ESL at the beach

Today staff and students of the ELI (English Language Institute) at Seneca spend the day at the "Beaches" area of Toronto on Lake Ontario. This is an annual event and about 350-400 international students of the ELI are bused to the beach area in the morning, have fun playing volleyball and other games and get the traditional "burger & sausage" on a bun for lunch (+ lots of fruit!!). The crew of "barbequers" included experts not only from Canada but also from Albania and China.... Other staff members had the production line organized with the buns, burgers and sausages, sauces, etc.

The students come from more than 100 countries but they all know and most of them like "the burger and the sausage". Of course other food options available but the team keeps it relatively simple.

This was the first time in her life to operate the BBQ. Quick learner and did not burn any....!

A nice day with beautiful weather. Well done Team Seneca International. Proud of the gang.

Day 3 of Rib Fest

Pretty sore feet halfway this 3rd day collecting admission fees at the Rib Fest. Feet up during a break and a few apples, latte coffees and a big salad (guy like me needs to stay away from ribs and the like) kept me going to complete about 20 hours over three days. Great event, overall good weather, some nice bands and a good crowd of people visiting (well over 30,000 of them).

More Rotary Rib Fest

Day 2 of the fundraising event. Beautiful blue sky all day and an incredibly good crowd....

The event location is at the parking lot from a private company and next to a large cinema, which brings a good amount of additional people who hear the bands play and come out of curiosity. The $2 admission fee is really nothing, but if you attract 10,000-15,000 people on one day, it counts...

The event is organized and staffed by 100% volunteers which is always so great to see. The money raised goes to a variety of local and international charities and NGOs. The main benefactor this year for the Rib Fest is a local organization called "360 kids" which assists "kids at risk".

The music throughout the day was nice from country to funk, and the line-ups for the "ribbers" was long all day, even in the late evening hours. A great day!

Fundraising event for Rotary

One of the two Rotary Clubs in Markham (a city in the Greater Toronto Area with a population of about 300,000) organizes each year a large three day fundraising event: Rib Fest. I joined this club two years ago (after almost 20 years being a member of the Rotary Club in Welland).

The Rib Fest is a big event starting on Friday at 5 PM and going to Sunday 7 PM with somewhere between 25,000 - 30,000 visitors (subject to the weather of course). The Rotary Club raises roughly $50,000 with the organization of this event assisted by some 300 volunteers of whom 250 are high school students doing their volunteer hours.

Two of the main organizers, Joe and Mike, taking a break to eat a bite.....

After two hours of beautiful weather and lots of people attending, we were surprised by a sudden downpour of rain which lasted about an hour. But as soon as the rain stopped, the party was on again and the many volunteers quickly cleaned up so that folks could sit & eat while listening to the bands which on Friday were all country & western groups.

My volunteer job is at the entrance asking the visitors for a $2 admission fee. Today I was there from 5 to 11 PM. Tomorrow (Saturday) from 11 AM till 11 PM, and Sunday from 11 AM till 7 PM. It is an impressive team effort and fun to be part of....

Immigration matters

Today I participated - on behalf of Seneca College - in a round table conversation with the Minister of Immigration of Canada. An interesting mix of people around the table representing a variety of organizations working in one way or another with newcomers to Canada. With an aging population and less younger people, immigration is very important for a sustainable economy in the country. But of course the opinions on how to do this well vary widely.

Seneca not only services many international students but also offers training and "bridging programs" to employment for new immigrants to Canada. So do all colleges and many other organizations. This has to be funded and the debate is always where the funding needs to come from.