Hello Brother and Sister Vincentians,

Workshop presentations and summaries from the ONRC meeting in Bowmanville are now available online. Please note our spring meeting will be held in Toronto on April 13/14, 2018.

SPIRITUAL MATTERS
The November reflection reminds us about the First World Day of the Poor on Sunday, November 19, declared by Pope Francis. Let’s take up the challenge to come up with one, new item to add to our repertoire of service to commemorate this World Day of the Poor.

NEWSLETTERS
If you have not had a chance, you will want to read the October Vincenpaul edition . Please send it to all members of your Conference to keep them up to date on our Vincentian Community.

Check out the CGI June 2017 meeting minutes to see what is happening at the International level.

FINANCIAL MATTERS
The 2017 Annual Reports will be available on the website mid to late November for Conferences to complete and submit to the next higher level by January 31, 2018.

SOCIAL JUSTICE
Have you assigned a Social Justice representative within your Conference and/or formed a Social Justice Committee at your Council? Please email Jim Paddon at jim@ssvp.on.ca with the names of your Social Justice representatives. More information on the role and responsibilities of the Social Justice Committee and Representative can also be found on our website.

REJUVENATION
The Rejuvenation special work team is working on developing a New Vincentian Member information package. It should be completed by early 2018.

NORTH OF 60
Pegg Leroux recently returned from her trip to the North where she was able to see the sea containers that had been shipped and help with organizing the items sent as you can see in her report.

NATIONAL BOARD MEETING
Highlights from the National Board meeting held in October include:

• Annual Declaration of Criminal Offences is no longer required for insurance purposes – screening guidelines have been updated and this document has now been removed from the National Operations Manual.
• Checking into the cost and resources needed to potentially provide abuse / discrimination / harassment prevention training online.
• Governance Committee has been formed with representatives from each region to review and identify responsibilities of the Society at the various levels.
• Finance Committee met and identified ways to simplify National financial procedures.

Check out our Facebook page . Please forward news, stories and event information to me to have posted on our Facebook page

Linda Dollard
President