President Raj opened the meeting. Katie Watson read the Four Way test and the Innvocation was made by the Toddler.
President Raj toasted Canada and Rotarians around the world.
SAA Jim Johnson said we had 18 of the usual suspects present plus our guest speaker, Lisa Goertz. John Raposo made another appearance. Great to see you again, John!
Our Johnny Smooth was hustlin' and our new pot is already up to $145. John Raposo and Keith Peers culled the deck and the elusive Ace of Spades remains buried in there somewhere.
President Raj expressed his thanks to the Golf Tournament Committee and all the members who participated for making Monday's tournament such a success. It was a great day of play! Rumour has it that quite a bit of money was made as well. SAA Jimmy J noted that 27 of our 37 active members were in attendance. Impressive!
President Raj also noted that 6 of our members attended the District Conference on Saturday and our very own Ann-Marie Athavale-Bélanger is down in Houston, Texas attending the annual Rotary International Conference.
Paul McMenemy commented on the success of our Veteran's Golf Tournament last Monday. Seventeen Veterans attending and were thrilled to be able to do so, courtesy of our sponsors. He also noted Johnny Smooth's excellent Auctioneering skills that helped raise more funds for our cause. Thank you Johnny! SAVE THE DATE for next's year's tournament: Monday, May 29th.
Paul McMenemy also mentioned that he feels very confident that Blackbridge Harley Davidson will be sponsoring us again as one of his comrades purchased a brand new Harley that day! While it wasn't mentioned at the meeting, I witnessed our very own Larry Brokenshire miss the hole-in-one required to with the Harley by about 4 feet (and I do have photos!). It was a thing of beauty to see that ball land so close and I had these wonderful visions of Larry riding on the back of the Harley with me at the helm (or should that be handles?). If that image doesn't give you a chuckle, I don't know what will.
While it wasn't mentioned, we did have a FABULOUS time on the evening of May 26th Sukhi and Nikki Gill's place and special thanks go out to our hosts for organizing such a fun and feastful event. Both food and fellowship were outstanding and I can still taste that Channa Masala. :)
Paul Cody reminded us of the President's Ball on June 23rd. Its at the Cambridge Mill and is free to all members. Guests will be charged $70. The Cambridge Mill have honoured the agreement made pre-Covid and we need a minimum of 60 attendees to honour our end. More info will be sent out by email. '
Brian Waddell announced an upcoming event that former member Linda Breault is promoting on her Facebook page. Linda and Guy's daughter, Melina is getting married this year and a Buck & Doe for her and her soon to be hubby is happening next Saturday, June 11th in Kitchener. Tickets are $12 and more info can be found here: Andrew and Melina's Buck n' Doe Extravaganza Tickets, Sat, 11 Jun 2022 at 6:30 PM | Eventbrite.
Ivana noted that she golfed for the first time on Monday, at our tournament. While her swing was good, her coordination wasn't and she fell out of her golf cart. Turns out that hauling around bags of mulch is a cure for all that ails one's back. Rumour has it that, in the interest of maintaining good spinal health and overall wellness, Ivana is now offering free landscaping services to all members. It beats paying chiro fees!
Our club is in need of another Bulletin Editor. This is a once a month gig and there is power in this position. Editors are given literary license to write what they wish and carry out (literary) character assassinations at their leisure. Sense of humour is preferred. If you don't have one, we will happily share ours. One size fits all.
Rena introduced Lisa Goertz, Board member of the Children's Witness Protection (CWC). Lisa is a chartered accountant who has served as a Director for the past 3 years and the CWC certainly is lucky to have her in service. Lisa gave a very powerful and heartfelt presentation on Care and Compassion for Local Young Victims.
The CWC has been around for 40 years, thanks to the efforts of Judy Harding, and was originally called the Citizen's Concern with Crimes against Children. The center supports over 1,700 children and youth in the K-W/Cambridge area each year and they are located at 111 Duke St, Kitchener. They currently have an operational staff of 20 including their dog, Monet, who is a real hit with the kids. 20% of their funding comes from the government. The remaining 80% comes from the community.
One in 5 clients are from Cambridge, amounting to approximately 360 children/youth from our town. Overall, they have about 20 new clients each week. Their focus is to Stop the Hurt and Begin the Healing. One of their efforts to share their vision and reach out to children is to run a Child Witness Youth Symposium each year that is targeted to grade 8 students. Approximately 4,500 students from Guelph, Cambridge and K-W attend.
The CWC has two programs. One is for Advocacy (where charges are not laid) and the other is for Witness Protection (where charges are laid). The pandemic had both an adverse and positive impact on the work that the CWC. Adversely, there was less opportunity to work directly with victims and many children were stuck in abusive environments due to the lockdowns. On a positive note, those victims who came forward were able to give their testimony virtually which not only makes things easier for the child but also enables those involved to review the testimony as often as they need to.
