{"id":11343,"date":"2020-10-16T22:50:27","date_gmt":"2020-10-17T02:50:27","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-02-08T15:17:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:17:55","slug":"program_report_oct2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/jss-newsletter\/program_report_oct2020\/","title":{"rendered":"JSS Program Report \u2013 Transitioning to online format\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chie Takano Reeves (Community Outreach Worker \/ Volunteer Coordinator)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\"\"As a result of the pandemic, we have been offering our programs via online formats while in-person programs have been paused since mid-March. <\/span>O<\/span>nline service\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span> to completely<\/span>\u00a0new\u00a0<\/span>to us<\/span>, and <\/span>it\u00a0<\/span>was\u00a0<\/span>very much\u00a0<\/span>challenging to learn and used to it to the point that we can\u00a0<\/span>provide sessions and<\/span>\u00a0teach our volunteers or potential participants<\/span>\u00a0how to use<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>To ensure cyber safety for our participants, we also developed a<\/span>nd implemented various measures.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhile the online delivery has the potential of being able to connect individuals in remote areas, it<\/span>\u00a0has its limitations such as<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>technical difficulties (e.g. streaming delay)<\/span>\u00a0and accessibility barriers for individuals with no access to the Internet<\/span>\/<\/span>device<\/span>\u00a0or issue with computer literacy<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>W<\/span>e\u2019ve\u00a0<\/span>set our current goal and\u00a0<\/span>tried the best we could to\u00a0<\/span>achieve\u00a0<\/span>these goals<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 continuing to engage<\/span>\u00a0with community members and isolated individuals\u00a0<\/span>(due to higher\u00a0<\/span>risk<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of\u00a0<\/span>them\u00a0<\/span>contracting with COVID-19<\/span>), and providing opportunities to socialize\u00a0<\/span>with\u00a0<\/span>each other.<\/span>\u00a0We all know that most human beings are social\u00a0<\/span>animals\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 even if it\u2019s for health and safety to not see others in person, isolation can also harm your well-being.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe survey to our participants helped us to shape our\u00a0<\/span>direction and which programs to be\u00a0<\/span>offered.\u00a0<\/span>We currently offer following regular programs<\/span>\u00a0via Zoom<\/span>\u00a0in Japanese<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 Hot Lunch social, Craft Club online social, Senior Singing Club,\u00a0<\/span>and S<\/span>ingle\u00a0<\/span>M<\/span>others\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>upport\u00a0<\/span>Group.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>If you are interested in attending any of\u00a0<\/span>those<\/span>, please contact Chie (programs@jss.ca<\/span>\u00a0\/ 416-385-9200).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nAside from our regular programs, we have also started a new initiative under this goal \u2013 <\/span>e-learning sessions with\u00a0<\/span>Momiji<\/span>\u00a0Health Care Society<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0This collaboration enables us to reach out t<\/span>o those individuals in isolation. It\u2019s so easy to find <\/span>free\u00a0<\/span>online sessions in English but\u00a0<\/span>very little if any<\/span>\u00a0in Japanese.\u00a0<\/span>By u<\/span>sing<\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>\u00a0user-friendly interface, bringing relevant and easy-to-understand information (e.g. health, food\/cooking, law, art) to these target population, and teaching them how to install\u00a0<\/span>and use Zoom,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>we could<\/span> achieve this. Since it launched, a solid number of senior citizens (aver. 40-70%) and individuals outside of GTA have attended.<\/span>\u00a0We\u2019d like to keep offering this initiative but it needs your support \u2013 we are constantly seeking guest speaker<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0who can share\u00a0<\/span>their<\/span> specialty or whatever\u00a0<\/span>they<\/span>\u00a0like to do in\u00a0<\/span>their<\/span>\u00a0daily life. If you can help us or know someone who can, please contact us<\/span>!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\"\"Lastly,\u00a0<\/span>I would like to give a huge thanks to our volunteers who have been tirelessly helping to coordinate these programs and who have been providing clerical and technical support to the JSS programs. Without their support, <\/span>and with<\/span>\u00a0the<\/span>\u00a0very limited amount of time I have due to our financial difficulty,\u00a0<\/span>I could not have done\u00a0<\/span>this\u00a0<\/span>by myself.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nI would like to mention one of our dedicated volunteers, late Ms. Michiko Adachi \u2013 an amazing volunteer who\u00a0<\/span>tirelessly helped our operations. We are deeply saddened by her passing<\/span>\u00a0on September 12. 2020. She was literally everyone\u2019<\/span>s right hand<\/span>\u00a0at JSS<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>She helped to issue our newsletters, maintain our website and database<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0trained other volunteers<\/span>, and always\u00a0<\/span>enthusiastic<\/span>\u00a0to help our cause<\/span>; but above all, she was a gentle and caring<\/span>\u00a0friend<\/span>\u00a0to us all<\/span>. She will be watching over us with her gentle smile where the volunteers she\u00a0<\/span>handed her baton to, continue work<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0for our cause<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>We miss her greatly.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chie Takano Reeves (Community Outreach Worker \/ Volunteer Coordinator)\u00a0 As a result of the pandemic, we have been offering our programs via online formats while in-person programs have been paused since mid-March. Online service\u00a0is to completely\u00a0new\u00a0to us, and it\u00a0was\u00a0very much\u00a0challenging to learn and used to it to the point that we can\u00a0provide sessions and\u00a0teach our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":11344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[279,280,244],"tags":[313,302],"class_list":["post-11343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jss-newsletter-vo-8-no-3-october-2020-jss-newsletter-en","category-news","category-jss-newsletter","tag-jss-report","tag-online-programs-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}