Kin Blog

A Walk Through Kin Canada Part 1

May 22, 2013
By Lauren MacDonald-Schlaht

Convention Wall of PhotosDuring our Open House, visitors were given a tour of our building. At Kin Canada, we have tons of archives and artifacts that represent who we are and what our clubs have accomplished over the last 93 years. We are an all-Canadian service organization and I’m going to share some of our history.

The Board Room

When you enter Kin Canada, you’re on the top level (of three). To the left is our board room. This is one of my favourite rooms because of the wall of old National Convention photos. There are 16 of them and the oldest is from 1924.

These pictures make “it” more of a reality; “it” being the fact that Kin have been a part of Canadian history since 1920, present through wars, breakthroughs and accomplishments.

 Proud to Be Canadian TourMoving onto another item in the room that shows we truly are coast-to-coast-to-coast, we come to the original painting commemorating the Proud to Be Canadian Tour in 1992. The Tour was to get 1.25 million school-aged children’s signatures on flags to celebrate Canada’s 125th anniversary. The truly amazing part of this Tour was that we ended up with 3 million signatures. The flags were then paraded on Parliament Hill on Canada Day.

Across the room from the Tour painting are three keys that are symbolic of the passion and dedication our Founder, Hal Rogers, had for education.

The three keys were given to us by Hal’s daughter, Diane Rogers, and were initially presented to Hal at the opening of:

  1. South Preparatory School in 1939 when he was Chairman of the Building Committee, Board of School Trustees.
  2. West Preparatory School in 1941 when he was Chairman of the Building Committee, Board of School Trustees.
  3. Collegiate Institute Building in 1949 when he was Chairman of the Board of Education, Village of Forest Hill.

Three Education Keys

I also find these keys such significant items because of the importance Kin Canada places on education today. The Hal Rogers Endowment Fund was created in memory of Hal Rogers after his passing in 1994. The fund provides $1,000 bursaries to many Canadian students pursuing post-secondary education each year.

The convention photos, Tour painting and keys are just a taste of what lives at 1920 Rogers Drive. Come back soon for Part 2 of this history series to learn about what else we have.


1 comment

  • Mar 31, 2014
    By Carol Cooper [Not logged in]

    This is great Lauren - just found it!

    Thank you!

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