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

Chair Announcements

President Cathy described an event she attended on Saturday 14th where the Rotary Club of Winnipeg sponsored a bed build for Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Club members from the Winnipeg Club and the Gimli Club helped out. Their goal was to have 40 volunteers build 40 beds for 40 kids in 4 hours. They actually built 41 beds. Saturday was ‘Bunks across America/bunks across Canada Day’. Every single chapter in Canada and every single chapter in the US built beds on Saturday. The Gimli club was there to observe and learn; they are starting their own chapter of SHP. And Gimli president Diane told Cathy that they have already gained four new members for their Rotary club already as a result of this new initiative. That took care of ‘No kids sleeps on the floor in my town’ (SHP’s motto).

A reminder that Rossbrook House has orange shirts available at $28 including tax. President Cathy picked hers up yesterday and was so excited that she wore it this evening. If you want one, just go to Rossbrook’s website and order online. They will email you when it’s ready for pickup. President Cathy took time to explain the interactions with staff and children and one young member in particular who took her information despite her challenges with writing when she went to pick it up herself. Her name is Emma Mae. Rossbrook House is making sure No Child should ever be alone who doesn’t want to be, and Every Child Matters. And the beautiful little faces that greeted her at Rossbrook are proof of that. September 30th is Orange Shirt Day. As of this year, it is a statutory holiday. But you can wear your orange shirt any day that you want to. Don’t save it for once a year.

On October 7, Charleswood Rotary Club will have a speaker from the Indigenous Affairs Secretariat who will talk about orange shirt day. President Cathy would like all attending that day to wear orange shirts.

Prairie Strides, who provide horseback riding for children with disabilities, gave President Cathy’s daughter one of the best experiences of her life when she rode with them. To support their fundraiser, she bought 10 tickets and graciously offered the members a free ticket who will in turn support our polio campaign. Those tickets are available for a fashion show at St. Mary’s Nursery just south of the perimeter on St. Mary’s Road on Sunday, September 22 from 1:30 to 3 pm.

A reminder about our Polio Plus fundraiser. A generous but anonymous donor will match donations up to $1,000 for Polio Plus this month. Let’s not disappoint them.

President Cathy explained we are in the process of forming a steering committee to plan an event to celebrate Charleswood Rotary club’s 40th anniversary. This is an exciting, once in a lifetime event, for the club to celebrate.

After the president’s announcements Jack Wilson requested help from volunteers with planting flowers along with The City Naturalist Dept. at the Chalfont entrance to Assiniboine Forest on Thursday September 19th. Volunteers signed up which was greatly appreciated.

Jack Decorby stood up to present a club he is a member of and enjoys greatly — Woodhaven Men’s Shed. The club has lots of activities which would suit a wide variety of interests. They are having an Open House on October 1st, 2024 from 1-4pm. The guest speaker is Gordon Goldsborough. Men’s Shed is a non-political organisation started in Australia in the 1980’s. Its purpose was for men to decrease social isolation and develop friendships and collaborate on meaningful projects in their local communities. Since then, the organisation has spread around the world with around 2500 Men’s Sheds operating in 12 countries. The first Men’s Shed in Canada was started in Winnipeg in 2010 by Doug Mackie and since then branches have spread across the country. Interestingly the first Rotary club outside of the United States began in Canada in Winnipeg. While membership is open to men over 18 years of age, it draws an older crowd. It is a way to combat isolation, improve the health and well-being of its members.

Sarge Lyle introduced our guests, Brent Poole, Ian Leatt and Murray Sloane, Larry Penner, Avis Penner & Tyler Crichton

After dinner we had a presentation by Brent Poole, Ian Leatt and Murray Sloane of BGP Environmental Group. They explained a process that they have for purifying water. Some of the areas that their product can be applied are:

• wastewater treatment plants
• sewage septic tanks
• collection ponds
• waterways
• waterbodies
• hog farms

He explained that their process reduces unpleasant or noxious odours in facilities or around sludge ponds.

We are grateful to Ian, Brent and Murray for taking time out of their busy schedules to enlighten us all on their processes for cleaning waste water.

Lyle then asked for Happy Bucks, birthdays, anniversaries to which the following stated…

• Iain heard that his Cholesterol came down to 1 from 4.7.
• Mandy heard that the trip she won to the Philippines in October is by First Class travel which is wonderful.
• Ed T. informed us his crop of corn is 8 feet high and his pinto bean crop looks great.
• Nancy shared that she and Dave are happy to have her grandchildren nearby over the past week to watch them play hockey in Winnipeg.
• Ezekiel was happy to share that he and his wife are celebrating their 2 year anniversary.

Sarge Lyle fined two members for wearing tee shirts which were not orange and then fined John for paying his draw ticket with nickels and then David S for having his phone ring during the meeting.

50/50

Sarge held the draw and Joyce Decorby, whose ticket was drawn by our guest, did not find the lucky marble.

Next Week

Our speaker had not been finalised as of the evening however has now been firmed up. We are delighted to have Hayley Edwards of Urban Stables speak about an organisation we support.

With that the meeting was adjourned.