President Iain Scott called the meeting to order with a land acknowledgement and the singing of O'Canada.

Rotary Moment – Iain spoke about the need to remove the stigma of menopause and menstruation.  Limited access to menstrual products is a serious worldwide problem, especially in poor countries.  In Canada, changes are happening with the passage of labour code law giving access to menstrual products to federally regulated employees. Beyond that, access in most workplaces is limited to soap and toilet paper. Scotland is the first country to give full access at no cost. Surely, other countries will follow suit. 

Sarge Lyle – introduced the following guests: Andrew Kussy, guest speaker; Enzkial McLeod, Joyce and Jack Decorby, Leeann Mytz, and Steve Minion.  

Club Announcements

President Iain thanked Ed Thompson for speaking on behalf of the club at Ed Gramiuk’s funeral and served our club with honour.

Bridge of Hope Ukraine – Mandy reported that we delivered furniture from the new location on Portage Ave. for 9 families, plus a family that happened by.
150 families this past year. Lots to be proud of. More Ukraine volunteers help ease the load. Mandy shared 2 letters from Ukraine recipients. 

Club meeting on Oct. 3 approved the new member applications for Jack, Joyce, and Leeann. Ed Thompson, Chair, Membership Committee inducted the 3 at the end of the meeting, with members providing a warm welcome.

Father of former member Kim Goolia recently passed away:  https://passages.thecarillon.com/passage-details/id-320063/GOOLIA_CYRIL

Christmas Party – tickets for sale from Chuck and Lorraine. Remember the call for donations. Cash or a donation from the list circulated at Monday meetings.  

President Iain introduced Andrew Kussy, Dream Factory who has an impressive background in charitable fundraising and communications. Andrew thanked the club for the warm welcome. 

Formerly the 1983 Rainbow Society, rebranded to Dream Factory. They have six staff and the board. All money raised stays in Manitoba.  They support kids under 18 years old with a life-threatening illness. Referrals come from a wide range of sources including health care professionals, teachers, coaches, and more.

What is the biggest dream of young children?? Think back to our childhood and those of our children and grandchildren. There is a wide range of dreams. The Dream Factory is able to say yes. In the history of the organization, they’ve been able to help over 1,000 families. Andrew showed examples of dreams fulfilled from the beginning including a meet and greet with Wayne Gretzky, Dolly Parton, superheroes and more. 

Not just a trip. The dreams vary considerably. 

There is no government funding. Public donations support the Dream Factory. 

Andrew then showed a video that profiled 4 year old Ethen, who wanted to meet his favourite superheroes. When his condition sadly deteriorated, the Dream Factory quickly put together a made in Winnipeg experience where Ethen not only met superheroes, he saved Spiderman. City Police, radio personalities and others helped make the event an epic experience. 

Andrew answered several questions and summarized with a request to consider a donation to the Dream Factory and to spread the word. See their website at: https://www.thedreamfactory.ca

Happy Bucks

• Jim - was happy to have received the fundraising results from the golf tournament. Our club's share is $5,907.92. $500 will be retained for next year's deposit, and the balance will go to the Assiniboine Forest.
• Ed Thompson - was happy that he has put up his outdoor Christmas lights, and with the great weather, could almost have done it in shirt sleeves.
• Len Van Roon - was happy for the fabulous football plays. Unfortunately, they were made by the wrong team. But Len being Len, he was happy anyway.
• Jagdish - enjoyed Diwali, the Festival of Lights, which he told us is celebrated "like crazy" in India.
• Iain - threw in $5 because he was so happy that Caroline is in Kelowna. Well, happy about the reason she is in Kelowna; an 8 lb 5 oz first grandchild born on November 9th.
• Mandy - was happy to report a successful parent/teacher interview for both kids. Anya's teacher was most impressed by Anya's English language skills.

Birthdays

Cathy had a birthday today and everyone sang.  Important: Cathy put in one dollar per decade. That was seven dollars, NOT  eight as Lyle said. 

Tables were allocated with a draw, leaving the head table to eat last. 

Next week

Nov. 27 – Scott Saedal and Anders Swanson, Winnipeg Trails