Kathy Clulow ASP® SRES®

An Opportunity

Last weekend my grandson and I participated as part of the Matthew House Team in the Scotia Bank Charity Run in Toronto. This marathon is run in support of a wide range of Charities with 100% of your donation going to the charity of your choice. There is still a window of opportunity to support us and Matthew House prior to the close out of the fund raising.

Thank You

Thank You for your support as we participated in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5k Run / Walk to raise funds for Matthew House. Matthew House is a non profit shelter in Toronto that welcomes and assists newly arrived refugee claimants who would otherwise be homeless in the city. Operating without any direct government funding means every bit raised makes a huge difference.

Our Team of runners and walkers come from all walks of life - some are staff members, volunteers, former residents and friends of Matthew House.

One of runners this year is our own former resident Josiane Aboungono who was the 2008 female Champion in the entire Canada Running Series! She came to Matthew House from Gabon 8 years ago and is pleased to be able to "give back" to the team by running. Aynadis Bedada, a former resident of Matthew House, from Ethiopia also ran for us and came in FIRST place among women in the 5K event. The donation lines are still open so it is not to late to put a pledge on a runner and help us meet our goal!

Thanks so much for your support

While some individual charities may not have reached their individual goal the overall results broke records. The goal this year was to raise $1.5 Million dollars for the 99 participating community charities
which was surpassed with $1.8 million raised this year.

Habitat For Humanity Day - Monday, October 5, 2009

Last Year (2008) 35,532 REALTORS^® who donated funds to the Realtors Care Foundation helped enable the foundation to donate over 1/4 of a million dollars to shelter related charities in Ontario. The support of 18 Ontario real estate boards and their members who participated in the various campaigns to raise funds for the foundation helped make it possible to donate money to shelter based charities that included; women's, youth's, and men's shelters, Habitat for Humanity in several areas throughout Ontario, Out of the cold programs, hospices, Community Living and many many more.

The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) foundation works to support shelter related charities throughout Ontario in their efforts to provide emergency and permanent housing solutions. It is estimated that approximately one third of the homeless in Canada are aged 16 to 24 that's about 65,000 young adults with out a place to call home.

The Realtors Care Foundation invests 100% of all funds donated through an endowment fund and uses only the income from the fund to support these worthwhile causes, This means there will be funds avialable not only for this generation but for generations to come.

October 5th, 2009, the first Monday in October

The United Nations has designated October 5th 2009 as World Habitat Day with the desire that we will reflect on the state of our communities and the basic right to adequate shelter for all.

One does not need to visit a third world country to see that Poverty and Homelessness are often found hand in hand.

Raising the Roof, a national charity dedicated to long term solutions to homelessness, states that approximately one third of the homeless in Canada are aged 16 to 24 that's about 65,000 young adults with out a place to call home.

Raising Awareness

They are trying to raise awareness of, the Hidden Homeless, the four out of five homeless Canadians who do not live on the street but in church basements or abandoned buildings, in cars or on someones couch. Many of these are children, some are seniorswho can not afford conventional housing on their fixed incomes, others are adults with full time low paying jobs. Raising awareness links are to short (mp3) radio spots that really hit home.

With roughly 80% of the homeless in Canada being identified as The Hidden Homeless here are 10 Facts about the Hidden Homeless and 10 Things You can do to help

What else can You do

Contact Habitat For Humanity in your community and volunteer or determine what it would take for a group from your club, church or social network to help build a family a home.

There is a Misconception that the people who get a Habitat House do not have to pay for it

Remember the recipients of these home are not getting a hand out but a hand up.
They pay for the house based on its appraised value when completed

Find out if your community's development plans include affordable and accessible housing, become an advocate for such housing if necessary.

Donate to local agencies that are working to help the homeless and or the disadvantaged in your community.

By helping to provide a Hand Up Not A Hand Out
We are helping people with dignity.

I would Challenge each and everyone to reach out and touch someonebe it as close as a neighbour going through a hard time to some one half way around the world. Your assistance can vary from donating to a local food bank, a local shelter, to travelling halfway around the world to help, educate, rebuild housing destroyed in a disaster, or offer aid and assistance. we can all do just one do at least one thing, then the world will be better for it and so would we.

No longer will I sit on the sidelines and watch
as a suffering world revolves around me.

Some time this week or early next week the Colours in Muskoka and Algonquin Park will reach their peak.

The Algonquin Park Fall Foilage Colour Report indicates that the colours are currently near their peak and will reach the peak in 7 to 10 days with under 20% of the leaves having fallen at this time and currently just under 70% having changed colour. The report also provides information on the best places to view the many coloured coat of fall leaves. A Map of the 56 K highway 60 Corridor provides details on all the popular spots along the route

Water Front Living

One of our road trips this past summer took us into the community of Baysville. Baysville is located at the outlet to the Lake of Bays and was a wonderful stop along the way. The day we were there was very busy with displays of vintage boats and cars that brought back memories for many, especially Barrie's mom who was traveling with us that day. We listened as she reminisced about Barrie's Grandmothers days in Muskoka and the different steam ships she worked on.

This little gem caught our eye as we had spent a portion of our honeymoon on a houseboat on the Trent Canal near Lakefield and Peterborough. Our houseboat, being rather conventional, was not as compact as this nor as cute

With a permanent population of 3,000 and seasonal population of 18,000 the township of Lake Of Bays is a popular Muskoka retreat for many. The Township consists of the former Townships of Franklin, Ridout, Mclean, and Sinclair/Finlayson and is one of six area municipalitie within the District of Muskoka

Family Fall Festival

The Historical Centre presents this years annual Family Fall Festival on Sunday September 27th from 1pm to 4 pm

Upon arriving at the grounds, every child is issued his or her own passport for use at the various activities. These passport's will be stamped at each of the stations and a full passport at the end of the day will be rewarded with a special prize.

Some of the interesting and fun activities that will take place at the activity-stations scattered throughout the Museum grounds include: a farm chores challenge, horse drawn wagon rides, pumpkin painting (You take the finished pumpkin home), stilt walking pioneer craft activity (You take the finished craft home), and of course the ever popular face painting, rope-making and run the printing press.

Light refreshments and musical entertainment add to the 'flavour' of the afternoon.

With the Museum sitting on Quaker Hill overlooking the town remember to dress for the outdoors. A family family oriented fall activity for all to enjoy an afternoon of healthy outdoor fun celebrating the traditions and activities of the fall season.

Admission is $4.00 per child or $10.00 per family and includes everything except your refreshments.

While there take in the Gateway to the Greenbelt Exhibit an educational exhibit showing the contribution of the green belt to our quality of life here in Ontario