After Nancy Morris rang a bell to start the meeting, President Doug provided a video of O Canada sung by The Tenors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFWrPPKBNq0). The video had images of different Canadians holding signs describing what Canada means to them. This was followed by a reading of the Rotary International’s Mission Statement: “We provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.”
ROTARY NEWS
There is a new challenge that was made by the Dryden Club during last week’s Zoom ‘Talk Show’ meeting hosted by the District Executive. The challenge was to see what club in District 5550 could get the highest percentage of its members to make a donation of at least $20.20 to Polio Plus by Oct 24th, 2020. These monies would be directed to the Rotary International Foundation in support of Polio Plus to help celebrate World Polio Day on October 24th. It is now possible to make payments through our club’s website - https://portal.clubrunner.ca/1000.
To pay by cash, cheque or e-transfer, click on “How to Donate”.
To pay by credit card, click on “Member Login” then on the following areas - Admin, Members, My Account Balance, Make a Payment. Enter the amount you wish to pay via credit card, fill in credit card details and then enter a payment directive in the Comments section at the bottom.
Pat Chernesky (District 5550 Polio Plus Chair) has advised that to track our contributions, we are encouraged to submit our donations, $20.20 minimum (…no maximum!) to Ed Thompson, the treasurer of the Rotary Club of Charleswood Charitable Foundation (RCCCF). The funds should be submitted on the Multiple Donor Form so that each member donating a minimum of $10 gets a tax receipt from RI.
To end Polio worldwide, the transmission of the wild Polio virus must be stopped in two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Rotary Club of Kenora is organizing a Virtual Walk for Polioon October 24th, World Polio Day, to raise money for Polio Plus. It was suggested that our club could become a member of the Kenora’s fundraiser (http://raise.rotary.org/Gord-LeMaistre/celebration) or start our own fundraising effort.
An organization by the name of Can Do People is running a fundraiser which consists of a cash card to be used at local businesses – namely - Bernstein’s Deli, Brazen Hall, Calabria Market, Chocolatier Constance, Cornelia Bean, Floral Fix, Garwood Grill, Golf Dome, Gravity Lingerie, Heights Archery & Hunting Supplies, Meyers Drugs, Muscles by Meyers, Pembina Source for Sports, Paper Gallery, Radiance Gifts, Rae & Jerry’s, Sausage Makers, Shauna Lee Boutique, Spa Botanica and Transcona Salon Spa. Five percent of card sales goes to fund the Can Do People organization’s program for “adults living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), other intellectual disabilities or exceptional behaviours that are not conducive to pre-requisite skills of typical adult day programs.” The program also provides transportation services to individuals requiring such care. Purchase of cards is open until October 13th. To purchase some cards, contact President Doug (dgmckenz.g@gmail.com) and he will send you the complete PDF form for ordering them.
Rotary District’s VIRTUAL WORKSHOP will take place on Saturday, October 17th, 2020 on Zoom from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM in Manitoba and Ontario. Apparently, contrary to last week’s report, it’s still not too late to register for this workshop – contact Signe Holstein of the District Learning and Development Team directly by email at signeholstein@hotmail.com or by phone at 1-204-642-8705 or 1-204-651-3239. Topics covered include Community Engagement, Member Engagement, and Fundraising During and Post Covid-19.
Mandyand Peter of Talking Rotary will release their third podcast “tomorrow” (i.e. Tuesday, Oct 6th) – an interview with with fellow Rotarian Paul Brault about our club’s work with Westgrove School.
Ron and Claire Noseworthy (from the Rotary Club of Kenora) are ShelterBox Ambassadors and former ShelterBox Response Team members (SRTs). They have had 16 ShelterBox deployments between them to various disasters around the world ranging from the Haiti earthquake in 2010 to flooding in Malawi in 2017. Claire has served as Director of the Kenora Rotary Club and Ron as President in 2006/07. Ron is a Director and Past Chair of ShelterBox Canada and sits on the International ShelterBox Rotary Steering Committee, which promotes and advances the strong Project Partnership between ShelterBox and Rotary International.
Claire shared with us the places where ShelterBox is currently being deployed (as of September 29th, 2020):
Tanzania- flash flooding - 677 families have received shelter kits and solar lights. Working with the Red Cross of Tanzania
Bangladesh and India- Cyclone Amphan destroyed 1.7 million homes. Currently accessing - unable to distribute yet due to ongoing flooding. Covid is problematic especially in India . Partnering with Habitat for Humanity.
NE Syria- permission has just been granted to cross the border with 729 tents . The tents will enable the refugees to resume schools and offer more protection for Covid. Working with BAHA (Bahar Organization).
Ethiopia- 8 million people were displaced as a result of conflict.
Philippines - proactively distributing corrugated roofing to frequently hit areas to protect them from Cyclones. Partnering with Terres des Hommes
Vanuatu- responding following Cyclone Harold providing kitchen sets, rope and tarps. Working with CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere).
Chad Basin- 10.7 million people displaced by Boko Haram. Working with ACTED (Agence d'Aide à la Coopération Technique Et au Développement) to distribute tents and shelter kits.
Burkino Faso - 1 million people displaced. Partnering with HELP.
On top of hurricane season, many areas are severely impacted by Covid - help us prepare to help them.
A 21-minute video was presented. It featured a discussion between RI General Secretary John Hewko and Shelterbox Chief Executive Officer Sanj Srikanthan on the role ShelterBox plays not only in disaster areas but also as a shelter for stopping the spread of COVID-19 and saving lives - testing, quarantining, and hand-washing throughout areas affected by conflict. The video also provided answers to a question about what Rotarians can do right now to help ShelterBox.
In discussions following the video presentation, we learned the following:
Originally, the ShelterBox consisted of a green box containing a tent and household items for a family to resume some semblance of a normal life after having lost their home to a disaster. ShelterBox now also offers kits consisting of tarps and tools useful for a family to repair an existing home (e.g. using a tarp to replace a missing wall or roof). These kits, it was found, were often more culturally sensitive and helped people to recover from the disaster more quickly. Tents in the front yard are very helpful in an earthquake disaster where it’s too dangerous to live in the home.
Since the tents separate families and the walls have two layers for airflow, it’s difficult for the COVID-19 virus to get inside the tent even if an area is crowded with other tents.
Tents are being used to isolate people during this pandemic – can never have enough tents!
Tents are also being used as hospital rooms.
Amazing work was done by Rotarians when there was flooding in Malawi during the Rohingya crisis.
85% of donations go into the boxes and kits handed out by ShelterBox.
Training to be a ShelterBox Response Team member is a process that takes almost a year and takes into account character, personality, resilience, and willingness to listen to the community affected.
President Doug thanked Ron and Claire for their presentation and in turn, Ron expressed appreciation for our club’s continuing support of ShelterBox.
After briefly introducing our visitors – Ron and Claire Noseworthy from the Rotary Club of Kenora and former ShelterBox Response Team members – Sarge Mike proceeded to ask for Happy Bucks from the 20 members present online.
HAPPY BUCKS
Iain was very happy with Caroline’s 60th birthday surprise – one and a half hours of entertainment (by comedian Al Simmons) for a small family birthday gathering, which included an attempt by Al to fit inside the family dog’s crate. Simmons indicated it was “one for the record books of strange concerts he had held”.
Chuck will be celebrating his and Pat’s 45th Wedding Anniversary on October 11th.
Ed Thompson was delighted to have spent a beautiful day golfing today. (To which President Doug responded that he was so busy planning tonight’s meeting that he didn’t even get a chance to get out the door today!)
Dave is still very pleased that people keep on dropping off beer cans at his office – more funds to go to support Polio eradication.
Lloyd was happy to have come out of self-isolation on Friday.
As an aside, Darvin noted that CNN had just reported that President Trump has just walked out of a helicopter to return to the White House after a brief stay at Walter Reed Hospital with his COVID-19 diagnosis.
NEXT CLUB MEETING
The next meeting of the Charleswood Rotary Club will take place on Monday, October 19th – by Zoom. The guest speaker will be the General Manager of “Nurse Next Door”, Daria Zmiyiwisky, a past Rotarian.
Next Board Meeting is planned for Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 @ 4:30pm to 5:30pm. (“as long as it works for the majority”).
