Paul Van Nest is a long time member of the Rotary Club of Kingston (1977). Among his passions are Civil War history, and he spoke pre-Covid on Bomber Command.
Paul is interested in keeping seniors (and everyone) fraud-free. and has been running a Fraud Awareness program with the support of Kingston Rotary since 2025.
ShelterBox's vision is No One Without Shelter After a Disaster.
Ally's full presentation can be seen at;
When you are 85 years old, condensing your life into a 10-minute presentation can be a challenge. New C-KR member, John Borst, a transfer from RC of Kingston, accomplished the feat by using just 10 moments or vignettes from his life.
Easter Seals offers a wide range of programs and services, including mobility and accessibility equipment funding, fully accessible summer camp, post-secondary scholarships, youth ambassadors, and advocacy and public awareness.
Parents helped by Easter Seals with the purchase of special equipment have a network dedicated to passing down equipment to other families as kids grow.
Linda, herself an Easter seals mom and son of Grayson, spoke about the impact of Easter Seals on her family's lives.
Aldrin’s Story (4:00 min):
https://youtu.be/4fBOsPQ7b9U?si=h3ZkCHfZuWLpEGlv
Keirra’s story (5:11): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MZNyJ-sO4Q ES child Keirra MacLeod
Todd was thanked today by Elizabeth Cohoe
Easter Seals Ontario is a charitable organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth with physical disabilities.
a charitable organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth with physical disabilities.
The Rotary Club of Nipissing in partnership with Canadian Blood Services; and, with help from a wonderful advisory committee, is moving forward with a "campaign" to register potential stem cell donors. We will be using social media, educational programs, events like a "swab in" and other strategies to achieve this.
Rotarian Colin Vickers (a former member of C-K Rotary) is a grateful recipient of a stem cell transplant. The transplant was needed and made available to him after intensive treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Today, just over a year after his transplant, he is feeling well and making good progress. The club supports him in the choice to "give back".
Colin's full presentation can be found at;
Last year we heard about the commitment of the City of Kingston to supporting climate action, greenhouse gas reductions and more sustainable city-wide initatives. Better Homes Kingston is an energy audit and retrofit guidance program designed to support homeowners with making changes to save money, reduce energy inefficiency and promote better technology. Soren Christianson, Program Director joined us to discuss the program and how the last year has gone for this initiative!
Soren's presentation can be seen at https://youtu.be/-9oA1lxL82U
Steve Fine, founder and president of the Melanoma Education Foundation, attended colleges in the Boston area, receiving a doctorate in chemistry from Northeastern University. He then moved to Pennsylvania, completing a year of postdoctoral research at Lehigh University. After 5 years as Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, he moved back to New England where he served in technical and management positions in high tech chemical companies.
Shortly after his son, Dan, died of melanoma in 1998 at the age of 26, he founded the non-profit Melanoma Education Foundation and, since 2000, has devoted full time to the Foundation. The primary activity of the Foundation has been educating high school and middle school wellness teachers about melanoma and providing them with free online lessons to educate their students about self-detecting melanoma while it is curable.
Did you know? - most people only use 25 to 50% of the sunscreen needed to protect themselves?
If you have a 100 SPF sunscreen, and use 25% of what's needed, what is the effective SPF?
If you guessed 25, you would be wrong - it's only SPF 3.1 !!
Steve's full presentation can be seen at https://youtu.be/oXqFooNRpDg
John Farrow introduced today's speaker Jacquie Rushlow, co-owner of the Keep Refillery in Kingston. Jacquie and her husband opened their first store in Creemore in March 2020, then another location in Meaford, and then a location in Kingston December 2021. The concept is using your containers to refill your shampoo, hand soap, dish soap, laundry soap etc. from bulk containers and reducing plastic waste.
Police Chief Antje McNeely was introduced by John Farrow. John and President Ana mentioned how pleased they are to have Chief McNeely speaking at this time of International Woman’s Day with this year's theme being “Break the Bias”.
Antje McNeely was appointed Chief of our Police Force in late 2018. Her appointment as the 17th chief and the first female police chief of the 181 year old force continued her groundbreaking career within our police force. She has led in the first of many firsts within the police force.
Chief McNeely joined the police force in 1985 following completion of a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1961, the first woman was hired by the police force,staying for 3 years. In 1966 Linda Paul was an early hire. She emphasised to Chief McNeely “Do not change who you are”.
During her career, Antje McNeely established many firsts within the police force. In 1989, she was the first officer to go on maternity leave. With a young family, she faced many challenges with evening/weekend shifts. In 1992, Antje McNeely was promoted to Sergeant in charge of the sexual assault unit for 10 years. During this time she developed protocols for the working relationship between the police force and community providers.
Robert Reid introduced today’s speaker, Alana Hirtle from the Truro Nova Scotia Rotary Club. After hearing the Club’s story on the news, Alana was asked to speak to the National Committee, then to the whole club. She was here to tell us about the Portapique Buildup Project. This project is to revitalize the Riverside Community Hall, in response to the shooting tragedy that occurred in Portapique almost two years ago.
My parents immigrated to Canada in 1953, and I was born in Toronto 6 months later. Hard work and saving every penny made them successful with a restaurant. Even if business was slow sometimes, they could at least feed the family. We moved to Kingston when I was a year old. I still remember the signs we had in the restaurant window. Fish & chips 85 cents, hamburgers were 25 cents.
I attended KCVI and LCVI, I was not academic, I found I was more creative/artistic. I graduated Sheridan College in fashion design, pattern drafting, couture sewing.
In the late 70's, I moved to Edmonton. Knowing it would take time to find work in my field, I immediately found work as a cocktail waitress in a Disco and Cowboy Cabaret bar. Everything was booming in Alberta, so four months later became Head of Wardrobe of the Alberta Ballet Company. That was a huge learning experience. I went on to costuming for the Citadel theater, Banff school of fine arts and numerous costuming and touring contracts for years. Even, unexpectedly, I held musical theater in prison, in Lethbridge Alberta and one in the Yellowknife prison. My parents were aging and getting ill, so I moved back to Ontario in 1989. Unfortunately there was not a lot of work in my field during the Conservative government.
Tom Zsolnay, a Rotarian since 2004, a member of our club for a year, and President and CEO of University Hospitals of Kingston Foundation, offered an overview of The Rotary Foundation. In his talk you will find answers to these questions:
John introduced our guest speaker Joyce Hostyn to speak about Little Forests Kingston. Joyce presented a very informative graphic presentation.
Joyce wants to restore relationships with the land. There is a biodiversity crisis.
Joyce plans to build as many little forests around Kingston as possible.
Only 25% of forests remain around Kingston, and Queens is starting a project about measuring climate resilience. We have lost 2.9 billion birds since 1970. 900 saplings have been planted on Highway 15 as part of the program. This program also ultimately helps with climate change.
This is worldwide, there are over 100 little forests planted in the Netherlands. Each one is adopted by a school.
The Little Forest movement is not just about planting trees; it is about planting forest ecosystems. A little forest can be planted in the area of 6 parking spaces.
Joyce has started a Go Fund Me page for donations.
Martin mentioned an interesting book called The Hidden Life of Trees that he recommends.
Heather thanked Joyce and wished we would all be part of this. Joyce mentioned they have a newsletter you can sign up for.
