President Cathy Skene opened the meeting with the club's land acknowledgement and the singing of O'Canada led by Dave Morris.

Sarge Lyle introduced our guests Ruby Reimer and Stephanie Kababie from Epic Opportunities

Chair Announcements

The Anniversary planning committee met this past week, and we have a date for the anniversary dinner: April 28. This is a Monday night so it will be at our usual time, but bigger and better. Guests are very welcome, especially if you know people that could be encouraged to donate to the Forest, or become Rotary members.

We are planning a digital photo display as well as a short film about the history of the club. If you have any pictures and/or video that you can share please let Jack know. Jack, Rod and Nick will be handling the technical side. Glenn, LeeAnn, David and I are the rest of the committee. If you have ideas, raffle or door prizes to offer or, whatever…please speak to one of us.

A couple of weeks ago Eva Vida spoke to us about the Rotary Foundation, and brought along Joe from the Winnipeg Satellite club who had tickets for a fundraising concert to raise money for Oak Table. President-elect David, DG Peter and I attended and it was a lot of fun. Other dignitaries in attendance included Warren and Kelly Thompson, Frank and Nancy Cosway, Eva and Joe and the satellite club president Patricia Austin. And at the raffle ticket table, Wendy Hales.

The Ecco singers were great, and of course, it’s almost impossible to look at Jorrel without smiling. It was an evening that warmed our hearts. They are planning another for next year, so try to attend.

A reminder that the district conference will be May 9 and 10 this year. It will be quite short, and very affordable. It is virtual but Warren Thompson is working on putting together a ‘viewing party’ at the Holiday Inn on Portage Avenue. That would involve them having a room and inviting all the Winnipeg Rotary clubs to come and view the event together. There would also be coffee and maybe some snacks. The conference planning committee is meeting on January 28th, so I hope to have more to share with you next week.

District Leadership Training will be March 21-23. The in-person event will be in Russell MB, and the training will also be over zoom. This is required training for club president-elects, but all club members are encouraged to attend. You should have received an email invitation from Fred Wright. May 9th is also Winnipeg Assiniboine’s annual fundraising dinner so if you need a bigger party plan on attending that. I expect Warren will be showing up with tickets in the near future, just as we will crash his meeting with tickets for our anniversary dinner.

And of course, don’t forget the RI conference in Calgary. It is coming up fast.

Add in Lobsterfest in June and the golf tournament in September, and we have a busy time coming up.

This evening President Cathy was delighted to welcome Ruby Reimer and Stephanie Kababie from Epic Opportunities. Some of you may remember Stephanie from the meeting where Amy Tung, the founder of I am Love, was our speaker.

Ruby is the Executive Director of Epic, and Stephanie has a much bigger title. She is the Director, Strategic Communications and Philanthropy. She was responsible for moving our AGM to a brew pub last year, and it was a great move. They are here to tell us about the work that Epic does and it is important work. They recently moved two of the last residents of the Manitoba Developmental Centre into their own home in St. James. Some of you contributed to the campaign to raise funds for landscaping, which the provincial government does not cover. That event, by the way, was also held in a brew pub. Please welcome Ruby and Stephanie.

Presentation

Ruby spoke about the inadequate government funding and the right people with disabilities have a high quality of life and opportunity to grow. Stephanie talked about the Epic Opportunities Foundation and its initiatives.

The presentation was accompanied by a video from Epic opportunities which can be seen here:- https://youtu.be/yMpiFPAYqYc

They emphasized the importance of their campaign to raise funds and for more information how you can support this worthwhile organization, please visit this web page:- https://epicmb.ca/dare-to-dream-campaign/

Charleswood Rotary thanks both Ruby and Stephanie for taking time out of their busy schedules and keeping us all informed of the work that Epic opportunities does in our community by empowering people.

Happy Bucks, birthdays, anniversaries.

• Lloyd was happy that he was able to deliver a Paul Harris award to Greg Fraser, and he had a birthday on Saturday. He did not want us to sing.
• Chuck had two happy bucks. He was again in Devil's Lake for the fishing derby, and again won nothing. Also had bad weather and didn't win a prize. He was also happy about taking his granddaughter to see the movie Madagascar.
• Stephanie was happy that her Mom (Johanna) sent us a Hello. She was also happy that her daughter was named 'player of the game' in the boys' league.
• Nick had a birthday and the members sang to him.
• Ed Thompson was happy to be back from Orlando.
• Al Roberts was happy his flights were changed yet again and so he was able to be with us.
• Bob Ehlers had a birthday.
• Bernard went to Cornwall, Ontario and got lost in his rental car. He was happy that he eventually found his way.
• Cathy was happy to have Ruby and Stephanie here. At last.

Sarge Lyle — The Draw

Chuck won the 50/50 draw, and he found the blue marble.

Guest speaker Stephanie brought an Epic coffee cup filled with mini chocolate bars and Cathy won that draw.

Next week we will hear from Mary Agnes Welch and Brian Pincott, speaking about the Westminster Housing Society. Winnipeg West Rotary Club and Winnipeg Assiniboia Rotary Club have already committed to supporting the WHS, and other clubs are looking at joining them. They are coming to talk to us about how we could be a part of this initiative.