Friday, May 3, 2013

El Salvador with Marwan Hage, Part 2

By: Ken Dick, President
 

Another major highlight was our trip to Remar, an orphanage that is home to over 80 children. This was not Speroway’ first visit to Remar, a place where we have provided medical and dental care to the orphans and the surrounding community on three previous visits with our doctors and dentists.

Maria, the director of the orphanage and adjacent school is a wonderful caring person and we were able to deliver much needed food and some additional funding for her programs that were underfunded. Several hundred children from the surrounding community attend the school. The children love visitors and Marwan had a great time teaching the kids about football. He also had the opportunity to speak to the children about the importance of choosing good friends – a topic that hopefully resonated with them, considering the looming presence of gangs in that community.

The last event from this trip was a visit to the community of San Jose Villanueava. This was my second visit to this community, and I had an important reason for going – to receive a letter from the mayor. This letter was particularly momentous. It was from the municipality, offering a piece of land on which Speroway could construct a medical/dental clinic! This is an exciting development and we will be announcing more details about the plan for this clinic in the near future!

The cooperation and support we receive from Operation Blessing, our partner in El Salvador, is difficult to put into words. These people are such givers. They consistently say, “what can we do to help?” This is a wonderful and dedicated group of people who want to serve God in very practical ways – helping the people of El Salvador. We look forward to working with them to meet our goals of helping families in need in El Salvador.

We are excited to be growing our partnership with Marwan, as we reach out to needy children in Canada and El Salvador. We are also thrilled to have the Hamilton TiCats playing in Guelph this season – Speroway’s own backyard. We Canadians are a blessed and generous people and we thank Marwan Hage for joining us in our work to provide food and hope to those who need it most!

 

 

 

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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

El Salvador with Marwan Hage, Part 1

By: Ken Dick, President
 

On the morning of April 10th, four of us headed to Toronto airport to board a plane to San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital city. Even though I travel a lot, this trip was a unique event for me because I rarely travel with a professional football player. A few years ago, I took Danny McManus to Honduras and now this year I had the privilege of taking Marwan Hage, a CFL lineman for the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

I’ve known Marwan for a few years because of his participation with Speroway in several of our food distribution activities in Hamilton, ON – most specifically the annual event held at Ivor Wynn Stadium around Thanksgiving. Marwan is involved in helping young people through his own organization called Hage’s Heroes. Many youngsters have enjoyed a TiCat football game because of Marwan’s generosity and initiative to help underprivileged children. At the games, they sit in their own section of the stadium with a big Hage’s Heroes sign.

I invited Marwan to join me in a trip to El Salvador so that he could see first hand how Speroway is involved in programs devoted to helping children and families in this poor country. He accepted the invitation without hesitation, because he is determined to help children in need and is committed to bringing awareness about Speroway’s overseas programs to Canadians. This was also an excellent opportunity for Marwan to recognize some very desperate needs that exist outside of Canada.

Also accompanying us on this trip was Drew Edwards, a journalist with the Hamilton Spectator. You can find his articles about the trip on his blog: http://scratchingpost.thespec.com.

During our three days in El Salvador three major activities took place:

The first was our trip to a squatter area in San Salvador called The 1st of December. I have visited this desperately poor neighbourhood before, with Speroway’s Medical and Dental teams. On this trip, we distributed food – giving 100 parcels of rice, beans, corn, and other staples to some of these families in need. We returned to the home of a girl named Reyna, whom I have visited before. She is four years old and needs heart surgery. On top of that, she suffers from thyroid problems and epileptic seizures. Her medicine is expensive, and her mother’s only source of income is her small vegetable stand. Reyna’s long-term needs are uncertain, but to help her mother meet her immediate needs, Speroway and our partners are going to fix up her mother’s storefront to increase her vegetable sales and we’re looking into subsidizing the cost of Reyna’s medicine. This is all possible because of generous donors like you who help us deliver hope to Reyna and her family!

 

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Sandy’s return to Haiti continued…

Speroway staff member, Sandy Rumford, re-visited Haiti with a dental team to care for people at the Mission of Hope. Here is the rest of her story:

 

“It was thrilling to see the fully-functional and fully-furnished dental room at the main MOH campus – thanks to Speroway donations! The Kindness in Action dental team arrived Sunday, but unfortunately the team’s luggage got lost, which had important equipment like surgical tools and filling materials. The entire team was so flexible, they kept a positive attitude, even with the difficulty of not having their luggage. They had a “go with the flow” mindset in the face of adversity. This is a very important quality to have when travelling in Haiti, where things often don’t go quite as planned!
 
The dental team was introduced at church on Sunday, so Monday morning patients were already lined up before the dentists got there. The team at the main MOH campus consisted of 2 dentists and a dental hygienist. Each dentist had a chair/station to treat children and adults who had pain or broken teeth and the hygienist handled the much-needed cleanings.
 
There was also a mobile clinic that we set up at the MOH Bercy campus. We moved 2 older dental chairs to an empty hoop barn to create a makeshift clinic. Because they didn’t have all their luggage and equipment, they decided they could triage children to prepare for the next day. Those who just needed cleaning were directed to the hygienist area while those needing extractions and fillings were told to come back the next day for further work.
 
I was very sad to leave this beloved country. The dental team stayed for the rest of the week but my job there was done and the team was in very good hands with Chelsea and the MOH staff. I loved being part of the dental clinic days, since it was something I didn’t get a chance to do when we lived there. It was such a treat to return to Haiti, even if it was for a short trip. I’m so happy to see firsthand the great work that Speroway is doing in Haiti, and can’t wait to see all that’s in store for the future!”
 
 

This trip was a great success and the Speroway and Kindness In Action Dental Team literally put smiles on so many faces. It is our caring Speroway donors who make trips like this one possible. Thank you and stay tuned as we deliver more hope to Haiti!

 

 

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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Sandy’s return to Haiti

Speroway staff member, Sandy Rumford, has a close connection with Haiti. In 2009, Sandy, her husband Grant and their four children, sold their home, packed up their belongings and moved to Haiti to work at the Mission of Hope medical clinic for one year. In that one year, their lives changed drastically. They fell in love with the country and experienced the January 2010 earthquake – watching the country they had come to love being destroyed within just a few hours. Despite the chaos and uncertainty, the family stayed and did the best they could to help those devastated by the quake. Sandy and her family are now living back in Ontario, and we’re happy to have her working full-time at Speroway.

We know that Sandy’s heart remains in Haiti and she was so excited last month when she got the opportunity to visit once again – helping to coordinate a Speroway and Kindness in Action dental trip to help our partner in Haiti, Mission of Hope.

Sandy shares about her return to Haiti:

“Being back in Haiti, feels like I have never left. So much has changed and yet so little has changed, if that makes sense. Chelsea, the MOH Medical Teams Coordinator, now lives in our old apartment, which is strange. It’s all painted different colours and most of the furniture is different. She sleeps in our old room which now has a window air conditioner!
 
Church on Sunday was a mass of hugs and smiles, seeing my old friends, and I loved every minute of it. Singing and worshipping in Creole was always so special and I didn’t realize how much I had missed it. Our Haitian friends wanted to know if we are back for good and when we said no they wanted to know why. That was certainly a hard one to answer.
 
The team arrived Sunday so we showed them around the MOH clinic. Grant started to tell them about the night of the earthquake. I have heard and talked about that night so many times without crying, but this time was different. It must have been the fact that I was standing right there, in the clinic courtyard that had been filled with broken, bloodied bodies that night. People crying out to God for the ones they had lost and the ones they knew were close to death. I had to walk away from the group and have a little cry, take a deep breath, and go on…like the Haitian people have done. What a resilient people. Still praising God for all they have, no matter how little. This is a valuable lesson that I learn from them.”

 

Stay tuned for Part 2  of  this story on Thursday…

 

 

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

“Gracias” from El Salvador!

By: Ken Dick, President

 

Returning to El Salvador is always uplifting – lots of sunshine and hot days. Just over two months ago we were here with our Medical/Dental Team where over an eight-day period, we treated almost 5,000 patients in our clinics. But, this country is a country of desperate need. There is sickness. There is poverty and hunger. There is so much we could be doing to reduce the pains that accompany these things. Although we are not able to do everything, we do what we can with the resources that we have.

When I return to Canada from one of our mission trips, part of what I always take home with me is the feeling that there is so much more to be done. I am always asking myself the question, “What more can we do?”

So, here I am back in El Salvador for a few days, with a plan to distribute food to some families and individuals in Somalia – one of the poorer squatter communities in the country. We have been to Somalia before with our Medical/Dental Teams. And on each of the last few visits, we have spent a day in Somalia – offering care and food in this neighbourhood where over 1,200 families live in squalid conditions.

With the cooperation and wonderful support of our partner agency Operation Blessing, we arrived in the heat of the day to a gathering of over 50 people sitting in a tin roofed shelter. As we pulled in to the area, smiles broke out on the faces of the waiting people.

Recipients of the food today were chosen by a committee and found to be in the greatest need. They were mostly women, whose husbands were either working or out looking for work. There were young mothers. One woman whom we knew from our last visit is in her 90’s. When she approached me to get her food parcels, she surprised me first with a hug. She was so excited to see us again!

There were many hugs and expressions of “Gracias” and “Dios le bendiga”. I left that poor neighbourhood with the words “Thank you” and “God bless you” echoing in my head and in my heart.

It is from this small group of people from Somalia in El Salvador, that I pass along these expressions of gratitude to YOU – our valued and faithful supporters. Speroway is simply an extension of your caring concern for families and children in need and for this I thank you.

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Friday, February 15, 2013

Food Boxes & Toys Deliver Smiles!

At Speroway, we work with various organizations to help people in all walks of life. We realize that people’s needs are being met in communities all over our great nation through social service agencies, churches, corporate charitable events, and more. Speroway knows that we will impact the most people with a multi-faceted approach. Check out what a church in Bloomingdale, Ontario is doing with the resources they receive from Speroway to impact their community!

Over the Christmas season, Koinonia Christian Fellowship hosted their Shining Star Christmas Party. They invited families from their church that are in need, as well as 54 families from their community for an evening of food, gifts, and fun. Speroway donated 170 toys, which were picked out and wrapped especially for each child in every family. Many of the families were given Speroway food boxes that contained about 30 pounds of nutritious food like pasta, pasta sauce, fruit cups, and more.

We are so glad that Koinonia loves their neighbours enough to host this special event for them every year – and we’re delighted Speroway could partner with them to help families in need. This is what we do all year long!

 

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Thursday, February 7, 2013

Gleaners Give Soup!

The Ontario Gleaners is a completely volunteer driven organization in Cambridge, Ontario that makes 30,000 servings of soup mix each day that is internationally distributed to the hungry. Speroway is delighted to be a long-standing partner with them! Recently Starr, a Speroway staff member, was able to visit them, and the following is what she saw:

 
“I walked into the Gleaners building and I immediately sensed the energy of the volunteers – and the smell of potatoes! It was potato day and the 60 or so volunteers had donned aprons and gloves and were busy scrubbing, rinsing, peeling and trimming bags of donated potatoes. Shelly, the manager, took us on a tour and I saw the long wall full of name tags. Each volunteer here is special and very much a part of the “Gleaner” community.
 
Each day at the Gleaners varies based on the produce donations that come in. Asparagus, broccoli, carrots, celery, kale, onions, parsnips and more go into their delicious soup mixes. Some days they even process apples and pears for a sweet fruit snack that is a special treat for families in need. Whether the donated produce is excess or just not the perfect size or colour to sell in grocery stores, all of the produce donations the Gleaners receive are high quality.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Once the vegetables are peeled and cleaned by the volunteers, they are poured into a machine that chops them quickly and evenly, which is the key for the next step – dehydration. The big bins of the chopped potatoes are spread out onto a conveyor belt that lifts them up and into the dehydration oven. It’s important that the potato slices are all the same size so that they are all evenly dried. The length of this process depends on what kind of vegetable it is and even what the weather is like! On rainy days it takes a bit longer, but usually it takes only a few minutes. Once dehydrated, the vegetables are stored in large containers and then later combined with other ingredients to create the soup mix.
 
It was an amazing experience for me to see this facility and to meet such passionate volunteers. It was clear that each person chopping vegetables understands how vital their service is – helping to feed thousands of hungry people around the world!”
 

Each bag is about 3 pounds, enough for 100 servings of soup. Soup that is paid for with the time and devotion of the volunteers and the financial and produce donations from supporters. This inexpensive and versatile soup mix is then donated to partner missions and humanitarian aid organizations that deliver it internationally – and Speroway is proud to be one of them! We are able to cost-effectively ship the Gleaners soup around the world. Most recently we distributed the soup to needy families in El Salvador on one of Speroway’s Medical/Dental trips. We are also proud to share this nutritious soup with orphanages and other feeding centres that Speroway partners with.

 

Thank you Gleaners for all that you are doing to provide nutritious soup for needy families around the world. Because of you – they have something to eat!

 

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

HAGE’S HEROES

Learn how Hage’s Heros and Speroway team up to deliver food to Hamilton’s disadvantaged families. Excerpt below from Ticats newsletter. ticats.ca
 

The premise of this program is to leave a lasting impression in the community of Hamilton through the efforts of Ticats All-Star Centre Marwan Hage.

The program involves two major components:

1. Helping youth experience the game of football
Each Ticats home game Hage invites a group of underprivileged kids to watch the game from the exclusive Hage’s Heroes seats. Prior to the game each group meets with Hage and receives their very own Hage’s Heroes t-shirt.

2. Giving back to the needy of Hamilton
At Thanksgiving Hage partners with Speroway for the Hage’s Heroes Thanksgiving Family Food Box Program, donating 1,000 food boxes to disadvantaged families throughout Hamilton. To date this program has donated over 5,000 boxes.

In the past Hage has helped with various community initiatives including an annual donation to McMaster Children’s Hospital. In December 2010 Hage also sponsored a toy drive in connection with City Kidz, providing Christmas gifts to 120 underprivileged youth.

Speroway would like to thank Marwan Hage and Maple Leaf Foods for giving generously to Hamilton’s needy families – delivering hope is what we do together!

 

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Partner Profile – The Angel Project

By Ken Dick, Speroway President
 

I discovered The Angel Project when I read an article featuring the founder, Lisette Kingo, in a local magazine. The Angel Project endeavours to benefit long-term complex care patients at various Ontario hospitals. This program assists patients who have been hospitalized for 10 or more years, most having had no visitors. It breaks my heart to even think about the loneliness these patients must endure.

As soon as I finished reading the article, I immediately called Lisette and asked if we could meet. I introduced myself and shared with her what Speroway does in Canada and around the world.  She told me how she had created The Angel Project and I asked her a simple question, “Why are you doing this?” Her response was, “How could I not?” After her first visit to a hospital in London, Ontario, she shared how she immediately began purchasing gifts at her own expense for some of the patients she had met, and then the idea for The Angel Project was born.

As soon as I finished reading the article, I immediately called Lisette and asked if we could meet. I introduced myself and shared with her what Speroway does in Canada and around the world.  She told me how she had created The Angel Project and I asked her a simple question, “Why are you doing this?” Her response was, “How could I not?” After her first visit to a hospital in London, Ontario, she shared how she immediately began purchasing gifts at her own expense for some of the patients she had met, and then the idea for The Angel Project was born.

Lisette told me that the patients range between the ages of 18 and 65 years old. Many patients are there because of vehicle, skiing, snowboarding and skateboarding accidents. Other patients were either injured by a gunshot wound or they suffer from severe medical conditions like MS or ALS. But they all have one thing in common – in their bed-ridden state, they need love and friendship, and that is what The Angel Project offers.

An Angel Project visit sometimes delivers a very welcome outing for the patients, which is a rare treat. With the Angel Project support, a caregiver accompanies each patient and the transportation is also provided. The Angel Project volunteers also organize fundraisers to purchase AV equipment and specialized equipment for patients that help them communicate.

Each Christmas, The Angel Project purchases gifts for the patients – providing them with basic hygiene items like special soaps, new razors, toothbrushes, shaving cream and warm blankets. I am thrilled to report that this year, Speroway was involved in making Christmas special for many of these patients. We donated shower gel/shampoo gift packs, lotions, deodorant, tissues and more!

While Lisette and David, one of her board members, helped us load the boxes into their vehicle, they couldn’t stop smiling! With tears in her eyes, Lisette turned to me and said, “Thanks so much – these amazing gifts will mean more than you can imagine to our patients.”

I want to thank our caring donors who make it possible for Speroway to deliver hope to these isolated and lonely people who are literally forgotten in hospitals. For more information about The Angel Project visit: www.theangelproject.ca. To donate to Speroway so that we can continue to help people in need visit: www.speroway.com/donate

 

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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Partner Profile – First Nations School of Toronto

By Ken Dick, Speroway President
 

Serving First Nations communities has been a part of Speroway’s mandate for many years. This past summer was the 6th year that we hosted day camps for children living in Northern Ontario’s remote reserves. We have also provided bunk beds for children and families on the reserves to ensure that everyone has their own bed – decreasing the issues associated with sleep deprivation. This Christmas we were interested in donating some toys to First Nations children locally, and that is how we found the First Nations School of Toronto.

Last week, a staff member and I loaded up the truck and headed to the school with toys and food boxes for the students and their families. When we arrived, the older kids were eager to help us unload the truck. We are thrilled to have delivered gifts to the First Nation children at this very important time of year. We learned that many of the children do not like to talk about Christmas when they return to school after the holidays because, unlike so many other children, they may not have received gifts or have had the chance to celebrate with a special meal. In fact, the school provides two meals and two snacks, and for many families this will be all the kids have to eat during the day.

While visiting, I met 3 ladies that work at the school and really care about the children very much. Cheryl, Celeste, and Susan all expressed their gratitude for the toys and food boxes we brought. I learned that the school is part of the public school board and has the same curriculum requirements as other public schools, but it is clear that their Native culture is central to all their studies. Ojibway is taught instead of French and spirit and culture classes are mandatory but all other subjects are the same as public schools, just taught with an “overlay” of Aboriginal language and culture.

Susan is the school cook. She is the one that prepares the two meals and the two snacks each day for all 92 students that attend the school. Susan is meeting a vital need for these hungry children and I was so pleased to meet this kind lady. These warm and nutritious meals are provided through independent donations to the school.

Cheryl, the counsellor and volunteer coordinator, was so glad we donated one food box for each family. She said that this box would help to supplement the family’s meals over the 2-week school holidays. It is a privilege for Speroway to assist organizations like this that are clearly impacting and improving the lives of needy children!

I wish you could have been there last week to see the smiles on the children’s faces when they saw the food and the toys. It only takes a little effort to bring joy into the lives of hurting children. Thank you for your support.

 

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