The club’s last meeting of the 2020-2021 Rotary year began – as before, with the tinkling sound of a bell and the District Land Acknowledgement statement. Today’s virtual version of O Canada (described as “A mournful anti-anthem that seemed perfectly calibrated to the present, uncertain moment”) was sung by Don Amero (Canadian country and folksinger-songwriter from Winnipeg) prior to a Jets vs Canadiens hockey game as part of the pre-game ceremony honouring the 215 children whose remains were discovered at a former residential school in Kamloops, BC. This meeting’s opening ceremony was rounded off with the following Thought of the Week written in the Rotarian in 1916 by Paul Harris:
“The rise and fall of civilization will depend upon the thoughtfulness or the thoughtlessness of men. The greatest thing that can happen to man or nation is to stimulate the individual or national thoughtfulness.”

ROTARY MOMENTS

At a very recent meeting of the club’s foundation (Rotary Club of Charleswood Charitable Foundation – aka RCCCF) a suggestion was made that members submit donations (each on one’s own honour, as one pleases) – either to the club or to RCCCF (for a tax receipt) – to share the savings that meetings online have provided our pocketbooks over the past year due to the pandemic.

This week’s Chase the Ace (#11) winner was Muriel Sutherland. It was $28.00.

INVITED SPEAKER – unable to attend

PDG Nancy informed members that Christine Reid, who coordinates homestays for international students attending Oak Park and Shaftesbury High schools in the Pembina Trails School Division, was unable to be our featured speaker today because the student her family was hosting was to have graduated today and had organized a dinner for the family on short notice to commemorate the event. PDG Nancy indicated that Christine will be coming to speak to us in July (12^th ?) but needs to find Homestay homes by the end of July. Homestay families are compensated for room and food - $800 per month ($900 for students with special dietary needs) as indicated here: https://www.pembinatrails.ca/affiliates/isp/Apply/Fee-Schedule/Pages/default.aspx. The hosting terms can be for 3 months, 5 months or 10 months. To host, a family needs to have a bedroom available (with a proper egress window), clear police check and have an interest in cultural exchange. Gender, culture and interest-preferences are taken into account when matching students with families.

A concern expressed that the school division’s Homestay Program would be competition for Rotary’s Youth Exchange Program in the Charleswood area was somewhat allayed by the news that the Rotary Youth Exchange program has been cancelled until 2022-2023 the earliest.

CLUB SERVICE

I would like to begin this Report by acknowledging the work that Nancy Morris has done in regard to searching out and booking our guest speakers for our limited in-person meetings as well as the Online club meetings over the past year. Nancy has had assistance with these bookings, to some degree, from various other club members over the past year, and don’t get me wrong…that assistance is greatly appreciated and welcomed, but Nancy has definitely done the bulk of the work here.

To quote Nancy Morris in her report: “Thanks to the club members for your warm welcome to each guest. I think it is reassuring when you ask them questions about their presentations… It shows that we have listened and are interested. I also thank you for your input and suggestions. The current isolation won’t last long, we hope.” Nancy continues with, “The advantage of the Zoom meetings is that we are able to call upon guests who don’t have to leave their homes. I know we are all looking forward to the fellowship of being together. Keep cheerful and well.”

So, Nancy thank you for all you have done for the club and our meetings these past 12 months. I look forward to another 12 months of well booked meetings to come in the 2021/2022 club year.

MEMBERSHIP

Committee: Margaret Hemphill and Ed Thompson

According to Rotary International, 85% of new Rotarians are asked to join a club by members of the club. This year 3 new members were asked and sponsored by club members and inducted into the club. At the end of this Rotary Year, we have two prospective members who have sought Rotary membership by contacting Rotary International. Of those, one was referred to our club by our AG Leonard Klassen, and one contacted us directly after a response from his Rotary International inquiry. In both cases they had previous contacts with Rotary. In the first case… a District Governor in Ecuador, and the second… an interact club about 20 to 25 years ago. Another prospective member, and his family, has been fighting the ravages of Covid-19. He has attended two virtual meetings so far and Ed is optimistic that he will join when the Covid influences have disappeared .Of interest is that of the prospective members, two have children under 12 years of age . Rotarians with young children generally make great host parents for Exchange Students.

Ed has a few people that he wishes to contact once we begin our regular meetings again at Breezy Bend. For these individuals, Ed believes fellowship will be important, as well as giving back to the community. Unfortunately, Covid 19 has hindered implementing Ed’s membership ideas.

Namely: 1. Corporate and family memberships
2. Rotary Associates
3. Friends of Rotary

Respectfully submitted by Ed Thompson, Membership Chair, Rotary Club of Winnipeg-Charleswood

Thanks to Margaret and Ed, it is always encouraging to see new members joining our club. Wonderful to be heading into a new Rotary year with prospective members already identified and some even sponsored. I’m sure next year will be just as positive for the club.

COMMUNITY SERVICE - This report has been submitted by Jack Wilson.

This year has been one of challenging times as we all know. The Rotary Club had to do some balancing as our main fund raiser has been a no go, so far... Luckily, we have had some funds in reserve. These funds along with some small fund-raising efforts and management of spending has allowed the club to continue to support the main community groups as in the past. Some service projects did not unfold as envisioned by the groups and thus we did not complete donations. We were able, though, to support a couple of new groups this year. The Community projects we did support were as follows:

Westgrove School

A. We continued the running shoe program in conjunction with Canadian Footwear and New Balance shoes toward the donation of 65 pairs of running shoes and 100 warm winter hats for the students.

B. The Literacy program at the school was supported by the club donating $1200.00 toward library books for each classroom. We normally provide $4500.00 for literacy. But due to COVID and students in and out of school this year, we decided to only send over money for specific programs related to literacy at the school.

C. Raised Garden Box program – This year the club provided all the seeds and plantings for the garden boxes. In addition, the club obtained donations of soil and club members volunteered to complete the spring prep of the gardens which included the addition of the new soil.

D. Christmas food drive - This year the club raised approximately $1200.00 for the school food program. Also, due to schools being open and closed, this money is being held now until September, when we will provide food for their program.

E. 150 protective facemasks were purchased for the students at Westgrove School this year due to Covid-19

Stars Air Ambulance – the club continued our annual support to the very worthy STARS Air Ambulance program with a donation of $1500.00.

Urban Stable – The Charleswood Rotary Club is one of the original supporters of this worthy program working with troubled youth in schools. This year we provided Urban Stable with a $1500.00 donation to support one student. The club also agreed to provide additional funding of $1000.00 through an anonymous supporter donation and the club. This money is to be used for trying a new program with younger grade 4 & 5 students from Westgrove School.

Salvation Army – the club was unable to man a Christmas Kettle for them this year due to COVID. As we did last year, the club donated $1000.00 - half coming from the club account and half from the Club’s Foundation, RCCCF.

Habitat for Humanity – The club agreed to provide a donation of $1000.00 to Habitat this year, in support of their new home program.

Butterfly Pollinator Gardens – a new program this year was the club providing wildflower plants for two butterfly gardens. The intent of the gardens is to provide an environment to attract butterflies. One garden was developed at Westgrove School and the other at Assiniboine Forest.

Assiniboine Forest Green Team – As the club has done for many years, we support the Green Team in Assiniboine Forest. The Green Team is a summer employment opportunity for students. They complete the main maintenance work in the forest on a yearly basis.

Rotary Club of Charleswood Charitable Foundation (RCCCF) & Assiniboine Forest Project - The Board of the RCCCF developed a proposal for the club to consider at the start of this Rotary year. We are moving forward on a plan to provide enhancements to the Assiniboine Forest based on the Long-Term Planning Study completed in 2017. The proposal was accepted by the club. Plans are proceeding with this program. The projected budget is for $800,000.00. This work is to include trail upgrades, new signage, benches, historical research on forest area, parking upgrade and other improvements. Fundraising has commenced. In total, by the end of June, we will have raised $155,000.00. This includes a grant from the City of Winnipeg for $150,000.00.

The RCCCF has also supported several Rotary Projects over the past year. This includes:
Shelter Box, Assiniboine Forest, Rotary International Polio Plus, Salvation Army, Urban Stable, and 1000 Survival Gardens.

I would like to thank Jack, on behalf of us all, for his dedication to this area of our club’s activities. He has done a stellar job with this for 8 years. He has decided that the time has come for someone else to take on all but the RCCCF Chair and Assiniboine Forest. As previously announced, that someone else is Charles Crocker. Welcome Chuck!!

YOUTH SERVICE

Committee: Glenn Campbell and Iain Scott

1^st> The Ed Werbowski Memorial Scholarships – The bursary is available to a grade 12 student at each of the three high schools in Charleswood. Oak Park, St. Paul's and Shaftesbury High Schools are responsible for selecting a grade 12 student to receive the Ed Werbowski Memorial Scholarship each year. The bursary is applied to post-secondary education costs within the 2 years following the student’s graduation. The Club pays $1000 directly to the post-secondary educational institute which is then applied to the student’s account. As of the writing of this report, Oak Park High School confirmed that Gabriel Ajero is the recipient for the current school year. We are awaiting confirmation from Shaftesbury and St. Paul’s.

2^nd> RYLA – Rotary Youth Leadership Awards or RYLA is an intensive training program for community youth leaders. Young people chosen for their leadership potential attend an all-expenses paid camp to learn leadership skills through practice. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 RYLA camp was cancelled. In 2021, a virtual program has been offered. Registration is open now. The Club is sponsoring Brooklyn Piasta, the sister of Halee Piasta, with whom most members are familiar due to her MUNA involvement this year. Participants will range in age from 15-25 years of age.
Dates and Times for RYLA 2021 (Central Daylight Time): August 1-20, 2021 - There is NO expectation to participate every day throughout the three weeks. Keynotes, sessions and social activities will be offered at varying times of day and days of the week to help accommodate summer schedules. Recordings of live keynotes and sessions will be made available for later viewing.

3^rd> MUNA – Model United Nations Assembly is offered by the Rotary Club of Winnipeg - Downtown. The 2021 program was held virtually. The Charleswood Rotary Club sponsored a delegation made up of counsellor Donna Alexander and students Halee Piasta and Matthew Stipanovic. They have presented their highlights of MUNA to our Club on May 31^st.

4^th> Youth Exchange – Rotary International cancelled the Youth Exchange program for the school years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. The intent is to offer the program in 2022-2023. Club members Glenn Campbell and Iain Scott serve on the District’s Youth Exchange Committee and hope to bring Youth Exchange back to Charleswood. District 5550 is seeking club sponsorships by the end of December 2021.

5^th> Youth Adventure Programs – youth programs offered at a District level and beyond have been cancelled due to COVID-19. The Club will promote these opportunities once they are offered again - Adventures in - Agriculture, Citizenship, Technology, Aviation, Human Rights (RAHR).

Glenn & Iain... my thanks and appreciation for your work this past year on behalf of the club. Well done. All the best, working with these programs for the coming year.

INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

Lobster Fest 2020/2021
This report has been submitted by Jim Forestell, Chair of the Lobster Committee.
The last 18 months has been a challenge for the Lobsterfest Committee. Planning for the 2020 version was interrupted in March because of Covid. At first, the committee thought they were being over-cautious, but events showed that it was a good decision to postpone. This year the committee started by planning for a drive-by event at Varsity View Community Centre, as the Eric Coy arena was not available. They decided an on-line auction was impracticable so $10.00 was added to the ticket price to cover around 25 door prizes to be drawn prior to the event and to be picked up by the winners at the same time as the meals. Door prizes or cash donations were requested from members. We felt it was important to have guests feel they were getting added value with their ticket. Entertainment was planned to be a DJ in the drive-by area.

Ticket sales were started in March and were progressing when it became obvious, in early May, that it would likely be impossible to gather in a large enough team to conduct the event. Reluctantly the event was postponed until September 24^th.Around 300 tickets had been sold at that point and all sellers were asked to immediately advise their customers about the postponement and ask them to hold their tickets until September. Happily, almost all the buyers agreed to do so. The club will continue ticket sales to others throughout the summer. One thing learned through this was that more than half of the ticket buyers had never attended one of our lobster dinners in the past. They had heard about this one on social media or in one of the local weekly papers. This opens a new clientele for the club that we will have to consider in future. The committee will talk about a hybrid event where the club could offer a sit-down party style and a drive-by pickup service. We might be able to increase our ticket sales by a significant number. Jim closes his Lobsterfest report with, “I have been blessed to have a committee of energetic and wise Rotarians who have provided excellent advice during this trying period. We will continue to try to have the event in September.”

Lobsterfest Committee

Fantastic work under such shifting restrictions. A dedicated group working on behalf of all. This event remains the club’s main fundraiser each year.

COMMUNICATIONS / SOCIAL MEDIA / TALKING ROTARY

Peter Tonge has been busy posting regularly to the Club’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts this past year.

The ‘Talking Rotary’ podcast, hosted by Peter and Mandy Kwasnica, has all 24 episodes for Season #1 recorded. As of June 15^th, 19 episodes have been published online.

It would be appropriate to mention the ‘Pollinator Gardens’ here again. These have been planted recently at Westgrove School and Assiniboine Forest. Peter and Mandy also came forward with this idea. They received funding through the approval of the club Board for the plants. Peter and Mandy thank those members that volunteered to put in the manual labour to get the plants in the ground. The plants should be in bloom shortly.

FINANCIALS FOR THE CLUB
The various club accounts are healthy heading into the new Rotary / club year.

Sarge Mike introduced tonight’s meeting visitors – Lorena Andrade and her husband Luis Jativa.

HAPPY BUCKS
 

Lloyd reported that while visiting grandchildren in Alberta last week he saw 6 kayakers survive a 25-foot drop on falls of the Elbow River.

Dave offered a tooney. He was pleased about the confirmation by Portage Mutual that they will be supporting our club’s Lobster Dinner (again) AND delighted with the big bag of beer cans and bottles dropped off at his office by an anonymous supporter of our club’s Polio Plus campaign.

Darvin was thrilled that he had just finished packing up his car as he’s heading out to a rented cottage at Matlock (on the southern shore of Lake Winnipeg) to relax (and maybe do some fishing) for one month. He added another happy buck because of our “wonderful weather right now” - wife Sharon just received an email with a picture of their friend’s thermometer in Chilliwack BC – showing that the temperature was 44°C in the shade there.

Sarge Mike was happy that he and his wife Joanne got their second Pfizer shots yesterday.

President Doug was pleased with the recent arrival of his son and his fiancée, who have been living in Doug’s basement the past week or so. He was also pleased that they got early notice that they can move into their new apartment today.

Lorena was happy that she received her second dose yesterday and Luis will be getting his second dose tomorrow – a great relief!

PDG Nancy was delighted with daughter-in-law Tracy’s 11 year old son who recently lost another baby tooth – but advised his Mom that she doesn’t need to give him the tooth fairy story anymore and sneak money under his pillow for the tooth – he’ll accept PayPal or other money transfers. The Happy Buck was for his sense of humour.

PDG Ed had a Happy Buck because he was grateful for the ¾ inch of rain that fell in Holland recently – a great boost for the crops! Lloyd reminded Ed that he had called it a “million dollar rain” (but Ed still put in just a buck!). Club Treasurer Dave jokingly said he’s send PDG Ed an invoice for the rest!