It was great that so many members were able to attend the Spring General Meeting, held in Mitchell on May 3, 2023. Highlights from the meeting include:

Pat Evers received District 9’s 2023 donation for the Change Her World program.

President Bruce Whitmore presents Marcel St. Arneault with the 2022 Award for Exemplary Contribution for his excellent work on our Clean Slate newsletter.

Mark Nonkes, with the Immigration Partnership of Huron County, explained local efforts to assist Ukrainian immigration and resettlement.  Mark was thrilled to receive so many donations from the District 9 members who attended the meeting. 

See Bruce’s comments, below.

I know that the guest speaker, Mark Nonkes, Immigration Officer for Huron County, was blown away by your generosity.   This was our contribution to his work, since he cannot accept an honorarium.   It took a pick-up truck, a SUV and 2 passenger cars to transport the donations to the home of RTOERO member, Bill Black in Goderich, for temporary storage until the clothing can be distributed at a Ukrainian social gathering on May 27th.

Mark gave a very informative and timely presentation about the Ukrainian situation both here and in Ukraine.  More immigrants are expected this summer.  Unfortunately, the war is expected to drag on for quite some time yet.

Your assistance for the cause was much appreciated.  The need will certainly continue for some time into the future.   Besides clothing, it is hard to believe that the need for food and shelter is even greater, in spite of the fact that the adults are all gainfully employed.  We thank those who offered cheque donations for this purpose.

We are so lucky to be retired teachers in Canada.  We are so lucky to be Canadian.

District 9 has done themselves proud.  We can still accept donations at the June 7th Wingham excursion.

Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Bruce Whitmore, District 9

Here are a few more photos from the event.