HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-05-06, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1987. PAGE 5.
Family and Children's Services:
BYTOBY RAINEY
For the past 76 years, The
Family and Children’s Services of
Huron County and its forerunner,
The Huron County Children’s Aid
and Humane Society, has been
providing a broad range of services
to the people of the county aimed at
strengthening family life and
improvingchildcare by presenting
programs and facilities which have
changed and progressed over the
years as the social structure of life
has changed.
Today, May 6, has been named
the Children’s Aid Society
“Awareness Day,’’ and has been
designed tocommemorate the 75th
anniversary of the Ontario Associ
ation of Children’s Aid Societies,
which came into being in 1896 after
agroupof concerned citizens in our
own county became interested in
helping needy children.
The event is of special signifi
cance in The Citizen’s readership
area since it is expected that a
MorrisTownship man, Jim Barnes
JIM BARNES
ofRR5, Brussels, will be named
chairman of the Children’s and
Family Services of Huron County’s
board of directors at a special
meeting this week, while a new
board member, Dorothy Coultes,
also of RR 5, Brussels, will begin
work on the committee consisting
of 11 volunteer directors and four
representatives appointed by the
county, one from each region of
Huron.
Morris Township Reeve Doug
Fraser represents the north-east
sector of the county, along with
Warden Brian McBurney of Turn
berry. Allan Gibson of Turnberry,
and Bill Mickle of Exeter. The
1987-88 Board of Directors, elected
at the association’s annual meet
ing in Goderich on April 22,
consists of Suzanne Symes and
Paul Zurbrigg, both of Colborne
Township, Roberta Kloss of Bruce-
field, Graham McEwan of Bay
field, Mike Park of Seaforth, Peter
Shephard of Goderich Township,
Carol Simons of Varna, Dr. Art
Steed of Clinton, and Norm Tait of
Exeter, along with Mr. Barnes and
Mrs. Coultes. The executive will be
appointed this week.
Mr. Barnes is well known in this
area, not only as a sheep farmer on
Morris Township’s third line, but
also as an English teacher at the
Central Huron Secondary School,
Clinton and as the husband of the
Resource Teacher at both Brussels
and Wingham Public Schools, Pat
Barnes. Aswell. he has been active
as a family and children’s advocate
for a number of years, having
served on the board of directors of
the Wingham Day Care Centre,
where as chairman he became
prominent in the 1984 battle to
retain provincial funding for the
centre when such facilities were
"As an adopted child, I
always felt very special. I used
the fact to impress myfriends. "
Jim Barnes, Chairman-elect,
Family and Children s Services
threatened with closure as a result
of government cutbacks in fund
ing.
Now entering his fourth year on
the Family and Children’s Services
board, where he has served as both
secretary-treasurer and vice-
chairman, Mr. Barnes says he has
a special interest in the organiza
tion because of the role it plays in
adoptions in the county: as an
adopted child himself, he has
always been very proud and
gratefulforhisbeginnings, and
feels such a role is a vital
importance in society.
“My adoptive parents were
always very open with me about
it, ’ ’ he explains. * ‘They always told
me they had chosen me in a very
special way, and I always used the
facttoimpress myfriends. I felt
special and I loved it.”
Adoption and foster care are
only two of the programs for which
the society is responsible; others
include a counselling service for
young, single parents, parent
training groups for adults who are
having difficulties with their adol
escents, and an after-school group
for teenagers who are having
trouble at home, or just need some
outside help in a peer-group
setting.
Individual and family counsell
ing is also available to families with
children under the age of 16, from
cases of reported child abuse to
families voluntarily asking for help
in managing their child’s behavior.
Trained social workers are on duty
24 hours a day in case of an
emergency in a family with
children; intensive in-home coun
selling is available to young,
inexperienced parents; and the
Childreach program, which has
been available in various centres
across the county, is a 12-week
program which provides vital
social contact to mothers who feel
isolated by the demands of young
children, while volunteers offer a
play group to the kids in a separate
area.
As well, Family and Children’s
Services offer training and service
co-ordination around issues relat
ing tochild abuse identification
and treatment, providing com
munity workersto educate such
groups as police, medical person
nel and teachers, who often must
provide the first line of defense to a
child.
The association also co-ordin
ates Huron County’s high-profile
Christmas Bureau, reaching 400 to
500 needy families each year with
gifts of clothing, toys and food
hampers; it also runs a summer
camp program for more than 100
kids each year, at places as far
ranging as the Outward Bound
programs right down to local
church camps, and provides anoth
er 200 kids with day-camp oppor
tunities within their own commun
ity.
The Huron association employs
a staff of 22, andoperateson an
annual budget of about $1.2
million. The province, under the
Ministry of Community and Social
Strengthening
family ties
Services, funds 80 per cent of this,
with the county providing the other
20 per cent. However, not all
programs are eligible for public
funding, and executive director
John penn says that more than
$50,000 mustbe raised locally each
year to support such activities as
the Christmas Bureau and the
summer camp programs, each of
which costs more than $20,000 per
year.
All of the money raised locally
goes directly to the 600 needy
families, with about 1,000 child
ren, across the county, and Mr.
Penn says that the people and
service clubs of Huron are “Ama
zingly generous” with their contri
butions, which range in size from
the $2 bill mailed in by a pensioner
to several handsome bequests, the
result ofsome benefactor’s will. As
well, any Huron resident over the
age of 18 may become a member of
the association for a membership
fee of $ 1, and may then run for any
psoition on the board of directors at
the annual meeting held each
spring.
But the lifeblood of the Family
and Children’s Services of Huron
County, both Mr. Penn and Mr.
Barnes agree, is its network of
volunteers which provides services
“whichnoamount of money can
buy.” Anyone in the county may
offer tobe a volunteer, and in cases
where it would help, there is
volunteer training available, as
well as an orientation program for
anyone coming in for the first time.
People who have been success
ful parents themselves are often
the best volunteers, according to
Mr. Penn, who adds that the list of
skills needed covers the entire
gamut of helping, from an ability as
a little league coach, to people who
are “just good with kids,” to the
legion of drivers required to keep
life running smoothly for the
society’s clients the length and
breadth of the county.
“1 also consider our foster
parents volunteers. ’ ’ Mr. Penn
says, because although they do get
a small allowance to cover expens
es, it is not nearly enough. Most of
them do it just because they care.”
The International
Scene Tips to foreign
travellers
BY RAYMOND CANON
I can count on one thing when the
warm weather starts to roll around.
That is precisely the time when
friends, real or imagined, will start
to introduce foreign travel into
their conversations with me.
“Where,” they will ask, “are the
cheap countries this year?’’
“Whe're can one exchange money
at the best rate of exchange?” or
even “What airlines or hotels are
the best to use?”
All this presumes that I have an
encyclopedic knowledge of all
hotels, airlines and currencies, not
to mention the many places where
the latter can be exchanged. I
doubt whether anybody has such
knowledge. Having said that,
however, there are things that can
be done to tip the odds a bit more in
your favour.
First of all, currencies. If you
have tochange money, the best
thing to do is exchange it here in
Canada and at a bank. I have three
“DON’TS”. Do not exchange your
money at the border, in a hotel or at
an international airport such as
Malton. There may be a few
exceptions but the vast majority of
the above three places will give you
a horrible exchange rate; by that I
mean that it is very much to their
benefit and not to yours. Stick with
the banks.
On the subject of cheap coun
tries, “I’m not sure whether some
people think that countries take
turns at being cheap for Cana
dians. This is most assuredly not
true. Switzerland is always rather
expensive as I discover over and
over again when I get there.
Portugal on the other hand always
seems to be cheap. There may be
changes over a long period of time
but not in the short run unless, of
course, there are dramatic changes
in the value of the Canadian dollar.
Finally I would like to get to the
topic of tipping, a subject that
seems to bedevil many travellers.
They seem uncertain as to the
proper procedure and they end up
far too often overtipping. This is
certainly appreciated by the re
cipients, many of which are
staunch members of the Order of
the Out-stretched Palm. To be
honest, manyofthese members
make only minimum wagesand are
thereby dependent on the tipping
system for much of their income.
They are delighted when people
overtip and it is understandable
that they are not going to do much
tocorrectthe customer’s ignor
ance.
If you are travelling in another
country, it would do you no harm to
find out if the tip is included in the
bill that you are paying. In some
places it is, and it is generally at the
rate of 15 per cent and, if this is the
case, your problem is solved. If
your French or German is non-exis-
tent, try looking for the words
‘compris’ or ‘inbegriffen’ at the
bottom of the bill. Those are the
words that count and they mean
thatyou donot have to leave a tip in
a restaurant. If, on the other hand,
the service has been excellent,
leaving a bit more will not do any
harm but not too much, please!
lfthereisnotipincluded, the
rule of thumb is to leave about 15
per cent or even a bit more if some
ofthatexcellentservicehasbeen in
evidence. Remember, too, that the
lack of a tip is your way of showing
that the service left a lot to be
desired. Don’t back down on this
and ignore any signs of displeasure
at your action on the part of the
staff. Just leave and resolve not to
go back there again.
If you are driving in another
country and a gas station attendant
goes out of his way to be helpful in
putting in oil, checking anything
that you might have over'ooked
and is pleasant doing it, reward
him for his behaviour. Depending
on the size of the bill 50c - $ 1.00 in
the local currency would be in
order.
Don't be intimidated under any
circumstances. English-speaking
people have a reputation of
backing down under pressure and
even though your knowledge of the
language may be superior to
others, if you are speaking En
glish, the obnoxious ones have
ways of bringing you down to size.
Thereare a few you can use too.
The word for “bill" in a restaurant
in France is “addition." If you
think you have been overcharged,
ask for the “multiplication." That
is guaranteed to get an instant
reaction. Please add the bill to
make sure it is correctly calcula ted.
You will sometimes be surprised
what elementary mistakes can be
made.
In short, reward good service
and good food. Do not under any
circumstances reward incompe
tence, arrogance,rudcnessand
the like. You are not doing you or
your fellow tourists any favour.