There's more to health care than doctors and hospitals.

October is Community Support Month, an opportunity to celebrate the services that help seniors and people with disabilities live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. There are over 25 unique community support services, including attendant care, adult day programs, Meals on Wheels, respite for family caregivers, personal care and home support, transportation to medical appointments, and supportive housing programs... to name just a few! The not-for-profit organizations that provide these services are supported by their local communities, and rely on over 3 million hours of work donated by volunteers each year.

In Northbrook, Land O'Lakes Community Services has made an impact. A few years ago the agency responded to a need in the community identified by the local Family Health Team.

There was a lack of opportunities for senior men to socialize. A group was formed by a coordinator of the Community Support Program.

A member of this group described it like this: "A friend suggested that I attend a meeting organized by Land O'Lakes Community Services. The purpose of this meeting was to form a group of senior retired men who wished to socialize. All you need to join is a desire to interact with other men of varied walks of life and experiences. It is also advisable to bring along a good sense of humor. You can talk about any subjects that you are interested in." (Submitted by J.P. Pare)

This group continues to meet each week. They have supported one another with various health issues; they visit residents at the local nursing home, and even had a float In the Santa Claus Parade. This program has definitely had a positive impact on the lives of the men in this group.

"To us, stories about the impact of community support services may be extraordinary, but to the dedicated staff and volunteers of these organizations, they're all in a day's work," says Deborah Simon, CEO of the Ontario Community Support Association. This October, please learn more about how you can support these community-based organizations by donating your time or much-needed funds.

Recently in a client satisfaction survey about transportation, the following quotes were given;

"Thank you for the best driver. Also for the help along with not being just a driver but someone to talk to, just listen.";

“The service is great as I have no other transportation. My drivers are a great asset to me. I don't know what I would do if this service was stopped."

There are a few ways that the public can help ensure these services thrive. Residents could give a donation, volunteer, attend events or simply talk to their neighbor. Individuals who know what we do are vital to building a healthy community. For more information call 613-336-8934 or visit www.lolcs.com

All Ontarians deserve the opportunity to live in the comfort of our own homes and communities. Community support services make this goal a reality by going beyond meeting a client's current needs, and actually preventing more serious needs in the future. They keep people out of emergency rooms, hospitals and long-term care, helping Ontarians in need to stay happy and healthy, and making the entire health care system more sustainable.

There are many different types of community support services. Here are specific celebration dates set aside for each type:

October 5 - Congregate Dining Day

October 12 - Client Intervention and Assistance (CIA) Day

October 2-8 Meals on Wheels Week

October 9 . 15 Community Care Worker Week

October 3 Respite Services Day

October 10 Transportation Services Day

October 16 - 22 Adult Day Program Week

October 7 Supportive Housing Dav

October 14 Friendly Visiting/Telephone Reassurance Day

October 21 Home Help/Maintenance Services Day

October 26 Attendant Services Day

October 28 Hospice Services Day

Join the conversation on social media at #CommunltySupportStorles.

To learn more about Land O'Lakes Community Services, visit our Facebook page or our Website at lolcs.com

The Treasure Trunk and Community Living-North Frontenac held a very successful fundraising ball tournament on Oct 1 at the Parham ballfield. The tournament and raffles raised $2000. They would like to thank everyone who participated and helped out. Congratulations to the Kurt Thompson team for winning the tournament. Special thanks to those who donated items to raffle including Godfrey General Store, The Pine Tree Hill, Deb's Delights, Bakers Cakes & Crafts, Sharbot Lake Petro-Canada; also thanks to District 4 Rec. Committee for donating their time and running the canteen. The 50/50 winner was Tracy Sands. Raffle winners were: Gwen England, Amanda Young, Bonnie Beattie, Laurie Love, Stephanie Thompson, Garnet Hartwick, Amy Gibson and Jen McPherson.

Community Living – North Frontenac (CL-NF) celebrated its 40th anniversary at its Annual General Meeting on August 30 at St. James Major Church hall. Chris Beesley, executive director of Community Living Ontario, was the invited guest. He presented Dean Walsh, CL-NF executive director, with a certificate to help celebrate the organization’s 40 years of excellent service in the community. Walsh spoke very proudly of the board’s progressive, forward-thinking decisions. He also said that the agency is looking at a property south of Sharbot Lake, the former home of Drapeau Emergency Services, as a possible new location for an expanded Treasure Trunk.  Community Living currently operates the Treasure Trunk in a rented property at the foot of Cannon Road in Sharbot Lake.

Paddy O’Connor was welcomed as a new board member. 

(Note - A previous version of this article said the following in place of the third and second to last sentences: "One example is the organization’s recent purchase of the Drapeau building south of Sharbot Lake on Road 39, which will be the new location of the Treasure Trunk" but representatives from Community Living called to provide clarification.)

Browen Weeks, Recreation Coordinator for the seniors’ programs at Southern Frontenac Community Services, recently came up with a somewhat unusual fundraiser for the Adult Day Services program. On August 30, he rocked in a rocking chair for 12 hours from 7 am to 7 pm, a total of 720 minutes, with the goal of collecting a dollar for every minute of rocking.

When this picture was taken around 3:30pm, Browen had exactly 3 hours, 29 minutes and 22 seconds yet to go, and had already raised over $2,000. He admitted it had been a long day but for most of it he had had plenty of visitors, some of whom rocked along with him. He had a cozy space within the huge Grace Hall: a small carpet, two other rocking chairs, a lamp, a gliding footstool and a side table well stocked with games, snacks and information about the seniors’ programs. With a wry grin, Browen admitted to one modification in his chair; it hadn’t started out with the large, soft seat cushion he was using by mid-afternoon.  

Are you living with chronic pain? Land O’ Lakes Community Services, will be holding six FREE weekly workshops, which will help you gain knowledge and new skills to better manage your chronic pain, keep active and live healthier. These workshops help people who have a wide range of chronic pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia, repetitive strain injury, post stroke, neuropathic and other chronic pain conditions. The workshop is open to anyone living with chronic pain, their family members or caregivers. The workshops will take place at the Denbigh hall, 222 Highway 28, starting Monday Sept 12 and going to October 24, 1:30-4pm.You will receive a free copy of the” Living Well with Chronic Pain” resource book. Space is limited; you can register by calling Pam Lemke 613-336-8934 ext 229, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or toll free 1-877-679-6636.

Last year, when Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) held their annual community BBQ, it poured rain and the event was held in the steamy confines of the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake.

This year it was sunny and hot, just like the rest of the month, when the BBQ took place last Thursday (August 18th) and the attendance was almost overwhelming.

Tabitha Morton works as a Data Analysis Coordinator for NFCS, did not do a count, but said that the agency had 200 re-usable water bottles to give away at the BBQ, and there were none left at the end of the evening.

“So I’d say we had over 200 people come out, probably a lot more.”

The lineup for food was steady for well over an hour, and kids enjoyed a bouncy castle and the beach and Sparky, while the adults listened to Shawn McCullough perform and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine.

“People seem to enjoy the BBQ more and more every year,” said NFCS Executive Director Louise Moody.

In addition to having some fun and eating burgers, fresh corn and watermelon, the BBQ was also the occasion of the final tally for the Toilet Paper the Town campaign that was carried out by the NFCS Youth Program Leadership in Training students this summer.

Over 300 toiletry items were presented to Kim Cucoch of the North Frontenac Food Bank.

The Strawberry Moon Festival celebrates the end of the school year and the culmination of the visits by Marcie Asselstine, the Aboriginal playgroup co-ordinator at Northern Frontenac Community Services, to area schools.

Asselstine, a member of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, delivers an program based on Algonquin teachings to students at Granite Ridge Education Centre in Sharbot Lake; Prince Charles Public School in Verona; Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove; Clarendon Central Public School in Plevna; and St. James Catholic School in Sharbot Lake.

“It just so happens that the end of the school year, the strawberry moon, and the solstice, which is also National Aboriginal Day in Canada, all came together on the same day this year,” said Asselstine, on a brilliantly sunny, and comfortably cool Tuesday, as six classrooms of children clambered back onto their buses after a morning spent in the hall and on the grounds of St. James Major Catholic Church.

After a ceremonial opening prayer by Shabot Obaadjiwan Chief Doreen Davis in the hall, the children took turns visiting four stations over the next 90 minutes. In the hall, they did crafts under the supervision of Marianne Wilson and Susan Ramsay, and ate cornbread and berries prepared by John Davis. Outside they squeezed into a teepee and listened to stories from Danka Brewer; then they climbed up the hill behind the church to listen and move to the drumming of the Women's Drum (Valerie Hermer, Lily Lagace-Zierer, Nancy McDermott, Sandy Hallam and Pam Giroux).

Afterwards they all gathered for a massive round dance at the drumming circle.

“We've done Strawberry Moon Festivals for a number of years now, and they just get better and better,” said Asselstine as she waved goodbye to the students for another year.  

For 26 years, the Southern Frontenac Community Services Corporation (SFCSC) has been a community hub, providing health and social services to seniors, and at-risk and low-income families in rural Kingston and South Frontenac.

In 2015, the agency served over 850 clients and provided over 17,000 services, an increase of 72% in just five years. Some of these services include: hot meals on wheels, adult day programs, food bank, diners’ clubs, foot care, transportation to appointments, respite training, homelessness support, and so much more.

Behind every statistic is a personal story about how SFCSC services have made a difference in the lives of those most vulnerable in our community. This June, SFCSC is sharing a few of those stories during its fundraising campaign. In the June 9 edition of the Frontenac News, you will find an insert showing real people and their words describing the impact that SFCSC has had on their lives.

Annually, SFCSC receives core funding from the Province of Ontario and local municipalities. But the demand continues to outpace the funding, and some services, such as the Food Bank and Hot Meals program, are funded partially or entirely through donations.

SFCSC is seeking your donations to enable it to continue supporting seniors and other at-risk people in our rural region. SFCSC has also elected to run their campaign during June to take advantage of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge: for every one dollar donated online in June, SFCSC will receive one entry into a chance to win a $10,000 donation from Canadahelps.org.

Check out the flyer, read a few short stories, and consider making a donation to support SFCSC. Together with its donors, SFCSC is Making a Difference.

You need to get up pretty early in the morning to attract many of the movers and shakers of the Sydenham Village business community, and the grateful staff and board of Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS) did just that last Wednesday morning.

Coffee, muffins and a copious breakfast buffet greeted a full house at the Grace Centre at 7:30 am. The morning chat was interrupted briefly by SFCS Executive Director, David Townsend, who welcomed all those who have contributed to its fund-raising campaigns over the past couple of years.

Townsend pointed out that the agency depends on local fundraising to make sure it can provide service to all those who come looking for help.

Since 2011, the annual budget of SFCS has gone up 48%, to almost $1.4 million. About $1 million comes from funders such as the Ontario Ministry of Health (through the Local Health Integration Network) the United Way and the City of Kingston. The other $400,000 comes from client fees, and fund-raised dollars.

“The important statistic for us is that the overall number of people we serve each year has gone up by 72% in that same time period,” said Townsend.

SFCS receives provincial funding to serve 1,100 hot meals per year, for example.

“Last year we served 3,890 hot meals to seniors. And that was without promoting our program. And now people want us to expand the hot meals program to Fridays as well. It is only because of the generosity of the local community, and the people in this room, that we are able to continue to meet these needs,” Townsend said.

SFCS board member Mark Segsworth then addressed the audience. He outlined briefly how SFCS is looking outward to work with partners, including the township and other service organisations.

He also let it slip, in his role as SFCS fund-raising chair, that in the month of June, SFCS will be holding its major fund-raising campaign for 2016.

Southern Frontenac Community Services provides services for seniors, operates a busy Food Bank, and co-ordinates programs under the City of Kingston and Frontenac County homelessness prevention strategy.

Adult Protective Services

Adult Protective Services would like to send a big thank you to the Mazinaw Community Fund and the Napanee District Community Foundation. The Mazinaw Community Fund was founded by Margaret Axford and Ian Brummel and is a chapter of the Napanee District Community Foundation. The foundation provided the APSW program a grant of $1785 to support 10 individuals, giving them the opportunity to participate in two organized sporting events. These opportunities may not otherwise have been available because of cost, transportation, and limited supports.

The first event was a Blue Jays game last summer. Our group teamed up with Lennox & Addington Association for Community Living and Adult Protective Services in South Lennox & Addington to attend the game. The second event was an Ottawa Senators’ game in February of this year. The individuals who participated enjoyed both of the outings very much. Generous community initiatives such as this are essential to helping us provide opportunities for people in our community, and we are very appreciative to the Mazinaw Community Fund and the NDCF. Without this type of assistance, these opportunities may not have otherwise been available due to cost, transportation and limited supports.

April Volunteer Appreciation:

On April 14, the staff of LOLCS held their annual volunteer appreciation dinner in Flinton. The night saw 102 volunteers being thanked for all they do for the organization. The delicious meal was prepared by the Flinton Community Club and the toe tapping entertainment for the evening was provided by the Pickled Chicken String Band from Denbigh. If the smiles from all the guests are anything to judge by, the evening was certainly a great success!

Annual Yard Sale

We are having our annual yard & bake sale at the LOLCS office in Northbrook on May 21 from 8am until about 3pm. This has become a very successful event and all proceeds go toward our Christmas Hamper Program. Make sure to include our location on your list of sale stops – the May long weekend is the time to shop for all your summer needs and more!

Afternoon Tea and Information Session

On June 13, from 1-3 pm we are holding an afternoon tea at the LOLCS office, 12497A Highway 41, Northbrook. This is an opportunity for community members to come into the office, meet the staff, and have a look around. This is a good chance to see what types of services we provide and ask any questions you may have – or just come in for a visit and to say “Hi.”

Cheryl Hartwick is the Board Chair of Land O'Lakes community Services