Please join us at Odd Fellows Hall, 218 Concession Street, Kingston ON.
The Rotary Four Way Test
Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned
Rotary Reflection
For food in a world where many walk in hunger
For peace in a world where many walk in fear
For friends in a world where many walk alone
And for the opportunity to serve others through Rotary,
May we be truly thankful!
The Loyal Toast
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Queen of Canada!
Acknowledgement of Territory
We are gathered on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory. we are grateful to be able to join together in Rotary Fellowship on these lands.
Guests: Leslie , guest of Ana Sutherland; Elaine Power, guest speaker
Friends of Rotary: On'a'Got'tay, Mara Shaw
Visiting Rotarians: Ellen Olsen and John Lee, Queen's Rotaract; Tina Bailey, Kingston Waterfront
Service Commitments and Makeups:
John Gale, Rick Fiedorec, Centennary Committee
Heather McGrady: National Committee , Loughborough School, Auction
Heather Kembel: Bingo, Youth Services meeting and interviews
Member Sharing
Fun Master - Elizabeth Cohoe
If you ate in a restaurant this past week, ordered takeout or delivery, ate tomatoes, never helped with Lunch by George at Christmas, had enough money to stalk up because of train derailment or COVID-19, Elizabeth made you pay a buck.
Happy/Sad Bucks
Elizabeth Cohoe for a trip with Paul to Oakville for a family visit
Heather Nogrady: sad for person who dropped a $20 at Food Basics; happy because she found it—gave to Rotary
John Farrow: will be missing Rotary due to work trip to San Diego, he and his wife saw Sean Majumder at Grand
Mara Shaw: arranged for President of National Farmers Union to Red Deer Rotary Club
Rick: Great experience at the Briar
Murray: With Briar, and chair of 200th Anniversary Committee of Royal Kingston Curling Club, clad to
Tina: with Alisha Gordon Thursday April 2nd screening of Resilience, Screening Room (watch for email)
Announcements
Happy 80th Birthday Bernie!!!!!!!!!!!
On'a'got’tay talked about the Nature Walk at the Conservation Authority.
Our donation to Kingston Indigenous Language Nest made this possible. You can’t teach language without being on the land. Our grant provided rides for people to participate. The event was at the Cataraqui Conservation Area. The team included people who were fire keepers. 57 adults and 41 children. On'a'got'tay is a traditional herbologist. Knowing what grows near what trees, he taught how to find herbs and how to make soup in a birch-bark pot, and how to start a fire without matches.
President's Announcements
Read the article in the District Newsletter about our pot luck events for Kingston Newcomers - https://rotary7040.com/
Upcoming events
Mar 11, 2020 - Centennial Paul Harris Committee Meeting, 4:30 pm, Kingston Dodge
Mar 12, 2020 - President's Council, 6 pm, Smitty's
Mar 19,2020 - Social Event - Fun, Food and Festive - New Comers to Canada at Odd Fellows 5-8 PM
Mar. 21, 2020 - PETS Training at Nav Centre, Cornwall
Mar 25, 2020 - 8AM - National Committee meeting at Sanctuary
May 1 and 2, 2020 - Expo at St. Lawrence College
May 14, 2020 - Heritage Fair - Queens West Campus
Jun. 23, 2020 - No morning meeting - End of the year party at Odd Fellows 6-10 PM
Jun. 30, 2020 - No meeting
July 19th, 2020 - Rotary Centennial Birthday Party at Rotary Park
Sept 19, 2020 - Tree Planting - Rotary Park - Rotarians to assist in planting 100 trees
Oct 16 & 17, 2020 - District Conference at Ottawa
June 25th, 2021 - Rotary Anniversary Gala, St. Lawrence College
John Farrow introduced our guest speaker, Dr. Elaine Power, Department of Gender Studies, Queen’s University. Elaine's research areas are poverty, gender, equality, and how this all relates to food insecurity. John was searching for a speaker leading up to International Women's Day, and Dr. Power's research seemed a good fit for presenting to our club.
Dr. Power is actually part of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, and has only recently been chosen to also head up Gender Studies. In the School of K and H Studies, she taught a course on the social determinants of health. This has led to her current research.
Elaine reminded us that our area is part of the “Dish With One Spoon Territory” - a wonderful metaphor that speaks of an Aboriginal treaty with the dish representing the earth and the spoon representing peace.
What is Food Insecurity? How is it measured? What strategies do people use to deal with it? And what should we, who don't experience it, do to help? At it core, food insecurity is the feeling on not having sufficient money to be able to feed yourself or your family—not having enough money closely is connected with insufficient food, with serious health and welfare consequences. Food Insecurity is measured at household level, but experienced at the individual level, which is where gender enters the picture. Women will do almost anything to protect their children from hunger and will also sacrifice for their male partners in the same way.
Food insecurity is measured country wide, but unfortunately not consistently. Provinces can opt out in Federal measurements of the issue, which means incomplete data to help analyze the problem. Surveys show there are 3 levels of food insecurity.
(marginal) worried about running out of food or having to buy poor food.
(moderate) compromised quality or quantity
(severe) going hungry, skipping meals
Elaine has also done recent research on Queen’s students experiencing food insecurity, which she described as heartbreaking, shocking, and it kept her up nights thinking about the issue.
Surveys are conducted with target groups - there are different questions for adult and child surveys, and these questions are based over the experiences of the past year. The questions were developed out of focus groups with low-income families in the U.S.
Data for Canada. 2012 was last national study, analysis from 2014.
about 12%, 1 in 8 households are affected by food insecurity, about 4 million Canadians, 1 in 6 kids. We expect a lowering of the numbers due to increases to the Child Tax Benefit, but are waiting on the newest results. We also know the data are lower than the reality because Indigenous peoples on reserves, the homeless, and other marginalized groups are not counted. The highest rates of food insecurity are in Nunavuut (46.8%), and the lowest is in Saskatchewan (10.6%). In 2015 Ontario opted out, which skews data for whole country.
Households most likely to be affected by food insecurity; those on social assistance, Aboriginal households off reserve; families with a black head of household (yes, in Canada); single moms with kids; new Canadians; those that don't own a home
Low income rates for senior families and unattached individuals, through Guaranteed Income Supplement, fell from high in mid-70s of 35% to under 5%. This helped seniors with pension benefits fall into the group least likely to experience food insecurity.
The link between food insecurity and health care costs is strong - average health care costs rise dramatically as food insecurity increases, especially physician expenses and cost of prescriptions.
In Kingston, about 15% of households are food insecure, about the same as considered living in poverty.
Elaine showed how much money is left after rent is paid for those on Ontario Works, Full Time Minimum Wage, and Median Ontario Income. If your are on social assistance, it is almost impossible to pay the rent and buy decent food. Considered family of four and single person. Those on Ontario Works in Kingston actually can't even come close to the amount needed for food.
Adding to the depth of her research, Elaine talked about the strategies people that experience food insecurity use to cope;
using coupons, returning bottles
odd jobs
juggling and postponing bill payments,
borrowing money
selling possessions
buying food on credit
shopping at discount stores
calculating costs in the grocery store
buying grocery store gift cards when $ are available
Also used are food strategies liking recipe stretching, cutting portion sizes or food groups, and as mentioned, women giving up food to make sure their children are fed.
Elaine also showed us discussion notes from focus group of seniors who are coping with food insecurity. Many of these seniors had health problems, and coped with not enough food be sleeping more, drinking more water or tea, or smoking. These quotes really brought a more human face to the issue.
What should society do?
First off food banks are ineffective. Only 20% go to them and they aren’t enough. People who use food banks just stay food insecure. Increased income and secure employment are what is needed. The only effective response will be an effective poverty elimination strategy.
After several questions Murray thanked our speaker. His mother lived through Depression. She made sure her children ate, and taught her kids to budget. Murray noted that 50% of kids in north end of Kingston go without breakfast. Our club is working on these issues and maybe we can work together.
Duty Roster
Rotary Club of Cataraqui-Kingston
Guests are Welcome
Odd Fellows Hall - 218 Concession Street, Kingston, Ont 7:00 am
Registration and Greeting
Members: Greg Mumford
Guest:Michelle Chatten-Fiedorec
Greeter: Bernie Allard
Hall and Kitchen setup:Ana Sutherland, Ron Pols, Ed Thomson
Hall and Kitchen clean up:Ed Thomson, Murray Cotton, Jim Rymerson
7:15 Call to Order and Welcome Ana Sutherland
7:16 Rotary Invocation and Toast to the Queen: Heather Nogrady
7:17 Breakfast Parade: Rick Fiedorec
7:35 Welcoming of Guests and Visiting Rotarians
7:38 Announcements and Board Positions
7:43 Fun Master: Rick Fiedorec
7:55 Speaker Intro: Bill Egnatoff
8:00 Speaker "Dr' Karen Lawford - Working as an Aboriginal Midwife"
Speaker thanks: Robert Reid
8:18 Draw: Murray Cotton
8:19 Adjournment Ana Sutherland
Scribe:Elizabeth Cohoe
Piano: Terry Hicks
