Speakers today were two volunteers, Silvain and Cathy from “Therapeutic Paws of Canada” They were accompanied by their dogs, Sadie, a labradoodle and Wilson, a golden retriever. Therapeutic Paws of Canada is a volunteer-based, registered charity providing free therapy pet visitations. Currently there are over 500 volunteers across Canada. The dogs are not service pets who are dedicated to one person’s need, but are available to all and people are encouraged to pet them. They are trained to provide peace in chaos and to respond to emotion with empathy. TPOC has several programmes including visits to seniors facilities, hospitals, hospices and can provide emotional support to students, victims, witnesses who are about to go into court and people with physical or mental disabilities. “Paws to Read” is offered to primary schools to assist children that struggle to read. Wilson is trained to lie on a blanket while the child is reading to him. There are only 2 dogs working in Huntsville now and they are looking for more volunteers. If people want to volunteer themselves and their dog, they can contact Cathy at cathy.johnstone@TPOC.ca
During the rest of the meeting, the two dogs circulated among the members to allow them to love them. When they left, Sadie and Wilson ‘waved’ goodbye.
President, Will Gibson called the meeting to order and asked Bill Sibeon to lead the club in O Canada.
Sergeant at Arms, Gord Mitchell welcomed back Paul Evans and Paul Dancer and introduced guests including his wife, Fran, Rose Young, Lynn Strickland and Wendy Sawyer.
President Will reminded the club of the social meeting for all 3 Huntsville Rotary Clubs which will take place at Boston Pizza next Thursday, May 28 at 5:30pm.
President Will called Bill Sibeon to the front where he was presented with a pin and certificate from the Polio Plus Society. He is now a member.
George Young was presented with a Paul Harris + 6 pin. This special pin has a ruby in it.
Peter Redwood called Wendy Sawyer to the front to present her with a special certificate of appreciation and a Rotary pin. Last year Wendy stapled 19,400 bingo cards for us and Peter said that she never makes a mistake in the number of cards she puts together for us.
President Will announced that, at our next meeting on June 3rd, we will be visited by our District Governor, Drew Markham who is a past member of our club.
Gord Mitchell had visited Paul Hammond who is in hospice in Port Carling. He told the club that Paul was responsible for starting a programme involving all groups who do good in our district. All contribute to the resulting organization which provides funding for people who ‘fall through the cracks. Gord reported that this programme has been so successful that it has been copied by other districts.
Liz Behrens had a broken recycle bin and had contacted many politicians, including Graydon Smith until she finally got it replaced
Peter Redwood had 9 very last-minute applications for our bursary program
Mary Rashleigh will deliver Ava, our outbound exchange student, to the van which will take her to Ottawa for a programme for all inbound and outbound students next weekend
Bill Pritchard reminded the club that they could get clothes with Rotary insignia at Novelty Man
Paul Evans reported that he had all the motors for the bathtubs in his barn and that he would be taking over from Adrian and be responsible for them
Ron Strickland said that Lynn wants to send him for obedience training like the dogs
Foundation Funding: Rose Young won the draw but did not draw the Joker.
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