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

Sarge Lyle introduced Len Van Roon Sr. and Sharon, from the Charleswood Legion.

Chair announcements

District Governor’s visit - Sonja Sutts, our District Governor, is visiting Winnipeg and would like to visit our club on the 19th. We do not have a meeting that evening, so those interested/available will meet Sonja at the Holiday Inn Airport West, Portage Avenue. For those who wish to join her for a meal at the hotel, please advise Lorraine Forestell  or President Iain.

District Newsletter - the last edition of the newsletter there was mention of recipients of Paul Harris pins being presented at various clubs. We should send details of our recipients for publication. Perhaps a mention of our events such as the Ukrainian effort, etc. President Iain will follow-up to confirm how we achieve this.

District Conference - The District Conference is in Moose Jaw, SK May 10-12, 2024. All are encouraged to attend and it's only 6 hr 26 min or 641.7 km via the Trans-Canada.

Rossbrook Dinner - We are getting really close to our Rossbrook event on Feb 26th. On behalf of the organising committee, we need to sell more tickets for the sake of this important event. Tickets are available online on ClubRunner, or from Cathy who is here this evening.

Lobsterfest - As mentioned last week, Jim is holding a planning meeting on Zoom on Feb. 15. For those who are able to help, please contact Jim.

Carolyn Ferguson, Senior Major Gifts Officer Zone 28 The Rotary Foundation has contacted me to accept the challenge of encouraging Rotarians in D5550 to contribute to Polio Plus during the month of February. An anonymous Rotarian has contributed $200,000 US to Polio Plus and has offered the points to D5550 Rotarians to match contributions to Polio Plus.

Polio Plus Matching Points Challenge -
How does it work? Contribute a minimum of $100 US to Polio Plus Fund in your normal way either by Rotary Direct or by mail in contributions individually or through your club. You will receive your tax receipt from The Rotary Foundation as usual. Example Feb exchange rate is $1.34 CAD to US dollar so $100.00 US X $1.34 = $134.00 CAD is the minimum contribution. Reason for this is the minimum matching points is 100 US. If you contribute $500 US or $670 CAD then the matching points credited to you would give a Paul Harris Fellowship award. Then email Bob rdurston@mymts.net with your name, Rotary ID, club name and club number. If you do not have the numbers Bob will help. Clubs cannot receive matching points for Polio Plus contributions, only individual Rotarians. This becomes the largest matching point challenge ever in the District! All member contributions must be made to The Rotary Foundation (Canada) between Feb 1 and Feb 28, 2024 to receive the matching points. Questions can be directed to Bob .

Jokes - have you ever wondered: Why is it that I seem to be developing an irrational fear of German sausages? I should get over it but fear the würst. What's E.T. short for? Oh because he's got little legs. Apparently you can't use "beef stew" as a password. It's not stroganoff.

President Iain was delighted to have Tom Crew as our presenter. After teaching at Charleswood Junior High for 30 years, Tom retired in 2011. He is currently the Chairman of Charleswood Legion 100 in charge of the Charleswood Legion 100 Tank memorial wall project, which brings him here today. He also is a member of the Legion Colour Party and in charge of the Remembrance Day service at Oak Park High School, the second largest in the city, each year. He was a coach at the Legion athletic camp for more than 35 years and was the Registrar and Administrator for the last five years of the camp until it closed in 2019.

Charleswood Legion 100 is selling 100 plaques at $125 each to create a maintenance fund of approximately $10,000, after building costs and taxes, for the conservation of the Sherman tank that is the symbol of the Charleswood legion, that was recently refurbished, as well as the Berkley Memorial down the street. The plaques on this wall will contain the names of some of those veterans who served in the Canadian or Allied Armed Forces in two World Wars, the Korean conflict and numerous NATO and UN missions since. It is hoped that relatives and friends will generously support the maintenance of the tank and memorial by purchasing these plaques. Each donor will receive a Certificate of Appreciation for their donation.

All three levels of government have been approached to contribute toward the cost of the taxes, back plate and installation, so that almost all the money raised can go into the maintenance fund, for the tank and memorial at Berkley and Roblin. Thus far the city councillor has agreed to contribute, and we are working with the provincial and federal governments to complete applications for funding.

Applications are available at the Legion from the office or at the bar. For any questions, please contact Tom Crew, Chairman Charleswood Legion 100 at: chairman@rclwinnipeg100.ca or 204-479-2907.

Tom was thanked with the comment "We drive by the tank each day and thank you for enlightening us all on the history of this important piece of Charleswood history". A link to the bulletin of its history can be found at https://www.rclwinnipeg100.ca/about/sample-page/. President Iain said we would love to see Tom back as a guest whenever he can.

Happy Bucks

• Rod was happy to see Sharon Gordon, who remembers serving our club's meeting dinners at the Charleswood Legion.
• Mandy was very happy to have won an award from her employer, Manulife, for team sales results. Her reward? A trip to Antigua.
• Len van Roon Sr. and Len Jr. were both happy to have Sharon Gordon at our meeting.
• Cathy enjoyed an outing to see a play at MTYP with her granddaughter on Saturday.
• Jack Wilson was pleased to report that he'll be in his new home tonight. At last!
• Al Roberts was happy that he had miscounted the number of meetings left before his trip to BC, and was able to be with us one more time than he had thought.
• Lloyd was happy to be in balmy Manitoba, and not in the snowy, stormy Maritimes.
• Chuck was happy to be supporting the Canadian Cancer Society.
• Ezekeil was in Minnesota for work and happy to see that there was no ice on the lake.
• Sharon (guest) was pleased to be here. She misses serving Rotary dinners at the Legion. And it's her birthday on the 17th.
• Caroline was happy that her middle daughter just closed a deal on a new house.
• Birthdays, anniversaries? Ed Toews, and guest Sharon were celebrating birthdays. We sang twice.

50/50 – Glenn Campbell had the winning raffle ticket, but could not retrieve the blue marble. There were no fines.

Next Week - Kim Lucko of Urbanmine will be our guest speaker on Feb. 12th. She will tell us about the recycling business regarding metals and electronics. Also, how one gets paid for scrap metal. Urbanmine is located east of Fort Garry brewers off of Kensington