President Bob Antymniuk was looking at a room nearing full capacity last night when he rang the bell. A great turn-out of Rotarians and guests. Dave Morris set the pace for O Canada and Rotary Grace then President Bob handed the meeting over to the Sarge.

 

Darvin Jasper was the Acting Sarge for the night due to Sarge Lyle not being present. The Acting S.A.A. introduced our guests for the evening;

 

Stephen Ishmail, PDG Rick Hubbs and Fran Hubbs, Isadora and Gabriel Valentini, Rohit Goenka, Kelly Clements, Eira Braun-Labossiere, Jeff Currier (Speaker).

 

 

Due to issues with initiation supplies, Roh Goenka will have his induction ceremony take place in the new Rotary year, P.E. Mandy will be club President at that time.

 

President Bob reminded everyone that the Rotary Club of Winnipeg East A.M. Charity Golf Tournament will be held at the Elmhurst Golf & Country Club on June 18th, 2018. Entry is $200/golfer or $1,200 for 4 golfers and hole sponsorship. It is in support of Keep Them in School Foundation. Tickets can be purchased by email at:  sold@winnipeghomeconnection.com, or mail to: Winnipeg East AM Rotary Club, c/o 130 Victoria Ave. Winnipeg, MB., R2C-1S5 .  Call: Geoff Archambault: 204-997-1761

 

P.E. Mandy Kwasnica advised that the build date for the Rotary Community Garden at Westgrove School, will be Thursday, June 7^th, 2018. Lumber has been donated by McMunn & Yates while the soil has been donated by Beaucage Lawn and Garden Care. Twelve club members have volunteered to help build the garden boxes as of tonight. There are 8 boxes to build from 8am to 5 pm. Please bring any items to be donated to the garden on Thursday so that they can all be presented at the same time. If this is not possible for you, then bring the items to donate next meeting.  P.E. Mandy will send out individual emails to determine who should bring what large power tools to the build.

 

Darvin Jasper advised that a 5/16 drill bit is needed for the build, if you are bringing a power drill.  Darvin also advised that a group of Oak Park High School students would like to volunteer to help on the project (volunteer hours required for graduation). Discussion, -they are welcome to come out to help.

 

Ed Thompson advised that the selection of seeds should be done carefully at this time. Short growing season left.

 

Paul Brault advised that tickets are available for the Inaugural Westgrove Literacy Centre Fundraising Gala Dinner. The dinner will be held at Breezy Bend C.C. on June 20^th, 2018. Tickets are $40/pp. The centre receives no government funding. Some people have made a donation in leu of a ticket purchase. Consider purchasing a ticket for a student of the centre to attend. The goal would be to get all students to be able to attend the dinner. Please see Paul if paying cash or cheque. If paying by credit card, payment can be made at Morris Agencies. Guest Speaker: Dr. Niigaan Sinclair, pasta dinner, silent & bag auctions (thanks expressed to Dave and Nancy Morris). This event is co-sponsored by the Charleswood Rotary Club.

 

D.G. Elaine Thompson made note of the leftover soft drink bottles from the lobster dinner. They can be donated to a cause or auctioned off tonight. Suggestion made to give to the Westgrove Learning Centre. Paul looked into this option and advised that the bottles can be used at the food bank at Westgrove Family Resource Centre.

 

D.G. Elaine Thompson was impressed with the number of Rotarians and volunteers that turned out to help on Friday night, Saturday morning and Sunday morning. She was taking pictures all evening at the dinner. She has a smashed lobster picture, but not an intact lobster. Please submit any interesting pictures, especially an intact lobster.

 

Dave Morris had been handed 10 bottles of Fort Garry beer from Ed Gramiak. These were also left over from the lobster dinner. Ed Thompson bought the beer for $1/bottle.

 

Nancy Morris reported on the lobster dinner auction tables. The 2018 bag raffle brought in $5,080.00 (slight increase over 2017) while the silent auction brought in an additional $1,945.00 (slight decrease over 2017). Two auction items were left and can be identified as belonging to Gord Penner & J. Kealy (?)

 

Martin Labossiere was asked by Gord last year, “what would you like to work on for Rotary?” Martin has come up with a concept for a project that would start conservatively but could grow in size and commitment very easily. The project would provide housing for the homeless in Winnipeg.  Martin can see that this project could best be served by a joint effort with all Winnipeg Rotary clubs working together. The housing unit can be built for $90K in 90 days. In Calgary this type of housing unit is built to a R-32, however, for Winnipeg it can be built to a R-35 for Manitoba`s climate. President Bob asked Martin to put together a presentation to be made to the club board and membership.

 

Jim Forestell asked anyone that took home trays to wash from the lobster dinner to please count the trays and label the box, before returning them for storage.

 

President Bob asked Rod Delisle if he had any comment about the Lobster Dinner?  Response- Thankful that it is over for this year.

 

Ed Thompson was advised by Mur Sutherland that there were 3 bags not picked up at the lobster auction tables. Mur questioned if in the future, could bags be put up for a second round of auction?  Nancy Morris said that could not be done, it is not a problem to store the bags for the winners. The winner usually comes looking for their prize eventually.  Jim Forestell advised that if someone is leaving early, all the person has to do is put their name on the ticket stub and give to someone staying.

 

 

In 1985, Rotary launched its PolioPlus program, the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication through the mass vaccination of children. Rotary has contributed more than $1.7 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. In addition, Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than $7.2 billion to the effort.

 

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, formed in 1988, is a public-private partnership that includes Rotary, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and governments of the world. Rotary’s focus is advocacy, fundraising, volunteer recruitment and awareness building.

 

Today, there are only three countries that have never stopped transmission of the wild poliovirus: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Just 37 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2016, which is a reduction of more than 99.9 percent since the 1980s, when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day.

 

The polio cases represented by the remaining one percent are the most difficult to prevent, due to factors including geographical isolation, poor public infrastructure, armed conflict and cultural barriers. Until polio is eradicated, all countries remain at risk of outbreaks.

 

Rotary will raise $50 million per year over the next three years, with every dollar to be matched with two additional dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These funds help to provide much-needed operational support, medical personnel, laboratory equipment, and educational materials for health workers and parents. Governments, corporations and private individuals all play a crucial role in funding.

 

 More than one million Rotary members have donated their time and personal resources to end polio. Every year, hundreds of Rotary members work side-by-side with health workers to vaccinate children in polio-affected countries. Rotary members work with UNICEF and other partners to prepare and distribute mass communication tools to reach people in areas isolated by conflict, geography, or poverty. Rotary members also recruit fellow volunteers, assist with transporting the vaccine, and provide other logistical support.

 

Nancy Morris introduced our guest speaker for the evening, Mr. Geoff Currier. Geoff was born in Ottawa. He began his radio career at CFRA in Ottawa in 1981. He worked in the Sports Department. His assignments included covering the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, World Figure Skating Championships and was colour commentator on Ottawa Rough Rider broadcasts. In 1986 Geoff moved to CKRM in Regina and worked as the Sports Director and play by play voice of the Roughriders. He spent the next 12 seasons there. He was also the TSN Saskatchewan correspondent during that time.

 

Geoff came to Winnipeg in December of 1997 to host Prime Time Sports. He also worked as the colour commentator on Blue Bomber broadcasts. In the early 2000`s , he transitioned out of sports and took over as the host of The Nighthawk. Geoff moved into his current daytime slot in August of 2015.

 

Geoff started his presentation by thanking the club for the invitation to come out and give a presentation as well as the opportunity to play a round of golf prior to the meeting. They all had a terrific time out on the course. Side note here, if you can – go to the Westgrove Fundraising Gala Dinner and hear Niigaan Sinclair give his presentation. This is a guy that `just gets it’.

 

Geoff`s presentation tonight was all about what the game of golf tells you about yourself and those that you are golfing with. It is much more than just a game. The first thing that is different about golf is that everything in the game counts against you! You must be very self reliant. “Sports don't build character; they reveal it”. These words have been attributed to renowned basketball coach John Wooden and influential sportswriter Heywood Hale Broun. Golf shows who you are and therefore, how you were raised.

 

Another sports/business related quote is, “Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than nineteen years of dealing with him across the desk.”, Grantland Rice. These are reasons that a lot of business deals are done on a golf course.

 

Golf is so much more than just a game. It requires great precision. This is why so many business deals are done on a golf course.

 

Geoff wanted to make a few comments on the state of the media in today’s world. In short, mainstream media is not healthy. Newspapers are especially hurting. In the past, if you wanted to sell something or look for employment, you bought a newspaper and searched. The classified ads were a major source of income for the papers. That is now gone. Now the searching is all done online. In one major newspaper, the career section used to generate $10million, now it only brings in $2million. It is hard to stay afloat with that kind of lost income. That income stream is what pays for the journalism. Some papers have shut down, other publications have become digital only (Newsweek). Only 3 newspapers in the USA have circulations above 1 million/day; USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times.

 

You do not get as thorough reporting as you used to. If you want quality reporting in the future, you will have to pay for it. Only a free and open media can speak truth to power.

 

Q/A

 

1.-Ed Thompson; golf dilemma as follows, golf partner in the bush looking for ball. You go ahead to green. Player behind hits a beautiful shot from bush. You found his ball as you walked ahead and put it in your pocket. What to do?

A. golf is all about the rules. A two-stroke penalty for hitting the wrong ball. And a two-stroke penalty to you for moving his ball!

 

2.-Martin Labossiere; there has been about 10 years of consolidation in the media. Companies are being bought up and only big players are left. Is this detrimental or what is the effect of this?

A.-CHUM is a private company. Corus is publicly traded company, cuts start to happen to keep the stock price in positive growth. The big players are Bell, Roger, Corus, Global. CJOB has 2 reporters but with the Global association there are 6 more reporters available in our market to get stories reported. With national reporters, he can call on correspondents for news coverage of distant events.

 

3. Martin Labossiere; there is a new generation that uses Facebook as their sole source of news coverage.

A.-This is a bad source of news. The coverage is a mile wide but only an inch deep. These individuals lack concentration to read an in-depth article.

 

4.-Brian Campbell; has received Facebook stories that he can just sense are wrong. Simple short search and able to prove the story fake.

A.-A great fact checker site is `SNOPES.com’. You must do a little leg work.

 

5.- Chuck Crocker; Is Donald Trump good or bad for the game of golf?

A.- Golf surely reveals who he is.

 

6.-President Bob; Comment on Trump and the media.

A.-President Trump says that the media is the enemy of the state. He says that the N.Y.T. and The Washington Post are both “fake news”. Ann Coulter, a conservative writer in the USA and prior Trump supporter has been quoted as saying “Trump is a shallow, lazy ignoramus”. We voted for him because he was “saying the things we wanted to hear”. Trust is the only thing that the media has.