Opening and Introductions:

President Betty-Lou Souter opened the meeting.

Grace was said by Rick Vanderkuip

O Canada was begun by Rob Reid (who had to show off his musical talent for our visitors!), followed by a toast to Her Majesty the Queen and Canada.

The head table was introduced, including Rob Reid, who introduced our entertainment today and his guest Chris McLaughlin, Director of the Fusion Vocal Jazz Ensemble, District Governor Charlotte Herlong, of the Rotary Club of Fredonia, NY, President Betty-Lou, Sergeant-at-Arms Harold Nash, Member in the spotlight Liz Palmieri, and Ron Dubciak, who introduced our guests.

Liz Palmieri

Liz Palmieri joined Rotary in St. Catharines in 2001, having been sponsored by Peter Banwell. During her short time with us, she has been very busy, having been involved with the Auction in a leadership role since 2002 and serving as overall chair this past year. She has served on many committees, including WCS, Children's, Communication, Program, Rifest, Long Range Planning, Career Retraining and Charitable Trust. In her professional life, Liz is Executive Director of the Niagara Community Foundation and has built the endowment fund to $3 Million during her short tenure there. And it just goes on and on! Last week, Liz was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship, recognizing her commitment to Rotary and to the community at large. Congratulations Liz.

Guests:

Pam Vail - Guest of Judith Barker
Sandy Peters - Jim Denham
Mary Turner - Betty-Lou Souter
Nicky Oaks - Betty-Lou Souter
Chigusa Yoshida - Youth Exchange
Peter Hammond - Betty-Lou Souter
Bill Hallett - Betty-Lou Souter
Domenick Girotti - Rick Vanderkuip

Birthdays:
June 5 - Larry Ross, June 6 - Martha Abra, June 11 - Rick Vanderkuip. Larry and Rick paid their $10, and Rob Reid did a splendid intro of " Happy Birthday"

Rick Vanderkuip and Larry Ross

President Betty-Lou then gave us news of ailing Rotarians:

• She stopped by to see Peter Banwell at the Shaver to present his Every Rotarian Every Year Certificate and pin, and was very pleased at the progress he is making. He is looking great and in very good spirits. In addition, apparently, he is also able to sing, which is apparently a great milestone for a stroke victim. (Note to the program committee...when Peter is back, he can start O Canada!!)
• Betty-Lou also visited Rick Merrit in hospital and he was doing remarkably well. He has been discharged and is up and around with a walker. He apparently has "time on his hands", so please drop by or call.

Betty-Lou then read a couple of Thank You letters:

• Bob Bell wrote to thank the Club for his Paul Harris Fellowship which we presented to him on May 26. He is still in awe.
• Kate Verge wrote to thank the club for sponsoring her Group Study Exchange trip to the Philippines, which she describes as a "remarkable country".

There was also word from the Rotary Club of Agra India regarding four upcoming Immunization Days. Betty-Lou and Lezlie Murch have info if anyone is interested in participating.

Betty-Lou Souter, Brian Hutchings and Peter Papp

Betty-Lou then asked Peter Papp to come forward to introduce our newest Rotarian, Brian Hutchings. Brian is currently the Director of Social Assistance and Employment Opportunities at Niagara Region, where he acts as the Ontario Works Administrator for the Region as well as the Systems Manager for the Hostels and Homeless system in Niagara. He is a graduate of St. Mary's University (1988) with a BComm, and received his CGA designation in 1996. Among Brian's many accomplishments:

• Currently chair of the Ontario Trillium Foundation Grant Review team.
• Co-founder of the Foundation of Resources for Teens (FORT), a youth resource and crisis centre in West Niagara
• Vice President of the Alzheimer Society of the Niagara Region
• Involved in charitable work as a member of the Hamilton Tiger Cat Alumni
• Formerly Treasurer and then Board Chair of the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital board
• Member of the coaching staff of the Ridley College First Football team
• In 2003, Brian was selected as Citizen of the Year by the Grimsby Chamber of Commerce

Whew!!...Welcome to the club, Brian.

Charlotte Herlong, Mary Turner and Betty-Lou Souter

Betty-Lou then told us about the Rotary Centennial Service Award for Professional Excellence. This was established by RI President Glenn Estess to recognize non-Rotarian community members for exceptional professional achievement consistent with the ideals of Rotary. Qualifications:

• Established members of their profession
• High ethical standards
• Have achieved professional distinction
• Have experience training/mentoring
• Have a record of community service

Each district had the ability to nominate 10 people. We sought nominees early in the year and we submitted one nominee from those received. Our nominee was one of the 10 finalists in district 7090. Mary Turner is VP Customer Service at Canadian Tire Financial Services. She is responsible for all the "back office" operations for the CT MasterCard and store credit card. Among Mary's accomplishments:

• CTFS call centre has been recognized for service excellence, being named the #1 call centre in Canada, in 2000 and 2001
• Previously, Mary was a tax partner with Deloitte & Touche
• Member of the board of MRS Financial
• A fellow of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
• Community involvements such as: Niagara Business Leadership Council, Ontario Fair Tax Commission's Working Group on Corporate Minimum Tax, Revenue Canada's Large Business Advisory Committee on tax issues, and many publications.
• Recently implemented the Canadian Tire Foundation for Families Jump Start Program
• Founding member and currently Treasurer of the Niagara Health System Foundation
• Founding member of the board of Opportunities Niagara
• Founding member and currently Treasurer of the Canadian Tire Foundation for Families

WOW! District Governor Charlotte Herlong then surprised the group by presenting the Award to Mary Turner.

District Governor Charlotte then expressed her thanks to the club for our support over the past year, as her year is coming to an end...as she lamented how quickly time goes. She also advised that $8500 was raised at the District Conference for the RI Foundation.

DG Charlotte then presented our club with a banner to recognize our standing as #1 in district 7090 in funds given in 2003-2004. We are also "close this year".

DG Charlotte then also presented our Club with a Presidential Citation, for our contributions to Rotary over the past year.

Finally DG Charlotte advised that, as we give so generously, we should ask for money back! And she presented our club with a cheque for $1,000 to assist with our project in India.

Betty-Lou Souter and Charlotte Herlong

Finally, DG Charlotte advised that she is leaving her position knowing that we are in very good hands with Art Wing becoming our new DG! Charlotte then presented the remaining certificates and pins to those "Every Rotarian Every Year" recipients who were missing last week.

Tom Arkell, Peter Papp, Charlotte Herlong and Dave Butler - Every Rotarian, Every Year

John Snowling

Announcements

John Snowling expressed his thanks to this year's Program Committee, and advised that there will be a meeting of current and prospective members of the Program Committee at 33 Maywood Drive at 5 pm on June 28.

Ron Sloan, who has now been advised that he must call Art Wing "Your Worship", gave a plug for the Membership Committee, congratulating all those who had introduced our new members over the past month (3), but advising that the "pipeline" now needs to be re-filled!

Ron Sloan

Betty-Lou announced on behalf of Tom Pekar, whose tooth whitening project has already provided considerable funds to our club, that he has now partnered with Ian Ransberry for photos, so if you got your teeth whitened via a contribution to Rotary, go get your photo taken for free by Ian.

Finally, Betty-Lou presented Larry Iggulden with a "movable" Rotary badge for the Chicago convention.

Happy Dollars

John Lehnen

John Lehnen carried the basket today, and was happy to advise that he was only dolled up in a suit and tie because he had attended Liz's breakfast this morning! He was happy that his youngest daughter Emily has just received her Hons. Physics & Astronomy degree from U Vic, however her choice of careers will probably be Organic Farmer, or Carpenter...or maybe even Alternative Energy...

Peter Papp was $5 happy, firstly apologizing for not wearing his Rotary Pin, but secondly to congratulate Mary Turner on her achievements.

Doug Geddie was happy to have participated in the selection of our district's 2005 Ambassadorial Scholar...Karl Baldoff from Grimsby.

Larry Ross was happy to welcome Bruce Hutchings to the Club.

Chris Bangham had a scary $ to advise that he and Anne have received word that their daughter now has passed her motorcycle license. (George Darte suggested as an aside that she be sure to sign her organ donor card!)

Art Wing expressed his thanks to Charlotte for all her help to him in the DGE role, and advised that he was pleased to note that past DG's DO survive! He also pointed out that a huge number of Rotarians from around the world will be visiting the Niagara area on their way to or from the Chicago conference.

Marg Jarrell was very pleased to announce that Adolescent and Family Support Services received $9,000 from the Niagara Community Foundation. She also congratulated Mary Turner and welcomed Brian Hutchings.

Nancy Hostick was pleased to announce that Rotary is now the fourth thing she has in common with Brian...(gee, Nancy, did you play football too?)

Rick Evans was happy to tell us about the nice letter he received from our outgoing exchange student Brian Donohue, thanking the club for the opportunity.

Ron Sloan congratulated Mary.

John Crossingham paid $3 to talk about Betty-Lou's before and after photos...he was also happy to announce that 14 Dutch cyclists on their way to Chicago are being hosted by members of our club this week.

Sandy Peters welcomed Brian Hutchings.

Henry Becker paid an unhappy dollar to voice his concern that with the change in the presidency of the club being imminent, there will be no more kissing and hugging by the President.

Ken Taylor was happy to advise that three Dutch cyclists are staying with him. Also, he reminded members about the Rotary Best of Friends Bike Trek this weekend, and solicited more donations on behalf of Chigusa.

Liz Palmieri was happy to have received a Paul Harris Fellowship last week and also announced that she is now off to Italy for two weeks with Adrian.

George 'Sleepy' Irvine

As Betty-Lou was broke last week, she paid up today. She also offered George Irvine a great photo of him that had been taken at last week's meeting. She also welcomed Brian and congratulated Mary.

50/50 Draw:

The Program
Fusion Vocal Jazz Ensemble

Chris McLaughlin

Rob Reid introduced our program today, by introducing Chris McLaughlin. Chris has been a music teacher for 37 years, and will be retiring from Governor Simcoe High School this year. His passion is jazz vocal music, and this led him to create the Fusion Vocal Jazz Ensemble. At Chris' recent retirement party, Rob figured out "why teachers teach", when he overheard numerous former students tell Chris "You changed my life".

Fusion consists of 9 singers and a vocal percussionist. These are highly committed students, with a great combination of talent, motivation and hard work. They practice 4 times a week.

We were then entertained by this extremely talented group!

Will Reid, Katie Owens, Jovaneca Jean-Gilles, Jeb Thomas, Stacy Hunt, Katie Ross and Ernie Gleeson and front and centre, Rachelle Wunderink.

Faisel Qazi Percussion

Matt Adams, Sound Technician

Mark Zammit thanked the group for their excellent performance.

Reminder: Next week is Past Presidents' Day, so if you know of a past president who might have difficulty getting to the meeting, please call and offer a ride. We will also be honouring Betty McLean on her retirement.

Upcoming Meeting Schedule

June 16 Past Presidents' celebration and farewell to Betty McLean
June 23 Pest Control with Brian Delaney
June 29 Farewell Dinner for Betty-Lou at Niagara Culinary Institute

Community Announcements

The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Niagara Branch invites Rotary and Rotarians to sponsor and/or raise pledges and walking in the 11 th Annual Cheerios Heart & Stroke Mother Daughter Walk taking place September 25, 2005. Contact is Debbie Spraggett at 905-938-8800.

Friday November 11, 2005 will be the annual FACS Fall Gala at White Oaks.