Past President Cathy opened the meeting with our land acknowledgement, and the singing of O Canada.

Chair Announcements

The February board meeting will be held on February 10th, next Tuesday. President David has a commitment on February 3rd, so it will be one week later than originally announced.

The District Leadership Seminar (DLS) will be held March 27-29 in Russell MB. Some of you still think of it as PETS (President elect training seminar). It was decided a number of years ago to change to DLS to welcome all Rotarians, especially those in, or interested in, club leadership. And that doesn’t just mean being president; there are many leadership opportunities in a Rotary club. The registration email has gone out, sent by Fred Wright.

Cost includes all meals and accommodations. There is also the option of virtual attendance for only $25. This year we have added a pre-conference. There will be a 4-hour AG training seminar, (for incoming AGs only) and a 2-hour Nova ClubRunner session on Friday afternoon. ClubRunner has been revised and this seminar will help you learn about the changes. It will be led by our own Jo-Anne Dalton. Her club was a ‘pilot’ in adopting Nova, and Jo-Anne is also our district tech whiz. She will make it accessible and understandable. This session is open to all, either in-person or virtually.

District 5550 has made the decision to return to an Assistant Governor model, from the district leadership team model that has been used for the past few years. An assistant governor needs to have been a club president for at least one full year, and preferably have some district committee experience. Consider taking on this role in the future.

Winnipeg Charleswood is establishing a Membership Committee. You should have received an email about that from Cathy on Thursday. If you didn’t receive the email please let her know. It’s come to the district’s attention that a few members are blocked, and we want to figure out why and get that fixed. And if you didn’t receive an email for DLS registration, let Cathy know. We want to make sure that everyone is in the loop.

We are also pursuing corporate memberships. Briefly, corporations are asked to sponsor employees to belong to Rotary. It doesn’t have to be the same person attending each time. And it doesn’t have to be a big corporation. Small organizations are welcome too. Glenn and Cathy are putting together a proposal to apply for a District incentive grant to help with this, but we can go ahead with or without the grant. This will be brought to the next board meeting again. One of the requirements of the grant application is a list of organizations that will be approached. There is a sheet on each table for suggestions. Please add your suggestions, and if you have a contact, and/or are willing to make contact, add that too. In other words, fill in any empty boxes that you can. We’ll work further on this at the upcoming Membership Committee meeting.

And don’t forget District Conference May 8-9. Registration is now open on either the D5550 website or on the Neepawa club website. It’s an easy drive this year, so please consider attending. The next two years’ conferences will be held in Winnipeg, so grab this chance for a road trip. Cost is $250, or $165 for one day only. Accommodation is on your own. Cathy has heard good things about the new Best Western Hotel.

Lloyd shared that our district has been approached by our Rotary friends in Minneapolis, asking for support in their struggles. Many people there, especially those who are racialized, are afraid to go to work, and to send their children to school. Since many are front-line workers, unable to work remotely, this has caused them severe financial hardship. Food banks are using volunteers to deliver groceries to them. In keeping with Rotary values, we asked a Rotarian there how we could help. The following is their response:

Dear DGE Warren, Wayne and Cathy –

Thank you for your generous offer to help us out in Minneapolis which is in the heart of District 5950. This has been a very difficult and challenging time for many people in the Twin Cities, particularly Minneapolis.

The best, easiest and quickest way to help would be a donation to one of the two food shelfs below which both serve Minneapolis:

• Second Harvest Food Shelf www.2harvest.org
• Harvest from the Heart Food Shelf www.harvestfromtheheart.org

Please let me know what your district decides to do. I’d love to be able to thank you and create a social media post to highlight your district helping our district! Together, we unite for good!

It has been decided by the district board that the most efficient way to handle this is to collect donations at the club level, and have the club treasurers submit a single payment, along with the number of donors, to the district treasurer. The district treasurer will then submit a single amount to the food shelf in Minneapolis. As the need is urgent, they have asked to have this done by February 13th.

Jack DeCorby reminded those that rang the kettle bell for the Salvation Army have to respond to the invitation to the appreciation dinner now.

This evening we welcomed as our guest speaker, Dee Monti. Dee is with the Healthy Start - A Pregnancy and Parent & Baby Program. Cathy met Dee at a workshop on getting sponsorships. This was a Volunteer Manitoba event, facilitated by our friend Andrew Kussy of The Dream Factory. It was a double win for Cathy: She learned a lot from Andrew, and met some wonderful people. Including Dee.

Dee shared a PowerPoint with pictures of program participants. She passed around a 7 pound packet to simulate the amount of increased blood a pregnant woman carries to reinforce the need for extra nutrition during this time. Healthy Start teaches cooking and nutrition as well as providing many supports for families. Participants can come and learn to prepare a dish together, and then have the option of purchasing, for $2, a package containing all of the non-perishable ingredients needed.

Healthy Start has been operating for 29 years. It has government funding, but that funding has not increased since it began. They have sixteen employees, and many dietitians, nurses and other health care professionals visit their program.

They also go to the people, rather than expecting people to come to them. This is particularly important to people who experience challenges with transportation.

Learn more about Healthy Start by visiting Healthy Start .

Cathy thanked Dee and presented her with a Forest bag.

Sarge introduced our guest, Dee Monti.

Happy Bucks

• Iain was happy because, as much pleasure as he has walking their dog, soon he will be in Curacao staying warm, while someone else walks the dog.
• Jim was happy to have recovered from his illness. The cruise was great. And Lorraine is nearly well again.
• Jack was happy to have missed last week’s cold weather by going to the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, while there, he went in the pool with his phone still in his pocket, and the phone was destroyed.
• Chuck is happy to see the sun still up when we arrive for our meetings.
• Dee was happy to hear that Rotary is deeply involved with polio eradication. Her daughter works in medicine. Her research interest is infectious diseases, with a special interest in polio.

Birthdays

Ed Toews has his birthday on Thursday.

50/50 draw

No blue marble today.

Next Week

February 9: Samantha Westlands, ED and Program Coordinator for HIP Y2Y. Samantha will be coordinating a walk through the Assiniboine Forest in April in support of Honouring Indigenous People. She expects 100-200 participants. The Downtown Rotary club is spearheading this initiative, and has asked Charleswood to help out.

February 16th is Louis Riel Day, so no Rotary meeting. In the spirit of reconciliation, you are strongly encouraged to take part in one of the many events that will take place that day.