Precisely at 5:45 President Doug called the meeting to order and PDG Nancy made it official with a bell that was “more appropriate” for the matters of today’s meeting than her usual “tinkly cheerful bell”. This was followed by the video of a rousing version of “O Canada” complete with images from across the country related to “Recognizing Valour and Sacrifice in Advance of Remembrance Day”.

ROTARY ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Peter and Mandy’s 5^th podcast (Talking Rotary) featured Rotarian Steve Rutledge from Whitby, ON, describing Rotary projects involving building schools and getting clean water to tens of thousands of people in the north of Laos.

• A recent email from Patty Vann (Dryden Rotary Club) requested D5550 Rotarians to support a proposal put forward by a Northwest Ontario charity (Mikinakoos Children’s Fund) to address poverty in First Nations communities. Their proposal is among the finalists in an iA Financial Philanthropic program that could result in a $100,000 grant. One can vote for their proposal at this website:  donations-contest.ia.ca

• Valarie Wafer, RI director for Zones 24 & 32 will hold her first Director Dialogue on Thursday, Nov 12 at 5:45pm CST (suggested signing in at 5:30). Past RI President Ian Risely will speak on the topic of how Rotarians can protect the environment. Zoom meeting ID is  826 9272 7478 and the passcode is 422469.

• As a Polio Plus fundraiser, Brenda Banbury of the Saskatoon North Rotary Club has set a goal to walk 250 km outdoors in November. She challenged D5550 Rotarians to make donations to Polio Plus online and if she does NOT meet her goal, she will match all the donations made to Polio Plus during the month of November.

• The Virtual Public Image Workshop will take place Nov 21^st between 9:00am and noon. The email you got from Ken Singer on Monday, Nov 9^th has the link for registration.

• Our club’s nomination committee has recommended that four members (who will be approached by President Doug) be part of a Fundraising Options Committee to review options and recommend ideas that the club could use successfully in case we are unable to hold our traditional fundraising events in the spring of 2021 due to COVID-19.

Glenn Campbell reported that he and his wife Eloise were able to travel in January and February and get back home before all the COVID restrictions had been enacted. Because they do not have parents in care facilities, children or grandchildren in school and do not have to worry about being unemployed, they have tried to up their help by supporting some of the local causes in Winnipeg. They’ve kept busy and safe by isolating at their cottage in Minaki (which was a very peaceful experience) between early May and early August time and working on projects outdoors. In September they travelled west to Vancouver Island, following all the local rules. Setting up an account with Zoom allowed them to visit with friends, family, former work colleagues, Glenn’s running club members - including taking part in several wine-tasting sessions with three other couples across Canada. In addition, as the club’s youth services co-chair with Iain, there are activities related to club scholarship recipients, RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), the D5550 Strategic Plan, Youth Exchanges for the 2021-22 school year, working with Rod on the club’s website committee and setting up a merchant account allowing for payments/donations to the club to be made online.

From his complete collection of books by Jake MacDonald, Glenn has read three during the pandemic. His favourite book was titled “Houseboat Chronicles and Notes from Life in Shield Country”

In response to PDG Nancy’s question regarding their mode of travel to BC, Glenn indicated that they flew, keeping their masks on all the time.

President Doug thanked Glenn for his presentation and indicated that the next Rotarian Show & Tell speaker will be Bob Eilers.