Ross MacDonald

Program: Update on Club Activities

After Grace by Jason Dilamarter, we sang Oh Canada, and toasted the Queen.

Head table guests included Chris Bangham, President Earl, Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Cole, new member Joe Proniuk and Ross MacDonald who introduced our guests.

Guests present were Mark Brickell (St. Catharines Lakeshore), Ron Sloan, Jim Shannon (St. Catharines South) and Greg Shupe (Niagara Falls)

Birthdays – Ray Bukovec, Erika Beatty, and George Darte who was trying to encourage Ray to pay extra to not have the birthday song sung in an effort to save everyone’s ears from the sound of us singing unaccompanied.

Announcements

Major Grants Committee, Jan. 22nd 5:00 at the Church Street offices of the YMCA (old Hydro Building, come in the Church Street entrance).

Public Relations Committee, Jan. 20th 4:30 at the offices of The Standard, 3rd floor board room.

Lloyd Buckley fell before Christmas and a card was being circulated wishing him all the best for a speedy recovery.

Liz Palmieri noted that next week’s speaker, Dennis Timbrell, will be making a major statement on Health Care in Niagara: A Unique Opportunity. She asked if members who will be bringing extra guests contact her so that she can make sure the golf club is adequately prepared.

Happy Dollars

John's Lehnen and Crossingham

John Lehnen had quite a challenge getting happy dollars from the first half of the room (members must still be recovering from New Years) but he met with much greater success half way through. His struggles earned him at least one happy dollar from Jim Denham.

Sangeeta Hollo reported that her father is forwarding lots of instructions from India and thoroughly enjoying himself.

George Doty remarked he had received a letter from fellow art lover Ken Thompson.

John Crossingham noted that “God invented wine so that he knows that he loves you and wants you to have a good time” (sign from a local winery).

Harold Nash deposited a pocketful of change he received from paying for parking after what we hope was a successful visit to his urologist.

Brian Stewart was happy to be back from his leave and announced the birth of a new son in September.

Rick Evans reported that he had just picked up his son from a trip to Brazil where he visited three former exchange students – Guy, Eliano and Fatima.

John Nitsopoulos reported that the renovations at the Holiday Inn are progressing well and that their new wine bar should be open in February.

Continuing on the wine theme, John Lehnen reported reading that when drinking wine, frequency is important but volume is bad.

However, not to forget about beer drinkers, Chris Bangham spoke of the virtues of beer over wine.

To which John Crossingham responded that his doctor told him to have no more than two glasses of wine a day, to which he responded that “what I do during the night is my business”.

50/50 draw: Ed Silver tried but was not successful in picking the Queen of Spades.

Program
Annual Club Assembly

Chris Bangham

Chris Bangham, Chair of the Communications Committee took over the podium from President Earl at this point. He reiterated that one of the goals of the Strategic Plan was to improve communications to club members. The program today is a mid-year update on the work of four committees.

Marg Jarrell

Marg Jarrell, World Community Service Chair, noted that there are 21 members on the committee and they have an annual budget of $15,000. They have had two meetings so far this year and disbursed $10,300. The guiding principles in selecting projects are to maximize on modest expenditures and to allocate to projects where there are not a lot of administrative costs. She then recounted the projects supported to date: 5 children through Foster Parents Plan (long time on-going commitment), committee members are corresponding with four and she is looking for another writer; support for the work that Father Beauchamp is doing in Domenica by assisting with the costs for a new roof to his workshop; support to the Manitiles Rotary Surgical Camp, which provides remote surgical services (Bill Finley regularly visits this Rotary Club and speaks highly of this project); funds to Foothills Nomalia to support medical supplies (we partner with another Rotary Club on this); workshop project in Tanzania in partnership with Toronto Rotary Club (speaker on this project will be at the final meeting in January); continued support towards the removal of landmines; new project in Bolivia to support impoverished homeless seniors (Lezlie Murtch brought this project forward); assistance to Not Just Tourists, Ken and Denise Taylor’s project to bring pharmaceuticals to developing countries. Committee is currently looking at four more projects: Sleeping Children, Aids Orphan Training Program, wells in Haiti, and the issue of preventable blindness. The next meeting is Feb. 20th at which time these projects will be reviewed.

Chris Bangham did a plug for advertising on the Rotary website – 16 spaces available at an introductory rate of $150 for the year.

Bob Lawler

Bob Lawler spoke about the work of the Charitable Trust Committee which has $10,000 available to give, but rarely grants more than $3,000 per initiative. Their support is limited to projects within the boundaries of our club and they like to support those organizations and individuals falling between the cracks. They receive many requests, most of which are generic in nature. They have met twice this year and there are 16 members on the committee. Support has gone to: Community Care; Salvation Army; Sir Winston Churchill Model UN team (to support their attendance at the international UN debate competition); Project Smiles Niagara which makes quilts for children with cancer. The committee usually meets quarterly with the majority of their disbursements taking place in the spring.

Jacquie Herman

Jacquie Herman recounted some of the changes to Membership, Recruitment, Classification Committee, which is chaired by Betty-Lou Souter. The Strategic Plan recommended that the 2nd Vice-President is the chair of this committee. They are looking at developing new procedures which mesh with the new directives on classification coming from Rotary International. These include: only two classes of members, either honorary or active; can have 5 persons per classification; up to 10% of the club may be from one classification and membership should be representative of the makeup of our community. The committee is obtaining clarification on the implications of these new directives and Dave Feasby is preparing a report for the committee on this. The committee is also developing new policies regarding recruitment.

Chris Bangham asked club members who have access to the Internet if they had accessed the website. It appeared that virtually all present have accessed the site.

Doug Geddie spoke about the progress of the Children’s Committee. Since the club no longer has a relationship with Easter Seals, this committee was mandated to find a new role for the club in working with young people. They have met with a Brock researcher, Trillium Foundation, Niagara Peninsula Children’s Centre and are still hoping to meet with a representative from the Niagara District Health Council. They have received proposals from the YMCA of Niagara (youth leadership initiative), Niagara Community Foundation (re supporting sending children with special needs to camp) and will be receiving a proposal regarding an Early Years initiative.

Questions/Comments from the floor: Is the Charitable Trust Committee restricted in only supporting registered charities? No, it can support individuals, organizations and not-for-profits groups. Bill Finley confirmed that the Sleeping Children program, which was rumoured to be on the verge of suspending operations, is alive and well. Brian Stewart asked why was the Easter Seals relationship severed. Doug recounted the history: Easter Seals was started through the early work of Rotary and much of the fundraising was done by Rotary Clubs, some of which were successful, some were not. Rotarians maintained contact with the children during this time. However, the organization has experienced major changes, due to the fact that they were almost bankrupt. The changes lead to a centralization and control of all fundraising and, due to changes in privacy legislation along with the wishes of some of the families, club members were no longer able to know which children they supported. This left nothing for Rotary to do. Mary Stack raised the issue about the not losing out on successful fundraising events (regatta and golf tournament) and Ed Silver informed club that the regatta is still supporting Easter Seals. President Earl said that they are working with the golf tournament sponsor (Algoma) is looking for a new charity to support. Greg Shupe, a guest from the Niagara Falls Club, recounted how their club is going through the same research and needs assessment process that our club is going through in order to determine where their energies and support will be targeted.

Chris Bangham closed by asking for feedback on the format of this meeting.