Arms Bumanlag, spokesperson for Erie Shores Healthcare spoke about his new role and what made him shift his focus and his career. Gordon Drake addressed the Centennial Legacy Scholarship Fund.
Rotarians from Rotary Club of Largo Da Paz, District 4500 in Brazil came for a quick meet-up and exchanged flags with our Club. Nice meeting you!
Guest speaker Arms Bumanlag, Director of Communications and Public Relations at Erie Shores Healthcare, focused on the importance of authentic engagement in our communities. His goal is to "re-educate the public" about healthcare in Leamington, and to "put a voice and a face to the hospital". He stated that radio and television are still important mediums, but it's important not to discount the value of social media. Arms explained that it was the challenges he and his wife faced with their son, who was born with heart problems, that made him shift his focus and decide he wanted to change careers. "Being thrusted into the world of healthcare with our son, we quickly became advocates for care and compassion – locally and provincially." Apart from his new role at the hospital, Arms and his wife Kerri have also launched a social media collaboration company geared towards local businesses and groups called littleheart social (@littleheartsocial).
Gordon Drake spoke about the Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) Centennial Scholarship Fund. Founded in 2018 as one of the five Centennial legacy Projects, the goal was to establish an endowment fund to be held and invested by the WECF. Each year, a scholarship of $2000 is provided to a Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) rebounder to further their post-secondary education. It also serves as an inducement for high school students to enter the Youth Exchange program. The winner of this year's scholarship is Malcolm Grant, who has been on two exchanges - one to Zimbabwe as a voluntary teacher's assistant in a school for deaf children, and one to Lithuania where he lived on a farm and learned about the bounty of the earth and a different way of life. Youth Exchange has been an important part of his life, and Malcolm has decided to pursue his studies at Algonquin College to study horticulture.