Heather ended by making anyone not happy pay a buck.
President’s Introduction of the Grant Presentations
Links to more info on each of the recipients and their projects can be found on our website's stories page.
Ana began by saying that this was a very important day for us are Rotarians, as it was to all our guests and the organizations they serve.
It was also a special day for Ana as a Rotarian. She joined exactly 10 years ago. She was part of the fall grant process in that first year, and that’s why she became a Rotarian. In Rotary she could see how the money Rotarians raise goes back into the community to do amazing work. She invited all of us to spread the word of the work we do because we want more people to join in this work so that we can do more. She invited the organizations represented by those present to join us, by becoming a Friend of Rotary, a Member, or electing a board member to participate, or simply sharing the work of Rotary with friends and associates. She invited all to promote the work through social media and attend our meetings as often as possible to see what it is that we’re doing. She concluded, “If you wish to receive our bulletin, The Courier, let us know. You are also welcome to serve on one of our committees if its work touches you in any way. Our goals are the same—doing good for others. Service above self is our motto. We follow the Four-Way Test (including) ‘Will it be beneficial to all concerned?’”
Elizabeth Cohoe, Director of Service Projects
First, a big thank you to Martin Thomas, Interim Chair of Community Service Committee (applause). Every recipient today is an “old friend” of our club. Many have donated to the Rotary Community Auction, this year or in the past.
Gary Cassel, Student-Parent Support worker and Amanda Dyson.
Thank you for your support. Pathways continues to support students as they go through high school. The grant will be used for two new things. Based on research over the last two years, we decided to start our outreach earlier, to Gr. 7 & 8 students, to make them aware of Pathways before they come to the Gr. 9-12 program. The second use of the grant will be a program called Pathways Academy, for students to develop hard and soft skills to make their way in the world. The program includes field trips and exploration of employment. The current funding will be used for an outdoors club, where students will learn how to be active in nature and to care for themselves.
Holly Gwynne-Timothy, artistic director
Angela Stewart, Board Chair
Paul Malo, Fundraising Chair
Heather Schreiner, board member
Heather and Paul wrote the grant application and Heather does a lot of other grant writing.
Angela introduced Holly, who joined Melos as Artistic Director six years ago. Holly then recruited Angela. She is a wonderful, accomplished singer who has worked in Toronto, St. Catherines, and the USA. She is a teacher and also a healer with her functional vocal training methods. She helps so many people in Kingston. That is why we’re so grateful for this gift.
Holly Gwynne-Timothy:
I teach an approach to vocal training that goes back in the Western tradition to the 1400s, how to get a voice working. If a man enters a monastery and has to chant but can’t sing in tune, how do you get him singing? The first writings on vocal physiology go back to the Middle Ages. Melos does early music, with historic connections from the Dark Ages to modern times (late 1700s). In my work, I stumbled on the work in the 50’s at Columbia University and Bell Labs by a man who was helping people with vocal injuries. A spinoff of that training is the ability to recondition voices that have been injured. That has become my speciality. Just over a year ago, I was invited by the Cancer Cemtre to work at The TETT Centre to offer vocal sessions for cancer patients. They had had a variety of operations and treatments, themselves often traumatic, which also brings existential trauma, and can be financially devastating. It puts your whole life into upheaval. I wondered how we could keep this going. In Kingston, we have one group helping another. In Melos we have a long-standing music outreach to many sectors in Kingston. Music literacy and the capacity to sing and do music is part of a healthy happy community. We’ve done projects with H’Art School. That got me talking to the Cancer Centre. They’re involved in a Kingston Health Science partnership. I’ve been teaching since this fall, doing outreach to people with compromised voices. The funding for that enabled me to bring specialists from Toronto, including a music therapist to join me. We split the group, each working with half. From that, I have the most moving testimonials; for example, a person with serious lung cancer and esophageal cancer, who could not speak or sing, is now singing, speaking, and reading music. All this person’s life, this person wanted to read music. Music literacy is an incredibly moving form of literacy that people often long for and don’t have an opportunity to develop. I think that half our group members said they never were taught this, and they’re getting that as well. I know you’re not in the business of supporting music projects, per se, but this allows Melos to fully fund this work, taking a load off Health Sciences, for people who are really struggling.
Angela Stewart: Some of the group will attend the Melos concert and sing with us, December 6th, 7:30 p.m. at St. Georges Cathedral.
David Gordon, board member.
I’ve been working with and fund-raising for Lunch by George for over a decade, while I was busy with senior administration within the university. Lunch by George is a social centre welcoming people of any background who need a warm place and food. Mostly it’s people who are in desperate need. There are hundreds of homeless people in Kingston. At this time of year, it’s really important to be able to come in out of the cold, to warm up and relax a little. We work out of a church hall close to the centre of the city and we’re immensely grateful for the help you give us, cooking our turkeys for our Christmas Dinner and serving it. It’s such a joy, coming up in two weeks. Lunch by George opens every weekday at 9 a.m., with coffee and snacks. There are moveable seats which is really important to people. Many choose to be alone, because they may be recovering from being in a shelter, and so want to get away from people. Some people read newspapers; some play cards; some talk; and some just sit and think. There’s a clothes rack with warm clothes. There are also personal items including shampoo and shaving supplies. At 10 a.m., soup is served. At 11 a.m., there is a nutritious hot meal. The food is prepared by Jenny Hurd, our coordinator, and 30 volunteers. We have a huge feed at Christmas and are immensely grateful for Rotary’s support. We’d like to say we’re going out of business, but that is not to be. We’ve been going since 1985. We serve an average of 40 meals a day plus soups. We may have 70 or 80 people. Numbers are up. We used to be able to do everything with donations of food. In the last few years, we have had to buy more and more food.
Sandi Dodds, Executive Director
The Mess Studio just celebrated ten years of offering a safe place to create and relate. We wouldn’t have had this had it not been for Rotary. You have been with us for eight years. This grant is related to the growth and continuation of our pottery studio. The pottery studio, which you helped to set up four years ago, is an area that needs attention and direction. The other partner, who provided physical, construction, and financial support, has discontinued. The time has come for us to take over the direction of, and instruction in, the pottery studio. We also have the cost of firing the pottery. This change offers us an opportunity not only to engage and involve participants, which we’ve been doing, but to empower participants on a deeper, more committed level. Amaranth Stoneware is providing three two-hour instructional classes for up to six of our community members. (Everyone who attends the Mess Studio is a community member. They are involved in setting up for lunch. It is our goal to engage everyone who comes in.) The sessions will provide much-needed knowledge that will ensure the continued success of the pottery studio. We’re excited about the impact this training will have on our community, providing opportunities to learn new skills, which contributes to their own healing and self-worth. We believe that this restores dignity, self-reliance, and confidence to lives that have been broken down, feeling they have nothing of worth to offer.
The Mess Studio continues to have effect on both active community members and those whom we support. Just last week, Tracy came into the studio reporting that she had finally been able to get a part-time job. She was thrilled with the letter of recommendation that I provided, and was quite proud of herself for working. Tracy started coming into The Mess about two years ago. When I’m driving up Queen Street, I can see her quite literally running, pushing a walker every morning to get here early so she can help set up. It was amazing to see that happen. Geoffrey, a young man who attends, has Aspergers, and came to us five years ago through a community integration program. Geoff is a very talented potter, who struggled to find his place in the Studio. His blunt and rough behaviour can sometimes be mis-understood. Once I followed his trail of coffee into the pottery studio. I looked at him and told him where he could find the mop. He leaned in and said, “Do I look like a janitor?” “I don’t know,” I said, “but you look like the guy who spilled coffee.” Actually, right after that, Geoff began showing up early to prepare coffee for the day. He has become an active community member and has found a place of belonging, where his involvement is appreciated and respected. Amaranth Stoneware has just recently asked if they could display some of his work, which they are now doing in their store in the west end.
Finally, I’m going to share one other story because being involved in helping the community is good for the people who come and it’s good for the people who set it up. Mad was a fourth-year Queen’s student in Health Studies, who did a placement with us. Recently she wrote me, “The Mess studio was certainly one of the most valuable experiences during my time at Queen’s. I’m truly grateful to have had the chance to get messy and be creative along side some beautiful minds during my visits. My time at The Mess certainly changed my perspective on homelessness and mental health and the unique struggles of every individual. However, what stuck with me the most was that the Mess offers a place for anyone to improve their well-being in perhaps unconventional ways. At the Mess everyone was treated equally and was provided with a safe place to explore and build relationships. For the last six years, I have volunteered in a variety of settings, however none has inspired me more to pursue a degree in social work.” She already had a degree in health studies. “I hope to one day create a similar program in the North that can serve not only our most vulnerable citizens, but the community at large. I’m passionate about staying in the North and wish to expand my skill set.” Madison returned to university this fall to begin an intensive 12-month Honours Bachelor of Social Work degree. In closing, I would like to say that the trickle effect of empowering and engaging people is far reaching. I so appreciate each and every one of you. Come join us. Come down on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Come in, have a coffee, meet some artists, get messy. Our art show opened November 2nd. It’s beautiful. It’s hanging until the first week in December. We don’t exist to market art; we exist to build healthy communities with hands and heart. Thank you.
Tibratā Gillies, Community Kitchen Coordinator.
My official title is “Community Kitchen Coordinator” and I happen to be a chef. My work daily is part of our mission to enhance access to fresh food here in Kingston. I work on the front lines with different groups in the city, marginalized populations, cooking food for people, increasing food literacy, teaching them how to use fresh ingredients to make healthy meals, to really make it easy for people. Along the way, we get to have a lot of laughs and get to know each other and build community. As I’ve been listening to everyone’s stories today, I feel deeply moved—the community, the heart keeps coming up every day—to be part of this community. I’m grateful to be working for an organization like Loving Spoonful where I can use my talent and my skills to connect with people, to use food to bridge gaps, to build bridges to help people build connections, and to help people in their daily lives. This money that you have given to us will go directly to our program and our food budget. Many people we work with have very little money and cannot afford to buy healthy food. We cook together and eat together and people get to take some food and recipes home and can then prepare their own.
A couple of quick stories, anecdotes. Last week, one of the programs that we teach is in a local unconventional high school. About 40% of that population is Indigenous. The program I work in has two parts. I work directly with younger, mostly Indigenous students, and they’ve been so wounded, very closed. Being there with an elder and a volunteer, and teachers who came with them—they may seem that they’ve got their shells, and you’re not impacting on them or anything. We’ve been there this term and in the spring, too. The educational assistant came up to me and said, “Oh, my god, these guys love you guys, and they can’t wait for Loving Spoonful to come. They’re in class and asking, ‘When is Loving Spoonful coming? When are they coming? What day are they here? What are we eating? What are we making?’” Last week the students were engaging with us in the kitchen; and there had been a wall of silence as if we hadn’t been penetrating anything, just to show that we don’t know the impact that we really have. Just being present and consistent makes a huge impact. Of course, good wholesome food helps a long way to warm belly and to work the heart.
One last anecdote from our open kitchen. This happened with a drop-in cooking class in Rideau Heights Community Centre. One woman recently said to me, “Since I’ve been coming to these classes, I feel more confident in the kitchen. There’s been so much trauma around cooking and being in the kitchen from my childhood.” She has children, and just the sense that she’s getting more joy out of being in the kitchen and cooking for her family. Thank you Rotary Club. Thank you community organizations for your work.
Katherine Porter, Executive Director
Andrea Fitzgerald, Office Coordinator
Thank you Rotary Club of Cataraqui-Kingston. You’ve been very generous supporters over the years. A year ago, you helped us with some upgrades to The Box, our community accessible theatre space, and you’re now helping to upgrade the technology, which we desperately need to help make all the performances more accessible to all members of the community who come to us, not just H’Art. Because of this funding, we will also be able to use the projector and portable screen for our 2020 production that will be happening at The Isabel, an advanced theatre production, entirely original that will involve all 50 participants as well as our artists and choreographers from across the province and Quebec. This is really exciting for us and we hope you’ll come to The Box and to the Isabel in 2020.
Martin Thomas: Elizabeth did ask him to chair! (Threat!). Thank you for asking me. In that process, I learned what a dedicated group you are. You see it as a person-to-person thing. Thank you to club members, to all the service communities.
Ana Sutherland: You heard about the auction earnings this year ($40,500), and bingo brings close to $20,000. That is what we’ll spend next year on the community, locally, nationally, and internationally.