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PRESIDENT’S
ADDRESS - 2007 AGM
I am both
pleased and honored to be presenting my first AGM address as
president of Toronto Central Council this evening. The main
achievements and accomplishments of our Vincentian family that
have occurred in the past year will be highlighted tonight
through various presentations. In addition, I would like to
provide a brief outline of the direction and goals that the
Board of Toronto Central Council intends to pursue in order to
help us all fulfill our Vincentian mission of charity.
Toronto
Central Council essentially has two main responsibilities to
its members. The first is to respond to the needs and requests
of our Vincentians. This is accomplished by providing the
tools, means and resources necessary for us to grow as
Vincentians and to help us serve the “forgotten, the suffering
or the deprived” more skillfully, effectively and
respectfully.
Central
Council’s other main responsibility is to provide, coordinate
and administer the various programs for our neighbours in need
that a single conference or particular council would find too
daunting a task to undertake. Collectively, we as Vincentians
working through our Central Council provide shelter to the
homeless; care for those living with mental health challenges;
a decent place to live for the developmentally disabled; a
safe and supportive environment for those recovering from
addictions; a memorable and constructive summer camping
experience for disadvantaged girls; a helping hand for people
struggling to deal with our courts and justice system;
affordable housing at Gower Park; and the opportunity for
families with limited means to acquire basic household
necessities through our Stores Division. I am sure most of us
have, during our home visitations, met people who might be in
need of at least one of these particular services at some
point in their lives. Our various Special Works are meant to
address and help alleviate the circumstances that result in
the challenges faced by so many of those with whom we interact
in our home visits.
SPECIAL
WORKS
Our Special
Works continue to perform well, thanks to the support of many
Vincentians serving on committees; conferences and particular
councils that pass up funds; a dedicated and professional
staff that deliver and administer these works; and the
oversight and diligence of our Board of Directors that monitor
these various endeavors.
Tonight you
will hear a report highlighting the year’s achievements in
regards to our Special Works. In addition, details informing
you about the expansion of our Vincent and DePaul House
residential program and the construction of a new dining
facility at Marygrove will be presented.
CONFERENCES AND COUNCILS
We continue
to grow as a Society in Toronto, and tonight you will hear a
presentation detailing the scope and significance of our
conference works and visitations across the GTA. This is our
core work and service, and these numbers indeed represent a
significant achievement and testimonial demonstrating our
mission of spreading Christ’s love and hope through personal
interaction with our neighbours in need.
Workshops,
presentations and sessions designed to help us grow
spiritually and to develop our skills in order to fulfill our
Vincentian mission of charity more effectively, respectfully
and consistently continue to be developed and implemented.
Tonight you will also learn about the Vincentian Volunteer
Booklet, which offers new and creative ways to serve through
our existing network of Special Works.
LOOKING
AHEAD
The members
of the Board at Toronto Central work at honing their skills so
that they might represent your interests, and those of the
organization, more effectively. The Governance Committee has
organized a Board orientation day in November that will partly
focus on setting, implementing and achieving long and short
term strategic goals.
In looking
ahead to the immediate future, I would like to touch upon
several of the areas I discussed with many of you when I
visited your Particular Council meetings this past winter and
spring. I would like to propose what Toronto Central Council
intends to do in order to assist us all in achieving some of
these goals and objectives.
Spirituality
Vincentian
spirituality is an attribute that needs to be defined,
developed and nurtured. Our current spirituality committee has
produced articles reflecting on Vincentian spirituality, which
were included in your AGM package. They have also planned for
two retreats in the spring.
Upon the
appointment of a Spiritual Advisor, the current spirituality
committee will be expanded in order to fulfill its Board
endorsed mandate. This includes responding to the needs
identified by Vincentians in the conferences, assist in
identifying potential Spiritual Advisors for our conferences
and particular councils and defining their role, and helping
to define and develop the whole concept of Vincentian
spirituality so that it guides and informs all our actions and
deeds.
The
Vincentian Family
A productive
and engaging relationship between Toronto Central and its
Provincial and National counterparts has already commenced.
Toronto was represented by several members at this year’s AGA
in Kelowna. Toronto Central is hosting the Provincial meeting
on September 29th at St Michael’s Parish Hall and
is currently assisting Provincial to develop a comprehensive
Health and Safety Policy, modeled on our own, for the stores
in Ontario. We are also seeking advice and input from
Provincial regarding their success in starting a youth
conference.
On
behalf of our councils and conferences, we budgeted a total of
$30,000 to be passed up to Provincial and National this fiscal
year. We look forward to the continued development of our
relationship with our brothers and sisters in Ontario and the
rest of Canada, and are certain of the reciprocal advantages
and benefits that will result through sharing our collective
expertise, experience and talents.
Stewardship
We all share
the responsibility of expending our funds judiciously and of
accounting for them scrupulously. An expanded Finance
Committee at Toronto Central Council will be responsible for
overseeing major capital projects and to advise the Board on
financial matters. The committee will also be asked to seek
out possible new avenues and sources of funding.
This
evening’s proceedings also includes an element that looks at
how the monies acquired by the individual conferences through
the Poor Box are expended both at the conference, particular
council and central council levels. Our audited financial
statements provide a kind of ‘over-all’, ‘over-head’ review of
our fiscal activities. The information provided in the
financial review of the conference activities provides a view
of our financial position from the ‘grass roots’ perspective,
in order to provide our Vincentians with as complete and
transparent an accounting of our finances as possible.
Advocacy
Toronto
Central Council intends to form an Advocacy Committee, made up
of interested Vincentians, that will advise the Board as to
the most appropriate and effective ways and means of speaking
out on behalf of the people and communities we serve.
Communications
The
fundamental purpose of a communications strategy is to provide
for meaningful dialogue and participation between all
Vincentians. Various means of disseminating information
through our website, e-mail, newsletters, mailings and the
particular council meetings will continue to be utilized and
assessed as to their relative effectiveness. Equally important
is providing the means for Vincentians to input their ideas to
our various committees, the Board and other levels of the
organization. Face to face dialogue at conference and
particular council meetings and effectively reporting ideas
and decisions arrived at consensually is vitally important.
Electronic communications and surveys are possible means to be
explored in order to augment the existing channels of
providing for the input and participation of all Vincentians.
CONCLUSION
To achieve our
common goals and mission, it is crucial for all Vincentians to
assume an active and participatory role in our organization.
Effective communications, two-way dialogue and an exchange of
ideas is best and most effectively done through our conference
and particular council meetings. It is therefore important for
us to attend these meetings and to participate as fully as
possible. The success of Toronto Central Council’s activities,
our Special Works and our home visitations depends upon the
input and support of all Vincentians. We all need to utilize
our unique gifts and talents, imbue everything we do with a
sense of Vincentian spirituality, and work together to serve
the forgotten, the suffering and the deprived in order to
bring them hope through His love.
Danny Bourne,
President,
Toronto Central Council
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