Reporters Needed! This week’s coverage of our meeting is minimal. It’s because all our committees are not in place, and none of our regular reporters was available. So, help us out – sign up to join the Gossip Sheet committee – it’s good fun, and your report is read widely.

Ron Dubciak offered Grace, Don Shaw capably started us in singing Oh Canada, and we toasted the Queen and Canada.

President Larry introduced the Head Table – to introduce our speaker, John Snowling; speaker, Enam Bukhari; President, Larry Iggulden; Sergeant-at-arms, Bill Cole; Rotary member, Martha Abra; Registrar, Brian Stewart

Martha Abra

Guests – Charmaine Grace, Ted Jones, Amber Jones & Josey Valerio, guests of Henry Becker; Cameron McDougall, guest of Terry McDougall; Jean Girgenti, guest of Liz Palmieri; Nayyer Bukhari, Leena Bukhari & Sal Burreci, guests of guest speaker, Enam Bukhari.

Birthdays
July 24 – Sangeeta Hollo;
July 26 – Bob Hamilton, Norm Kreger and Peter Mahoney;
July 28 – George Irvine

Peter Mahoney & George Irvine

President Larry, Jean Gergenti, & Liz Palmieri

Josey Valerio, Amber Jones & Henry Becker

Earl Alton

Announcements

Liz Palmieri introduced new member Jean Gergenti. Jean is a life-long resident of St. Catharines, works in real estate sales, and has been a key player in many charitable projects like the Real Estate Board’s Golf Tournament, the Jail & Bail Project, and will no doubt help with our own club’s golf tournament in future.

Liz then put on her Rib Fest hat and pleaded for more volunteers, especially for Security & Tuesday cleanup. She brought congratulations for a soon-to-be successful Rib Fest from St. Catharines Tourism, and Ontario Tourism Minister, Jim Bradley.

Henry Becker announced the winner of the Name the Pig contest, “Rumple Pig Skin”, suggested by Amber Jones, who received her prize. Josey Valerio then drew the additional winners – W. Totten, Roberta Pendergast, & our own George Hostick. Congrats to all for participating.

Earl Alton announced that our golf tournament is sold out with foursomes! However, we are still happy to provide hole sponsorships for a mere $150. Call Earl at 905-937-6000 for info.

Happy Dollars

Jacquelyn Bradshaw

John Snowling

The basket was ably carried by Jacquelyn Bradshaw, who noted she only knew dirty jokes, and therefore could not share one! She was happy to be going to Paris…. there's one in France, apparently!

John Snowling is happy that a bunch of folks are coming to our Rib Fest from Port Credit by boat.

Kelly Buckley reminded us of the Blood Donor Clinic on August 30th in Henley Plaza. Call Tammy at 905 646-1420 to book an appointment.

George Darte was happy to have won the World Masters 4X Championships (but apparently was less successful in the 2-man race!)

Henry Becker was happy how the Name the Pig contest went.

Pat Hoggan is happy to be bringing her parents to Rib Fest.

Program
Toys on Wings - S. Enam Bukhari

Enam Bukhari

S. Enam Bukhari has been a lawyer engaged in private law practice for almost 25 years. For the first 7 years Mr. Bukhari practiced Criminal Law, Immigration Law and General Practice. For the last 18 years the practice has shifted to Corporate Business Law, Wills, Estates, Immigration Law, Real Estate and General Practice.

About 18 years ago, Mr. Bukhari became ill with viral pneumonia. He was in Intensive Care for one year at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, where it was predicted he would die due to lung damage and/or cardiac arrest. As time went on and his strength grew, it was discovered that although parts of his body had been adversely affected, his mental capacity and his will to live and function had not. The more access that he had to his legal files the more stable the situation became. Within short order, he was working almost full time from his intensive care bed with a "trachea tube" and connection to life support.

His interest in the plight of people with disabilities on airplanes began with a difficult trip to California via Air Canada. As he was about to board the airplane, the crew informed him they could not allow him on because of his dialysis machine – except that his machine was a respirator! It went downhill from there! The airplane had to make an emergency landing along the way because they had run out of the oxygen they had set him up with! On completion, he had 36 areas where he could have sued, but instead he sent a nice letter to Air Canada CEO Milton, who essentially implemented every one of his recommendations. The next time he flew, 2 Air Canada vice-presidents looked him after!

Toys on Wings was born to help families with disabled children who cannot be served by conventional airlines. After 6 years of negotiation, the federal government granted Toys on Wings a license to operate flights to Disney World, and offer charitable receipts to the flier. Ron Joyce of Tim Horton’s & Wendy’s offered his private jet. Other companies like Manu Life and the Templeton Foundation donate to Toys on Wings. Mr. Bukhari works with Rotarian John Tebrake, former CEO of Niagara Peninsula Children’s Centre, to find families in need, and looks forward to continuing his satisfying and commendable work.

Pat Hoggan expressed the thanks of the club to Mr. Bukhari for bringing Toys on Wings to our attention.

President Larry thanks speaker Enam Bukhari

Rotary Moment – President Larry noted that Rotary began based on a reciprocal exchange of business for its members. When Donald Carter joined, he stated that, “an organization that is wholly selfish will not last”. This became a cornerstone of Rotary, and Mr. Carter became known as the “Father of Community Service”.

Next Week – Port Dalhousie Redevelopment