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

Chair Announcements

There was a very exciting event recently. Dory and Rod have gotten married. Congratulations!

UM Earth, a University of Manitoba engineering group, presented their clean water project for Honduras to the club. Club members showed strong support, leading to a $1,000 donation approved at the recent board meeting. The students have promised to update the club on the project's progress.

Bridge of Hope Ukraine reported another successful day.

President Cathy recently delivered 32 pairs of socks, donated by our wonderful members, to the Main Street Project.

We will also be gathering socks at the Christmas Party to go to Feet Fit for the Street. And we will be gathering other items for Westgrove School. You can bring your items to the party, or if you prefer, or won’t be attending, they can be given directly to Chuck.

And speaking of the Christmas party, it will be held on December 16th, right here at Breezy Bend Golf & Country Club. Chuck has tickets. They are priced at $45 each. And family and friends are welcome. Get yours soon.

President Cathy shared a story and photo about holding the door for the Lieutenant Governor, successfully assisting her, though her aide-de-camp stayed alert for any mishap.

As evidence of what a fine job President Cathy did, Ms. Neville has invited her to Government House for a panel discussion on 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence on November 28th. President Cathy will share what she learns.

A Rotary Moment: One of President Cathy’s favourite activities is floating, a sensory deprivation experience. After a recent float, she mentioned to Jordie, a staff member, that she was delivering socks to the Main Street Project and collecting more at the Christmas party. Inspired, Jordie promised to contribute socks next time.

Last week, we held a joint Remembrance Day ceremony with Winnipeg clubs, hosting over 70 attendees, including a visiting DG from Nigeria. The event was well-received, with many requesting a repeat. Don’t miss Col. Jody Hanson’s inspiring talk in last week’s bulletin.

And finally, a message from the Rotary Foundation Canada. The Rotary Foundation Canada addressed recent media coverage about a legal matter involving a family dispute over the will of a longtime Rotary member. The widow claims her late husband intended to change his will to distribute his estate among several charities instead of leaving it to the Rotary Foundation, as originally stated. However, he passed away before making these changes. The Foundation emphasizes their commitment to honouring the member's wishes but states they lack sufficient information to take a definitive position on the matter at this time.

After dinner, President Cathy called on President-Elect David to introduce our speaker but noted he’s delayed returning from Vancouver after the Grey Cup, so she stepped in. Katie, David’s daughter, is an intern at the Borgen Project, a nonprofit advocating for increased foreign aid to combat extreme poverty. Her presentation highlights the benefits of boosting Canada’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) and strategies to meet the UN-designated ODA goal.

Katie discussed the Borgen Project (borgenproject.org), a nonprofit organisation advocating for global poverty reduction. She highlighted the organisation's history, goals, and successes, including support from high-ranking military leaders General Colin Powell and Sec. of Defense Robert Gates and in the US. Katie also emphasized the importance of increasing the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, which currently stands at 0.31% of Canada's Gross National Income (GNI), below the UN target of 0.7%. Sweden, Norway and Denmark already contribute the UN target amount. The US is far behind at 0.1%.

90% of the world's poor are projected to live in Sub Saharan Africa. Providing education and family planning will help in closing the gender gap and will help women. Women are more likely to be affected by poverty.

She suggested that if all 17 developed countries invested an additional $2 billion additionally poverty could be reduced by 50%. Overall by investing $350 billion annually in addition to what they contribute, global poverty could be eradicated. Katie also encouraged attendees to email their MPs to advocate for a higher ODA budget and to spread awareness about the Borgen Project.

Katie finished with questions and answered questions around the size of the organisation and how the volunteers help in being involved with activism and fundraising.

We greatly appreciate the time taken by Katie, taking valuable time to explain the efforts to improve the lives of others who are less fortunate.

Before Dinner, Sarge Lyle introduced our guests and members happy bucks and anniversaries.

• Caroline was happy she is going to visit her grandson and brought items to donate to Salvation Army which led to a successful shopping trip for toys
• Cathy will celebrate her birthday on Wednesday, 27th of November.
• Jack was happy to report the Sagimay Trail is coming along nicely at Assiniboine Forest and with the snow holding off it will be complete on Saturday. (With noted from Jack later in week)
• Mandy informed the group the Ukraine project has had another successful event last Saturday. To date, 333 families have been supported and is on track to support 350 families by the end of the year. She was happy to report one of the farmers who is supporting the project has been supplying his truck and therefore no need to rent one. Desks and mattresses are in demand however no more couches for now.

Sarge Lyle had our guest Katie’s partner, Julian choose the winning 50/50 ticket. Caroline was the lucky ticket drawn and unfortunately did not draw the winning marble.

Ed Toewes explained his communication with the Salvation Army regarding the Kettle program this year.

Iain met 3 members of the Scandinavian Centre at Assiniboine Forest. Sonja Lundström, Helle Wilson and Kathy Hallick (www.scandinaviancentre.ca). They all love and support the forest. The hope is after the New Year they will come to speak at our regular meeting.

President Cathy announced the speaker for the 28th is Amy Tung, Founder - “I Am Love” Project who was originally scheduled to speak to us on September 30th. She’s a wonderful person, so worth the wait.

The meeting was then adjourned..