LiveWorkPlay Annual General Meeting 2023 and Annual Report
AGM 2023 & ANNUAL REPORT
The LiveWorkPlay Annual General Meeting was hosted online on June 19. Robin McIntyre, Kate Sherwood, Daniel Spagnolo, Jon Doody, Cathy Velazquez, and Carole Sheppard were elected to the board, with one vacancy to be filled over the summer to replace Andrea Saldanha, who is not able to continue for 2023-2024.
We thank Andrea for her service as well as Judith Eigenbrod who has also retired from the board, with her vacancy being filled by Carole.
This was also the last AGM for Ross Holmes, who has served as our independent auditor for almost 20 years, definitely one of the longest professional relationships in our organization’s history. Ross has graciously agreed to stay on until the new auditor is announced, and this should also be finalized over the summer.
The minutes from the AGM and the Annual Report are available on our website.
More from our summer newsletter…
PUBLIC SERVICE AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE
Two different individuals supported by LiveWorkPlay to obtain employment with the federal public service were a part of Awards of Excellence ceremonies last week: Nadine Ghadie at Finance Canada and Allen Chen at Health Canada. Nadine and her team were recognized for their leadership with creating an inclusive workplace with the LiveWorkPlay Employment Supports Model, and Allen was recognized as a Young Professional who has demonstrated leadership in his department. Congratulations!
MAKE A BUZZ 2023: WHAT A NIGHT!
After three years of online-only versions of our annual celebration of community and anniversary party, the 250 LiveWorkPlay supporters who came out to the Preston Event Centre for the in-person dinner on May 11 sounded more like 2500! It was an incredible evening that incorporated what we learned from our family feast events in December and March: shorten the agenda and give people time to talk and circulate, and in return, expect a lot of focus and enthusiasm for the ceremonies.
All of the awards in the photo collage above were captured on video and you can watch them on our YouTube playlist including the Rob More Good Life Award that generated a massive standing ovation for Matt Suttie!
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!
LiveWorkPlay always enjoys celebrating National Volunteer Week, and 2023 saw one of our most successful social media campaigns in our history! The campaign honoured our amazing team of more than 150 who contribute as one-to-one matches, supporting Friday Night Meetups, serving as board members, and more. An introductory video by Batoul Auf launched the week-long celebration, and we thank all of our members and volunteers who agreed to be in the photos that were posted at a rate of two per day. Our social media fans on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn just loved them all!
CHEERS TO BOSTON PIZZA CARLING AVENUE
If you find yourself in the are of Carling and the 417 and you pop in to Boston Pizza for a snack and a beverage, you aren’t seeing things, there’s a huge digital advertisement featuring members, staff, and volunteers of LiveWorkPlay. In fact, if you do drop by that BP location, please take a selfie standing next to the digital poster, we’d love to see that.
DARING TO LEAD
On what we think of as “the first day of summer” on June 21, the staff team announced that they have finished their work together with Brené Brown’s “Dare to Lead” (started last fall). Not everyone could attend yesterday, so we included their photos just below the group photo.
The team wants to wish you a happy summer, not because anything slows down at LiveWorkPlay over the summer, but certainly many of our members and their families will be enjoying some holiday time, and that’s true for the staff team as well. Have a great summer and a safe one too, and don’t forget the end of summer celebration on September 6 at TD Place! Please don’t wait, register today!
LIVEWORKPLAY ON THE GLOBAL STAGE
Earlier in this newsletter you saw the public service awards being given to jobseekers who were supported into federal employment by LiveWorkPlay. In addition to the hard work of those individuals, it took years of effort and cooperation to develop an employment supports model where people with intellectual disabilities and autistic persons are not only getting hired, but thriving and advancing in their public service careers.
This was the topic of the LiveWorkPlay presentation of our Employment Supports Model at the 2nd Global Conference on Supported Employment. The session drew a standing room only international audience, and sparked many interesting conversations that will hopefully result in additional partnerships across the country and around the world. Congratulations to the Canadian Association for Supported Employment (CASE) and all of their partners for putting together this event that drew well over 600 delegates.
HELP US WELCOME THE PROVINCE
Next up on the conference schedule, the Community Living Ontario annual conference and AGM is in Ottawa this year! The venue is the hotel complex right next to the baseball stadium on Coventry Road, easy access by car or public transit. Early registration starts TOMORROW so take advantage of the early bird discounts. Note: we have nothing to do with the conference website, so if you experience difficulties with registration, please contact them directly through the coordinates on their website.
If you are excited to attend but find the fees challenging, contact Keenan Wellar as we are going to look into ways to make the conference more financial accessible.
We hope you have enjoyed this edition of The LiveWorkPlay News. If you like what you see, why not make a donation? We have a new and improved donation form that saves you time and gives you more options! And don’t forget our new campaign to MAKE IT MONTHLY.