March 20, 2017 Bulletin
Opening/Chair: PDG Jim Goit was chair for the day, filling in for Dave Mills. He called on Alana to lead the group in the singing of O Canada and then for the moment of personal reflection.
Happy Mug: Alana, Barbara, Kirk, Tom and Jim Gould were all Happy Rotarians today.
Visitors/Guests: In addition to our speaker Mark Lavers, Sam Abushenaf, owner of PuroClean was again a welcome guest of the club. Lech's daughter Danielle was joining her father for lunch today as school had been cancelled.
Member Health: No report.
Reports and Announcements:
- Jim Gould reported on results of the Coldest Night of the Year efforts. Some 8 or 9 Club members, family and friends had been involved in helping to bring in $2,200 of the total of $81,500 raised.
- Jim Gould tabled a report on the financial outcome from the Bollywood night held in the fall of 2016. There had been $13,663 in Revenues and $7,256.85 in expenses. After a donation of $3,000 was made to the Colchester Community Workshops and and additional $3,000 to the Third Place Transition House, there was $406.15 left to be allocated from the Community account.
- Next year's event would be held on September 30th and the committee was beginning to plan for it.
50/50: Ken MacDonald had the winning ticket and walked away with the princely sum of $15.00 after he was successful in finding the usually elusive Joker.
Speaker: Mark Lavers, Administrator of
Hub Residential Services Society was the guest speaker. Mark was born and raised in Truro and founded Hub Residential Services Society as a private, non-profit organization in 1996 after the closure of the Provincial Training School in Bible Hill
Mark spoke about the services his organization provides and a bit about how our society has evolved its thinking about cognitive disabilities over the decades. We have moved from institutionalization prior to the 1970's, to education and training into the 1990 and to the model of inclusion in more recent times. The trend has been toward greater independence in living arrangements and helping keep people with their families in their homes longer. While there have been increased funding for some programs, it has not kept up with increasing demand and there are pressures put on organizations such as schools as a result.
The rewards of working with people with cognitive disabilities are many and Mark described the joys of working with people who are honest and uninhibited about their feelings. The need to be included in more social settings is an ongoing challenge.
Mark was thanked by Vice President Alana.
Closing: With no further business to be conducted, the meeting was closed at 1:06 pm.
The popular 
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