The inaugural meeting of CARP Chapter #20, held on Saturday April 23, 2011, has been called a success by the core executive. They were pleased that 40 CARP members from the Ajax, Pickering and Durham areas had registered to attend. They were overwhelmed when that number swelled to 95 attendees on the day, including Gail Goldman and Joseph Appalsamy from the National CARP office and John Thompson, Chair of the Kitchener CARP Chapter.

Randy Filinski, Co-Chairman kicked off the meeting by having everyone write down their areas of concern on post-it notes. They then placed these notes on sheets posted on the walls around the room. The headings on the sheets covered many blanket topics such as Health Care, Finances, Politics, Social Issues, Retirement, Pensions and other.

Once each of these sheets were populated with the post-its, Randy divided the room into smaller groups and assigned each with a major topic. The enthusiasm in the room was electric as the groups discussed how each topic should be addressed. A volunteer from each group then presented their findings to the full assembly.The end result was an amazing array of ideas that the Ajax Pickering Chapter could consider tackling. This was going to take manpower and again the group came through. Two more sheets were posted on the wall with the heading VOLUNTEERS. As the meeting concluded, line-ups were observed at each of these sheets with members adding their names.

Steve Campbell, the Chairman of the New Ajax Pickering Chapter summed up the event by thanking everyone for their participation and promising that the core executive would carry thorough with the suggestions made at this meeting. A meeting of the volunteers would be convened to form the initial committees of the New Ajax Pickering Chapter #20 of CARP.

Stay tuned to our website for news about our next meetings!