Tuesday 11 April Meeting
For our upcoming April Members meeting at 7pm on Tuesday 11 April at the Hospice (Empress St.), we plan to have another Hybrid-ZOOM meeting with a taped video presentation rather than a live speaker. This is deemed necessary to trial the concept of video presentations; most support groups across the country are also having difficulty finding speakers and most have advocated the value of these very high quality presentations. We need to embrace this new paradigm in order to remain relevant and ensure high quality support to our existing and new members.
We plan to choose a video from the National Group or Toronto Group video libraries. Links are as follows:
https://www.prostatecancersupport.ca/resources/#video-library
Prostate Cancer Support Toronto Videos
We would ask that you peruse these two (2) sites and let us know what videos might be of most interest to you. There are many excellent presentations that most of you might also find interesting to watch on your own.
We are expecting several newly diagnosed men and their wives/girlfriends to join this meeting for the first time; please also invite your sweethearts if possible. Engaging newly diagnosed and their partners in a positive environment is a primary goal of our group; therefore, we hope to have as much participation as possible to give them a friendly welcome.
We ask that you bring potluck snacks; these make the meetings very enjoyable and we can’t expect Noel to feed the horde with banana bread alone.
Remembering Guy Jolin
As we previously announced, Guy Jolin recently passed away. He was a valued member of your Steering Committee for many years and a true friend to many of us. There will be a Celebration of Life at 1100 on Saturday 22 April 2023 at the Salvation Army South Windsor Citadel (1201 Grand Marais Rd West).
March Hybrid-ZOOM Meeting Feedback
We recently trialed the Hybrid-ZOOM meeting concept at the March meeting. There were a few initial hiccups due to Garry’s ineptness with the interweb, but once underway it went very well with several out-of-town and at-home folks able to join those who attended live at the Hospice. Hybrid-ZOOM meetings have become the standard across the country for most support groups in order to accommodate those who cannot attend but also to attract speakers who prefer to present from home. It also allows us to access high quality taped presentations from the National group and other non-Windsor support groups, most of which we could not duplicate here in Windsor/Essex.
Ontario ZOOM Meeting Feedback
As discussed at the April meeting, Garry and Jim F attended a ZOOM meeting with other Ontario based support groups to discuss common issues such as lower memberships, the need to share resources including presentations, and to exploit Hybrid-ZOOM meetings, etc. These issues worsened before COVID; unfortunately, COVID exacerbated them requiring a need to embrace new ideas. We will provide some feedback during the upcoming 11 April meeting.
Upcoming Awareness Booth Events
We currently plan on manning our awareness booth at the following functions:
· Wed 12 April – National Association of Federal Retirees AGM
· Wed 7 June – Canadian Association of Retired People AGM
If you have any ideas on other events (e.g. sports, organizations, etc.) for us to man our awareness booth, please let us know.
Upcoming Events Requiring Volunteers
We are currently committed to providing volunteers to the following fundraising events.
Friday 14 April – Play for a Cure (Jim Fair lead)
28 to 30 April – Hospice Annual Dove Pin Campaign (Murray lead)
Sunday 28 May – Motorcycle Ride for Dad (Garry lead). Note: there will also be a volunteer briefing meeting on Sunday 30 April.
If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know. In addition to manning our awareness booth at functions, volunteering at fundraising events is critical to our outreach program. Please do not be shy, a few hours of your time goes a long way to achieving our goals of community awareness (e.g. early testing) and engaging the newly diagnosed. Within the past several weeks several newly diagnosed have approached us; these are a direct result of our proactive outreach measures over the past year.
June Social Gathering
Our Christmas party at Legion 594 was a success whereby we piggy-backed on that Legion’s bi-weekly spaghetti dinner. Like last year, we would like to have another social function to kick-off summer fun. Legion 594 has a spaghetti night again on Tuesday 13 June which is coincident with our normally planned monthly meeting. We could replicate this spaghetti venue, which has considerable advantages, or consider other options such as:
· Having a get-together another day at Legion 594 to access the normal caterers’ menu; or
· Consider another venue.
Please let us know your thoughts as your Steering Committee would prefer your input.
I would appreciate any comments that you might have.
Cheers,
Garry
News and Events from Prostate Cancer Support Canada
Please take advantage of current news and information from PCSC at this link
https://mailchi.mp/prostatecancerbc/april2023-15659325?e=30e4966d09
