President Mandy thanked the club members for the opportunity to serve a second term as President of the Charleswood Rotary Club. The time flew by due to how busy we all were with the district conference planning on top of all the regular club functions and responsibilities. President Mandy wants to build on what was started last year.
Highlights:
- A successful district conference with feedback such as “best one I have attended”. Our club had the largest attendance of all the Winnipeg clubs.
- Be The Inspiration
- Handbags of Hope project – 40 volunteers, 10 boxes sent to Silom Mission, 150 Bags filled. A fun session during the district conference, the International Exchange Students helped and had a great time.
- Increase Membership – we did increase by three members with Iain, Eira and Rohit. Due to loss during the year we actually finish 2019 with an increase of One.
- Westgrove Community Garden – we will continue to help with this project.
- Westgrove School support- shoes, knitting club (Glenda Werbowski +), breakfast program, library books to students.
- Strengthen Relationships – Urban Stable, we had a tour and meal onsite. STARS Ambulance, funds from the District Conference were donated to STARS. We are the only Winnipeg Rotary club offering support to STARS.
- Club meeting in the Assiniboine Forest and highlight tour by Al Roberts.
MIKE MALONEY – R.I. President 2019 / 2020
Mark Daniel Maloney, of the Rotary Club of Decatur, Alabama, USA, is the selection of the Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International for 2019-20.
Maloney is a principal in the law firm of Blackburn, Maloney, and Schuppert LLC, with a focus on taxation, estate planning, and agricultural law. He represents large farming operations in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, and has chaired the American Bar Association’s Committee on Agriculture in the section of taxation. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Alabama State Bar Association, and the Alabama Law Institute.
He has been active in Decatur’s religious community, chairing his church’s finance council and a local Catholic school board. He has also served as president of the Community Foundation of Greater Decatur, chair of Morgan County Meals on Wheels, and director of the United Way of Morgan County and the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce.
A Rotarian since 1980, Maloney has served as an RI director; Foundation trustee and vice chair; and aide to 2003-04 RI President Jonathan Majiyagbe. He also has participated in the Council on Legislation as chair, vice chair, parliamentarian, and trainer. He was an adviser to the 2004 Osaka Convention Committee and chaired the 2014 Sydney Convention Committee.
Prior to serving as a district governor, Maloney led a Group Study Exchange to Nigeria.
He also served as Future Vision Committee vice chair; Foundation training institute moderator; Foundation permanent fund national adviser; member of the Peace Centers Committee; and adviser to the Foundation’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Schools Target Challenge Committee.
The 2019 / 2020 Rotary logo;
The vision statement from last year, “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves”. (Barry Rassin)
President Mandy has decided to focus further on last year’s goals as she believes that we can build on them this year;
- Speak to each of us and find a way to be involved. Did a survey of members, this remains a work in progress.
- Every meeting accessible to everyone. The WiFi connection at Breezy Bend is not strong enough to live stream meetings. Looking into possibility of recording meetings then posting online / Podcast.
- Increase our digital space (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter +++). Martin plus others are responsible for this. The Facebook page is fantastic. The meeting that was called ‘Let’s Get Social’ was very informative. Could produce a small library of videos to post regarding topics such as ‘What is Rotary?’, ‘Who is in the Club?’, ‘What is the club doing now?’. These types of video productions will aid in attracting younger members.
- Make our projects known. Fabricate stand-up banners to place at the entrance to meetings to show what the club is doing and who we are actively working with, IRCOM, STARS, Westgrove School, Urban Stables, Ryla etc.
- Balance international and local community projects. Bob Antymniuk is working on getting a working group together for this.
- Increase membership. Kris Wilson has advised that he is leaving Rotary due to family/ work time restraints. He is willing to assist the individual that takes over ‘Youth Chair’. Always working on looking for new prospective members.
President Mandy showed a photo of club members in Assiniboine Forest with a ShelterBox tent set up as a display for all entering the forest to see. Future events like this should be considered.
Highlights of last year include great fellowship, hard work while still having fun, fundraising activities, great speakers, exploring with remote meetings.
President Mandy is excited for what is next to come!
Elaine Thompson -Past District Governor
She had 47 clubs to visit during the Rotary year. She and Ed were able to get to 44 clubs in person. Elaine was able to use ZOOM to make presentations to the Thompson and Yorkton clubs. Steinbach was difficult as the dates set would end up getting changed. The club missed paying the January dues to R.I. and have lost their charter.
Elaine’s last activity as District Governor was a change over in Selkirk where a few Paul Harris Fellowships were handed out as well.
Her first activity as a Past District Governor was as a visitor at the Kenora unveiling of their ‘spray park’. This was a $600,000 project completed in partnership with other entities.
Favorite memories include two visits to Wascana, Sask. At the first visit Elaine heard plans for an activity to take place at a future meeting, “bring something old with a story”. Elaine wanted to take part in that, so they made a return trip to experience that meeting. The second club that she needed a return visit was with us. Her first visit scheduled for Charleswood was cancelled due to a power outage.
Ed Thompson, official driver, was proud to declare that he got them to all meetings on time.
President Mandy thanked Elaine for making the summary presentation and advised that it is a huge deal to have a district governor in your club. Congratulations to Elaine.
Iain Scott wondered if there have been Rotary presentations at local schools or universities to explain what Rotary is and does for the community locally and internationally? Mandy advised “no”, and also stated that she believes she now knows what committee Iain should become a part of!
