President Glenn called the meeting to order with the land acknowledgement and the singing of O’Canada.

Sarge – Lyle Miller introduced Anya and 3 members on Zoom.

Club Business Announcements:

Adventure in Citizenship – Glenn showed a photo of Holden Zemlak, the student sponsored by our club for the Adventure in Citizenship program in Ottawa. He’ll return to Winnipeg on May 17.

Forest Clean Up – Thank you to Jack Wilson and Mike Dudar for arranging the clean-up of the Assiniboine Forest with the girl guides. Despite the rain and hail, the group managed to get into the forest and gather the litter. Next Wednesday May 17th at 2:15pm there will be another forest clean up. Meeting spot at 2:15 pm at Pacific Junction Heritage Park entrance (east end of Eldridge).

Ukraine Bridge of Hope – Mandy said thank you to everyone who took part in our Bridge of Hope Ukraine Furniture Drive this past Saturday. We had about 30 volunteers throughout the day. We provided furniture to 7 families. Donations were collected in the morning in nearby surrounding areas with a few stops of free items on the boulevards as it was conveniently Free Weekend. After lunch we delivered to the families then moved the remaining furniture to our storage unit at a Storage Solutions. In total, Mandy estimates that we have delivered furniture to 98 families and collected donations at over 110 locations across the city! Our project began in late October with our first furniture drive and have completed in total 9 furniture drive days. Currently we have 205 families on our wait list for furniture. We had a couple families accept computers donated from Computers for Schools Manitoba. Out of the original 25 donated she believes we have a couple left.

With busy summer schedules and the challenge to maintain our volunteering capacity, we have decided to move to having just 1 furniture drive each month vs bi-weekly through June, July, and August. Next drive will be June 17th. The plan will be to collect nearby donations in the morning to restock our inventory. Ukrainian Families will be invited in the morning with delivery in the afternoon.

Lobsterfest – Jim Forestell reminded members that Lobsterfest is less than a month away. Cathy Skene has tickets for members to sell. Tickets can be picked up at weekly meetings or contact Cathy at cathy.skene@gmail.com. Online registration on the club website is an option.

Attendance: 150 estimated
Hosted by Saskatoon Rotary Clubs
Registration Fee - early bird $275, Virtual $75
Charleswood Club attendance: Elaine and Ed Thompson, Peter Tonge, Glenn Campbell, Cathy Skene and Jim Forestell attended via Zoom
District conference 2024 - Moose Jaw, SK. May 11-13
District conference 2025 - Winnipeg when we host

Thursday, May 11

President Glenn drove to Saskatoon with Cathy Skene, arriving in time for registration and welcome reception.

House of Imaginaction included displays from a wide variety of groups and businesses with an affiliation with Rotary. Shelterbox had one of its tents displayed and provided an update during a break in the program. There was a memorial display profiling Rotarians who passed including Darvin Jasper, Bill Johnson and Ken Buckingham. There was a silent auction with items donated by clubs with proceeds to a Saskatoon based charity. Our club highlighted the Assiniboine Forest project, with one of the new Forest bags, decals, a book about urban forests, and soaps from Ft. Whyte Alive.

Friday, May 12

Registrants selected from a list of hands-on projects throughout the city.

Opening Ceremony - The opening program included a land acknowledgement, greetings from an elder, a prayer in Cree, national anthem, and a video greeting from Jennifer Jones, RI President.

We then learned about 3 significant projects from clubs in Dauphin, Kenora, and Prince Albert. It was informative and inspiring. President Glenn showed a video from the Dauphin club to give a sense of what was presented.

Conference attendees were then treated to a formal Citizenship Ceremony. There were 10 families from 7 countries who took the oath of Citizenship and presented with their certificates.

The conference program then moved to Wanuskewin to hike the trails, view the outdoor exhibits and visit the indoor galleries and museum. There was a wonderful meal and a presentation by 2 Rotary Peace Scholars.

Saturday, May 13

The program on Saturday included learning and development in 5 key areas. Our own Peter Tonge gave a presentation on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Other topics covered included collaboration and development, member engagement, public image, and celebrating everything.

These presentations wrapped up mid-afternoon and the District AGM was held separately. Cathy Skene and Jim Forestell were our voting delegates for the AGM. Jim advised that the resolution recommended by the District was approved.

There was a brief discussion about District Conference and its relevance to club members. President Glenn observed that many of the attendees serve on District Committees or were club Presidents or former District Governors. Some members attend District Conference and add personal travel.

The other consideration is a move to shorten the duration of District Conference. In 2024, the Moose Jaw clubs may plan for 1.5 days. Some concern was expressed about this trend.

President Glenn concluded that the 2023 District Conference was beneficial, and enjoyable. The interaction with other clubs led to sharing of ideas. He showed photos from the conference.

There were no fines and the raffle did not result in the drawing of the blue marble.

Upcoming meeting – May 22 – No meeting (Victoria Day).

May 29, Bob Silver, community and business leader.