This time of year has been and continues to be very busy with your Steering Committee having been very active with a variety of activities and planning for upcoming events. There are lots of volunteering opportunities coming up, many entailing food. If you have a few hours to spare, please consider helping out with some of the upcoming events listed below. If you have other thoughts on events for us to participate in, please let us know.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
Tuesday 14 May 2024 Meeting – Windsor Motorcycle Ride for Dad
For the upcoming monthly meeting Tuesday 14 May, Cori Miles will give a presentation on the Windsor Motorcycle Ride for Dad (MRfD) Prostate Cancer fundraising campaign. Cori and her husband (Shane) are co-chairs of this annual local event.
Established in 2000, the MRfD fight against prostate cancer is committed to help save men’s lives and improve the quality of life for men and their families living with the disease. Every year, thousands of participants, supporters, and friends raise funds for the MRfD initiatives held in communities from coast to coast to coast across Canada. Proceeds are received by its charity, the Prostate Cancer Fight Foundation, to fund ground-breaking prostate cancer research and life-saving awareness campaigns to benefit the area where the money is raised.
Cori’s presentation is expected to touch on the following topics:
- Background of Cori and Shane and their motivation for running the local MRfD;
- History of Windsor’s MRfD;
- A run down of all the preps, resources, & volunteer horsepower make it happen;
- The typical event schedule;
- Some statistics on number of participants and money raised over the years;
- Examples of things that the MRfD donations have funded;
- Their vision for the future of MRfD; and
- The need for volunteers.
We hope you can join us at 7pm Tuesday 14 May. As usual, this will be a Hybrid-ZOOM event. You can meet in-person at the Hospice (Empress St.) or via ZOOM at the link below: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6953623178
Tuesday 11 June 2024 Spring Get Together
It is proposed to have another “BBQ” get-together for the June meeting. This needs to be discussed to confirm and flesh out details on a venue – possibly at Legion 594. Unfortunately, the Legion’s bi-weekly spaghetti night coincides with our June meeting. Consequently, if we choose the Legion, it would have to be a spaghetti dinner like the Xmas dinner. If the weather is good, we could have our spaghetti on the patio.
If folks would prefer something different, we can either:
- Change the date;
- Change the venue; or
- Not have a BBQ.
Please let us know your thoughts.
RECENT EVENTS
Play for a Cure – Friday 17 April 2014
Thanks to all of you for participating in this year’s Play for a Cure event. It was another tremendous success, raising over $400,000 for local cancer research. It was also a great opportunity for us to promote awareness of our group, and get our message of “Get Checked” across to a key demographic for us.
Volunteers included Garry, Josephine, Ed, Murray, Dennis, Don, Greg, Noel, Wayne, and Steve. Bravo Zulu to Jim for taking the lead. Event organizers were very appreciative of our involvement.
City of Windsor – Firefighters
We approached The City of Windsor last year to request that we give a lunch/learn presentation to City staff. After several postponements, Sarah Fox, a Wellness Specialist in Human Resources for The City of Windsor arranged four (4) daily webinar sessions (15-20 attendees each) with Windsor Firefighters, April 23-26. The briefings went very well.
Hospice Dove Pin Campaign – Thursday 25 April to Sunday 28 April 2024
Thank-you to all who volunteered for the Hospice Dove Pin campaign. The Hospice, who lets us use their facility for free, very much appreciated the effort by all our members who helped.
CURRENT EVENTS
Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) Foundation DaVinci Campaign
The WRH Foundation has launched the new campaign April 18th to raise funds for an update of the DaVinci Robotic Surgery Machine. The campaign literature (email and mail) includes Jim Fair’s story of having to go “up the road” for robotic surgery that can now be done locally. Thank-you Jim for offering to share your story with all of Windsor/Essex.
FUTURE EVENTS
WRH Foundation Golf Tournament – Wednesday May 22, 2024 at Essex Golf & Country Club
The WRH Foundation golf tournament is planned for Wednesday May 22, 2024 at Essex Golf & Country Club. Funds from this year’s tournament will once again support the Dr. Richard Boyd Men’s Health Program, specifically with funding being directed to assist with the purchase of a new DaVinci Robot for Windsor Regional Hospital. The current machine has reached the end of its lifespan and the WRH is in need of a new machine, so funds from the tournament will assist with that purchase.
We are looking for volunteers to spend about three (3) hours as witnesses for the “Hole-in-One” and “Beat the Pro contests.” The golf course is beautiful and volunteers are welcome to a nice brunch beforehand or cocktail reception afterwards.
Please let us know if you are interested in participating.
Motorcycle Ride for Dad (MRfD) – Sunday 26 May 2024
The Motorcycle Ride for Dad (MRfD) event is always amazing and all funds remain local. This has always been a fun day for all who volunteered and your day also includes a meal at the end. If you are able to help out, please let us know. Just a reminder that the event time is from 7am to 10am Sunday morning; if you are able to volunteer this year, please show up at Thunder Road Harley Davidson for 6AM. If you can’t make it that early, please arrive before 9am as the motorcycles “launch” at 10am and we are required for that.
OTHER VOLUNTEER NEEDS
We are also still looking for help such as financial manager and web-site support.
NETWORKING FOR NEW MEMBERS
The Steering Committee believes that most of our recent new members found out about our group through word of mouth. It is proposed to mail a handful of our business cards to a hockey-sock of members with a covering letter requesting that you pass on our business cards to anyone you encounter who may be interested in our group or just getting advice.
If you receive business cards in the mail, please pass on to anyone you are aware of who are touched by prostate cancer. If you don’t receive business cards, but would like some, please let us know.
PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION CANADA LATEST NEWSLETTER
Please remember that Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada (www.prostatecanada.ca), does an amazing job and provides significant valuable support to our group and support groups across the country. We encourage you to visit their web-site; it is a mint of information and help that directly helps individuals. The following is a link to their latest monthly newsletter:
News | Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada (prostatecanada.ca)
