|
President Rick called our meeting to order today at The St. Catharines Golf & Country Club.
Those who joined the President at the head table included:
- Speaker Introducer: Betty-Lou Souter
- Speaker: President Tom Arkell
- Sgt-at-Arms: Bill Williams
- Registrar: Blair Pollard
|
Presidents Past, Present and Future |
Introduction of Guests:
Guests included:
Patti Arkell - Guest of President Tom Arkell
Rick Mauro - Guest of Norma Medulun
Jane Kennedy - Guest of Graham Kennedy
Jayson Shultz - Guest of Graham Kennedy
Ryan Carson - Guest of Rob Reid
Grace: Wade Stayzer
"With our friends beside us,
And no person beneath us,
With the bonds of Rotary between us,
And our worries behind us,
With our goals and our leadership's vision before us,
And no task beyond us.
With a thirst for knowledge,
And a dream of a polio-free world,
We are thankful for our Rotary friends,
And for the leadership and commitment of Rotarians,
Like President Tom Arkell and the Directors and Officers
Of our Club who give so freely of their time.
We give thanks for the meal that we have shared here today,
And above all,
That we are able to share Rotary, because Rotary shares.
Amen."
Canada : Don Shaw
Toast to the Queen and Canada : by President Rick
Birthdays:
- July 1: Bill McKay
- July 2: John Lehnen
- July 4: Howard Lackie, Art Wing, Oraine DeRosa
- July 6: Betty-Lou Souter
- July 7: Kelly Buckley
|
Kelly Buckley, John Lehnen,
Oraine De Rosa, and Betty-Lou Souter |
Announcements:
Invoices for dues are out and due now.
President Rick thanked everyone for a great party last week and for a wonderful year.
The Complin Cup was awarded to Margaret Jarrell.
Ribfest- Less than a month to go - August 3-6 and 12 noon to 11:00 pm daily except Monday 12 noon to 8:00 pm. 1200 to 1500 volunteer hours are needed - don't hesitate to sign up and bring a friend.
District Conference - John Burroughs presented a cheque for $1,545 to President Rick for our role in running the registration function.
50/50 Draw: $218. At stake - George Park had the right ticket and the wrong card.
Happy Dollars: Collected by John Potts
John had no joke but was very happy that he and his wife had enjoyed a healthy trip to Poland and Hungary . He thanked President Rick for a great year.
John Snowling was happy to thank President Rick and to celebrate his 4th wedding anniversary with Janet Johnson.
|
Incoming First VP John Snowling |
Roger Segalin was happy for Janet and John and thanked President Rick.
Peter Kudreikis was happy to be with us today (having survived a heart attack).
Ron Sloan was unhappy that on President Tom's first meeting we got invoiced!
Jagdish Mehta was happy that 40 years ago he and his wife emigrated from the US to Canada .
George Doty was happy to report that the dancer at Larry's classification talk was Peggy Clarkson and Bill Ford had nothing to do with the prank. George also shared a cute joke.
Norma Medulin paid a happy dollar to report that the police checks have gone fine so far. If you submitted to the St. Catharines station, you can call and ask for extension 4235 to check to see if your check has been completed and is ready for pickup.
Peggy Davidson paid an apology $ for not doing the bulletin at last week's meeting.
John Crossingham was $150 happy (1$ per mile for his cycle tour in Croatia ). It was 105F in the shade and there was no shade! They climbed a total of 7,500 feet vertically over their 150-mile ride. His tour group was all American except for he and his wife. He learned that 7 girls from California require more maintenance than a fleet of Yugos.
Chris Bangham was happy to welcome John back and reminded him about the club bylaw regarding length of speech during happy dollars.
Program: Induction of President Tom Arkell, Officers and Board of Directors
Betty-Lou Souter took the podium and asked Larry Iggulden, Rick Merritt, Tom Arkell and John Snowling to stand before the Club to her left.
She then invited the Directors and Officers to stand before the Club to her right.
Betty-Lou swore in the Club leadership for the 2007 - 2008 Rotary Year. Betty-Lou then introduced our new President.
President Tom has been employed by Brock University since 1989. John Bird introduced Tom to Rotary in 1991. He has participated in committee work over the years including chairing the 2006 District Conference. Tom is married to Patti and together they have 3 sons: Andrew, Stephen and Adam. They have a pet Golden Retriever, Nathan, who is their best-behaved boy. They are restoring an historic home on Yates Street in St. Catharines.
President Tom began by thanking John Bird for his introduction to Rotary and then remarked that John had worked for Brock for 30 years and no one seemed to know what he did there. Now John has retired and been hired back and is being run off his feet!
Tom was able to convince his family to approve of accepting this role by bribing them with a trip to New Orleans , site of the Rotary Annual Meeting. Hurricane Katrina caused the meeting to be moved to Salt Lake City and rescheduled to a time before school was out. Neither Patti nor the boys could attend.
|
President Rick pins President to Tom |
President Tom thanked President Rick for "leading the way" in his year and passed on the banner.
As Tom left his office today for the meeting, his staff gave him a Rotary President's Tool Kit. Tom shared the contents with us which included a crown which has an adjustable size to accommodate a swelling head and many other items such as a meeting clock, a referee's whistle, plastic happy dollars etc. These are all items that will have uses during his year as leader.
Tom thanked us for the trust we are placing with him. He was overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of Rotary as experienced in Salt Lake City where 16,000 Rotarians overwhelmed the City. During the opening ceremony 150 flags were marched in. He attended the workshops on water, literacy and health and found the plenary sessions extremely motivating. Among them was a plenary by Bill Gates Senior, an honorary member from Seattle . The Gates Foundation has donated $150M to Polio Plus and today there are 210 countries polio free and only 4 left where the disease lives on.
Tom recalled for us that this year's President of Rotary International is Wil Wilkinson, a Canadian. His theme for 2007-2008 is "Rotary Shares"; we share time talent and treasure as well as enthusiasm, compassion and commitment. He expects people to do better with the same effort. He wants us to involve our family and friends and expand our friendships through our Rotary activities. To this end, Rachel Delaney and Gregory Bodough-Darte will co-chair a new Committee, The Rotary Family Committee. They are recruiting committee members. This year there will be a Rotary Friendship Tent at the Rib Fest.
President Tom wants us to become more involved with the 3 other St. Catharines Clubs during his leadership. Tom is looking to create a joint Rotary Brochure and possibly share office space with the other clubs in St. Catharines . Tom wishes to enhance our public image in the area and publicize our work more than we have in the past. District Governor Bob Leek has twinned all of the clubs in 9070 and Tom has invited our twin, Batavia , to attend our Rib Fest.
President Tom believes that we have very strong committees in our club and characterizes his style of leadership as "leading from behind". Dave Feasby will lead renewal in the Classification Committee. Tom believes that our work on Rotary Park will continue through his year and recognized Mayor McMullan's support for this initiative. Tom recognizes that the NHS initiative to build a new hospital and cancer treatment centre will require significant support from our club. Art Wing will chair a new committee, "Awards & Recognition" that will proactively advocate recipients for recognition. During the year he will make reference to our new compendium of minutes compiled by our History Committee. He is looking forward to handing out our speaker's gift (which will be a dictionary) as continued support for literacy.
President Tom is very excited about his year and wants to help us in any way he can in our work for Rotary and our community. He recognizes that our strength is in our members and our extended family.
Speaker Thanked by: John Snowling
John thanked President Tom for his commitment to us and to "Rotary Shares". He believes that all of us are looking forward to a great year of Family in Rotary, improved Public Relations and Tom's leadership style.
Next Week: Classification: Mary Margaret Murphy.
|
