Gossip Sheet#47 - May 29, 2008

John Frid was born in Guelph, Ontario, in 1924, the son of a Methodist Minister. His early years were spent in various parts of Ontario, moving around with his family because of his father’s ministry. He early on developed a great love for the outdoors, and became an expert canoeist.

Following service in the Canadian Navy, John and his twin brother attended at the University of Western Ontario, where they both received their medical degrees. John graduated in 1952, and then went on to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, specializing in Rheumatology. He gained renown as one of the first members of the developing Faculty of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, a program that now serves as a model for medical schools worldwide. He was instrumental in establishing the Rheumatic Diseases Unit for McMaster at Chedoke Hospital. From there, he was invited to become the first Dean of Mohawk College’s new Faculty of Health Sciences which offered Nursing, Radiography, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy education.

John joined the Rotary Club of Hamilton in 1965. He served as Club President in 1979. He became involved in district activities, chairing RYLA, GSE, Long Range Planning, and Leadership Development. He retired from Mohawk College in 1987 in order to dedicate his time and attention to serving as District Governor in the 1988-89 Rotary year.

John’s contributions to Rotary service were significant. He led a GSE team to India, served as The Rotary Foundation Coordinator for Canada, and spent considerable time and effort in supporting medical and educational initiatives in India. Project involvement included improving literacy and access to education, leprosy treatment and rehabilitation, blood banks, eye clinics, and projects aimed at health and welfare improvement for over 20,000 disabled Indian children. He served as the Educational Programs Consultant to the Child’s Trust Hospital in Madras. He acted as a Rotary Health Hunger and Humanity project assessor in such places as Bangladesh, Nepal, Uganda, and Honduras. He took on a similar role for the Canadian Rotary Collaboration for International Development. John was a multiple Paul Harris fellow. He has served on many RI committees, including membership, world community service, and club extension. He was the district representative to the Council on Legislation in 1992. In 1998, he received Rotary’s highest honor, the Service Above Self award.

His community involvement extended far beyond Rotary efforts. He served on the boards of the Hamilton Community Foundation, the Gallery of Distinction, Hillfield Strathallan College, the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness, the Robert Land School, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, and Street Kids International. He chaired many of these boards. He was a founder and board member of the Canadian Landmine Foundation.

John died on Monday, May 19th, after a brave two-year battle with cancer. He is survived by his loving wife Joyce, daughters Diane, Sandy and Susan, and grandson Alexander. The family has gratefully declined flowers, and would appreciate donations in John’s name to a charity of your choice, or one of those listed above which John supported.

A celebration of the life of this remarkable Rotarian and humanitarian will be held on Saturday, June 7th, from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Artsplex of Hillfield Strathallan College, 299 Fennell Avenue West, Hamilton, Ontario, L9C 1G3. Directions to the College are available at www.hillstrath.on.ca.

The District Newsletter is available at the following address:
http://www.clubrunner.ca/data/7090/html/36030/RN90May08.pdf

President Tom reminded all Committee Chairs that their reports are due Friday, May 30!

John Crossingham reported that the “Aussies are Coming!” from June 28 to July 2. He could use one more host – call John.

John Crossingham

Peter Kudreikis announced that the President’s Dinner would be held Wednesday June 25 at Pond Inlet, Brock University, with Reception at 6:30 and Dinner at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $45/person including free parking in a designated lot near Pond Inlet; tickets will be available next week.

Peter Kudreikis

Ken Goodwin announced the Rotary Bike Trek in NOTL June 7. Start will be from Kinsmen’s Hall in NOTL at 9:00 am. The ride goes to Dufferin Island and return. Tax receipts will be issued for pledges of $25 or more. Half of the proceeds raised in our Club come back to our Club. He also noted that their Golf Tourney is June 2 in aid of Children with heart disease; donations will be accepted.

Ken Goodwin

Kenji Matsumoto announced that he is riding in the Bike Trek and is accepting sponsors for his ride.

Kenji Matsumoto

HAPPY DOLLARS

Collected by Tom Pekar.

Tom removed his glasses for the photo and received assorted raspberries from the cheap seats for his concern over his appearance in our esteemed Gossip Sheet…

Tom Pekar

Tom was happy to report that the Merritton Community Club enjoyed an interesting presentation by Maurice Gomme on the stories behind street naming in St. Catharines. He shared a Dentist joke with us as well.

Cindy Mewhinney was happy to have hosted Kenji for the weekend and recommends that others volunteer to host Kenji as well.

Kelly was happy to have her Mother-in-Law, Fern Hardy and her friend Yves Rochon with her today. She was also happy to report that she recently piped for a Jewish wedding.

Margaret Jarrell was happy to thank her Youth Exchange Committee for covering for her during her vacation to Italy.

Brian St. Hilaire was happy to report that his daughter performed in a Gymnastics Meet representing Sir Winston Churchill SS at OFSA and placed 4th in the Floor Competition.

John Snowling was happy to mention that his Sister-in-Law performs Scottish dancing in Montebello Park on Thursday evenings.

Dave Edwards was happy to report some of the results of the Rankin Cancer Run led by his wife Maryann. Nearly 6,000 participants, $405,000 raised and 12,000 pounds of food collected for Community Care!

Rick Merritt was happy to report that the GSE Team from Bulgaria will arrive Sunday and stay with us for a week. They are part of a Wine and Tourism exchange.

Bill Finley was happy to express congratulations on behalf of every member of our Club to Maryann for a job very well done on the Rankin Cancer Run.

ROTARIAN IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Mike Pihura

Eugene Gillies introduced Mike to our Club March 17, 2005. Mike is an Audiologist at the Family Hearing Centre. He is married to Margo for 27 years and has one son, James Pihura. Mikes interests include music and photography. He has served on the following committees: Seniors, Program, Children’s, Dinner & registration, World Community Service and Youth Leadership.

Mike Pihura

50/50 DRAW

Stuart Butler had the winning ticket; he drew the 10 of Clubs; the pot continues to grow.

BIRTHDAYS

May 25: Tim Rigby and Henry Klassen
May 29: Mac Gollert

Malcolm Gollert

PROGRAM

Hybrid Cars – Daniel Titone, Performance Toyota

Alexis DeWolfe introduced Daniel Titone, Product Advisor, Performance Toyota. Daniel grew up in Hamilton and came to St. Catharines six years ago. He is interested in home renovation, golf, and is a singer/actor. His fiancé, Jocelyn, is with us today as Cindy Mewhinney’s guest.

Alexis De Wolfe

Daniel asked how many Club members own hybrids; one member, a Camry driver, raised her hand (and I think George Darte has a Prius). The Toyota Prius is the # 1 selling hybrid worldwide with over 1 million units sold since 1997, 10,000 of which are in Canada. Hybrid Camry’s have been available since 2000. Hybrids have accounted for 25% of all sales over the past year.

Daniel Titone

A Hybrid is defined as a vehicle having two power sources for propulsion. Most use Electric for power when stopped, when reversing and to aid in forward acceleration. They use their gasoline engine for acceleration. They use both power sources for cruising. The gasoline engines used in hybrids are typically high efficiency and low emission; the electric motors are synchronous. With a synchronous motor, the rotor rotates in synchrony with the oscillating field or current (e.g. permanent magnet motors). In contrast, an asynchronous motor is designed to slip; the most ubiquitous example being the common AC induction motor, which must slip in order to generate torque.

The battery is a nickel metal hydride, a type that is very long lasting and never needs to be plugged in; it is recharged through an on-board generator.

Hybrids offer significantly reduced emissions and fuel savings.

Daniel then explored some of the inevitable myths that arise when bringing new technology to the marketplace.

They are all the same. The Honda and Nissan are similar but distinct from the Toyota and Chevrolet shared technologies.

They all have to be plugged into the wall. No hybrids available today can be plugged in for recharge; all use on-board generators. Chevrolet has announced a pluggable product called the Volt that will be available in 2-3 years.

You will have to replace the expensive battery. This is not true as Toyota warranties its battery for 160,000 km or 8 years. If it does need replacement, the cost is approximately $3,000, similar to that of an engine.

Hybrids are expensive cars to buy. A well-equipped Hybrid Camry will cost approximately $31,000 while its gasoline variant is $29,000.

Hybrids are small and underpowered. Simply not true; a gasoline fueled Camry (curb weight 3285 lbs) has 156 HP and a hybrid Camry (curb weight 3680 lbs) has 187 HP. Doing the math shows that the Hybrid Camry has a better power to weight ratio. As far as small is concerned, the Cadillac Esplanade is now available in Hybrid technology!

Daniel offered the following comparison for our consideration.

Item	Gasoline Camry	Hybrid Camry
Annual Distance Driven (km)	24,000	24,000
Fuel consumption (liters/100 km)	8.0	5.7
Annual fuel consumed (liters)	1920	1368
Annual Cost (at $1.30/liter)	$2,496	$1778
Annual Savings	Na	$717.60
Years to recoup $2,000 premium	Na	2.78

Comparing Gasoline and Hybrid Yukons yields an annual operational savings of $873.60. In addition to this relatively favorable operational economy, hybrids significantly reduce emissions and to date, they carry excellent resale values. A taxi company in Vancouver has hundreds of Prius and Camry hybrids. They are all returning over 1 million kilometers on their original drive trains.

Daniel Titone with Hybrid Toyota Camry

Judging by the number of questions, our members were intrigued.

Doty wondered if the hybrids could be leased – yes.
Segalin expressed lack of inventory as his experience – yes, they are in high demand, especially with recent gas price escalation.
Zanutto questioned if all dealers were authorized to sell and service hybrids – no but Performance Toyota/Lexus is and authorized dealer.
McGrath wondered what proportion of cars sales are hybrid today and what will it be in the future – Daniel did not know but your editor has found the following on the internet from JD Power. Sales of diesel-powered vehicles and gas-electric hybrids are expected to grow sharply, tripling their share of the U.S. auto market to a combined 17 percent by 2015, as carmakers strive to meet tougher fuel-economy standards, according to a study by J.D. Power and Associates.
McKay asked if electric/gasoline hybrid was a North American phenomenon – yes, Europe is concentrating for now on diesel and will probably move towards electric/diesel in the future. India is developing electric/diesel now with their eye on the North American market.
St. Hilaire asked if the hybrid starts in electric mode, when does the gasoline kick in – at about 25 km/hr.

Stuart Butler thanked Daniel for his presentation today. He said that Daniel has certainly taken a lot of the mystery out of hybrids and remarked that our members valued his presentation because we are all concerned about our personal carbon footprints.

Daniel Titone & Tom Arkell

Next Week:

Incoming GSE Team from Bulgaria

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