Dear fellow Vincentians;

I hope everyone had a good summer that included time with your families. I’d like to share some recent news with you and your conference members.

2015 Annual General Meeting

We just concluded our 2015 AGM in Guelph September 18/19th. I would like to thank Mary Grad and the Guelph Particular Council for hosting this weekend. The weekend began with a Friday evening social justice presentation by Jere Hartnett, who discussed systemic change and Corry Wink who addressed advocacy. These presentations were followed by a wine and cheese social time that everyone enjoyed.

On Saturday, in addition to the regular business, we had an interesting and informative address by JeanNoël Cormier, president of our national council. There was also a morning workshop titled Building Blocks to Succession Planning. This workshop was developed and led by Phil Bondy and addressed the important issue of having a succession plan at both the council and conference level. Before starting a very successful period of table discussions, Phil invited two members to relate their stories of succession planning. Pat Lenz from Brant Particular Council talked about previous issues related to the leadership of their council and how the leadership of outgoing president, Anita Reansbury, changed the entire landscape. I would like to thank both Anita and Pat for making needed changes and having such a remarkable and positive turnaround at their council.

The other story was given by Linda Dollard, past president of the London Particular Council. Linda was able to develop and implement a very inventive plan to find someone to take on the position of president. Her idea of having four vice presidents to share the duties of president is one that others may think about using if they too cannot find one person to step forward. The idea of renewal while adhering to our Rule in regards to presidential terms are crucial to our continued success. Congratulations, Linda.

If you are a council president who is past your term in office you need to take similar pro-active steps to deal with your situation, and aim to correct this by the next presidential term shift coming up on July 1, 2016. We in Regional are committed to working with any president in an overdue term situation.

After the AGM ended on Saturday, my wife Pat and I travelled to Hamilton to attend the annual Saint Vincent de Paul dinner hosted by the Hamilton Particular Council. The evening included giving out several letters of appreciation to local members who have achieved various milestones in their service to the Society. I know several of our councils hold similar celebrations on or near the September 27th feast day of Saint Vincent de Paul. I encourage all councils and conferences to do something special for this date each year.

Social Justice

As our efforts in this area move forward, I must thank the chairs of our various committees and committee members, for their support, hard work and advice. I encourage every council and conference to appoint a social justice rep in order to be able to better inform your members of all that we are doing and plan to do in relation to social justice. If you do not yet have such a rep, please try to do so before the end of this year and supply our office with the contact information for reps at all levels. If you or anyone has a question about social justice you can contact us via our website’s directory. I am also pleased to take on the role of chair of our national social justice committee and I will be counting on our wonderful Ontario committees for their support as we seek to raise the level of social justice across Canada. I shall also be attending a North American Vinfam meeting in Denver from Oct.23-25th. These meetings occur every two years with a focus on social justice with a special emphasis on systemic change.

The Ozanam Education Fund is one of our projects and likely our most successful. This program has assisted 95 applicants with over $172,000 as they seek to continue their education on the pathway to escaping poverty and having real hope for a better future. This Fund has been financed by our Ontario Regional Council and the pass up funds from various councils. However, we are reaching a crucial stage in this program as it continues to grow. Therefore, I would like to request that any councils or conferences that feel they can help fund this program to consider sending as much as they can to the Ontario office for the Ozanam Fund. The other goal we have is to approach corporations and foundations that may be able to financially support the Ozanam Fund. We now have a pamphlet which we have attached to this report which you can use to approach any corporation or other funding source. Please help us to keep the Ozanam Fund alive.

I would like to thank Jere Hartnett, chair of the systemic change committee for developing this pamphlet and also to Linda Dollard, whose experience in the fundraising field was utilized in assisting Jere in researching possible funding sources for the Ozanam Education Fund. Linda has also been involved in the development of a draft for a public relations plan for our national council. Thank you again, Linda.

Spirituality

Please read the various reflections on our website from Denise Bondy, chair of the Spiritualty committee. Denise has demonstrated an ability to really connect our Vincentian spirituality to the works of charity and justice. Denise’s report at the AGM reinforced my request that every council and conference appoint an active spiritual advisor. This role is second only to the president as an essential element of every council and conference. Please comply with this request. In addition, as Denise said in her report, she is ready and willing to help you and even visit your council or conference.

Youth

Jason Hunt, youth chair, has developed a plan to assist youth members in attending the 2016 World Youth Days in Poland. You can access this plan on our website or by contacting Jason. Please make every effort in youth development at your council or conference. We can only succeed if we have the support of our presidents. There are great examples of this in Windsor, which was developed by John Staley, and in London where Lillian Mulder has done a great job with the support of past president, Linda Dollard.

Ontario Presidency

October 17th is the deadline to submit nominations for the next Ontario president, so there is still time to consider being nominated or nominating another member. It would appear we will have an election once the nominations are closed. I would urge every president at every level to give careful consideration to the candidates, perhaps even discuss with your members, and then cast your vote.

Federal Election

In regards to the BIG election, there is some informative material on our website under advocacy. There are some excellent topics which I would encourage you to raise at local debates. While we do not favour one party, we can certainly ask them to provide their positions on the areas of concern that we have.

Syrian Refugees

We have had several questions about whether we need funds passed up to help the refugees fleeing Syria. At this time, there is no such request. I would recommend you check with your diocese about sponsoring a family. If there is a local plan to sponsor a family and bring them to Canada, this is a great way your local conference could get involved. This may also mean partnering with other organizations and offering some form of on-going help to such a family.

In closing, may I wish our members and their families good health and may we all pray for our friends and neighbours in need and as requested for Pope Francis.

Sincerely,

Jim Paddon