Susan Fisher was in the Chair today in our new once-a-month locale. The meeting was held at our usual time, but we changed locales to the Sackville Commons where a Continental breakfast awaited us. The breakfast was a pleasant change from the full-blown breakfasts we usually have. .JPG)
Susan used her time to recognize Rotarians who have showed up and volunteered for events over the summer. They included Dale, David, Colin, Mary (weekly Gold Mine), Jamie (rolling coins each week), Rotaractors for participating in the corn boil, and Sue Purdy for the Lobster party
Guests this week included Miranda Forestall (potential new member) along with Julia the service dog, Julia Fentham (potential new Corporate member) and Kendra Wilson who has worked with Rotaract in other clubs.
Two birthdays were celebrated – Jamie on August 29th and Charlie on September 3rd. Charlie took to the Mic to indicate all the various coincidences associated with September 3rd. 
Erin had a true Pin Pal story this week. It seems she was enjoying a drink at a local watering hole in Lunenburg when she ran in Morgan, who was also enjoying a drink.
This seemed to be Charlie’s week as he had his ticket drawn for the 50/50 draw. Looking to win $141, he needed to draw the 10 of 
. Alas he drew the seven of 
. The Happy Dollars front had few participants this week. Susan was happy that 74 new students from the 1st year class signed up for the Rotaract Club at MTA……..Trish was happy after returning from 3 weeks in Ontario’s cottage country……….Julia was happy to have attended this morning’s meeting……….Marita was happy and sad. Seems daughter Vanessa was home from Calgary but was going home on Saturday………Louise was back after a summer hiatus.
DUTY ROSTER NEXT WEEK
Chair – David Greeter – Darrell
UPCOMING MEETINGS
The Rotaract committee is looking for volunteers to make chili for September 20th. Contact Susan……The Youth committee will have a meeting soon. Members will be advised of the exact date shortly.
The Admin Committee indicated that the Friendship Exchange from Brazil will be hosted at Louise’s house for a potluck dinner on September 17th. Pam is the coordinator………Trish advised members of the upcoming Fall Breakfast on September 21st at the Civic center. She passed a sign-up sheet for volunteers.
For President’s Time, David advised members that next week’s meeting will be held at Bag Town Brewery @ 5 pm. Pi by Crow will be catering burgers and chowder. September 19th meeting will be a lunch hour meeting at Town Hall. The District Conference will be held on the weekend of September 27 & 28th. Two new members were announced – Chris Ferreira and Sue Ash. They will be inducted shortly. 
Concluding his time, David presented Darrell with a T-shirt, recognizing his 9 years as Treasurer. Our speaker Margaret Tuzz-King was introduced by Wynn Meldrum. 
It has been 9 years since the idea of a farm-based organization was first thought about. It has evolved over the years providing transitional support (living & working) to challenged persons. The farm has 3 sources of income – donations, the farm produced items and corporate partnerships, including this Club. In 2018 They received an Autism Speaks Canada Family Services Community Grant. The Sackville Rotary Club helped with funding support too. Open Sky, Tantramar Regional High School and Mount Allison’s Meighen Centre modeled a collaborative community approach, providing more seamless transitioning from school to school to community for rural youth and young adults. Non ASD university students were trained as Peer Mentors, and provided supports to ASD students at high school, and to ASD university students in social situations.
The Meighen Centre developed additional supports. TRHS students had a new transition skills curriculum. Pre- and post-assessments would measure outcomes. All students were to have improved readiness for transitioning at graduation. Results and created resources will be shared.
At Mount Allison University, 14 Student Life staff received a half-day training on Autism Spectrum Disorder, and how to work better with ASD students, taught by Open Sky. 2 groups of 15 non-ASD students received a half-day training on Autism Spectrum Disorder, and how to provide social supports to enhance wellbeing and inclusion, taught by Open Sky. Several trained students were deployed at Tantramar Regional High School to provide lunch hour supports to select students, under the supervision of the Resource teachers, for the winter term. This part of the project went very well, with excellent feedback from TRHS (such professional, skilled and helpful students!) and from the students themselves. Plans are underway to train more students this year and provide more to TRHS throughout the school year.
With Open Sky and the Meighen Centre First-year students associated with the Meighen Centre had an orientation meal at Open Sky. Groupings of these students went to Open Sky for Friday evening dinners, for a healthy meal, social support and a break from their busy weeks. A mid-year reflection and evaluation was held at Mount Allison University to assess value of the dinners and make modifications for the winter term. A final evaluation was received from 14 students who attended. This part of the project did not go as well as hoped but provided valuable feedback to the Meighen Centre and Open Sky, so in 2019-2020 we will again carry out meals and support using a different format, The TRHS Resource Centre teacher who partnered on developing the project went on maternity leave, but said she would oversee the project regardless. A meeting of parents of high school students associated with the Resource Centre, was held at Open Sky in June 2018, to announce the plans for the coming school year, and hand out pre-program assessment forms to parents Open Sky created curriculum materials for TRHS and provided 2 days of training to EA’s. Also, in June TRHS hired 3 teachers to teach Resource at the end of September (none of the teachers had Special Education training). Pre-program assessments were not provided to Open Sky through the Fall Open Sky and Susan Summerby-Murray provided a one-day further training for EA’s and teachers in November (no teachers attended). No students received any Transitioning for Life! programming during Fall or Winter. The Resource Teacher on maternity leave moved to northern Canada for a term position, in December 2018. Open Sky and TRHS staff met to figure out how to proceed, ensuring that trained staff were available to teach the program. The Autism Specialist was identified for the Anglophone East School District and invited to assist. Open Sky wrote a request to the Autism Speaks Foundation requesting permission to extend the project to July 2019. The Autism Specialist met with Open Sky and TRHS staff in late February and participated in an orientation to the project along with EA’s. 2 students received 5 sessions and 12 sessions, respectively, of the Transitions Skills curriculum before school ended in June 2019.
So, what’s next? Open Sky and the Meighen Centre are continuing to build the student training and volunteering piloted by the project. Open Sky and the Meighen Centre are continuing to explore ways to support MTA with ASD, through meals and social supports on-campus. The Resource Teacher is back and plans to meet with Open Sky once things settle in September, to pick up pieces and see how to proceed together. Open Sky will invite parents of children/adults with disabilities to form a Parent Support Group for mutual support and education. Open Sky is compiling lessons learned, for sharing with the Anglophone East School District and others
Open Sky’s work now in 2019-20: Providing transitions skills training to 9 individuals with disabilities from NB and NS (3 more on our waiting list). Providing residential support to 1 individual. Providing employment coaching to 9 individuals, in Sackville and Moncton. Partnering with the Meighen Centre and TRHS, training students and staff, improving seamlessness of supports. Offering community training in Mental Health First Aid and other skills. Starting a Parent Support Group for parents of children/adults with disabilities. Extending our BYOB (Be Your Own Boss) Employment Development program across the province.
Margaret was thanked by Chair Susan.
