Weekly Club Bulletin - No 1106 (Mar 11, 2019)

Rod Delisle
(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)

Mar 18, 2019

City Councillor Kevin Kline

Introduction

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March 18th, 2019 Meeting

Breezy Bend Country Club

Mar 18, 2019
5:45 PM – 7:30 PM

Club Home Page

Bulletin 1106 - 11 Mar 2019

Members - Please indicate if you'll be attending our next meeting by responding to the invite e-mail when sent to you.

Meeting Report

Posted by Doug McKenzie on Mar 11, 2019

President Mandy Kwasnica opened the meeting tonight with an offer to initiate O Canada and Rotary Grace. Dave Morris was present and recovering well from his health scare, but not feeling up to being our choirmaster tonight. President Mandy immediately handed control of the meeting over to the Sarge for guest intros and other Sarge duties.

Sarge Mike Dudar was in the mix tonight selling 50/50 tickets and keeping an eye on what everyone was up to before the meeting, during the meeting and meal, as well as right up to the final ring of the bell. A fine can arise out of the slightest irregularity at any moment!

We had no guests tonight.

ROTARY MOMENTS

President Mandy advised the following arising from tonight’s board meeting;

Lobster dinner – wanting to collect cash donations to enable more shoe purchases for Westgrove students requiring same. R.C. of Charleswood has been involved in the donation of 25 pairs of shoes already. The students share the shoes at this time, except for a couple of them. This means that a further 75 pairs of shoes are required in order to give each student their own shoes. The thought in the meeting was to have volunteers walk around the arena floor with a shoe in hand and tell the story of need to elicit donations.
Possibility of new concept for membership. Ed Thompson was asked to elaborate;

Corporate Membership – for the cost of 2 regular memberships, the corporation/business would be able to have 3 people join.
Designated Replacement – when a regular member is away, they could designate a replacement individual to attend meetings and experience what it is like to be a Rotarian and what we do.
Friends of Rotary – for $50 the individual would receive the ‘Rotarian’ publication, minutes of regular meetings via email, Rotary group email pushes, Rotary function email notification. The fee would be paid through the R.C.C.C. F. (Foundation) and generate a tax receipt for the ‘Friend’. They would also be given an invite to two meetings that would include two free meals.

Bob Anymniuk reported on Lobsterfest. The ticket bundles were handed out tonight (email / call Bob A. if not present tonight or get tickets at next meeting). The amount of tickets initially handed out to each member was based on last years sales. More tickets are definitely available, do not let your allotment stop your sales. We do not sell many ‘2 X Lobster’ tickets so these have been cut back in the bundles and each booklet only has 5 tickets in it for the ‘2 X Lobster’. Bob A. advised that “the easiest way to sell a ticket is to ask someone”.

Ed Thompson stated that lobster fest table reservations are available for all groups of 4 people or more. Contact Doug McKenzie and / or Wayne Brewer for table reservations.

Nancy Morris asked for lobster fest prize / auction donations be handed in at least 2 weeks before the event (dinner June 1, 2019). For example, Lorraine Forestell gets a gift basket from Safeway each year and Ed Gramiak gets a basket from Shoppers. As an alternative to purchasing a gift, cash can be donated to the foundation (RCCCF) and a tax receipt will be issued. Eira Braun-Labossiere has volunteered to help with the shopping. They will be going to Costco this Saturday to do an initial round of shopping. Any cash donations would be appreciated as early as possible. Contact Dave Morris or Ed Thompson if you want to make a foundation donation. Rod Delisle has a letter that gives direction for non-members to make a donation to the Rotary Club of Charleswood Charitable Foundation (RCCCF).

President Mandy Kwasnica reminded all members of the following:

Rotary Career Symposium at RBC Convention Centre March 11, 12, 13^th 2019. Volunteers required. http://signup.com/login/entry/3669986265566640111 .
M.U.N.A. May 9^th – 12^th 2019 The link for this event is www.winnipegmuna.ca. High school students, with their counsellors, take on global citizenship as they model the United Nations Assembly at an event in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Lobster fest dinner is June 1, 2019. Tickets are available now. Please start approaching your regular ticket purchasers, friends, family, business acquaintances.
District 5550 conference in Winnipeg at Canad Inns Polo Park from May 02 – 05, 2019. Registration is open on-line. http://rotary5550conference.com/. Link will show speakers and schedule as well as hotel reservation link. Please register early for a rate reduction up to end of day, April 15, 2019.

Paul Brault spoke regarding the Westgrove Adult Learning Centre. Attendance had been going down recently, but then suddenly 8 – 9 people came back. The centre has received $25,000 from the Winnipeg Foundation that will fund it until next September. There will be a second Gala fundraiser for the Westgrove Adult Learning Centre. Paul Brault has received two WestJet tickets for anywhere that WestJet flies as a grand prize for fundraising activities related to the Centre. Students from the Centre will be attending the Rotary Career Symposium on Wednesday. Staff is looking at creating a special event every Wednesday for the students such as bowling, tours, etc. Paul Brault advised that the building requires a painting service project day. This could be done during spring break when the school is closed. This would be the last week in March. Funding partners believe that the program is sustainable and understand that it will have ups and downs as far as attendance is concerned. Paul Brault asked for a show of hands for those offering to help with a painting day at the Learning Centre. There were 5 to 6 people that offered their time for this special project. Supplies should be provided by the school division.

Westgrove School & Urban Stable - Rotary Support

Posted by Doug McKenzie on Mar 11, 2019

presented by Jack Wilson

Westgrove School - There have been discussions on the direction to go with Charleswood Rotary Club support for Westgrove School and its students. There have been an additional 12 pairs of runners donated recently. This makes 24 pairs in total with them all sourced from Canadian Footwear. The children have been sharing these shoes except for two students that did not have shoes that were adequate in any way. These two were given a pair of shoes each to keep.

Teachers at Westgrove School work very hard with the children. It can be a terribly difficult job at times. There are two volunteers from the Charleswood Garden Club working with the school to assist with the outside classroom concept. They are Pat Roberts (wife of Al Roberts) and Sophie Munroe. They are working on a composting bin and other plantings. Lloyd Talbot has worked with the students at Westgrove School regarding Aboriginal history in the Charleswood / Headingley area. Of note is that 80% of the students in Westgrove School identify as Aboriginal. Nancy Morris has worked with the Charleswood Historical Society for school presentations.

The gardens constructed last summer require soil enrichment this year. This will require the addition of compost material purchased by Charleswood Rotary but the students will dig in the compost. The school wants to expand the outdoor education component of class time.

There will be an Aboriginal Culture Day on June 21^st, 2019 at the school grounds. Charleswood Rotary Club will help with the BBQ for this event.

Jack Wilson believes that they may have overwhelmed the staff during the meeting, but they are very enthusiastic and looking forward to positive things happening. They were in the school on a Friday and witnessed a child having a difficult time. The staff were able to calm him down in short order and everything was normal again. Troy advised that the students don’t know what is going to happen over the next few days when at home, they feel safe and comfortable at school.

Regarding the outdoor classroom, they will need some sort of shelter from the sun. This presents as an opportunity for Charleswood Rotary to help the school and be able to put Rotary on whatever is used / created. This will require brainstorming from club members and will not be inexpensive. This could be an opportunity for everyone to get involved, however, we do not want to overburden them.

Urban Stable – The club executive board discussed ways of supporting Wendy MacDonald and Urban Stable at the meeting today. The golf tournament that is being planned for this fall could be supported by the existing partners as well as Urban Stable. They can bring extra exposure as well as sponsors, volunteers and golfers. There are plans to have a Rotary Club of Charleswood regular meeting at Urban Stable in April or May.

Jack indicated that the board believes that both groups could be using the Assiniboine Forest in the future. Westgrove School could have outdoor classes held in the forest while Urban Stable could be riding there as well.

Q/A

1.-Eira Braun-Labossiere asked for clarification regarding an April meeting to be held at Urban Stable?

A.- Yes, in April or May. Wendy MacDonald is looking for volunteers and would like to double in size. They have a $350,000 yearly budget with their own board. Charleswood Rotary Club has supported them for years and Urban Stable is always very appreciative of that ongoing support.

2.- Nancy Morris questioned if we were not the first to support Urban Stable?

A.- We were definitely one of the first. We have been supporting them for 16 to 17 years. They will be having a ‘Bud -Spud’ coming up in April.

RELATED NOTES

John Inglis advised that the Golf Tournament being planned jointly with Assiniboine Rotary Club and the Assiniboia Chamber of Commerce will be held on September 9^th, 2019. It will not be as labour intensive as the lobster fest, this is due to the fact that the golf club does most of the work. With the expectation of getting 144 golfers, there should be a $10,000 upside to the tournament. We will be designating funds to Urban Stable.

Jack Wilson advised that they will be trying to get a Westgrove School parent group started. Paul Brault advised that they are trying to get the parents to a level that they are able to read.

President Mandy Kwasnica read an email that Rod Delisle received regarding the Assiniboine Forest. The note was from Bridget Robinson. She stated that she runs in the forest every weekend and finds the trails very well marked and in great shape. She runs in weather all the way down to minus 40. Best wishes, Bridget. Really nice to receive a note like that!

Sarges Corner

Posted by Doug McKenzie on Mar 11, 2019

Happy Bucks

John Inglis seem to have had a great time in Las Vegas recently and noticed that the locals are REALLY into supporting their new NHL team, the Golden Knights. It was very interesting to see how they do hockey in the desert. John advised that merchandise can be purchased in just about any store that you walk into, high end retail down to the local gas station. It appears they are willing to buy anything with the logo on it.

President Mandy was in Tampa Bay last week, as seen by some on T.V. during the Canadian national anthem at the start of the Lightning vs Jets hockey game. She had a fantastic time while there but could have been better if the Jets had actually won the game. President Mandy has recently applied for a special volunteer award to be presented and funded by her employer. She has successfully made it to the final class of applicants. The final winner is given the right to award $5,000 to the charitable organization of their choice. President Mandy would select Rotary.

Nancy Morris was hopeful that the Breezy Bend employees and Jack will be able to get the A/V equipment to play an ‘old style’ CD on the computer. The content on the CD was produced by D.G. Elaine at the 2018 Charleswood Lobster Dinner. This was the special surprise presentation mentioned on the invite and Facebook page. EDIT: unable to get it to play – Jack Wilson made a short notice presentation on past and future projects with Westgrove School and Urban Stable.

Jim Forestell stood up to officially state that he was happy to be back from the south…NOT! He was truly happy to be back at Rotary with friends.

Chuck Crocker wondered if anyone saw him at the Brier? He admitted that he was one of many in the crowd, not on the ice. Always a good time when you combine curling and beer.

Roh Goenka just returned from India where he celebrated his 18^th birthday ( I think some wishful thinking here). This was the first time he has been back to visit in 2 ½ years. It was 70 hours of travel in one week that took Roh through 5 cities, 7 airports and 9 flights – around the world.

Ed Thompson was joyous to have been in Holland, Manitoba to celebrate his mother’s 95^th birthday with 100+ other people. A fantastic occasion.

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Roh Goenka celebrating his birthday…. Years not offered.

Martin Labossiere celebrating his birthday by putting $50 into the pot. This was to represent $10 per decade….I will leave the math to you!

Roh asked for us to sing, Martin declined the honour.

50/50

Sarge Mike asked Jack Wilson to pull the ticket stub tonight. He pulled # 619. This matched up with the ticket Paul Brault was holding. He was facing poor odds and just couldn’t pull it off tonight. No win.

Fines

Chuck Crocker – late.

Paul Brault – phone ringing at an inappropriate time.

The final fine of the evening involved a potential windfall for the Sarge. Anyone that was not registered to volunteer for the Rotary Career Symposium had to pay $1. I counted 16 pings of a loonie hitting the bottom of the pot.

Next meeting March 18, 2019 with guest Kevin Klein. The City Councillor for Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Klein is also the Chair of the Winnipeg Police Board. https://www.kevinklein.ca/. A lot of information regarding Kevin’s position regarding the City of Winnipeg Budget.