4May22 Liz Brown: Violence Against Women Services, Elgin County https://www.vawsec.on.ca/
Malcolm introduced Liz as a preacher’s kid, he understands because his career was in ministry.
Liz believes that women are held in the hearts of people in the community, but violation against them takes many forms. Recently male abusers are choking them at an increasing rate. Other abuses include sexual violence, emotional harm, belittling treatment etc. Abuse against women is intentional and coercive. Please see video of speech: https://youtu.be/_BF6xXeoGAQ
Keira's Law Has been introduced to educate judges about their oversight of men who abuse women.
1/3 of women according to a recent study have been subjected to unwanted touch. This problem has been exacerbated by COVID.
Liz spoke a poem to us that no one else has heard; it was deeply moving. She thanked us for standing still with her today.
Q&A
Nancy: What is the best way to help someone who discloses they have been violated? They should disclose privately to someone and call 519-633-0155.
Malcolm spoke about calling out another man regarding abusive gestures. Liz: the Criminal Justice System has not solved abuse against women. Judges prescribe anger management treatment for male abusers and that has shown not to be effective at preventing abuse against women. The local violence against women support system is not a mediation service and men who harm are referred to another community program.
Stew: Are abusive men considered to act like a sociopath? Their act does not meet the medical definition of a sociopath.
Announcements
President Barbara happily announced that Mark Holmes has agreed to step up as vice President and President Elect for 2023-24.
The Board will meet 25May22 following the regular club meeting.
26May22 Please sign up with Nancy Lovelock to help prep, serve a meal or cleanup for the Hero’s Lunch in support of STEGH staff’s work during COVID. This will be from 11 – 2pm outside at St. Luke’s -St. Hilda’s church beside hospital. Volunteers are needed to setup starting at 9:30 am.
Jerry: The Tulip bulb sale is on again this year and orders will go in before the end of June. The sooner you sign up and pay Gerry, the more money we will make for our club to donate. See bellow:
Barbara: The Rotary Ranch Party now has tickets available for a virtual option.
$40.00. Go to www.rotaryparty.ca for virtual tickets. Here is the link for the silent auction for the Rotary Ranch Party. Bidding is open until 8pm on Friday.
Malcolm:
"Despite war and corona - we have got married", so read Sigrid's Facebook page last month
Sigrid Sagabraten was our inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student 2013-2014 from Norway when Marco Valdez was our Outbound to Norway. Malcolm & Donna met them both for a meal in Oslo in 2014.
She works at the Hallingdal Museum, Nesbyen, Norway which is her home town. It is an open-air museum, formerly a folk museum and now a coordinating facility for the six local museums in Hallingdal. All its departments have a main emphasis on the farm culture of the 17th and 19th century. Founded in 1899 it is one of the oldest open-air museums in Norway with some 32 historic buildings and some 30,000 artifacts from the region. (wikipedia). Sigrid is also working on her Master’s degree in history and will be 26 yrs. this July.
On 26 February 2022 Sigrid married Sondre Lindahl. They first met at a Rotary meeting just before she came to Canada but their families were known to each other since the 1970s. Sondre is an associate professor in political science with a focus on anti-terrorism. Because of the virus, it was a small but traditional church wedding.
Happy Finns
Trudy – Liz Brown’s talk, wedding in Mass, US
Gerry - Liz Brown’s talk, got Wordle in 2
Ron - Liz Brown’s talk, Mark’s new role, bday, anniversary
Cindy - Liz Brown’s talk, Mark’s new role
Mark - Liz Brown’s talk
Barbara - Liz Brown’s talk, positivity of Liz, Mark’s new role, she and Bob are healthy
Trish - Liz Brown’s talk, son’ and daughter in law’s anniversary, Cataract surgery went well
Stew - Liz Brown’s talk
Malcolm - Liz Brown’s talk, grandson, has book on Rotarian James Davidson’s work establishing clubs throughout the world.
Catharine – Discovery tour planning on schedule, $6000 in sponsorships.