Lily Lake Pavilion. This Oct. 15, 2007 meeting was moved [one-time] to the Lily Lake Pavilion facility and the venue was enjoyed by all the members and club guests on a beautiful fall day. The focus of this meeting was on the TRC Project and special guests Joel Levesque [Chair of the TRC and VP - Communications for Moosehead Brewery], The Honourable Roly MacIntyre [Minister of Supply and Services and Minister responsible for Regional Development Corporation] and The Honourable Dr. Ed Doherty [Minister for Post Secondary Education Training and Labour and Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs Secretariat].
Joel Levesque was the first speaker and, on behalf of the TRC Board and staff, extended "thanks" to the Rotary Club for all its efforts in bringing the TRC Project to fruition. Already the TRC is having a very substantial impact on inner city youth; particularly in the offices of sexual health whereby staff intervention had helped to avoid four teen pregnancies in just its first 4-days of operation. On behalf of Moosehead Brewery, Joel made the corporate sponsor's second half donation to the Rotary Club's project and again thanked the club for all its efforts (left picture).
Roly MacIntyre then took the podium and after introductory remarks surprised everyone in attendance by referring to co-Chair Mike Schulze's comments, at the TRC Grande Opening event, that the Club was almost finished in its own $500,000 fundraising campaign; having only $52,000 left to raise. Minister Roly dipped into his pocket and brought out a cheque for the $52,000 from the province of New Brunswick (right picture).
This flourish was followed by a thunderous standing ovation from everyone in the room! Roly reiterated the importance of the TRC to the community and the impact it was already having on the lives of Saint John's inner city teens. Dr. Ed Doherty rose to the podium and threw-in his personal support for the province's donation and that of the whole provincial government; particularly the Saint John caucus.
Co-Chairs, Mike Schulze and David Merrithew accepted the cheque on behalf of the Club and the TRC; again to a standing ovation.
