We highlight the wonderful visit that our club had at the Grove Youth Hub located on Woolwich. This meeting put a spotlight on our club's 30-year dream of creating youth hubs, which has culminated in the creation of seven youth hubs in Guelph. 

 

 

The meeting was located in the gym of the Grove hub. A lovely space that usually has a pool table, an extreme shot basket ball game, and more fun activities for kids. For our Friday meeting, January 10th, the Gym was redone to host enough tables and chairs to seat our club and guests. 

 

The meeting began when President Martin called the the club to order. The President welcomed everyone to the Grove and, since he missed the last meeting, took a moment to thank the Sparkles Committee for the amazing work they did over the holidays. 

 

 

President Martin then discussed the club visioning exercise that will take place on the 22nd from 9:00AM-2:00PM. The hope is to get 20 Rotarians out to discuss the direction of the club for the next five years.

 

After this announcement, President Martin then opened the floor to club members. 

 

Helmuth Slisarenko, showing off his curling socks, discussed how there are upcoming curling lessons. You can sign up on the Guelph Curling club website. He also pointed out that the Grand Slam of Curling will be hosted in Guelph. This contest features the best curlers from around the world. 

 

Helmuth also noted that Bill Stevens has moved to a retirement home near his daughter. Helmuth believes that this is in Aldershot, but he will confirm.

 

Marva Wisdom, on behalf of Ruth Thatcher, a dear friend of Mary's, took a moment to reflect on the passing of Mary Taylor. Mary was heavily involved with our club for years as a Rotary Aunt and played a huge role in the establishment of KidsAbility in Guelph. Our hearts go out to Mary and her family. 

 

Terrie Jarvis spotlighted the Rotaract Gala that will be held on March 7th. She will send out details once she receives them from the Rotaract club. 

 

Faz Ashkar announced that his daughter, while traveling in Europe with her boyfriend, has gotten engaged! Congratulations to Faz and his family!

 

Peter McSherry, after many months of waiting for new furniture for his office, happily announced that the furniture arrived and the office looks wonderful!

 

Mike Schreiner, apologized for not being able to participate in Sparkles this year. He was in Colorado with him mom for her final cancer treatment and his happy to announce that his mom is now cancer free! Such wonderful news, Mike!

 

Patrick Grist told everyone that he is now on the mend after a fall he had in the fall. He also apologized for not being able to help as much as he would have liked with Sparkles this year. 

 

Matt Webster, who also runs a Guelph Dads community page, discussed how he and members of the group are running a Golf event on the 19th. Half the proceeds raised with go to Keep Kids Fed At Home. 

 

Lastly, Past President Mahmud Hassain jokingly rose to announce, in astonishment, that Patrick Grist, sitting beside him, was sporting a Montreal Canadiens logo on his phone. To everyone's laughter, Mahmud than went on to show his Winnipeg Jets scarf. It looks like the Canadian rivalry continues off the ice. 

 

 

After announcements, lunch was served in the kitchen of the Grove Hub. The meal was prepared by the ICC and the plates and utensils were picked up, by Matt, from the Guelph Tool Library. 

 

After lunch, Paul Dredge than introduced our speaker, the CEO of the Grove and club member, Jeff Hoffman. 

 

Paul began the introduction by thanking President Martin, Matt Webster, and all the other Rotarians for being at the meeting. 

 

He went on, "the building and the six other hubs represent the culmination of a dream our Rotary club has had for more than 30 years." 

 

He explained that out club came close to establishing the Grove in the late 90s, but it never came to pass for reasons beyond the club's control.

 

Looking out at the gathering of Rotarians, Paul said, "I thank those Rotarians, most of whom have passed now for their passionate work in the 90s. I'm hesitant to name names, because I don't want to leave anyone out, but to the Senators group and Ranjit Singh in particular. Ranjit handed me all the comprehensive meeting agendas and notes and minutes several years ago, he said, 'if it was ever to get done, I would likely be involved.' That happened a good five years before we even spoke for the first time of what has led us here today."

 

Paul then talked about how the dream was renewed at a Rotary meeting where Dr. Joanna Henderson spoke to our club. Attending the meeting were Paul Truex, Cindy Dreaden, Marty Fairbairn, Joanna McCauley, and Paul Dredge. 

 

 

The meeting was about youth mental health and the impact that a hub network can have. After the meeting, Dr. Henderson sent the group an 

81 page guide outlining what she had found to be successful steps in creating a youth hub in the community. 

 

From here, a working group of Rotarians was formed with Cindy taking the lead. It quickly became clear that one hub location would not be enough and that Wellington County needed to be included as well.

 

In the end, it was determined that seven hubs would be needed and a corporate fundraising committee was struck. The committee was able to raise over $11 million before the first hub was created.

 

The committee's efforts were challenged by the pandemic but they soldiered on, opening the first site in Erin. 

 

Paul thanked the committee members as well as the Rotary Club of Guelph Foundation which has put $300,000 toward the hub as of the meeting. 

 

Paul then introduced Jeff Hoffman, the CEO of the Grove Hubs who took over for Cindry Dreaden. Paul said, "Jeff has endless energy, as you probably already know, and is one of the most positive people I have ever met. He smiles as much in a day as I do in a month, but it's all absolutely genuine... and so is mine." Paul then welcomed up Jeff. 

 

 

Jeff thanked everyone for being there. He started by saying that everyday about 150-280 youth visit the 7 Grove hubs. What Jeff tells everyone when he meets them is that these hubs really work. 

 

To exemplify this, Jeff told a story about a young person who visits their site in Palmerston everyday. "He's 15 years old. He's couch surfing. He does not live at home, does not live at no fixed address. Some nights to get through the night, he'll spend the night at the local Tim Hortons in Palmerston, or the hospital emergency waiting room, because they are places that are open 24 hours a day in that small community, he's not in school. He's in our hub every single day, which is, which is amazing and awesome. And this fall, he's been sick. He's had a cough like all fall. He had a cough all fall daily. Our team connects with him, checks in with them, get some food. Our focus with him is on his immediate needs. His immediate needs. Those are, those are like the basics, right? Shelter and food and security, clothing. That's, that's our focus with him daily."

 

Jeff went on to explain that because they've got a nurse in the hubs all the time this this 15 year old was able to be seen and treated. He knows Jody, the nurse, so it was very easy for him to have a talk about his health. 

 

"One of the big challenges for this youth", Jeff explained, "is he's malnourished. Like that's that's a big piece for him, and rightfully so, right? He's not living at home. He's everywhere across this small community in the rural North of Wellington County." 

 

The Grove finds out that he needs bloodwork drawn so their team takes him to a lab. "We're really confident that without a place like the grove where everything's together, we got connections, relationships, this young person wouldn't get the basic primary care," that he needs. 

 

Jeff went on to describe other stories like a girl playing guitar in the music room that Marty Fairbairn, through his efforts, was able to put together with Long and Mcquade. 

 

Jeff then emphasized the importance of the hubs. Just last year, "we had 36,000 visits across our sites...that make it easier to access support and connect those who typically wouldn't be receving support." 

 

When a youth visits, the Grove asks what would happen to them today if they weren't receiving help? Over half say they would have gone nowhere and would have done nothing. 

 

Jeff then talked about the need for continued support and funding. Only 20% of their funding comes from the Ontario government. The rest is from philanthropy. 

 

 

After Jeff's speech, Marty Fairbairn thanked him for his amazing work and closed by saying, "This is so crucially important. It's touches my heart in a similar way that it does my friend Paul dredge, who I promised I would not embarrass, but I'm going to proceed to break that promise and say thank you. Paul means so much to me, and I know it means a lot to you too. And Jeff, thank you so much for what you do, and I look forward to guitar lessons and pool lessons coming up pretty shortly." 

 

The meeting was then called to a close by President Martin. 

 

Notes taken by Otter.ai., edited and formatted by Aidan Harris.