Following the reading of the District Land Acknowledgement Statement and the singing of O Canada, President Doug provided the following Thought of the Week “Rotary is not an organisation for retrospection. It is rather one whose worth and purpose lie in future activity rather than past performance.” (A quote from Paul Harris)”

ROTARY MOMENTS

President Doug reported that DG Dan Sutton had visited earlier in the evening and dropped off Rotary Theme Pins which were placed at each table setting.

1. Reminder: World Polio Day is taking place on Sunday, October 24th. There is a lot of information online at the Rotary website: https://www.endpolio.org/world-polio-day This year so far there have been only 2 confirmed cases of polio due to the wild polio virus!
2. A Lobsterfest financial report (not a finalized report!) was presented at the club’s board meeting on October 5th. This year the event has netted the club over $13,000.00. The final accounting will likely have this amount increase slightly. These are funds for operating the club’s projects other than the Assiniboine Forest or Chase the Ace raffle. Congratulations to all club members and volunteers involved.
3. Our club Community Service Chair Chuck Crocker advised that Nancy Hansen’s books on disabilities had been delivered to Westgrove and Westdale schools. He has talked to Cheryl at Westgrove School to determine what the needs are for shoes this year; he has not heard back yet.
4. Good news …the raised garden boxes at Westgrove have had the soil turned over by one of the teachers.
5. Nancy Hansen received a huge box of stamps from Mike Dudar and Joanne Peters. The stamps have been repackaged and mailed to Australian Rotary contact Carrol Farmer in Malvern, Victoria - Australia . Nancy gives her thanks to Mike and Joanne.
6. Preventing and Addressing Harassment: District Governor Dan Sutton has strongly suggested that all board members and the entire club membership should take the Preventing and Addressing Harassment course found in the ‘My Rotary’ Learning Centre. This is so that we would be prepared if any case should arise in the club. The course takes about 45 minutes to complete and then save the ‘Certificate of Completion’. There is also additional information on the subject, titled “Harassment Prevention and Procedures” in the District 5550 website, found in the Manual of Policy & Procedure (MOPP). (Document Number: 7.4). This document has 7 full pages of information to assist with identifying and responding to any complaints of harassment.
7. The ‘End of Year - Christmas Party’ is booked for December 13 @ Breezy Bend. Club members, partners and guests with double vaccinations are invited. Lorraine or President Doug will be contacting a few members to assist with the organization of the party.
8. Masks: A reminder to always put on your mask if you are away from your table – for any reason!
9. Chase the Ace raffle, Week 26: The winner was Muriel Sutherland ($34.00). Week 27: The winner was Eloise Lyon ($38.00). There are only 25 cards left in the deck. The URL for the raffle site is www.rotarychasetheace.org
10. Jack Wilson - Volunteers for additional survey work in the Assiniboine Forest from 10:00 AM to noon on Tuesday, Oct 19th include include Bob Eilers and Chuck Crocker and for Wednesday, October 20th, include Cathy Skene, Ed Thompson and Glenn Campbell.

PDG Nancy introduced our Guest Speaker, David Kron, who is Executive Director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba, whose mission is to enrich the lives of individuals affected by Cerebral Palsy through programs, advocacy, education and peer support. As executive director, David is responsible for an annual budget in excess of $350,000, the day to day operation of the association, and overseeing the COHABIT Housing Initiative as well as 3 major fundraising events in Winnipeg & Brandon.

In addition, David is also involved with the following community organizations: “Barrier Free Manitoba” steering committee, the “Children’s Coalition”, the “Social Planning Council of Winnipeg”, “Make Poverty History Manitoba” working group, and “Disability Matters Votes” steering committee.

These days, much of David’s efforts involve advocating –on both a systemic level and on an individual level to make people’s lives just that little bit better. He says he is “CP Proud”. Cerebral Palsy (CP) doesn’t affect who he is, it just happens to be something that he has to deal with.

His life began a month earlier than his expected birth date. He weighed only two pounds at birth and spent his first six months in the hospital. However, at age 54, he has done everything that everybody else has done, including things like going around the world paddling a kayak, visiting Tonga, Haida Gwaii, Mexico, Nunavut …. His philosophy is “It is what it is – you deal with what you’re born with, you deal with your circumstances.” He said he was lucky to have had loving parents who got him through everything and that there can be a lot more worse things to deal with in life than cerebral palsy.

The CP Association was started in 1955 by a bunch of parents as a parent support group and was called the Society for Crippled Children at the time. In 1974, a group broke away and formed the CP Association which consisted of 2 employees and two contracted people. David was a volunteer on the Board of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba in 1994, president in 1999, resigned in 2001 because he got a job as Territory Sales Manager selling bikes with Freedom Concepts, travelling all over North America (spending 32 weeks on the road).

The Association does not get any government money. Since 1989 all funds are raised by the Association with events like the Cerebral Palsy Stationary Bike Race that runs from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM (with teams of 4 riders each riding for 25 minutes and raising money) which has been taking place in Winnipeg (raising $174,000 this past September) and then again in Brandon (raising $58,000). The Association has a trailer that hauls about 80 bikes. Last year, $75,000 of the funds raised went to equipment grants to improve the lives of kids and adults affected by CP. Funds also support scholarships and provide a personal support program to help persons get out into the community to advocate on behalf of the human rights of disabled persons.

Cerebral Palsy is caused by brain damage either at birth or before birth due to lack of oxygen. The “wiring” is all there, but the signal from the brain - in David’s case, to his leg - doesn’t work. His CP is called spastic diplegia and apparently results in considerably higher energy expended by the muscles in his legs when he walks (compared with the energy expended by regular walkers) – which means that he can eat a lot and not gain weight. He claims it’s a great weight loss program. CP can affect any muscle in the body – speech, swallowing, all four limbs, one limb – and be as simple as having a little wonky gait. CP happens in about 1 in 500 births; 1 in 400 births when one has multiple births (i.e. twins, triplets, etc.). What causes CP is not known and there is no treatment or cure for CP. Current research in Toronto by Dr. Michael Fehlings is looking into causing CP in mice and then trying to fix it by getting stem cells into the brain to rewire it.

CO-HABIT is a new initiative that’s about 1.5 years old. It is an apartment block that is being built for people with CP (or any kind of disability) – a dignified and “happening” place for young adults to get them out of living in their parents’ basements or in a personal care home. A pool, a bar, a movie theatre, and a chef – with staff to take care of people are planned for Co-Habit.

The Cerebral Palsy Association will need to fundraise to supplement any provincial funding a renter currently gets to pay for the Co-Habit apartment rental. Alternatively, a parent may be able to buy a condo for their child. The CP Association is looking at all sorts of creative models to handle apartment rental.

The CP Association has about 375 members and a mailing list of about 800. There are many people whose CP is mild and they don’t contact the CP Association because they don’t need the support. A good guess is that there are about 3300 people in Manitoba with Cerebral Palsy.

Lloyd thanked David Kron for his inspiring presentation and handed him his cane, which had fallen on the floor of the stage. He went on to let us know that he has a granddaughter in Ontario who has cerebral palsy. She weighed 3 pounds when she was born. Lloyd added that she is “One Spirited Individual!” who does all things with great enthusiasm.

Sarge Mike welcomed our visitor (and featured speaker) – David Kron – then asked if there were any “Happy Bucks”

HAPPY BUCKS

PDG Nancy reported that the big battery used to start their lawnmower lost its power so they bought a new one at Enns Brothers and turned in the old battery. They were given $10 for recycling their old battery.

Lorraine reported that member Glenda recently had surgery on her knee and her recovery was slow. She’s looking forward to soon be joining us at Rotary Club meetings.

Chuck was pleased to report that he has carried out all the tasks needed to close up his cottage for the winter.

Jagdish had a comment about today’s delightfully warm +20 degree C weather – “Hurray! Second Summer!”

Lyle was pleased to report that after he had gathered up scrap metal around his yard and taken it over to Gardeau Metal Recycling, he was given $217.00 for it.

PDG Ed was happy to have put the motorhome away for the winter storage and to have cleaned up the yard today.

Ed Gramiak was happy that he was able to have played the last golf game of the season at Breezy Bend today.

Cathy was delighted to have had the company of her entire family for Thanksgiving dinner.

Ed Toews was pleased to report that his next door neighbour has very kindly included mowing Ed’s lawn every time the neighbour had mowed his own lawn this summer.

Peter had a sad buck. Since he’s the new Executive Director of the Manitoba Wheelchair Sports Association, he now needs to find a treasurer for the organization.

President Doug was happy that, having found a heated storage facility (a retired turkey barn) for his summer convertible, he now has his garage back (except for a motorcycle that needs to be tucked away in a corner).

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

Darvin reported that wife Sharon’s birthday was yesterday (i.e. October 17th) and their children came over to celebrate the event.

Chuck indicated that he and his wife Pat celebrated a wedding anniversary last week.

PDG Elaine apologized for having incorrectly identified the person who had indicated that her husband was having a birthday on October 17th. It was Lorena Andade’s husband, Luis Jativa, who had a birthday on that date, not Baris Yilmaz.

50-50 DRAW

Baris was the holder of the 50-50 ticket with the lucky number, but the marble his fingers withdrew from the bag was a white colour - not the lucky blue marble.

FINES

Sarge fined anyone who had neglected to attach the complimentary Rotary Theme pin to his/her shirt. He also fined PDG Elaine for having come to his table “especially to pick on engineers”. Elaine also admitted to have visited several tables during the evening meal without wearing a mask as required, and paid a fine for that, too.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

We will meet again on Monday, October 25th at 5:45 and our featured speaker will be Bonnie Emerson, an inspector in the Winnipeg Police Force. According to Lloyd, Bonnie Emerson is Indigenous, was a Rotary Peace Fellow who took her training in Indonesia, works in community relations, and is very much involved with Indigenous relations within the police service.

The Lobsterfest committee will wind up its work when they meet next Monday, October 25th at 4:30 PM in Breezy Bend Country Club.