We at Prevention CDN-NDG held our Annual General Meeting last Thursday, March 30 at 6767 Côte-des-Neiges. I believe it is around our 25th or 26th AGM! Like Christmas, many hours went into the planning and preparation and then poof in two hours it was over for another year!

As most know, an Annual General meeting, is a mandatory yearly meeting that gathers stakeholders, members, and shareholders to discuss the previous years’ finances, and activities, have a chance to learn more about the organization, give feedback and elect the members of the Board. It can be seen as a dull and tedious event, so our internal AGM committee began meetings in January to find creative ideas to “spice” up the day and add interest for our attendees. My gratitude goes out to Al, Nikki, Eero, Patrick, Marc, Jen and Miranda for their ideas, patience and hours of work, that had nothing to do with their every day role! It’s important to note that all our work was done in-house, except for our accountant

Chaired by Gerry Lafferty, Director of New Hope the event drew 32 people, both citizens and partners from other community organizations. Gerry’s sense of dry humour kept things on a lighter note.

Although there is no way that we can report on all the programs and projects with great detail, the programming report was done in the form of a talk show, the Joe’s

The Annual report is a full time job on its own, by gathering everyone’s reports, pictures, stats and then agreeing on the information that should go in there. Eero did an amazing job at formatting it all in 41 pages! And then another few days are needed to go over everything again PLUS getting the final go-over by our Proofread Team….Andrée and Reine! Thanks so much for your eyes! After going over finances, statistics and challenges, elections were held. Helen Guy, long-time President, chose not to seek re-election to the Board, but will stay on as an Honorary Member. Bob Keovingkham also resigned during the year which left another seat open for the Board. Our two new Board members are Annick Munyana, a resident of CDN, who also works as a Community Organizer for the NDG Community Council, and Rapi Sota, newly appointed Director of the Centre Ressource Communautaire, (CRC) at 6767 Côte-des-Neiges. A hearty welcome to both of them! We all look forward to working with you!

With the AGM behind us, it’s time to concentrate on our annual planning and look forward to the Spring Season. Thanks to everyone who attended, and please consult our website for our report and other info.

Special thanks go out to our merchant neighbours for their generous donations: Maxi Bedford & Cie, Fu Tai and Tim Horton’s.

Terri – Executive Director at Prevention CDN-NDG

Photos: Toutankarton