2009 Bowling for Bursary

Its that time of year again!! Please joining us for Bowling for Bursary to help raise funds for the HSR Staff Alumni Association Bursary Fund. You can find more information about the fund itself (and past recipients) at: http://www.hsrsa.ca/SocialServiceActivities/Bursary.htm

Details:
Date: Saturday April 18, 2009
Time: 7:00 pm
Place: Bowlerama West, 5429 Dundas Street West
Cost: $20 per person
(includes shoes and two games of 10 pin)

Come on out and play some 10 pin! Bowling for Bursary 2009 is a fundraiser with all proceeds going to the bursary fund. Bowling for Bursary 2009 is open to all Alumni members and their friends and family. No bowling ability or experience required.

Organize a team of 4 to 6 bowlers or come alone and we will match you with a team.

Can’t come, but want to contribute? – Sponsor a bowler by sending a cheque payable to Haliburton Scout Reserve Staff Alumni Association, to:

Bowling for Bursary 2009c/o 6 Harbord CrescentAjax, ON L1S 4E1

If you are planning to attend, please RSVP by April 10th to Thunderbird@hsrsa.ca. If you are replying on behalf of a “team” or you are bringing a friend, spouse etc., please provide the name of the team, the number of team members and/or number of number of friends/family members who are coming with you. In this way, if we need to reserve more lanes, we can do it in advance.

Hungry? Thirsty? Plan to head just down the road to:
Scruffy Murphy's
225 The East Mall
Etobicoke, ON
http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/listing/147913#mapAnchor

Kiva.org - Making a Difference in the World

In this post I'm sharing some information about an organization I can across which makes it possible for individuals to become involved in microfinancing in a simple and effective way. It has nothing to do with HSR but it may be of interest to those of you who still try to follow BP's last message to 'leave the world a better place than we found it"! I highly recommend you visit their website and check out what they do and how they do it. :-)

What Kiva Does

They let you loan to the working poor.
Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

They partner with organizations all over the world.
Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. In doing so, they gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Their partners are experts in choosing qualified borrowers. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva.org, their partners upload their borrower profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them.

They show you where your money goes.
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform for the poor. They are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle.

They facilitate connections.
Kiva is using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on their website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

Kiva.org's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva.org was born of the following beliefs:

• People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way.


• The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity.


• By connecting people they can create relationships which exceed beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.

Kiva.org promotes:

• Dignity: Person-to person lending encourages partnership relationships as opposed to benefactor relationships. Partnership relationships are characterized by mutual dignity and respect.


• Accountability: Loans encourage more accountability than donations where repayment is not expected.


• Transparency: The Kiva.org website is an open platform where communication can flow freely between the developing and developed worlds.

Kiva.org democratizes philanthropy, allowing the average individual to feel like a mini-Bill Gates by building a portfolio of investments in developing world businesses.

Kiva.org will have facilitated loans totaling $100 million by 2010.

http://www.kiva.org/

Haliburton Highlands Museum

Many former staff have taken an interest in the local Haliburton Country history so a visit here might be of interest if you're in the neighbourhood.

The Haliburton Highlands Museum is situated in Glebe Park on the north shore of Head Lake overlooking Haliburton. It was started by a local committee as a Canadian Centennial project to commemorate the early pioneers of the area. Originally housed in the Reid House, a historic village home, the collection soon outgrew the confines of this little house. A much larger facility was constructed in Glebe Park in order to meet the museum's growing requirements.

Reid House is a village home reflecting life at the turn of the century. In subsequent years a log barn, house and small building housing our forge were added to the museum grounds in order to depict life in a more rustic & rural setting.

The main gallery facility has numerous exhibits relating to the first inhabitants of the region, the native peoples, who were followed by the first influx of lumbermen and settlers. This area was promoted for its agricultural possibilities by the Canadian Land and Immigration Company who purchased ten townships in the surrounding area.

Website:

http://www.haliburtonhighlands.com/museum/

When:

Tuesday thru Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm

How Much:

Adults $2.50, Children $1.00

Why become an Alumni Association member?

When the Alumni Association was founded 20 years ago, email was for techies and so for the most part were websites and the internet. The HSRSA was formed to help connect former staff members who were spread out across the province, the country and indeed, the world. The Thunderbird newsletter was the prime connector, sent to all members three times a year. Various reunion and social events help many of us to reconnect in person. They also help connect across the generations of staff from the earliest days to the present, as does the annual cricket challenge.

The most significant demonstration of this cross generational connection would have to be our Alumni Bursary. Since 1998 the Alumni as awarded a bursary annually to one or more current HSR staff members who will be attending a post secondary institution the following year - a total of $7,700 to date. You can read more about the bursar and the recipients at http://www.hsrsa.ca/SocialServiceActivities/Bursary.htm

But the Alumni is about more than just connecting - its also about involvement. Since its founding, Alumni members have raised funds for various projects, donated materials, developed a trail network and maintained it with annual trail work weekends, written and produced a trail guide, volunteered countless hours during the summer, helped with Mix-Fix weekends, served on and chaired various camp operating and planning committees, rebuilt Kennabi Lodge from the ground up, and established a camp archive. We've also built an extensive (and some might say definitive) online archive to document and preserve the history of the camp and camp staffs.

Today it's easier to stay connected with email, live chat, social networking sites like facebook, and even blogs :-) So is there still a need for a formal alumni association? My answer is of course! The Alumni executive helps to coordinate and maintain both your connection and your involvement. We've embraced all the connection technology - a website, emailing lists, a Facebook group and now a blog. But technology can't replace your involvement.

Becoming a member helps us produce our newsletter, maintain our website, supports our trail maintenance project, sustains our bursary program, and helps us coordinate our social events. Membership fees are very reasonable and we provide discounts for current staff members and families living at the same address. Please consider joining (or re-joining) - we want you and we need you! http://www.hsrsa.ca/AssociationInfo/How_To_Join.htm

The History of Camp Buildings

We're in the process of documenting the history of the buildings at camp: when and where were they built, who was involved, where they've been moved, what they've been used for, renovations, additions, etc. And of course photos both historical and current. We hope to have our current photo collection completed shortly and we'll be working our way at adding building profiles as time allows.

If you have any historical photos of camp buildings, relevant background on specific buildings or information that might help us answer any of the questions below, please email the webmaster@hsrsa.ca.

Can you us with information on any of the following:

• When Pioneer Cabin was built
• When Northern Lights was built
• When the new Maintenance Workshop was built
• When Pow Wow Lodge renovated
• When screened in wash area was added to the west end of Pow-Wow Lodge
• The storage room added onto the east side of the Hub Kitchen?
• The Hub stop being used for composite feeding?