President Iain Scott opened the meeting with a land acknowledgment and we sang O'Canada.

Chair announcements

World Water Day, March 22. Water is something we all need to survive. But 2.2 billion people still live without safely managed drinking water. That’s more than 1 in every 4 people. Rotary members work to keep people healthy and can even strengthen communities through projects that help people get access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. Rotary also has a new collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme that empowers members to clean up, protect, and monitor their local waterways.

Sarge Lyle welcomed guest speaker, Raymond Sokalski.

Magical Life Altering Opportunity - Time is running out to register for the District Leadership Seminar on April 12-14th. Registration link: https://www.crsadmin.com/eventportal/Registrations/PublicFill/EventPublicFill.aspx?evtid=fe336197-536e-4837-be61-7d70ab229d09

A lobster dinner committee meeting was held for Lobsterfest prior to the meeting. Jim Forestell reported that due to higher costs, the fee for the lobster dinner will increase $5 to $65.

Rossbrook Cheque Presentation - Wednesday at 9:30 am, Cathy and Glenn will present a cheque to Rossbrook House for $6500 which is from the proceeds of a very successful fundraiser held at the Caboto Centre.

Toastmasters visit - Last Tuesday, President Iain visited Investors Group to talk about connections that lead to stronger clubs. His talk included the forest and all the Winnipeg members were familiar with it. There were over 20 in attendance with 9 on Zoom. They are a group which has members across the country. Each member in attendance received a bag in support of the forest.

Coach Program - Llyod Talbot spoke about supporting the COACH program, with $2000 available to support several students wishing to enroll in summer programs. The club will seek District support by way of a matching grant. https://www.gov.mb.ca/healthychild/COACH/index.html

Bridge of Hope Ukraine - Rod Delisle reported on behalf of Mandy.

Thank you to everyone who took part in our Furniture drive on Saturday. We had around 30+ volunteers. In total we supported 16 families with furniture and household items. Once again we had a very efficient day with our families all completing their shopping by 11:00 am and all delivery trucks out by 12pm.

Our store emptied quickly as our families took a lot of items which is fantastic! A bit of panic started to set in wondering if we would have enough donations for our next drive; but as per usual we had nothing to worry about. By noon our store was back full again with donations. We are still in need of mattresses, desks, and kitchen tables & chairs.

With today’s drive complete, we have now supported a total of 246 Families since starting in October 2022! Our wait list currently has about 50 families in need of furniture. We know there are more families in need, so please spread the word to any Ukrainian refugee families in need.

Our families we supported today were very appreciative of the support. Some recently arrived while others have been here for about a year and still in need.

A special moment today when Oksana and her husband Vasyl came to volunteer for the first time. Oksana shared that we supported their family about a year ago back at our previous location at the CMU campus. They were happy to be able to return now as volunteers to help give back. We love this when our families return to volunteer with us!

Special thanks to Rod, Chuck, and Jack for organizing and cleaning the store earlier this week to prepare for today's drive. Our volunteers noticed it immediately upon arriving how nice everything was displayed. Great job!

*Next drive in 3 weeks*

We are planning for our next furniture drive event for Saturday, April 13th. Mandy will send you another note about this opportunity closer to the date. We are considering running a mini furniture collection drive prior to this date to restock the store. Stay tuned for more details.

The club was delighted to have Raymond Sokalski speak about 'Life Changing Sri Lanka'. Llyod Talbot introduced Raymond. beginning with a year's term as a Parliamentary Page in Ottawa. He then spent over 3 years cumulatively in Sri Lanka from 1984-1990.

Raymond presented an interesting vignette to the group about Sri Lanka'. He shared a video of a recent trip in February-March 2024 where he took his family to meet the people and see the places which formed a lasting relationship between him and the country.

Sri Lanka is an island nation, off the coast of India. The majority Sinhala people date back to the 6th Century BC. The Tamils established their presence in the north and east some 1000 years later. Europeans colonized it from the 1500s, starting with the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then for 150 years, the British. Colonization caused many internal imbalances. Independence came in 1948. A civil war between the Tamils and Sinhalas lasted from 1983 to 2009. Raymond's presentation also highlighted the religious diversity in the country. Food available locally is delicious. They travelled throughout the country by vehicle, bus and train observing a wide variety of cultural practices and people at work. Raymond's fluency in the local languages made him somewhat of a curiosity to the locals. Their travels also took them to different geographic regions with a wide variety of flora and fauna.

Glenn Campbell thanked Raymond on behalf of the club. President Iain added that we thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and the time together. He hopes to see Raymond as a guest in the future.

There were no fines. Glenn Campbell had his ticket drawn, but he was unable to find the blue marble. The pot grows....

Happy Dollars

• Lloyd had his Ukrainian t-shirt on when in Hawaii. He was asked "Aren't the Canadian flag colours red and white?" When Lloyd explained about the Ukraine project the response was: "You Canadians are so quiet about the good things you do."
• Jagdish was happy about the nice day.
• Nancy was excited that their 21-year-old twin grandsons are coming for Easter.
• David S. saw a white bison at the zoo on his way to the meeting, so he's expecting some good luck.

Anniversaries

Lyle is celebrating one year with his left knee.

There is no meeting next week as it's Easter Monday, however the following week will be Nigel Jollands & Veronica Lysaght of The Novara One Planet Project which supports at-risk coastal communities to become climate safe. Nigel and Veronica have made this their life’s mission travelling on a 2 masted sailing ship around the world. They are currently in the Caribbean and will connect via Zoom.

Before we go - Trust is important. Though I may have doubts about certain things… There is just one thing I have a problem with. Its Atoms.. You really cannot trust atoms… They make up everything.