent Park in Toronto in a Community Health Centre, dedicated to helping students in disadvantaged neighbourhoods succeed in high school. It was an organization dedicated to being proactive, not reactive in helping kids. Pathways Kingston follows this structure of being associated with a Community Health Centre (KCHC), working to help with the social causes of poor health.

Speaker January 26th - Melissa Larkin, Darkspark

Robert Reid introduced Melissa Larkin, Co-founder and Director of Darkspark, this morning. Melissa is a vocalist and songwriter with an impressive resume. Darkspark received assistance from our National Committee for two projects in 2017 and 2019. Melissa was here this morning to tell us about that project and what's coming up for Darkspark.

Melissa began with a thank-you for our donation, which came at a critical point in time and has helped launch them on to new heights. She also gave us some background on Darkspark. They started in 2013 and ran on and off until 2016 when they were incorporated. Melissa and her partner D'ari Lisle, a music producer, were asked to teach a history unit at the Quinte Mohawk School - a cross cultural look at colonialism which challenged grade 7 and 8 students to express themselves through song and digital story telling. The program caught the attention of the Federal Government and they received funding to travel to 16 locations across Canada to replicate the program in 2017 and 2018, and the program became Four Directions. The instruction was intergenerational, with an elder always present. The 5 day program challenged students to create 11 short documentaries and 48 songs which were shared millions of times on social media. Our National Committee contributed to the Tyendinaga stop on the tour.

Why song and digital storytelling? Melissa that kids are addicted to pop culture, so why not harness that and turn it toward social change. The students talked about many issues and turned them into songs - a natural fit.

Shawn Seargeant, Lionhearts

John Farrow introduced Shawn Seargeant, Director of Operations for Lionhearts, an organization that has been on front lines and front pages for feeding people during COVID-19, including recently established warming hub at Stages, now operating 7 days a week.

Sean began with a thank you. Truly the entire City has made it possible for them to do what they’ve been doing. To keep the ball rolling, Lionhearts has recently received some additional grants. The four Rotary clubs in Kingston stepped up to provide some funding when it was most needed. Sean also offered congratulations on 100 years of Rotary.

Lionhearts is fairly new in Kingston. Seven years ago, a group of friends met concerning food security. They met with various organizations such as St. Vincent de Paul and Martha’s Table who were doing emergency food programs. The problem then: little fresh produce was available to these organizations. It was overwhelming for any one organization to pick up large surplus food donations from places like Costco (who once donated 800 lbs of strawberries). Lionhearts became able to pick up very large donations and distribute it in manageable quantities to various agencies. They picked up $474,000 worth of products picked up in their first year of operations. Last year, the value was $3.2 million of fresh produce, bread, meat, and dairy. Today, three trucks are on the road almost every day, and 32 agencies rely on their deliveries. Lionhearts helps organizations to be bigger, better versions of themselves, just as Rotary does.

Sean Goodall - My 'Get to Know You" Talk

John Farrow introduced our speaker Sean Goodall who gave his classification talk . . .

(henceforth to be known as the "Get to Know Me" talk). Sean has come from Windsor recently where he has taken over the management of the Robert J. Reid Funeral Home. John also encouraged new members to pay close attention so when it's their turn they can have something to refer to.Sean gave a wonderful humour-filled rundown of his life up to his move to Kingston with his family. Sean was born in Scarborough and grew up in Pickering. He married his wife Sarah in 1996. They lived in Stouffville for a year and a half before relocating to Windsor. Shortly after that their first child child Kassandra was born, followed by three more children. Kassandra graduated recently from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She is married and works for Ottawa Public Health inspecting long term care facilities with regard to the pandemic. Their son Kaleb has graduated from the St. Lawrence College Fire Service Programme. Being unable to find employment with a fire service, he has begun an electrical apprenticeship. Kendra is attending Houghton College in New York State, working remotely at this time on a double major in education and psychology. She may be looking at a third major in social studies. His youngest daughter Kelsey is in grade 11 at LaSalle High School and has a part time job at Tim Horton’s on the base. Even their new grand puppy has a K name. She was born in the home of bakery owners in Kemptville, so is called Kaiser. Since their move to Kingston, Sarah has become employed as a unit clerk at Kingston General Hospital. For fun, Sean and Sarah enjoy camping. Sean is a certified referee for both hockey and soccer. Mostly, he referees youth games but on occasion, adult games.

Gabriela Calizaya - My Life Since Rotary Exchange

Rick Fiedorec introduced our speaker Gabriela (Gaby) Calizaya who needed little introduction because we all had such a great chat prior to the bell. For those who are newer to the club and don't know Gaby, she was our inbound Rotary Exchange Student in 2011-2012, almost 10 years ago!

Gaby spoke about her life since her Rotary Youth Exchange experience with our club, which took place during 2011 – 2012. Returning to Peru when that ended, she applied to University in August. As students usually begin university in March, they asked her why she had waited. When she explained that she had been taking part in the Rotary Youth Exchange, they were very interested in that, and saw it as an asset. She was speaking English very well due to her experience here. In 2015, she had an opportunity to do a university exchange and went to attend school in Spain, in Ávila, about an hour from Madrid. It is a very small town with an ancient city wall, with the new city beyond it. While there, she took the opportunity to see a lot of other places. During March there was a two-week break, and she visited places like Rome and Santiago Compostela, walking part of the Camino de Santiago. They started in Ávila, and walked 15 to 20 km. every day for five days. Spain has a lot of holidays, and with Ávila being such a small place, she took the opportunity to visit many other places. She visited Salamanca, and Valencia which is close to Barcelona. She also enjoyed the seaside. Other interesting trips were to Marrakech, Morocco, and Madrid and the small towns near there. When she finished her time at university in Ávila, she still had six months on her visa, so she traveled around Europe. She visited many places, including a second trip to Madrid and Rome, and then Napoli, the Isle of Capri, and Florence in Italy, and Santorini and Athens in Greece. She ventured as far as Prague, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Paris. Returning home, she still had two more years of university. In Peru, before you can receive a degree, you must complete an internship, and she did that at an oil and gas company in Lima, working in their finance department for a year. After that she wrote her thesis, a marketing plan, and completed more classes before her final degree.