President Glenn began the meeting with the Treaty 1 land acknowledgement. Dave Morris led all in singing of O'Canada.

Rotary Moment - President Glenn reminded everyone Veterans Week is November 7-11. He chose a video from Veterans Affairs Canada to play. It featured some veterans from the current generation and those still serving. It was appropriate during this week of reflection. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/people-and-stories/

Sarge Lyle Miller made special mention that Doug McKenzie was is in attendance and he was welcomed with a round of applause. The only guest was Monique Levesque-Pharoah who would be more fully introduced later in the meeting.

Club announcements:

- A final reminder that the District is holding its Fall Retreat this week. Thank you to Iain Scott, President Elect who is traveling to Regina to attend in person. President Glenn will participate virtually. Fred Wright, District Governor, calls the retreat "an important building block in our District Membership Growth plan".

- At the club's Board of Director's meeting on Tuesday, the Board approved our Club's planning of District Conference in 2025, when Peter Tonge is District Governor. Jim Forestell and Rod Delisle will co-chair the planning committee. - The Board also agreed to partner with the Assiniboine Club to hold a fundraising golf tournament to be held in mid-September, 2023. Thanks to Cathy Skene for taking the lead on this. Please contact her to help with planning. - Chuck Crocker is selling tickets for our Christmas Party to be held December 19. A good number of members are helping to plan this special event. Please buy your tickets early. - And finally, President Glenn thanked Honourary member Myrna Driedger, who invited the club to attend the upcoming Throne Speech. Lloyd Talbot and President Glenn will attend on behalf of the club.

Ukraine Project

Mandy reported that she successfully secured a storage unit at Storage Solutions (300 Caron Rd, Headingley,MB). This now allows us to continue our furniture drive for Ukrainian Refugees.

A collection day will be held on Wednesday, November 9. Donations can be delivered to Storage Solutions between 9am-4 pm or email for pick up: info@bridgeofhopeukraine.com. Thank you to Storage Solutions for offering us storage as a donation to the project. https://www.storagesolutionsmb.ca

Iain Scott introduced our guest speaker. Monique Levesque-Pharoah is a long-standing Toastmaster and served on the board from 2016-2018. As a member of Vital Words since 1994 and charter member of We Believe in Winnipeg since 2009, she enjoys using her Toastmasters skills in all aspects of her life. She met her husband Don there in 1994. She holds a Certificate in Human Resources Management (Honours) and has professional experience in employee development, communication & leadership. She's the business owner of Unique Communications & Training and certified mediator through Mediation Services Manitoba, she also enjoys working with organizations and leadership teams on conflict strategies. Since 2014, Monique has worked at the Health Sciences Centre Foundation. As the Director of Partnerships & Events she works with organizations to help provide tomorrow's health care today. She's excited to share updates from HSC, some patient stories that have left an imprint and how Operation Excellence will improve health care where we need it most - right here in Manitoba

Monique's presentation highlighted the work of the Health Sciences Centre Foundation. Operation Excellence is a $100 million campaign to revitalize and report HSC as a surgical centre of excellence and innovation. It is the largest campaign in the history of the HSC Foundation. The campaigned was launched in June, 2022 with $75 million already raised, including a $50 million contribution from the province. The campaign is a 6-year initiative to redevelop a number of key spaces at the HSC campus. With the public's support, Operation Excellence will help HSC address the urgent diagnostic and surgical wait list situation in MB, improve patient safety, comfort and outcomes by moving toward a more minimally invasive procedures when circumstances and technology allow, reduce emergency department wait times, and to become a hospital of choice for surgeons, nurses and allied health professionals looking for opportunities to learn, excel, and perform leading edge work.
For more information, visit www.operationexcellence.ca.

Happy Bucks

Chuck was happy that he finally got a tree down at his cabin.

Lorraine was happy (as we marked Remembrance Day) that her husband survived his years of military service.

Al Roberts was happy that he returned from Alberta before the snow arrived.

Mandy was happy for the fun her kids had at their first Halloween.

Jagdish was happy that Doug was at our meeting.

Ed Thompson was happy that he got all his fall work done.

Doug was $2 worth of happy to be back at our meeting.

Cathy was happy that we were being taken care of by the Manitoba PGA 2022 Executive Professional of the Year (also known as Cory) this evening. We are very lucky to have him.

50/50

Sarge Lyle Miller asked guest speaker, Monique to draw a 50/50 ticket that belonged to Ed Thompson. Ed did not draw the blue marble, so the pot grows for the next club meeting.

Fines

Sarge issued several fines including President Glenn who did not have his name badge. Sarge also sold poppies to members.

Next week - Our guest speaker is Hayley Edwards, Executive Director for Urban Stable. Hayley will tell us about how Rotary is supporting their programming and changes at Urban Stable including a recent move to a new location. We will also induct Len van Roon Jr. as a new member. Watch your email for the meeting notice and a link to register.

Honorary member Anya rang the bell to adjourn the meeting.