It is with great pride that the Rotary Club of Courtice congratulates Marie Visser our Past President, who is this years recipient of The Les Faludy Leadership Award.  This award is a tremendous achievement for both Marie and our club as it is awarded to the Club President in District 7070, who in the judgement of the District Governor, Ted Koziel provided the most outstanding leadership during the preceding Rotary year.

The club proudly congratulated Marie on her fine achievement and certainly recognizes all the hard work she put into the club in 2012-13, her year as President. 

I want to thank the members of the Rotary Club of Courtice for the wonderful President’s Appreciation Night they hosted in my honour this evening.  It was a humbling experience and I found myself somewhat speechless, which for those who know me, know that is a rare occurrence.  I have had a wonderful year as your President and our accomplishments have been many.  Those accomplishments are not to my credit though, as a small group you all gathered behind me and we did it together.  We set lofty goals and smashed the heck out of every one of them.

Together we grew our membership, supported foundation and polio eradication, we engaged our youth through various Rotary programs, Interact and EarlyAct, formed many community partnerships and we HAD FUN doing it!  I am grateful for all the friends I have in Rotary and your dedication makes me aspire to be a better person.

I will sign off by noting to all who know me and know I never grew up that I still measure life in sleeps. Lou in 5 sleeps they are all yours and you are lucky because they are a fantastic group!  Thank you all for a wonderful experience and lifelong memories.

Yours In Rotary,

Marie

Councillor Novak came to speak about Clarington planning with an impact on Courtice.  Some facts:

Planning Policy evolves over time in response to changing economic, social and environmental factors. It involves the preparation of long term land use plans for the Municipality which guide the management of land and resources. The key document for governing future growth is the Clarington Official Plan. The Plan is based on 3 principals - sustainable development; managed growth; and, a healthy community - and is implemented (in part) through the regulations detailed in the Municipality's Zoning By-Law.

Development Approval involves processing applications for land use development and/or change. Applications include proposed Official Plan amendments, plans of subdivision and plans of condominium, rezoning’s, site plan applications, minor variances, consents, sign permits and registration of in-house apartments.  

Preconsultation it helps you…it helps us.   As a result of Bill 51, changes to the Planning Act came into effect in October 2006 making Preconsultation mandatory. An effective Preconsultation can advance your project through the necessary approvals process quicker.

Community Development Initiatives are activities in which staff work with community volunteers to improve our quality of life. Planning Services consult with local committees assisting them in committee development, funding proposals and administrative support.

Research and Special Studies involves social, economic, demographic and land use issues which are undertaken to assist Council in its decision making.  

Fiscal Capacity = Planning Policy = Taxes = Infrastructure

Priorities are the environment, job creation and preserving the small town rural character.

 Congratulations for a job well done.  

The Rotary Club of Courtice received the $1000 prize offered by the Bowmanville Rotary Club at the Foundation Walk Sunday September 23 in Bowmanville.  The award money will be used to fund an International Project and was awarded to the cub with the highest percentage of members in attendance.  Courtice Rotary had 100% attendance.  A big thank you goes out to all our members for making such an effort to attend!  

Ten years ago today Mayor Foster was sitting at a Rotary meeting listening to the local councillor and if you had have asked him if he thought he would be here today he would have laughed. 

His mother was a political junky and made him spend summers campaigning for hours every day all day.  This made him dislike all that was political then but this is now…and here he is.

He gets asked all the time if he is enjoying being Mayor and he will answer every time that it is a fascinating job.  Each day is a new adventure and he never knows what the day will bring.

He could never have imagined that he would be dealing with issues surrounding, Kingston the Pot Belly Pig, the Leash Free Dog Park, Valley’s 2000 Fish Ladder, Blowing up a House for a music Video or Port Grandy Allocations, but he has and the rewards and challenges  make the job as Mayor exciting.

Mayor Foster has also had to walk a mile or two In Her Shoes, Swim in Newcastle in January and was able to meet Kevin Costner at the Boots and Hearts Festival.

Mayor Foster ended by reminding us that it is not the big events in life that shape us it is all the little day to day events that we have to manage unexpectedly that prepare us for the big ones and keep things exiting. 

Leonard Dohn the 16 year old Rotary Youth Exchange student hosted by the Bowmanville Rotary Club came to talk to us about his family, his country and himself.  Although Leonard has been sponsored by the Bowmanville Rotary club, the Visser family (Courtice Rotary and the Interact Club of Clarington) will be hosting Leonard from April-August 2013.

Leonard hails from Plauen Germany which is near Saxony whose capital is Dresden.  Plauen is 1/3 the size of Ontario, 357 square KM’s with a population of 83,000,000.  They run a Federal structure with 16 states.

His hometown of Plauen is the capital of Vogtland and they adopted municipal law in 1224, with 65,000 inhabitants and it was very heavily destroyed in WW2.  They are known for their lace called Plauener Spitze.  Leonard showed us some samples of the lace which was beautiful.

Leonard’s family consists of his father Uwe Bauer, a pharmacist who owns his own Pharmacy and an engaged Rotarian who is also a Paul Harris Fellow, his mother Kathrin Dohn, a pharmacist assistant who works whit his dad, his brother Julian, who Leonard describes as his best friend and playmate and the family cat Shaja (pronounced Shy-ya and meaning the Scared).  When Shaja was a kitten she would hide under the stairs and jump out at them trying to scare them so her name has meaning to him.

There are 2 Rotary clubs in Leonard’s community, the Rotary Club of Plauen was founded in 1979, has 45 members and participates in many local community projects in Plauen mostly. 

The newest club, the Rotary Club of Vogtland was founded in 2000, has 29 members and primarily participates in worldwide projects with a particular focus on Lebanon and Nepal.  They are also Leonard’s home club who sponsored him to come to Canada which was by the way his first choice. 

Leonard also talked about his school Friedensschule Plauen, which has about 300 students who attend there each year.  He described it to be as big as Clarington Central Secondary School in Bowmanville, where Leonard will be attending while here on exchange which has an enrollment of 1400 students.  He is very excited about all the students there and attending school here.

Leonard loves biking, discovering new things, hanging out with friends, splash diving, and both 5m and 10m Platform diving.  He especially enjoys family things like walking, skiing, snowboarding and entertaining.  He often attends Rotary meetings with his father in the evening at home.

He is thrilled to be here and was excited to tell us about his family and home and we are thrilled to have you here with us for a year Leonard.  Welcome to Canada and Clarington!

Jessica Dawn Moore, Event Coordinator for the Global Idealists Organization

The global Idealists group is an Oshawa based organization that Jessica has become very involved in.   Jessica is a member of the board of directors.  Their mission statement and their core values are included below.

MISSION: As a growing movement throughout North America, Global Idealists will stand with those in poverty-stricken regions using creativity and consistent initiatives to ensure sustainable development through the power of education. Empowered with an idealistic mindset, our international family aims to alleviate illiteracy and provide opportunities

OUR CORE VALUES: These are the values that our organization lives by. Whether we are working with projects on the ground, making decisions with our board or simply in the streets with friends and family, our values have become a part of each and every member’s lifestyle. Global Idealists strives to be the best we can possibly be at what we do, and that's simply providing education. These values constantly remind us how we can be most efficient at doing just that.

Spenser Visser the Immediate Past President of the Interact Club of Clarington joined us this morning to tell us about his year as President.

Welcome to our Rotary Club!