Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres holds Annual General Meeting
The Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres held their second Annual General Meeting last night at Smitty’s Restaurant in Chatham.
Mina Grossman-Ianni brought greetings from the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network and Board President; John Zarebski began his remarks by thanking both the board members and staff for their achievements over the past year in getting the three locations of the Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres up and running.
The well attended event featured a review of the Health Centre’s Annual Report as well as the introductions of the three newest board members, Mary Ellen Parker, Stephanie Pottier and Shirley Davies. The evening was highlighted with the presentation of the first annual Youth Contribution to Community Health Award presented to Shelby Pearce and Nathan Moynahan.
The Youth Contribution to Community Health Award is sponsored by TD in recognition of youth between the ages of 13 to 21 years who have made a significant contribution to the community resulting in a positive impact on the health of local residents. Jennifer Rinehart from TD stated, “TD prides itself on getting involved in grass roots projects in the communities that they live in and felt that this was an excellent opportunity to get involved and to recognize and reward our leaders of tomorrow”.
Shelby graduated from Wallaceburg District Secondary School and joined Free the Children organization. In her position she travelled for two years to high schools in Chatham-Kent and across the country to educate youth on social justice, worldwide child labour and poverty. She promoted education as a means to change the lives of youth around the world. In addition, Shelby went into public schools to promote healthy living/lifestyles through diet and exercise as part of her program. Today, Shelby is co-leading a Social Justice Club at Holy Family School in Wallaceburg, continuing her efforts in the area of social justice.
Nathan has over 800 hours of community service work, quite a feat for a young man. He serves as a member of Tilbury Neighbourhood Watch and has volunteered at drug education and prevention forums, as well as organizes the MADD Canada drinking and driving show at two local high schools. He patrols the streets of his community on Halloween, to ensure that young people are safe and to report crime. He regularly attends Crime Prevention Board meetings, wanting to learn more about making the community a safer place. Nathan volunteers to help young children develop baseball skills and coaches T-ball. He is also a co-op student at St. Agnes School as a helper with SK/JK classes. He coaches young football players for the Chatham-Kent Cougars. He helps his elder neighbours with yard work and shovelling snow.
Both Shelby and Nathan are a great example of youth making a positive change in Chatham Kent. The award will be presented annually at the Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres Annual General Meeting.
The Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres is a non-profit, community governed health care support service centre. It serves residents of Chatham-Kent, with locations in Chatham, Wallaceburg and Walpole Island.
