Presidents 4th Quarter Report October, 2014 Dear fellow Vincentians:
I hope you all had the opportunity to spend some time with family and friends over the summer and rejuvenate the spirit for the fall and wintertime. We recently held our 2014 AGA in Barrie on September 12/13th with about 80 attending the Friday sessions and over 100 on Saturday. I would like to thank the Huronia Central Council for hosting this event and a special thanks to my executive for their reports and to all who attended from across Ontario.
We shall gather next April 11th in Windsor for our spring meeting and September 18/19th in Chatham for our 2015 AGA. In addition, the 2015 National AGA will be in Hamilton June 24-28th. Let`s make this National AGA the biggest and best ever. Please join us there.

I have several topics to cover in this report.

Council/Conference Pass Ups- Please remember to send us your pass up contributions as soon as possible.
To those who have already done so, thank you. The annual suggested pass up amounts are now $260.00 for national and $250.00 for Ontario. You may send one cheque for both amounts to our Ontario council which then sends four quarterly installments of $30,000.00 to National on your behalf. It is only because of your pass ups that we are able to continue with our various programs. Also, if you want to pass up funds for a specific reason such as our Ozanam fund, please include a note to this effect. In regards to the Ozanam Fund, we have recently awarded our 50th grant and have now provided a total of $100,000.00 towards helping students further their education. It is only with your support that we have achieved this remarkable result.

Social Justice-The Ozanam fund is only one of several systemic change projects you can find on our website. There are various projects which your council can easily replicate. Please visit our revised Social Justice Webpage by going to our Ontario webpage at www.ssvp.on.ca and clicking on social justice.

Our Voice of the Poor advocacy committee is also very busy with lots of information on this webpage. The other committee under social justice is our Prison Ministry with some exciting news regarding our partnering with the CatholicConnectioninRestorativeJustice (www.CCinRJ.ca)

We will be launching a new project titled St. Dismas this fall and I encourage any council that is near a penal institution to consider adopting this project locally. Please read more about this below. Finally, in order to develop a social justice network, we encourage all councils and conferences to appoint a social justice representative or even a committee to address social justice issues. If you have anyone to do this work, please send us their contact information and we will include them in all correspondence. SPECIAL NOTE: We would like to start this program of local contacts by requesting all COUNCILS to appoint a SOCIAL JUSTICE REP (or committee) by JANUARY 1st, 2015 and forward their contact information to myself.

In addition, please ensure every council and conference meeting includes at least a short discussion of a social justice topic. This time could be used to explain various projects or to discuss other information you can find on our website. If we join together in this effort, we can make a difference in helping our friends in need to escape the cycle of poverty.

CCinRJ –The Catholic Connection in Restorative Justice. (www.ccinrj.ca) has recently held its founding conference. (Sept.19-21) I along with several other Vincentians, were pleased to attend this very important weekend. There is no doubt the Society needs to become more active in the services we offer to inmates, former inmates and their families. They are, in many cases, the poorest of the poor. You can help by supporting this new Catholic network by joining online. There is no cost and the only obligation is to show your support of the CCinRJ and the Society as we partner on issues related to prison ministry. We will be developing a new St. Dismas systemic change project related to this partnership which can be easily replicated by any council. Please find the draft of the St. Dismas project attached to this update.

Screening-Abuse-Discrimination and Harassment.
I would also like to request that all presidents and members become familiar with information regarding our Screening, Abuse, Discrimination and Harassment policies and procedures as well as related forms. It is extremely important that you comply with these policies and procedures and ensure all Vincentians are aware of them. Please ensure you are fully aware of and in compliance with the following:

Screening-Our National screening policy has been in effect since 2007 and can be accessed at the National Council website by clicking on the operations manual section and going to the following sections:

6.2.4, 8.3 and for various forms from 9.9 to 9.13.

Abuse, Discrimination and Harassment. 6.2.7, 8.7, 8.8 and 9.23.

INSURANCE UPDATE-Please read attachment. Formation-We have undergone some changes to our national and Ontario training teams. Mary Grad shall replace Bill Graham as our representative on the National Education committee and as chair of our Ontario Formation committee. We thank Bill for his years of dedication and service. Bill will remain as one of our Ontario trainers and on our Ontario Executive committee as a Senior Advisor. We thank Mary for taking on this new role and we know she will represent Ontario at the national level with lots of positive input.

In closing, I would like to plant some early seeds for my successor as Ontario president. My term expires on July 1st, 2016 but we will begin the process of calling for nominations in the spring of 2015. Our goal, as outlined in the Rule, will be to have the next president elected by the end of 2015.

I know of many Vincentians at various levels, who possess the qualities to take on this position. I encourage you to consider being nominated or to nominate someone you believe to be capable of performing the duties of president. Our Rule provides further information on this process and I am always available to answer questions.

Sincerely,
Jim Paddon, president.

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