On behalf of everyone involved with the BBBSKD

Quarterly Newsletter
May 2013
SPRING GREETINGS FROM CYNTHIA
This will be my final greeting as the Mentoring Coordinator/Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of
Kincardine and District. I will be retiring at the end of June and will be passing over the reins to a very
competent and dedicated Executive Director, Gillian Young.
During this transitional period it is expected that our agency will experience growing pains. I believe that this
will be a healthy process, but will also be very transformative. I have complete confidence that with our
dedicated Board of Directors, staff and volunteers, BBBSKD will continue to be a premier youth serving
agency in our community.
It has been a real privilege to work alongside all of our volunteers and to witness how passionate they are
about the role they play within our agency. I am continually awed by our Board of Directors, who are
responsible for the governance of this agency, but are always focused on the children and youth we serve.
To local businesses, service clubs, schools, media and other organizations, I thank you for recognizing the
important work we do and for supporting this agency for almost 30 years. I am proud to call this community
my home.
Most of all I want to say thank you to all the “Little” people I have met through BBBSKD. They have taught
me some very valuable life lessons and the true meaning of friendship.
Thank you for allowing me to be part of such a wonderful organization.
Cynthia Finlay
Mentoring Coordinator/Executive Director
On behalf of everyone involved with the
BBBSKD agency, we would like to extend a
warm welcome to all of our new volunteers!
Adam Brown
Marty Cahill
Cindy Catton
Abby Guy
Kendra Lotton
Marlene Morrow
Cathy Pennington
Group Mentor
Golf Committee
Fundraising Committee
Board of Directors
Group Mentoring
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Our friend Nadine VandenHeuvel, Owner of Fit Body
Boot Camp, is hosting their 2nd 1000lb Meltdown
Challenge. The goal is to inspire and motivate local
community residents to lose a total of 1,000 pounds
in 28 days.
The challenge starts on June 3rd at the Kincardine
Davidson Centre .The cost is $40 for 28 days and
100% of the proceeds goes to BBBS of Kincardine &
District!
For more information and registration please call
Nadine
at
(519)
955-2464
or
at
[email protected]
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At April’s Annual General Meeting, the new Board of Directors was appointed for 2013/2014. Please
welcome our remaining and new Board Members!
President
Vice President &
Secretary
Treasurer
Directors
Shaun Carney
Amy Irwin
Vickie Cahill
Abby Guy
Marlene Morrow
Cathy Pennington
Big Brothers Big Sisters would like to thank out-going Board Members, Carol
Fludder and Carol Cook for their commitment to our Board of Directors for the
past years. Carol F has been a Director for over 5 years and Carole C for over 2.
Carol F will remain on our Activities Committee to help plan all of our fun
agency events!
We are actively seeking new Directors for our Board. If you are interested or know of someone who might
!
be interested, please contact the office.
Feature Little in Waiting
A 10 year old Little Brother has been anxiously waiting for over 1 year to be
matched with a Big Brother who is a “sporty kind of guy”. If you are over 18 and
enjoy some of the following activities such as; biking, hiking, soccer, X-Box,
hockey and just hanging out, you would be a good match for this energetic, fun
loving boy. This Little Brother would benefit from a mentor who would be
interested in helping him improve his self-esteem and trying new fun-filled
activities.
If you have a few hours each week or every other week and would like to feel like a kid again, then you
would be an ideal mentor. Consider this rewarding and fun volunteer opportunity and help to make a
real difference in a child’s life.
After 13 years, our beloved Executive Director/Mentoring Coordinator, Cynthia
Finlay, has decided to venture into a new era of life… retirement.
We all have gotten to know Cynthia in different capacities, whether it be as a
volunteer, parent, co-worker or Caseworker. She has made a positive impact in
all of our live and we wish her the very best in her new venture!
BBBS will be hosting a retirement gathering for Cynthia to celebrate her years of
service. Please stay tuned for details.
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The Boys Bunch and Girls Friendship Club have had a
great start to 2013 and participated in some really fun
activities.
The Boys had many nights of intense dodgeball and
floor hockey. The girls had a beauty night at Shoppers
Drug Mart and danced the night away at Zumba. Both
groups got to have a cup of their favourite liquid treat at
Beans Bistro while watching movies. They also dined
out at Boston Pizza.
Group Mentoring will wrap up with a year-end celebration at Dunsmoor Park on June
26th at 6pm. Thank you to all of the ‘Littles’ for another great session, for all of the
volunteers for being there to support the kids and for Jess for organizing GREAT group nights!
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
Angel – 9
Olivia – 13
Robert 10
Tainnen – 10
Ronnie – 13
JD – 12
Taylor – 11
Noah - 13
Nathan - 8
Lauren - 8
Martin – 10
Andrew – 11
Braxton - 14
Dana - 8
Josh - 7
Rebecca W - 13
Match-iversaries
Feb 22
Mar 1
Mar 8
Mar 19
Mar 22
Apr 3
Apr 4
Allen, Milica & JD
Madi & Rebecca M
Dave, Janet & Ronnie
Pat & Jesse
Doug, Linda & Olivia
Vickie & Ivy
Hanna & Rae
Heather & Angel
Apr 12 Dariusz & Tainnen
May 25 Corinne & Kirsten
June 24 Ryan, Candace & Austin 4 years
2 years
2 years
3 years
5 years
3 years
1 year
1 year
2 years
3 years
2 years
In November, Gillian Young, our
Office Coordinator, added a new
title to her role at BBBS. She is our
newest Mentoring Coordinator!
Gillian has her Bachelor of Arts
from University of Western
Ontario an Bachelor of Education
from Queens University.
We would like to welcome Gill into her new Mentoring
Coordinator role and her future position as Executive
Director!
Match Graduations
Pam & Danielle - matched for 7 years
June & Shayna - matched for 5 years
Michelle & Patricia matched for 3 years
forever friends
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28th Annual Bowl For Kids Sake Raises over $33,00!
Our 28th year of Bowl For Kids Sake proved
to be very successful as our community
helped us raise over $33,000 to help support
our mentoring programs. We had a full
schedule of 39 bowling teams over 9 hours
of bowling.
An 80’s theme was introduced to this year’s
event and saw most of the teams sporting
their most totally rad gear. We had so much
fun and cannot wait for next year!
Thank you to all of our event sponsors,
bowlers and everyone who supported a
bowler with a pledge.
For the third year, TNDC held
their Curling Bonspiel. The group
of friends was able to raise
over $1500 and donated the
proceeds to BBBS!
The CUSW Union at Bruce Power
held a Charity Hockey game
against the Bull Tryhards.
The event raised $4800 for BBBS
agencies in the area!
$2375 for group mentoring
Bean’s Bistro held their first ever
themed dinner night on
Valentine’s Day and donated all
of the proceeds to BBBS. They
raised $850!
$1000 for agency activities
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Bigs & Parents - We have numerous events coming up within the next month. Please go through the
list of events and let the office know ASAP which events you/the kids will attend. It helps us out a lot
for planning and saves us contacting you all multiple times. Thank you!
Minimasters
Thursday, June 6th at 5:30pm
Minimasters will be held at Family Funland (South of Kincardine on Hwy. 21) on June 6th.
Prizes will be awarded for low scores in different age groups. All Bigs, Littles and Group
Mentors are invited for mini-golf, dinner and go-carting! This event is sponsored by Ontario
Power Generation (OPG).
If we have to reschedule due to weather you will be notified by email and/or a phone call the morning of
the event. *Register by Monday, June 3rd with the BBBS office.
Smash Wrestling
Saturday, June 8th at 4:00pm
BBBS has been invited to attend the Smash Pro Wrestling Match
being held at the Davidson Centre. We have been invited to
come early at 4pm to listen to one of the wrestlers speak,
Gregory Iron. Gregory was born with cerebral palsay and has an
insirational story of success.
Bigs, Littles & Group Mentors, please RSVP by Thursday, June
6th with the BBBS Office as everyone’s name has to be on a list
at the entrance.
Sailing Night
Tuesday, June 11th at 5:30pm
Our friends at the Kincardine Yacht Club are generously
partnering with us for an evening full of fun! Littles, parents and
mentors are invited to the Kincardine Marina to join in the
event for sailing and a BBQ. Please meet at the south side of
the marina building for dinner followed by the sailing adventure
on Lake Huron. *Rain date – Tuesday, June 18th at
5:30pm *Register by Thursday June 6th with the BBBS
office.
In January, our friends at Armow
Wind sent our BBBS gang to the
Kincardine Bulldogs game. For
some it was their first hockey
game so it was a great
experience!
Thank you Armow Wind!
BBBS Group at
the Landfill
Cleanup in April
for Earth Week!
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Have you heard yet about Kincardine Helps? Our very
own Board President, Shaun Carney, has developed a
website and Facebook page to connect our community
to its non-profit organizations, like us! The mission is
“to connect local, Kincardine, Non-profit organizations with the community they serve. To share the
good news created by our friends and neighbors who do good things.”
This is a great means to find out about events taking place in the area for groups raising funds for a
cause. It also is a useful tool to connect individuals who want to volunteer with respective
organizations. Way to go Shaun!!
www.kincardinehelps.com
Bowling
Passes
Books
There are free bowling passes for Bigs and Littles to use for their weekly
outings. Please pick on up when you are at the office or call us so we
can send you one. They can be used at the bowling alleys in
Kincardine, Port Elgin & Goderich.
Helga from Cozy Cats, has provided a unique donation to the
agency of allowing any of our Littles or siblings to go downtown to
Condor Books and pick out a book. All you have to do is let the
staff at the bookstore know you are a member of BBBS and it is
free of charge. Thank you, Helga!
Canada’s Wonderland is offering BBBS discounted on this
season’s admission tickets! This is not for the general
public but for families, Littles & Mentors of our agency.
Pricing
Adults Regular: $46.99
BBBS: $40.99
Child Regular: $34.99
BBBS: $29.99
*when booking use
promo code BBBS2013
The National rule pertaining to overnights between Bigs
and Littles are as follows:
1. Overnights can take place only after the match is one year old.
2. Overnight visits after 1 year can be no longer than three nights in a row and only four
times per year
3. All overnights must take place in Canada
4. An ‘Overnight Consent Form’ must be completed and signed by the parent prior to
the overnight and submitted to the office ASAP!
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1.
3.
Explore the Bruce! Pick up your Explore the Bruce Adventure Passport at the
BBBS Office and start discovering our beautiful area now! Free T-shirt for the
first 1500 entries. check out their website at explorethebruce.com
Ice Cream Trail –This trail takes you to various places around Huron-Kinloss that
dish up some solid scoops of yumminess!
Kincardine Scottish Pipeband Parade– Downtown every Saturday at 8pm
4.
Walk the Kincardine Trails
5.
Play volleyball at Station Beach
6.
Beach it! Head to one of the many beautiful beaches in our area: Station
Beach, Inverhuron, Port Elgin & Sauble Beach!
Cool off at the Splash Pad in Ripley. Located right in the heart of city.
2.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Find out what ‘Geo-Cashing’ is and get hooked! Here’s a hint…
explorethebruce.com/geocaching_in_southern_ontario.php
(GPS’s are available to sign out at any Library in Grey Bruce)
Go to Condor Books and pick out a free book courtesy of Helga from Cozy Cats
(just let the cashier know you are a member of BBBS)
Have a campfire - make spider dogs and smores
12.
Go to Sauble Speedway and feed you need for speed! Race schedule available
at saublespeedway.ca
Take your favourite four-legged pooch to the Kincardine Dog Park
13.
Discover Stoney Island Conservation Area(on the B-line)
14.
15.
Go to a Kincardine Cubs baseball game – schedule posted on their Facebook
page facebook.com/groups/375419869173177/
Make crafts out of objects you find in nature.
16.
Listen to the Phantom Piper at dusk down at the Kincardine Harbor
17.
Make a pizza on the BBQ (adult supervision required)
18.
Walk the boardwalk and take in a sunset
19.
Make your own outdoor movie! Move your TV outside, set up some lawn chairs
with blankets and cozy up to one of summer’s hottest flicks. Don’t forget the
Jiffy Pop!
Learn about nuclear power by visiting the Bruce Power Visitors’ Centre
20.
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