Following the reading of the District Land Acknowledgement Statement and the singing of O Canada, President Doug provided us with the following Thought of the Week which is a quote from Paul Harris in his book “My Road to Rotary:

“Good works are not all there is in Rotary; good works are expressions only of something beneath. Beneath the good works of Rotary there is an invisible power; it is the power of goodwill. Some of the most powerful forces in the world are invisible… Even the air we breathe is invisible and yet it sustains life…Beneath the good works of Rotary there is an invisible power; it is the power of goodwill and by virtue of the power of goodwill Rotary exists.”

ROTARY MOMENTS

1. R.I. President-Elect Jennifer Jones will be doing a cross Canada tour after taking office on July 1st, 2022. She is planning to make Winnipeg a stop as we are the city that made Rotary “International”. The best guess for the visit date right now is around the 6th or 7th of July.In preparation for this visit, Eva Vida is putting together a committee to plan a city-wide service project of some sort that week.> If our club wants to take part, Eve asks that we select a committee member from the club. Then provide their name and contact information to her prior to the first committee meeting. That Zoom meeting is being planned for either Tuesday, November 16th 6:00-7:00pm or Friday, November 19th, 7:30-8:30am. Contact2. President Doug if you want to be on planning Committee.
2. The annual Ribfest…organized by the RC of Wpg- Downtown has been discontinued. Nancy Cosway – President of the RC of Wpg-Downtown) sent out an email to all other club presidents last week with this announcement, indicating that no one had stepped forward to be co-chairs of the event and that the funds raised were not what had been expected.
3. Reminder - Bring in your donations of socks for the ‘Fit Feet on the Street’ program and food donations for Westgrove School breakfast program.*Preferred food items as identified by the school representative include the following:
   • 1 liter sized juices
   • various jams and crackers
   • Cheerios (Honey Nut and Plain)
   • yogurts and
   • cheese strings
4. Salvation Army schedule has two vacancies for volunteering at the Salvation Army Kettle located at the Charleswood Liquor Store -
   • Saturday, December 4th from 10:00 AM to 12 noon and
   • Saturday, December 18th from 2 PM to 4 PM
5. An email addressed to the club sought help finding rental accommodation (a room or small apartment) for a 23-year-old female medical school graduate from Leipzig, Germany who will be arriving in January 2022 to study with the U of Manitoba Pediatric Surgery department for four months. Her father (Dr. Jens Lieckfeldt) is a member of the Rotary Club of Leipzig Center (Germany) and she expressed interest in taking part in Rotary or Rotaract Club events while in Winnipeg. If anyone is interested or has a contact please contact President Doug via email
6. An email from Rotarian Ruth Kristjanson indicated that she was resigning from the club due to other commitments requiring her time and attention, preventing her from meaningfully contributing to the club.
7. Chase the Ace Raffle, Week 31 winner was Nancy Morris ($34). The URL for the raffle site is: www.rotarychasetheace.org
8. Next week’s meeting –
   Howard Raber, the grandson of the founder of Raber Gloves has agreed to speak to our club about the 80 year old company’s “garbage mitts”.
   Note: Since Lorraine will be away next week, Rod will be looking after sending out the Meeting Notice via Clubrunner, along with the accompanying Zoom Invite for those taking part in the meeting online. Please ensure that by the end of Friday, November 19th, you click on the link in the message indicating your intention to attend in-person or online with Zoom - or neither. We require an accurate meal count to give to Cory at Breezy Bend.
9. Christmas Dinner – Get your tickets ($40 per person) for the club’s Christmas Dinner taking place at Breezy Bend on Monday, December 13th) from Sarge Mike.

by Nancy Morris

It was on July 6th, 1921 (a hundred years ago) that the Canadian Great War Veterans Association of Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) adopted the idea of a remembrance poppy to honour Canada’s fallen veterans. That idea had been put forward by Madame Anna Guerin of France, who was inspired by Guelph Ontario’s own Major John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” written in 1915 on the day following the death of a fellow soldier. John McCrae died of pneumonia on January 28, 1918. Madame Guerin had originally funded a charity to help rebuild regions of France torn apart by the First World War and created poppies made of fabric to raise funds.

In Flanders’ Fields

In Flanders’fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The Larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders’ fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
the torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders’ fields.

The significance of the poppy can be traced to the Napoleonic wars in the 19th century, since records from that time mentioned how thick poppies grew over the graves of soldiers in the areas of Flanders, France. It was found that fields that were barren in the area before battles took place were covered with poppies after the fighting ended. Rubble from bombardments of the war enriched the chalk soils with lime, which allowed the poppies to thrive. After the war was over, the lime was quickly absorbed and the poppies began to disappear again.

The government of Canada has placed a memorial to John McCrae at the site of the dressing station located next to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Essex Farm Cemetery. The Belgian government has named this site the John McRae Memorial Site.

On November 11th millions of Canadians pause and reflect on the contributions of war veterans that crossed oceans and seas to fight tyranny and to defend the freedoms that we all enjoy. These Canadians included members of the Metis and Indigenous first nations (Tommy Prince being a prime example).

Sarge Mike welcomed visitor Wendy Hales to our club meeting, then asked for Happy Bucks.

HAPPY BUCKS

Ed Toews was happy to report that he enjoyed a meal prepared by his son Colin, who in turn indicated that he feels that he’s feeling well enough to go back to work in January, that his post-COVID therapy is coming along well and he sounds more like his old self when he talks , but still has a fair way to go to regain his strength.

PDG Nancy had one happy buck for her husband Dave who had a pleasant time meeting people he knows while manning the Salvation Army Kettle at the Charleswood Liquor Store on Saturday afternoon and another one for her discovery of a neighbour who was selling hand-made quilts (by Hutterite women) as a fundraiser to give to a charity that takes care of boys that were taken away to be soldiers in Africa. Nancy bought two of quilts at $50 each, then contacted Jim Thiessen (Chapter co-President of “Sleep in Heavenly Peace”) to let him know about these quilts and he will get them to use for beds created for his organization - “All that goodwill for very little money!”

Chuck was delighted with the help of his granddaughter for shovelling the snow in his front yard.

PDG Ed’s snowblower worked for a while and got most of the snow off but in the end he had to order some replacement parts. He found a place called “Dr Mower” that sells Craftsman parts and his order came to $200. He’s happy now that the snowblower will be working again once the parts arrive.

50-50 DRAW

The holder of the ticket number picked by visitor Wendy Hale was Jagdish. Since there was only one marble left in the bag – and it was the lucky blue marble, Jagdish was the winner of the 50-50 draw, which amounted to around $100.