Following the Land Acknowledgement Statement and the singing of O Canada (led by Lyle), Acting President Glenn informed members that this week - April 24-30 - is World Immunization Week and reminded us of Rotary’s work to eliminate Polio in the world through immunizations.

ROTARY MOMENTS

Glenn reported that at the latest Lobster Dinner Planning Committee meeting, a decision was made to raise the price of Lobster dinner tickets to $60, leaving the price of Chicken dinner tickets at $50.

Mandy, who was unable to attend this meeting, had asked Glenn to thank the members (especially Jack) for their contributions to making the Bridge of Hope Ukraine such a success.

Nancy (on Zoom) reported that 7 more books were purchased and delivered to Westgrove School recently and that the package of used stamps recently sent to a Rotary Club in Australia arrived more quickly than usual. Nancy is also collecting canned drink tabs to be used for manufacturing wheelchairs.

Glenn has recently received two emails from President Doug providing guidance in filing the results of the club’s Chase the Ace Lottery to the Lotteries Commission. PDG Ed was the latest winner of $42 in the Chase the Ace draw.

Assiniboine Forest Spring Cleanup: Notwithstanding the recent snow, the Girl Guides and some of their parents, along with Rotarians Jack, Bob, Cathy (maybe), Glenn and his wife Eloise will be participating in a spring cleanup at the Assiniboine Forest on Wednesday, April 27 from 6:30-8:30 pm. Along with Rotary and the City of Winnipeg, they will bag garbage along Grant Ave and around the parking lot at Chalfont. Let Glenn know if you’d like to take part as well. The City will supply bags, vests, litter pickers and extra gloves. The Girl Guides will use this as an opportunity to learn more about the Forest and more about Rotary and our club’s role as stewards of the Assiniboine Forest.

The club will be sponsoring Brooklyn Piasta for the in-person RYLA taking place in July. Brooklyn represented the club in the past and was a guest speaker at our February 21st club meeting.

District Conference dates: May 5 and May 12 – online.
D5550 Annual General Meeting: May 14th

RI President Jennifer Jones visit to Winnipeg, July 6-7, will include a tour of the Assiniboine Forest, followed by lunch.

Breezy Bend has installed new wifi – ask for the password.

Chuck briefly introduced Gordon Goldsborough, who is a professor at the University of Manitoba’s Department of Biological Sciences. and a past president of the Manitoba Historical Society.

For years, Gordon has studied Manitoba wetlands in the Delta Marsh (at the south end of Lake Manitoba) and in the much larger and more polluted Netley-Libau Marsh (at the south end of Lake Winnipeg). The Netley-Libau Marsh is losing its vegetation (and hence its attraction of birds, fish and furbearing animals) due to four contributing factors:

1. Dredging of the Netley Cut (which connects the Red River to the marsh) in 1913 (and 1915? and 1970?).
2. The lack of low water periods since the 1970s (Low level periods encourage vegetation to grow)
3. Cessation of Red River dredging since 1999 (with the result that the mouth of the Red River is being clogged)
4. Red River flood mitigation since the 2000s.

A 2-year Pilot Restoration Project was undertaken to demonstrate techniques for re-establishing marsh vegetation using an amphibious dredger (Amphibex AE400) to deposit sediment into new areas, producing a healthier marsh. A healthy marsh traps Red River nutrients which in turn produce indigenous medicines and country foods. In addition, a healthy marsh sustains habitat for commercial and sport fish, furbearers and birds.

The Pilot Restoration Project included 13 partners and funding from 7 organizations (including Manitoba Hydro). The process included collecting seeds that were in the marsh soil, taking images using drones, bird surveys and fish surveys. Getting approval from the provincial and federal government for these activities was a challenge.

For more information, visit https://www.savenetleymarsh.com/

Acting President Glenn thanked Dr. Goldsborough for his presentation.

Sarge Mike welcomed tonight’s guest – Dr. Gordon Goldsborough and proceeded to ask for Happy Bucks.

HAPPY BUCKS

PDG Jim was pleased to see the article titled “Lobster Served with Sides of Community Betterment” in today’s Free Press, for which he and Jack had been interviewed. As a result 25 lobster tickets and 3 or 4 chicken tickets had already been sold online from the club’s website.

Jagdish was happy to be back again from his holiday.

Glenn was happy to report that the resolution put forward by the Charleswood Rotary Club to add “positive peace” to Rotary International’s Avenues of Service was one of the 22 successful resolutions passed by the RI Council on Legislation (out of the 85 resolutions submitted to the Council). Both PDG Jim and David Newman (Winnipeg Rotary Club) worked together for 4 years to put forward that resolution. A background on the story of the resolution will appear in the District Governor’s Newsletter.

PDG Ed reported on the financial aspects of the Bridge of Hope Ukraine dinner and estimated that the event will likely net in the order of $16,000 for the project.

Iain was delighted that he was able to drive safely through a water puddle on Route 90 that was two feet deep.

Lyle was happy to have survived a Colorado low without a power outage, with the result that his home was not flooded.

Chuck read the article in this morning’s Free Press about our club’s Lobsterfest and felt that it was very well done!

50-50 DRAW

The 50-50 ticket number drawn by Gordon Goldsborough belonged to Iain. However, Iain did not succeed in pulling out the lucky blue marble.