Happy New Year Brother and Sister Vincentians,

Hope you had a blessed and joyous Christmas season spent with family and friends, and hope everyone had a successful Christmas program helping our friends in need.

Please note our spring meeting will be held in Toronto April 13/14, 2018. More details will be shared later in January. Please share this monthly news with all Vincentians.

SPIRITUAL MATTERS

The January spiritual reflection reminds us that our President General has declared 2018 as the “Year of Lallier” and shares some information on Francois Lallier, one of our principal founders.

COMMUNICATION

We continue with the process of updating our database to create an accurate contact list of Vincentian Executive members so we can effectively communicate with Vincentian leadership. When you receive an email request, please respond promptly providing the requested information on the Contact Record.

Check out our Facebook page.

ANNUAL REPORTS

2017 Annual Reports are available on the ONRC website at or on the National website.

It is time to start preparing your annual reports to ensure they are sent to ONRC by the required deadline dates. Please help ensure that all Conferences send annual reports to their Particular Councils by January 31, 2018. Isolated Conferences are to send annual reports to ONRC also by January 31, 2018. Particular Councils are required to send annual reports to their Central Council or ONRC by February 28, 2018. Please note that Particular Councils in Huronia, Ottawa, St. Catharines, Toronto and Windsor send annual reports to their Central Council. All other Particular Councils send annual reports to ONRC by February 28, 2018. Central Councils are required to send their annual reports to ONRC by March 20, 2018.

Once ONRC receives all annual reports from Isolated Conferences, Particular Councils and Central Councils, we consolidate to complete the ONRC report which we must send to National by March 30, 2018. We will also prepare a summary of activities happening throughout Ontario to share with all Conferences and Councils in May.

You may ask why we need to fill out these annual reports. We use these reports to inform the public on what we have accomplished, where and how donation dollars are spent, use as leverage to speak out on advocacy issues, implement systemic changes and to apply for grants. As noted in our Rule book, an annual financial and activity report are legal requirements which govern charitable organizations. These reports are essential so that higher Councils may better understand both the strengths and weaknesses of Conferences and the scope of their work, with a view to offering assistance and serving more effectively.

When you access the annual reports from either the ONRC or National website, you will need to open the link and save the file to your computer BEFORE entering any information on the form, otherwise it may not save properly.

Please email your completed report to terry@ssvp.on.ca and copy sarah@ssvp.on.ca. There is no need to mail a signed copy of the report, but you should keep a signed copy on file for your records. Should you have any questions about completing the annual reports, please contact terry@ssvp.on.ca or sarah@ssvp.on.ca.

You will see that National has also prepared a report to help Councils compile the data received from reporting Conferences and Councils.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION RE: H.S.T. REFUND

CRA divided the H.S.T. refund into 4 periods both in 2016 and 2017 as follows:

Period 1: Jan. 1 – March 31
Period 2: Apr. 1 – June 30
Period 3: July 1 – Sept. 30
Period 4: Oct. 1 – Dec. 31

We have heard that CRA has rejected HST refund applications for using the incorrect time frame, so it’s important that you use the correct time frame to receive the H.S.T. refund. Should you have any questions, please contact terry@ssvp.on.ca.

YOUTH AND WATER PROJECT

We received a report from Loma Verde in Nicaragua after ONRC gave funding for a water project to provide safe drinking water to families living in the community. This funding was provided in the summer of 2017 after hearing a presentation from the youth on water rights at the National AGA in Quebec. Click here to read more about this project.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Have you selected a new goal from our Strategic Plan to take action on in 2018? For those of you who did not attend the Strategic Planning workshop at the fall meeting, you can get information and ideas on our website. This will tell you why a Strategic Plan is important to your Councils, your Conferences and to you, and will also give some tangible examples of a goal and how you can accomplish the goal. Should you have any questions on the Strategic Plan, please contact linda@ssvp.on.ca.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Check out Ozanam Network December 2017.

Thank you for all the amazing work you do helping our many friends in need. From ONRC, we wish you a Happy New Year and a blessed 2018.

Linda Dollard
President