Christine Fader spent 20 years at Queen’s University as a career counsellor, with a focus on helping students with disabilities. She now runs Career Cupid, which helps people define and achieve their goals, and is the writer of career related books. Her most recent book is ‘Just What The Doctor Ordered’, a detailed primer for students who are seeking to get into medical school.

Before she embarked on her career, Christine took disability studies at Loyalist College, graduating in 1994.

The Premier’s awards honour Ontario college graduates who have made significant contributions in Ontario and around the world. There are seven categories in the award competition and Christine is nominated in the community services category.

“I think I was nominated by Loyalist because my career has demonstrated how the disability studies program can lead to a lot of career opportunities, even if I don’t work directly in developmental services,” she said on Sunday as she was preparing to travel to Toronto for the awards dinner.

She said that these awards are important because they bring to light the accomplishments of people who opt for a college education instead of seeking a university education.

“I worked in a university setting for 20 years, and while Queen’s is a good place to learn, I came across many students, over the years, who would have been better served by a college education,” she said. “A lot of my colleagues thought I came through university because they had bachelor’s and master’s degrees, but the training I had in disability studies at Loyalist served me well.”

Among her accomplishments, she is proud of the work she did over two years, as a community member on the employment standards development committee with the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services. The committee developed accessibility legislation that was enacted last year and will roll out over the next few years.

In her current career path, running a home-based business in South Frontenac, she helps people to enter into their chosen career, as a writer as well as a consultant.

While she was flattered by the nomination, Christine did her research and concluded that she was not going to win the award.

“I don’t expect to win but it will be a fun evening. Winners of these awards have some very high-profile achievements. They have started not-for-profit corporations and overcome great obstacles.”

Her prediction did indeed come true. The winner in the community category this year was Kevin Collins. Collins was a poster child for Easter Seals as a young person with Cerebral Palsy, and is now the President and CEO of the Easter Seals Foundation, a post he was appointed to in 2017 after a career in the hospitality industry.

Christine Fader is back in Battersea, living out her dream by helping others accomplish theirs.

On May 28, 2019 URCA Housing Corp marked the 25th anniversary of the first tenants moving into our 16 not for profit housing units. Eight families and six senior tenants moved into our row housing units. Four weeks later the last two seniors’ units were occupied. Members of the community had watched the construction of these homes over the previous year. Some community members may even have remembered the knock on their door from a volunteer six or seven years earlier. These volunteers blanketed the community conducting a survey to help establish a need for non-profit housing in Flinton and to receive individual opinions about the proposed housing units.

Although move in day was in the spring of 1994, it was in the winter of 1987 that the project began. A core group of community volunteers worked diligently to plan the project for Flinton. The planning was based on the perceived need, the survey results and the varied opinions of the community members. The harder job for them was in bringing the project to fruition. Meeting after meeting to arrange and attend; paperwork to end all paperwork to complete; steps forward and setbacks over the period from 1987 to 1994 finally resulted in the completion of the dream for an affordable living alternative for seniors and families in Flinton and area.

Step forward to 2019. One of the original volunteers and a couple who have been involved for upwards of 15 years make up the Board of Directors which is responsible for the administration, staffing and planning for organization. Funding for URCA comes from the Prince Edward Lennox Addington Social Services division of the County and from rent charged to the tenants. Some of the Board volunteers are now looking forward to a well-deserved retirement from their positons with URCA. As a result URCA Housing is actively involved in trying to recruit new Board members so that the organization can continue on as a community based not for profit housing provider. Without a community based board the administration and planning will fall to the County office in Napanee.

On November 20 at 7:00 pm URCA Housing will be hosting a Community meeting to celebrate our anniversary and our 25 years of accomplishments in Flinton. The meeting will be held at Through The Roof Church. There will also be a discussion around the future of URCA Housing. The most significant topic of discussion will be the recruitment of Board members to pick up the reins of the organization to carry us forward.

All interested Community members are welcome. Come out and be part of URCA’s next 25 years. Refreshments will be provided.

Kyleen Menard is happiest when she’s caring for others.

Speaking from Carveth Care Centre where she has worked as a Personal Support Worker for the past four years, the 29-year-old Sunbury woman is gaining recognition for helping people reach their fullest potential.

“I really like it here,” she says about the accredited long-term care home in Gananoque. “I enjoy all of the residents. My coworkers are great.”

Asked about her work, the mother of two notes, “It’s very tough. It’s also very rewarding because you get to help people with the things they are no longer able to do themselves. It makes me feel good when I help them.

“I like being in the tub room,” she explains about her favourite part of the job. “You get that one-on-one time with the residents who are relaxed and talk more.”

Speaking on behalf of the home, Assistant Director of Care Lynn Vereeken notes, “Kyleen is dedicated to the health and wellness of our residents. She is a thoughtful coworker and compassionate health care professional. We appreciate her training in Excellence in Resident-Centered Care which she is now sharing with staff. It is a pleasure to recognize her as our Employee of the Month for August. We are grateful to have her on our nursing team.”

Asked to describe herself, Kyleen notes, “I’m shy at first, but once you get to know me, I’m outgoing and friendly. I’m someone you can rely on.”

When she’s not at work, the South Frontenac Township woman likes to spend time with her husband and two sons.

“I like to read a lot,” Kyleen says with a smile. “I’m a reader.”

Asked about her future goals and plans, she replies, “Right now, I’m comfortable where I am. I have a Diploma in Social Services. Someday, I’d like to get into the school board and help children with mental health issues and addiction.”

Questions for Kyleen

If you could rule the world, what would you do on day one?

“I’d end poverty.”

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

“Probably fly. I like to travel.”

If you weren’t at your current job, what would you be doing?

“I would be working with children if I wasn’t here.”

Carveth Care Centre is grateful for the good work of Kyleen Menard. To learn more about living or working in our home, please visit www.gibsonfamilyhealthcare.com

On Tuesday, April 4, the Mayor of South Frontenac Township, Ron Vandewal, will be rolling up his sleeves and participating in the daily production and delivery of weekly Hot Meals on Wheels. Additionally, several OPP officers will be delivering Hot Meals on Wheels alongside our delivery volunteers.

It is a promotion designed to raise the profile of meals on wheels.

It is an opportunity for Mayor Vandewal to experience the entire process of what goes into our charity preparing over 30 hot meals and the logistics of delivering them to clients across South Frontenac Township

The Community Foundation for Kingston & Area (CFKA) granted $189,363 to regional charities for 24 innovative projects to enhance the quality of life in Kingston and Frontenac County on Wednesday (December 14).  

Gayle Barr, the Community Grants Committee Chair, pointed out that the grants range from smaller, practical grants with immediate benefits to the community, to  larger program grants aimed at changing how we think, such as a $25,328 grant for Youth Diversion’s Addiction Literacy Program.

The grants include a number that will directly benefit residents of Frontenac County. Among these are two grants to the Grace Centre in Sydenham, the home base of Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS). One of these is the Good Graces Cafe start up, an $8,110 grant to start up a new cafe at the Grace Centre.

“The café is a social enterprise pilot project to create a safe space for seniors – particularly those who are lonely or feel isolated in the community – to socialize with others. It is also a place for seniors and high school youth to volunteer together, to stay active in their community and build inter-generational connectedness,” said the citation from CFKA.

A second grant of $7,826 will go towards helping SFCS develop its newly expanded property to include a large garden to produce fresh vegetables for its food bank and meals on wheels programs. Some of the money will also go towards accessible pathway for seniors in the SFCS Adult Day Program.

The Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) Youth Program has received a grant of $5,560 for a program called “From Gaming to Games”. It is a 16 week program that will enhance the activities offered for youth in South, Central and North Frontenac with help from a YMCA Y-GAP Outreach worker. It is designed to  engage youth in fun, physical activities while providing messages to encourage youth from developing habits that could lead to addictions to electronic games on phones, tablets, and computers. A variety of activities, including lacrosse, snow shoeing and other sports will be used to entice youth to switch from electronic gaming to physically playing games.

The County of Frontenac has also received a grant of $7,400 to be used fo residents of the Fairmount Home Long Term Care Facility. ‘History Through Expression” is an integrated arts program marking Canada’s 150th year. Residents of the home will be “engaged in self-expression by making hand drums, being educated in aboriginal culture, storytelling, having fun with theatre games, mime and props, learning seated dances and joining in song.”

Other grants have gone to Kingston based agencies that provide programming in Frontenac County as well. These include a $25,328 grant to Youth Diversion for an addiction literacy, an early intervention program to be delivered by youth addictions counsellors focusing on “building resiliency and increasing the capacity for students to understand the impact of drugs and alcohol.”

Other Kingston based include a Youth Diversity conference to be put on by the Kingston Community Health Centres next year (3,049), and a grant to the Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre at Queen’s of $16,879 which is aimed at promoting civic engagement for indigenous youth with the long term goal of establishing a regional Indigenous Youth Council.

The charities that received funding gathered for a celebration at the Senior’s Centre in Kingston.

The Community Foundation for Kingston & Area was founded in 1995. IT manages $16.5 million in assets and has distributed nearly $10 million over the last 21 years.

There was a broad array of hand crafted gifts, late season produce, fresh baking, sweet cider and peroghi’s for the holidays that were Charles Public School last Saturday (December 10).

While many were taken with the fact that a winery, Three Dog Winery from Prince Edward County, was on hand as the result of changes in regulations permitting Ontario beer, cider and wine producers access to farmer’s markets, there was another unusual display. Just off the gym near the north exit, Family and Children’s Services of Frontenac and Lennox and Addington (FACSFLA) – formerly known as the Childran’s Aide Society, had two senior managers on hand to talk about fostering and adopting children.

Angela Woodhouse handles recruitment of foster and adoptive families and Mary Margaret Fuller is the Manager of Resource Services, and her team guides families through the process of fostering and adopting.

“We wanted to participate in the Christmas show here because we know a lot of people come out for it,” said Woodhouse, who lives nearby, “and because we thought Christmas is a time when people think about family and community and the roles each play in people’s lives.”

Mary Margaret Fuller said that the reason FACSFLA wanted to come out to Verona in particular was that there is a need for rural families for certain foster children who are either from the area or are looking to get out of the city to be able to participate in more outdoor activities.

There are currently 25 children, most of them in the middle to older age range of 12 years and up, that FACSLA is looking to place in foster or adoptive homes at the moment.

She also said that FACSFLA has worked very hard in recent years to make sure that before any child is fostered that all avenues for family reconciliation have been explored.

“We work with families and with extended families to keep children in place or with kin, but when that is not possible we look for foster families,” she said.

FACSFLA has produced a somewat tongue in cheek “15 reasons to foster” teens as part of their recruitment campaign, which is aimed at families in the midst of their chld rearing years and also at “empty nesters” who have the time, space and inclination to live with young people again.

The list points out that “no diapers are required” and that “teens sleep through the night” and “will tell you when your old clothes are back in style”. It also offer added bonuses such as “You can teach teens to drive” and “Every kid deserves a family to rebel against” and finally “Goodbye Dora the Explorer and hello Walking Dead!”
Fostering is a serious pursuit, of course, and the process of becoming a foster family takes a year, and requires training.

The process starts when an individual or family contacts FACSLFA to express interest in fostering. This is followed by a meeting with a resource worker who lays out all of the details about how to become a foster parent, what expectations and supports there are.

This is followed by two concurrent courses. On is Parent Resources for Information, Development and Education (PRIDE) a provincial training program delivered locally over 10 three hour sessions. The other is called Structured Analysis Family Evaluation (SAFE), set of tools that are used to determine eligibility, suitability, and readiness. It takes about 10 hours of meetings to complete.

Once the entire process is completed, which can take six months or longer, efforts are made to make the best match between children with families. Heritage elements such as an indigenous background are important factors, and that is one of the reasons why FACSFLA is looking to southern and northern parts of Frontenac County for new foster families.
“Fostering is not the ideal solution for children, but good fostering is vey important to us, for the children and the foster families,” said Angela Woodhouse.

On their website, FACSFLA outlines how fostering fits into the vision that the agency has been developing over the last 4 years.

“On this journey, foster care is a temporary stop along the way. We will try to find a way for them to return home or to live with extended family. If those aren’t options, then we will find them an adoptive family. Our new vision will see foster parents take on the role of adoptive parents if and when a child needs them. This is our vision.  Our goal is to give every child the permanency they deserve.”

FACSLFA has about 200 children in care, a number that has been on a steady decline as the results of efforts to maintain children with their birth families whenever possible.

Of those 79% are over 12 years old. In the near future, however, the numbers could rise substantially as the Ontario government considers upping the age where agencies like FACSLFA have jurisdiction from 16 to 18.

Members of the Frontenac detachment of the OPP participated in Stuff the Cruiser events on Saturday at the Verona and Sydenham Foodland stores, collecting food and money for the South Frontenac Food Bank. Shoppers were drawn to the $5, $10 and $20 bags that were prepared by the stores in advance.

Slowly, quietly and with care, the idea of a Basic Income Guarantee, with the appropriate acronym BIG, has been gaining momentum. Advocates are now aiming for the implementation of a pilot project in Ontario to be instituted by the Wynne government in Ontario.

A lunch speaking event was hosted by the Community Foundation of Greater Kingston and Area on Monday (December 5). Toni Pickard, the founder and co-ordinator of the Kingston Action Group for a Basic income Guarantee spoke first. She described herself as “a bit like the opening act for the stars” in reference to the other speakers, former Senator and Master of Massey College Hugh Segal, and retired Judge and Deputy Minister at the Federal and Provincial Level George Thomson.

Before Thomson and Segal talked about the specific tasks they have undertaken on behalf of the Ontario government in recent months, Pickard described the role of the Kingston Action Group as two-fold. One is to raise awareness in the local community about the concept and history of a Basic Income Guarantee in Canada, and the other is working to keep governments, at all levels, focused on issues of poverty.

The idea of instituting a Basic Income Guarantee in Canada had a certain momentum in the 1970's, culminating in a pilot program in Dauphin, Manitoba. It then faded from consideration for almost 25 years in Canada, although it has been active elsewhere, and has been building, thanks in part to the efforts of the three people who spoke in Kingston on Monday.

A Basic Income Guarantee is just that, a guaranteed level of income for all, enough to pay for food, shelter, clothing, healthcare and necessities. Mechanism for achieving that are diverse and each has social and economic implications.

Toni Pickard talked about how Big has gained momentum in Ontario over the last three years. When the Kingston Action Group was founded, “it was one of four such groups in Ontario, and there are now 27, so you can see where this has gone. There are about 23 groups in the rest of the country so you can see that Ontario is leading the push for BIG in Canada.”

Among the accomplishments of the Kingston Action Group, which has membership from South Frontenac as well, have been calls for the provincial and federal governments to explore basic income from the the City of Kingston and the Township of South Frontenac. When Hugh Segal spoke, he talked first about an effort that he has been involved in for the past ten years and about how important public participation has been.
“Presentations in the legislature and meetings with government officials have been important, but so are the meetings that I’ve been to in church basements across the province, including the one at Sydenham Street United,” he said.

Last spring, Segal was approached by the government of Ontario and asked to develop a report outlining the necessary steps to develop a pilot project in Ontario.  The report which he delivered to them at the end of August, and was released to the public in September, is called Finding a Better Way:
A Basic Income Pilot Project for Ontario.

One of  the key points in the Segal report is that the pilot gauge the impact of eliminating Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments and replacing them with an income guarantee.

As he said in the Executive Summary to the report: “The main purpose of the Basic Income Pilot must be to test the broad policing, control, and monitoring now present in OW and ODSP with a modestly more generous basic income, disbursed automatically to those living below a certain income threshold.”
What Segal wants the pilot project to evaluate, is the impact of this change on poverty reduction among OW and ODSP recipients, and to determine whether it will encourage work, reduce stigmatization, and produce better health and life outcomes for them.

“There are many, many good people, trained social workers spending their time confirming eligibility of recipients for OW or ODSP benefits who could be doing what they are trained to do, helping and counselling people,” he said on Monday.

By replacing OW and ODSP with BIG, the distinction between program recipients and working people who are also below the income level of the BIG, which is essentially the poverty line as determined at any given time, would be diminished.

Segal says that the pilot should be a test of the financial impact of a Basic Income Guarantee on the “net fiscal position of the province, on labour market/workplace behaviour, and on net health and educational outcomes in the pilot area.”
He envisions two different kinds of pilot projects. One would take place in an urban setting, in which participants would receive different levels of basic income supports to test the impact of a change on their lives.

“Testing different parameters should help to identify the best combination to reduce poverty, while not discouraging people from improving their incomes through labour force participation,” the report said.
Participation in the pilot would be voluntary and none of the participants are to see a decrease in the supports they currently receive.

A second pilot would be similar to the one done in Dauphin, Manitoba 30 years ago. It is to take place in small communities, and will cover the entire population with the same payment system. The idea is to test the community level impact of the BIG. The report calls for three sites to be chosen, one each in Southern and Northern Ontario, and one to be chosen and planned in close collaboration with First Nations Communities.
There is one major proviso in the report. It does not want to see what Segal termed a “BIG Bang approach, in which all social supports not specifically related to poverty are replaced with a single monthly cheque.”
Also, the idea of all Ontarians receiving a fixed payment, which is then paid back through taxation, is not being recommended.

The report wants the planning for site selection, and other background work for the pilot studies to commence by March 1st of 2017, with pilots to follow after that and run for three years.
The final speaker was George Thomson. He was appointed on June 29th of this year to head the Income Security Working Reform Group by the Ontario Minister of Community and Social Services (MCSS) Dr. Helena Jaczek.

Thomson’s 15 member group is tasked with working in concert with the BIG Pilot initiative to look in detail at income security systems in Ontario, make proposals reform and provide a multi-year implementation plan for income security reform.

Thomson gave a power point demonstration outlining some of the work his group has been doing.

“We are looking at income security with or without a Basic Income Guarantee. We deal with all of the details of phasing in reforms to a system that currently delivers $153 billion in payments each year” he said, adding that his group is 1/3 of the way through its task, which they plan to complete by July.

“We have a focus on low income individuals, not only those on social assistance. We are learning from the experience of reforms that are already in place to benefits for seniors and children, identifying benefits that should be paid outside of social assistance,” he added.

Thomson echoed Segal’s assertion that there is momentum at the provincial level, with support from the federal level, for some real changes to be made in the way income supports are delivered in Ontario, but that optimism is tempered by the deadline of the next election. With the Wynne government mired in controversy over a number of issues, including electricity costs which impact those who would benefit from a Basic Income Guarantee more than other Ontarians, all three of the speakers in Kingston on Monday indicated that the BIG movement needs major momentum behind it sooner rather than later.

Toni Pickard encouraged everyone in attendance to get active.

“Help us to initiate a nationwide conversation ...  talk to your MP and MPP,  join the consultation that is taking place in Kingston on January 9,” she said.

The questions that followed the presentations were all from supporters of BIG. They were concerned with it being brought in sooner than later and being as inclusive as possible. The general feeling was that when the general public learns about the proposals that come with it, opposition disappears.

“People worry about cheats,” said Hugh Segal, “but most people will use the extra money that will come from this to move to better housing or buy more and better food. Likely 5% or 10% will game the system. In 2008, 5% to 10% of traders on Wall Street were gaming the system and look what happened. I’ll take my chances with this modest increase in payments coupled with a decrease in the stigma of poverty.”

The first opportunity for the public to see the new digs of the Treasure Trunk took place last Friday at a Wine and Cheese Fund raiser and silent auction at their new home on Road 38, south of the Kingdom Hall.

Community Living Board Chair Patty Hallgren looked at the over flow crowd and said “who says people won’t come out to the Treasure Trunk because we are out of town.”

Paddy O’Connor provided a rousing opening for Mayor Frances Smith, who used an oversized pair of scissors that she borrowed from Frontenac Paramedic Services to cut the ribbon, and the space had been christened.
Community Living North Frontenac operates the Treasure Trunk but its Executive Director Dean Walsh said that the Treasure Trunk “does not belong to Community Living, it belongs to the community, it belongs to everyone.”

The Treasure Trunk will be open for business on Saturday morning (December 3) at 9 am.

VISIONSoup was begun eleven years ago by Leslie Read of Sydenham Veterinary Services and Josie Steele of Sydenham Chiropractic Clinic as a way of giving something back to their communities. Popular right from the beginning, it now fills Grace Hall in Sydenham with two sittings and raises almost $4,000 to be divided equally between the Loughborough Christmas and Emergency Fund, and Southern Frontenac Community Services.

For many, it has become a delightful way to begin the winter holiday season (though last Saturday was still shorts and t-shirt weather). For $25, participants get to choose a bowl made by one of several local potters and a meal of soup from an area restaurant. Some fill their bowl with one soup, others prefer the ‘tasting’ approach, trying scoops of each of several of the wide variety of flavours. Not only do the bowls go home with their new owners, but the helpers whisk them away first and return them freshly washed.

The presentation of VISIONSoup remains largely a family affair: preparation, welcoming and serving are done by Josie and Leslie and their parents, spouses, children and friends, all wearing bright red shirts. Soups and bowls are all donated.