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Sangeeta Hollo |
President Rick called the meeting to order today at 12:40 pm at the St. Catharines Golf & Country Club. Seated at the head table were
Guest Speaker Introducer: Rusty Kruty
Guest Speaker: Sangeeta Hollo, Club Treasurer
President: Rick Merritt
Sergeant-at-Arms: Bill Cole
Guest Introducer: Peggy Davidson
Today's Guests were
Tom Hall - Rotary Lakeshore
Franco Savoia - Edmonton Downtown
Jean Armitage - St Catharines
A.M - No doubt, word of our massive 50/50 pot is getting around!
Laurie Coletti-White - guest of Alex McKee
Erik Derksen - former inbound Youth Exchange student
Heidi Wilson - guest of Judith Barker
Bekki Kugler - our very own inbound YE student
Rene Perteet - guest of Oraine DeRosa
Ray Bukovec took a solo turn and in an attempt to play upon the sympathies of the crowd, tried to influence the President's choice of 50/50 ticket draw in favour of birthday celebrants, to no avail.
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Ray Bukovec |
Dave Stevenson
Larry Iggulden is holding a brief Foundation meeting following lunch.
Nancy Ferris-Hostick is calling a wrap-up meeting for the TV Auction on January 15 at 5:30 at the Golf Club.
Rick updated us on the Ted Lancaster Bursary Fund at Brock. Currents assets are $30,315, enough to generate an estimated $1258 in support for 2006/07 academic year. Brock estimates that the fund will be valued at $38, 312 at the end of this year. A fitting tribute to Ted Lancaster and a valuable ongoing legacy for students.
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President Rick |
An Appreciation Dinner will be held for incoming RI President, Canadian Wilf Wilkinson, at Spirelli's Banquet Centre in Don Mills on March 8, 2007. Wilf will be the first Canadian RI President in 50 years.
Erik Derksen filled us in on his activities since leaving Canada 3 years ago, including some world travels to Denmark , Turkey and to Bolivia to visit Ignacio (a fellow in-bound) as well as an unscheduled stopover in Tweed , Ontario as a result of a car breakdown. He also told us about his recent car accident as a result of someone else's suicide attempt. He suffered very serious leg injuries but has recovered.
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Erik Derksen |
Bekki Kugler is looking for some citrus renegades who failed to pick up the oranges they had ordered from her. If you are a guilty party, your oranges are in cool (not cold, check the weather)) storage in the Donahue's garage.
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Bekki Kugler |
Lezlie Murch was a'travelling once again, this time to the Weston Sunset Rotary Club in Florida , where she donated some Polio Plus Icewine and briefed the locals on the merits of our regional specialty. They did not take her hint and open the bottles but raffled them off to support club projects.
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Lezlie Murch |
Approval of Board recommendation on Committee spending.
The Board of Directors in its December 19, 2006 meeting approved a change to our Club's By-laws. The Board resolution is as follows,
"MOVED BY JOHN POTTS AND JOHN CROSSINGHAM THAT EACH COMMITTEE BE ALLOWED UP TO AND INCLUDING $5,000 BEFORE REQUIRING CLUB APPROVAL. Carried."
The By-law being modified is Article 1X - Finances - Section 5 which reads.
" No resolution to commit this Club to spend up to and including $5,000 any one item or project shall be undertaken without seeking the approval of the membership at large. Notice of any such resolution shall have appeared in the Club bulletin at least ten days before the meeting at which the resolution is to be presented. Approval of such resolution by a two-thirds majority of those present at the meeting is required."
This resolution requires membership approval and was carried unanimously.
President Rick announced the results of the recent Club elections, which have placed the following new members on the Board for a 2-year term:
Judith Barker
Kelley Buckley
Scott Heelis
Graham Kennedy
Rick also announced that John Potts has been appointed Vice-President and will succeed John Snowling as Club President for the 2009-2010 year. There was much cheering and hollering, jeering and general carrying-on in response to this information.
Were solicited by Peter Lumsden who in keeping with his genteel character, declined to tell a joke and stated that he was pleased that there were so many doctors in the club.
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Peter Lumsden |
Wade Stayzer was pleased that as a result of John Potts' elevation, he could put off his next transfer until 2009.
Dave Edwards honoured Don Shaw on the publication of a story in the Standard, by Sandy Timko, about Don's days as a pharmacist and how he had mentored and supported some struggling students.
John Crossingham (inevitably) spoke at reasonable (!) length managing to link together the following subjects; cycling in Italy, weather forecasting, Benito Mussolini (again), George the Truffle Dog, the doorman at the Waldorf and Sam Walters. The import of this surge of narrative activity wasn't immediately clear to your humble scribe.
Dave Butler was pleased that Santa Claus does apparently know where Honduras is.
Lezlie Murch was glad there was no snow.
Henry Klassen was happy that John Crossingham is no longer in Italy and that he was looking forward to visiting South Africa to check out some Rotary projects, including one in honour of Aidrie DeLaat.
Pat Rooney wished everybody a Happy New Year and welcomed Bekki Kugler and Erik Derksen.
Archie Heide was glad he hadn't had to ride a bicycle in more than 40 years.
Ron Sloan was delighted to announce the recent arrival of his 5 th grandchild, a granddaughter.
John Potts offered his thanks to the electorate and pledged his fulltime attention to the job of Club Prez, as he plans to have retired by 2009.
Don Shaw thanked Dave Edwards for mentioning the article about him.
Franco Savoia updated us about his last 6 years in Edmonton and was happy to have wrapped up a $10-million capital campaign. He also offered praise to his successor in Niagara , Steve Butz on the great work he has done to place the Y of Niagara in a nationally prominent position.
Betty Lou Souter thanked the many members of the club who had contributed to Community Care's ability to help 2800 families this Christmas and thanked Franco Savoia for his inspiration to her career in social service.
Tom Pekar was happy to have visited Disney for his 55 th birthday.
50/50 Draw: Heidi Wilson drew the 8 of Hearts and missed out on $1145. The suspense continues.
Sangeeta Hollo presented the Financial Statements for the Year ending June 30, 2006.
The club continues to operate in a financially secure manner with stable revenues and a comfortable surplus in the fund balances. Revenues for the year were up marginally over last year, as were expenses, resulting in a net operating shortfall of $6845, requiring a small transfer to balance.
Major fundraising activities amounting to a total of 83% of Club revenue were the TV Auction, RibFest and the Golf Tournament.
Donations to worthy causes in the year amounted to $250,000, with major contributions to (in order of size of gift) the Niagara Peninsula Children's Centre, the Niagara Circle Route Bridge, Hospice Niagara, Bethlehem Place, Not Just Tourists, and the Thorold Community Activities Group.
Sangeeta commended Joyce Western for diligence in the collection of dues and noted the mandated increase in the past few years of our Club per capita contribution to the Rotary Foundation.
Questions from the floor were concerned with the status of the Rotary Skating Path, our partnership with the Friends of the Harbour and the potential of a Club request for contribution to the upcoming hospital campaign.
President Rick thanked Sangeeta for her straightforward and lucid presentation and offered to maintain the size of her fee for another year ($0).
In closing President Rick referred to a recent article in the Standard about Polio Plus and an impending visit of PP Chair Bob Scott (November 07) and imparted some relevant stats - in 1988 there were 350,000 cases of Polio worldwide and in 2001 there were 483. While the goal of eradication was not met by 2000, the work continues and Rotary plays a highly visible role in partnership with the World Health Organization, the US Centre for Disease Control and UNICEF, which only serves to advance the Rotary banner around the world.
The topic for next week's meeting is
Arlene White - Bi-National Tourism Alliance
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