This
past year has been an eventful one
for Rotary Cheshire Homes. As in life, there have been both
positives and negatives over the year.
We
all regret the premature passing of one of our tenants -
Rita Comeau. It was very sad and upsetting for other tenants,
staff and of course her family.
On
the positive side, on May 1, 2002 RCA marked its 10th
Anniversary. There was a celebration which was attended by 79
tenants, staff, Board members, friends and supporters. Staff
and tenants were proud of the night and worked hard to ensure
it’s success.
Last
spring, surveys were distributed to staff and tenants, asking
a series of questions relating to Intervenor Services, management,
the building and the organization as a whole. In order to elicit
answers that were as honest and direct as possible, the responses
were not required to be signed. The Board was pleased that the
results were, for the most part, very positive and we commend
our staff for the job they do in enriching the lives of our
tenants. The areas in which there could be improvement are:
professional development for the staff, to improve and broaden
their skills and life skills training for some tenants in the
areas such as orientation and mobility, financial management,
cooking and cleaning.
The
Canadian Helen Keller Centre has been up and running for
about a year and hopefully some of our tenants will make use
of that facility to improve their skills. Because the needs
of CHKC are so great in areas of services for the community
and fund raising and awareness for the Centre, it was decided
by the Board to begin the process of separating the CHKC from
RCH and have it run independently. To that end, we have applied
for Incorporation and it’s own Charitable Donation Licence.
The CHKC will also have its own Board of Directors.
Last
year, Joyce Thompson retired as Executive Director of RCH.
We couldn’t let her stay away. She is back as interim Executive
Director of the CHKC while Sharon Downie Clark is on maternity
leave. I want to thank Joyce and Nancy Mactavish for filling
in so capably. I want to also thank Cindy Accardi, Nancy Longo,
Jennifer Robbins, Sharon Downie Clark and the rest of the staff
and Intervenors for the great job that they do and for being
so dedicated.
In
closing, I want to thank all the volunteers, and sponsors
for all the help and donations over the past year and to ask
for your continued support.
Warren Wakefield
Chair, RCH Inc. Board of Directors
