Meeting:  chair, Fred Kraft; music and grace, Bob Kimmerly

 

Attendance/Guests:  27 including Dave Grauwiler, guest speaker from E4C; Barb Spencer, CEO of E4C; Art Lachance, guest of Bill Buckham; Ron Manson, guest of Darrel Ripley.

 

Proposed New Member:  second notice for Art Lachance, proposed by Al Holmes

 

Guatemala Eye Clinic:  Ben Doz reported on a successful trip that saw 5-1/2 days of clinic time serving 785 patients.  Ben had his wife Marley, Rotarians Rob Dunseith and Lorne Proctor on the trip with him, as well as Leslie McKechney.  He also thanked the Rotary Club of Huehuetenango for good scheduling and set up for the clinic locations.

 

Finemaster:  Joe Lizotte raised funds through questions on the Rotary International Program to Eliminate Polio:  Year Polio Plus started - 1985; number of polio endemic countries in 1985 - 125; countries currently endemic - Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria (3); the percentage reduction in polio cases since 1985 to present - 99%; total funding raised by Rotarians over the program period - $1.2 billion U S; what year was the western hemisphere deemed polio free - 1995;

 

50/50:  Sherry Holmes and Brent Birch did not match cards.  The value of the pot is now $143.00.

 

 

 

Guest Speaker:  Ben Doz introduced Dave Grauwiler who joined E4C in 2008 by joining the Crossroads Downtown Women's Shelter.  Dave had a varied career in several provinces and territories, largely in marketing, before joining E4C.  In 1970, 4 churches joined in a project to assist in dealing with the growing number of streetwise women.  The individual churches did not have the education or experience to work in the area of outreach.  E4C now responds to many areas of current social needs including:  affordable housing, Artstart, Clareview Head Start, Community Garden, Crossroads Downtown, Crossroads House, Crossroads Outreach, Early Head Start, Elizabeth House, Financial Management Hub, housing works, Intensive Case Management Team, Kids in the Hall Bistro, Make Tax Time Pay, McCauley Apartments, Meadow's Place, Northeast Community Program, Our Place, school lunch & snack, summer snack, Women's Emergency Accommodation Centre (WEAC), Young Chefs.  The also participate in 3 joint venture project or partnerships:  Inner City Youth Housing Project, Mosaic Centre, Night Safety Centre.

 

Thus, on an annual basis, 10,000 individuals in various size family groups (singles to families with children) are helped with shelter, food and other support as necessary.  The group tries to eliminate poverty.  Dave always assumed other people helped homeless people but he learned that there is little support and the provincial government does not fund school lunches.  The provincial government program that is showing success is the program to eliminate homelessnes.  E4C targets women for this program.  Experience shows that 80% of the people processed to enter the housing project have stayed.  Inner City Housing is a group that includes Boyle Street Co-op and Hope Mission.  The age group 18-25 is under serviced.  Children that go through the Kids in the Hall Poject tend to stay focused and out of trouble.  The school lunch program, over 20 years has served over 400,000 lunches which raised the question of what is success?  Succes is that the lunches have been served and have been well recieived but is it a success since the school lunch program is still needed.  Poverty still exists.

 

E4C is looking for donated hours as much as cash.  Our club should look for a project to get involved with on a group basis.

 

Dave was thanked by Bert