Rotary Club of Kitchener

e-Newsletter

Sept. 21, 2020

Meeting Recording

Click here to see a recording of today’s meeting.  

President's Comments

President Louise reminded members that Rotary International has added a seventh Area of Focus – Supporting The Environment and that our Fall Trail Clean Up is scheduled for October 26.
 
The following Gratitude Report for the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 has been received from KidsAbility:
 
Children are at the heart of everything we do at KidsAbility
Thanks to you, KidsAbility leads with exceptional therapy, supports and services to empower children and youth to achieve their goals each and every day.  This past year was an exceptional one.  And you were there to provide tremendous support so we could continue to serve children, youth and their families.  Thank you!
 
We were able to provide new opportunities for families receiving autism services. We leveraged technology to pivot to virtual therapy in response to COVID-19.  We ensured a continued family-centred approach to service in Waterloo Region and Guelph-Wellington. In each decision, KidsAbility's values of inclusion, respect, collaboration, integrity and accountability guided our actions to be here when families needed us the most.
 
As we look to the coming year, we remain committed to provide the right service at the right time in the right place for each family.  It is our continued responsibility to evolve, adapt and innovate -to respond with purpose and direction.  This is what KidsAbility does best.
 
In the following pages we are pleased to share and acknowledge how your contributions are making transformational change and creating possibilities for all children to discover brighter futures.
 
Thank you for believing in our kids.
 
President Louise also received the following letter from the RI President - Holger Knaack
 
Greetings, fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors!
 
I am so honored to serve as your President this year.  We have important work ahead of us at Rotary, and we are going to have a lot of fun as we do it.  Last year, we launched our five-year Action Plan to build a stronger future for Rotary.  We are working to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt.  The last several months have shown that we — as Rotarians and Rotaractors — can realize these goals as we forge a new path for the future.
 
Without question, COVID-19 has posed new and previously unimaginable challenges for Rotary. But within every challenge is perhaps an even greater opportunity.  And while I could not have known what lay ahead when I selected my theme for the year, Rotary Opens Opportunities has even greater relevance as we begin our new Rotary year.  I am incredibly inspired by how our members have adapted and responded to COVID-19.  This global pandemic has made it difficult for many of our clubs to operate as usual, but we persevered, and over the past few months, I’ve enjoyed connecting with my fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors in a new way: by visiting hundreds of clubs from my home.  It’s been fun to attend so many meetings virtually. If you haven’t already, I encourage your club to try an online meeting or add an online component, like hosting a guest speaker from a Rotary or Rotaract club located in a different part of the world.
 
As we build a stronger future for our organization, it’s good that we are reaching out to new people and introducing them to Rotary.  It’s important that our clubs reflect the communities we serve. More diverse voices in our clubs and in our leadership will help Rotary stay in touch with a changing world.  So let’s find every opportunity to show we value each and every member.  Let’s seize this moment to build on what we’ve learned, to embrace our new reality, to welcome new faces, and to find additional ways to shine.  This is how we will have a continuing impact on the world. And if you need assistance along the way, Rotary offers many resources that can help you reach your goals.
 
Rotary means different things in different parts of the world, but we are all united by our core values and by The Four-Way Test.  Rotary may change, but our values remain constant.
 
I look forward to hearing about how you’re finding new opportunities to engage and make an impact in your club and community. Rotary Opens Opportunities, both for the people we serve and for ourselves.
 
Thank you, Holger Knaack - RI President, 2020-21
 

Guests

Mike Morrice, Potential new member
 
Kelly Galloway-Sealock, City of Kitchener Councillor for Ward 5, Presenter
 
Margaret Love, Manager of Service Coordination & Improvement for the Development Services Department at the City of Kitchener, Presenter
 
Justin Readman, General Manager of the Development Services department at the City of Kitchener, Presenter
 

Visiting Rotarians

Elena Shpinal – Rotary Club of Moscow International
Andrew Williams – Rotary Club of Kitchener-Westmount

Happy Jar

President Louise is happy that they were able to host a Socially Distant Wedding Shower for her daughter Michelle this past weekend and also celebrate her brothers birthday.
 
Paul Rostrup is happy that he is able to get back to enjoying some personal fitness now that his Good Life centre has some strict COVID-19 protocols in place.  He is also very happy that our Catch The Ace is now into its second week.  All members are encouraged to spread the work about the fundraiser and get people to visit –
 
 
Howard Pell is happy that he also is back to his fitness routine in his newly renovated garage.

Club Announcements & Reports

Bill Proctor and Neil Swayze reminded members that our annual Online Auction is underway.  We need all members to support this event like we did last year with each member bringing in at least $500 in donations or sponsors.  A support package has been sent to all members with a customizable Letter of Request, Donor Form, Tips Sheet and List of 2019 Donors.  Members are asked to refer to this list to remind them of donations they solicited last year and to be sure to make the ask again this year.  Thanks to former member Susana Jiminez, Howard and Rose Pell, Paul and Neil himself we have received our first items for this year's auction.
 
President Louise let members know that our new Indigenous Resources Working Group has begun to operate and will be focusing on Education and Understanding.  Look for a speaker in this area in the near future.
 
Adrian DeCoo reminded members of the Car Draw committee of their important meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 4:00 p.m.
 
Our guest Mike Morrice let members know that for anyone interested in education on Indigenous history, the University of Alberta is currently offering an online, free 12 week course.  Completely asynchronous, you can watch videos whenever suits your schedule best. Mike says he is enrolled and highly recommends it as does our own Candi Harrington. You can sign up here: Indigenous Canada - University of Alberta

Program Highlights

Our program today was a presentation from folks at the City of Kitchener with a look at Kitchener’s Phase 3 of their Recovery Plan.
 
Click here to see the power point presentation - Kitchener Reopens
 
Kelly Galloway-Sealock
Kelly Galloway-Sealock is the City of Kitchener Councillor for Ward 5.  During Kelly’s four terms in office, she has held a number of leadership roles on council, currently serving as Chair of Community & Infrastructure Services Committee and previously, Vice Chair of Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee. Kelly has been involved with the City of Kitchener’s Parks & Open Spaces Master Plan, the Multiuse Pathways & Trails Master Plan and most recently, the South District Park Master Plan, now known as RBJ Schlegel Park.  Kelly has been engaged on a National level, having sat on various Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Standing Committees.  Kelly earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Kinesiology and Geography from Wilfrid Laurier University.
 
Justin Readman
Justin Readman is the General Manager of the Development Services department at the City of Kitchener and during the pandemic he has also worn the hat of Planning Section Chief, which is a branch of the City’s Emergency Operations Centre Management Team (EOCMT).  Justin earned a Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of Guelph and a Master of Engineering and Public Policy from McMaster University and has more than 14 years of progressive experience in the municipal sector, in strategic community building and development.  Justin’s experience with the City of Kitchener includes roles as Interim Executive Director, Infrastructure Services and Director, Transportation Services.
 
Margaret Love
Margaret Love is the Manager of Service Coordination & Improvement for the Development Services Department at the City of Kitchener and during the pandemic she has worn the hat of Director of the Recovery Planning Office, working alongside Justin Readman as the Planning Section Chief. Margaret earned her PhD in Engineering at McMaster University and has also worked as a municipal planner for the City of London and various project management positions at the University of Guelph prior to joining the City of Kitchener 2 years ago.
 
Kelly Galloway Sealock began the presentation
Good afternoon everyone.  I’m Kelly Galloway-Sealock, the Kitchener Councillor for Ward 5, and I’m pleased to be here with you today to share an update on Phase 3B of Our Recovery Plan-Kitchener Reopens.
 
Like many of you, I have been reflecting a lot about the journey-what we have been through as a community and where we are going since Covid-19 arrived.  In early March, under the direction of the Province and public health officials, we closed all of our municipal facilities, cancelled programs and events and significantly reduced our in-person services to the community.  Shortly afterwards, we closed all of our outdoor amenities.
 
As a result of these closures and cancellations, the City had to make the difficult decision to put over 900 employees on emergency leave.  While these closures and cancellations have been difficult in many people in our community, they were necessary to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and to help protect the health and wellbeing of our staff and residents.
 
It’s been an incredibly difficult and unprecedented time for the community and everyone has coped differently with the ever-changing circumstances.  Our role with the City, as public servants-whether elected or staff, is to deliver calm in a chaotic time.  In this time of crisis, the City of Kitchener went to work to come up with new, safe ways to deliver services to residents and businesses.
 
Once through the immediate response to the emergency, the City began to focus on more safe and sustainable service which meant bringing a number of valued municipal services back online while also providing new supports to businesses and residents to meet the needs that had emerged from the pandemic.  Teams and task forces of staff from across the organization pulled together to complete our recovery plans and to develop the new safety protocols and policies that will allow for everyone to return safely as we begin to gradually reopen.
 
I will now turn it over to Margaret Love to talk to you about Stage 3B of our Recovery Plan-Kitchener Reopens.
 
Margaret then provided details on the Phase 3 Recovery Plan.
 
My name is Margaret Love and I have been the Project Director of the City’s Recovery Planning Office at the City of Kitchener.  What does that mean?  It means that my role is to work with and provide recovery planning guidance to a variety of staff as they develop their service or facility-specific recovery plans.
 
On June 8, 2020, Council endorsed a comprehensive recovery/reopening plan known as “Kitchener Reopens”.  This document is on our City website. {Editors note: this document has been shared with us and is one on our website.]  At that time, Stage 3B of Kitchener Reopens was intentionally left blank.  This was to understand the effects of the collaborative response efforts to mitigate the initial epidemiological curve, ongoing COVID-19 transmission, as well as understand the pace at which the Province would advance through their staged reopening plan, prior to making decisions about fall and winter programs and services.
 
The Ontario provincial government released Stage 3 documentation on July 17, 2020 and at that time Waterloo Region was permitted to enter Stage 3 of the Province’s framework.  Now that the City is entering a part of the year when programs and services begin to transition to fall/winter service delivery, the plan for modified program and service delivery was presented to and endorsed by Council on August 24th.  This framework has allowed the City to re-open many of the 200 services operating out of more than 70 facilities while ensuring the safety of employees and residents is not compromised.
 
Throughout the City’s pandemic recovery response, the plan has focused on 4 pillars: 
  • meeting the needs of the community by providing valued programs and services to businesses and residents,
  • ensuring the health and safety of City employees and members of the community,
  • contributing to community and global efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, and
  • minimizing the City’s projected 2020 financial deficit.
As a municipality we need to continually balance the safety of our community and staff with our commitment to service delivery.  The number of COVID-19 cases in our region and in our Province had been greatly reduced when the Province entered their stage 3 of reopening.
 
The decline in the number of COVID-19 cases in our region was something to be proud of.  It was also evidence that our mitigation efforts have been successful in managing the first wave and reducing the risk of exposure for staff and members of the public.  We’ve now seen daily cases increasing across the province and some predict that the second wave has begun.  There are now several hotspots in Ontario – Ottawa, Toronto and Peel Region - and we’re seeing private gathering limits rolling back – first in the hotspots and now across the balance of Ontario, as announced by the Provincial Government over the weekend.
 
Now, as a community, we must remain vigilant, agile and proactive in our response efforts to manage future waves of COVID-19 transmission.  The continuation of physical distancing, mask wearing, health screening and good hygiene practices will continue to be an important component of the City’s pandemic recovery.  At the same time, mental health, wellbeing and connection are important consideration for programs/services
 
So now I’m going to explain what our phased re-opening looks like.  I’m going to talk about 3 categories of service delivery: outdoor amenities, programs/events and indoor amenities.
 
Outdoor Amenities
  • Ice rinks are planned to open in neighbourhood parks – likely late December
  • Weekly forestry natural area programs commence in September (school, after school and family programming)
  • Nordic Skiing provided at Rockway Golf Course likely late December
  • Winter walks and snow shoeing at Kiwanis Park, Doon Golf Course and Huron Natural Area
  • Leave some roads closed (e.g. Gaukel) for programmed and passive community space
  • Extending patio season as much as possible to help local restauranteurs
  • Support pop-up drink/food trucks in key locations to support outdoor amenities
 
Programs and Events
  • Staff will continue to develop and deploy city-led innovative events and programs and will support neighbourhood associations, cultural organizations, and other groups.  Online or modified special events including Mela Festival (Sept), Link Picnic (Sept), Neighbours day (Sept), Oktoberfest, ChristKindl and New Years eve are being planned
  • We will continue social support calls for seniors.
  • Crossing guards resumed duties as schools reopened
  • New or expanded virtual programming and activities (e.g. Kitchener Connects, ActiveAtHome, Kitchener Markets’ guided cooking classes, Family-focused program called Kids in the Kitchener, master canning class (launching tomorrow), Children’s programs, feedback surveys) focused on wellbeing.
  • Active at Home – city-led and community-led: tour butterfly conservatory, home bingo, fitness classes
  • Leverage learnings from programs like the camp-in-a-box program and expand to include other leisure activities targeted to vulnerable populations
 
Indoor Amenities
  • There are many city services that can now be done online and some face-to-face service is available by appointment at City Hall throughout the months of Sept - Dec A list of online and in-person services available can be found on the City’s website. Citizens can also access the City’s 24-7 Corporate Contact Centre for information and to report issues.
  • Online services: utilities, taxes, marriage licensing, business licensing, permits, land applications.
  • The pandemic has pushed us to innovate and think of new and unique ways to deliver services.
  • The city is gradually and safely reopening our community centres. Community centres have wrapped up day camps and will gradually transition to indoor and outdoor city-led programs, with neighbourhood association programming to commence in winter. Residents can expect a different experience when visiting our city facilities as safety measures such as registration, pre-screening, and physical distancing will be in place. To begin, centres will open for 3-4 hours per day. 5 new centres opened their doors on Sept 14th with another 4 opening today. The city is excited to launch the book your bubble program which will provide residents with the opportunity to book gym time for up to 10 people in their social bubble or family.
  • Ice time can now be booked for training and modified programming at Sportsworld arena and activa sportsplex with more rinks to be added in late september to mid-October.
  • There will be alternative options explored at Kitchener market as we move into winter months
  • More facility rental options will be available including, community centres, arenas and recreational facilities, VPP.
  • Warming centres open during extreme cold events – locations TBD
  • Public-access computers continue to be accessible at Kingsdale and Chandler Mowat Community Centres with the possibility of expanding this service to additional centres – high usage so far.
  • Registered swim times are currently being offered at Breithaupt centre pool, forest heights pool, and Lyle Hallman Pool. Learn to swim programming returns this fall with sessions being offered at each pool from Sept to Dec. Sessions run 4 weeks each. Session 1 begins tomorrow. Older adult passive/active aquatics programming will be available at Breithaupt centre
 
In Summary:
Stage 3B provides a plan that is:
  • Thoughtful
  • Gradual
  • Safe
  • Manageable
  • Agile
  • Adaptable
 
Next Steps:
  • Staff will continue to deploy programs and services
  • Continue to watch transmission rates
  • Follow direction from Provincial and Public Health Officials
  • Staff will check back in with Council on recommended changes to the City’s COVID-19 response as required

Closing Remarks & Reminders

President Louise reminded members of our upcoming meetings:
  • September 28 - Zoom - 7 pm meeting - Rotary African Women's Education Fund (RAWEF) - Martin Jones
  • October 5 - Zoom - 12 noon meeting - Caborca Mexico Project - Ross Newkirk & Hubert Singh
  • October 12 - No meeting - Thanksgiving Monday
  • October 26 - Environmental Volunteer opportunity - Dom Cardillo Trail Clean-up
 
Speakers
Sep 28, 2020 7:00 PM
Rotary African Women's Education Fund (RAWEF) - RI Education & Literacy month
Oct 05, 2020 12:00 PM
Caborca Update
Oct 12, 2020
Thanksgiving Day
Oct 19, 2020
Committee Meetings to be Scheduled by Committee Chairs
Oct 19, 2020 12:00 PM
Online Auction - Update & Sign Distribution
View entire list
Birthdays & Membership Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Steve Lubczuk
September 10
 
Join Date
Adrian DeCoo
September 1, 1987
33 years
 
Tom Mennill
September 24, 2007
13 years
 
Sponsors