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Club president loves helping others

He says it's fun being part of a multicultural community
2020-07-09-patrick-dionne
Patrick Dionne is a current president of Club Richelieu Timmins. Supplied photo

Patrick Dionne can see his accomplishments when his architectural projects come to life and a sketch on a piece of paper turns into a nice building.

“When you see that your imagination and creation can be realized in reality, it’s fun to see,” he says.

“When your architect comes with a really nice concept and you take their imagination and you transfer it on drawings, and from drawings to constructions …  It’s always fun to see those buildings and projects being accomplished, it’s quite the feeling to have.”

Born and raised in Dubreuilville, Ont., Dionne, 39, studied architectural technology program from La Cité college in Ottawa.

Having worked as a realtor and an appraiser in the past, he says his previous jobs in the fields of real estate, housing and investment always led him back to architecture. Dionne is now working as a senior architectural designer for J.L. Richards and Associates.

“Architecture, I think, has always been my best approach,” he says. “Whatever you choose as a career, as long as you enjoy the work that you’re doing, that’s the main goal.”

He lived in Calgary for a few years before moving to Timmins in 2010. Here, he met his future wife Jody, bought a house and is now raising two children, a four-year-old Jaxon and an eight-year-old Tyson.

Dionne is also the president of Club Richelieu Timmins. The club, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2017, is comprised of 40 members and aims to help Francophone children and youth as well as raise money for other non-profit organizations.

Interested individuals who want to join the club have to participate in at least three church suppers, Dionne says. After that, club members do an evaluation of whether to accept someone and if there are objections, a person can be turned down. It has happened in the past, Dionne says, but club members usually prefer to increase their numbers.

He says members have to be actively involved in the club’s initiatives before they are offered a board position.

“Becoming a president, you get a lot of pressure because most members are all either business owners, a manager or a director of some sort of business. So, you deal with a lot of people with a lot of different influence throughout the community,” Dionne says. “You have to represent them well and make sure the club functions well and everyone does their own task.”

“There’s a lot of commitment and involvement as president. You’re not just sitting there, drinking coffee and eating doughnuts, that’s for sure.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, club members had weekly Thursday meetings from September to June. Those meetings, which were “very structured”, were like formal celebrations where they would go through an agenda and discuss serious business and events, Dionne says.

The meetings, now held via Zoom, are not as formal and is more like an opportunity to get together and share news, he adds.

A few celebrations had to be cancelled but the club held bottle drives in partnership with the Rotary Club of Timmins-Porcupine and Full Beard Brewing Company. Raised money went toward Lord’s Kitchen and local food banks.

Last December, the club was able to provide Christmas gifts to over 20 families. Dionne recalls many club members brought their families with them to help wrap gifts, and Dionne's son Tyson had an opportunity to see that not all children were as “lucky” to have their own Christmas presents.

“Having that feeling of my kid acknowledge that there are some kids out there with no presents, it’s quite the achievement."

He says as a francophone it’s fun being a part of a multicultural community like Timmins and teaching French to his children is very important to him.

“I got a rule at home, I said it’s 99.9 per cent in French in my house because my kids will learn English in no time,” he says. “We practice French at home and then with TV and all those different cartoons, which are all in English, they learn English in no time.”

In his free time, he likes playing golf and hockey, taking care of the lawn and the yard, showshoeing and being “up in the woods.”

Moving forward, Dionne says he will stay in his role as the club’s president for another year because his time as the club’s leader was cut short due to the pandemic. He also hopes to hold the annual lobster dinner in August.

Dionne describes himself as “an open book” who loves helping others.

“I’m always in the background helping … If it’s a friend of mine that I’m really close to, I pay close attention to those people. And I really get involved with them. I’m always there trying to help those I actually care for."

Do you know a member of the francophone community who is a long-serving volunteer or passionate in their chosen career? Nominate them to have their story shared in our weekly feature. Email their name and details on what makes them unique to [email protected].


Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

About the Author: Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

Dariya Baiguzhiyeva is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering diversity issues for TimminsToday. The LJI is funded by the Government of Canada
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