Rotary Club of Kitchener Westmount
Club Meeting Wednesday, June 3, 2020
SA: Alison Scott
SAA: John Thompson
Intro Speaker: Judy Nairn
Thank Speaker: Kathy Loveys
Guest Speaker:
Our own Aviation expert Dave Forwell.
Attendance on Zoom:
Laura Power, Jack Kinch, Karin Voisin, Judy Nairn, Everton Wilmot, Bill Green, Graham Gardiner, Jerome Freiburger, Bill Pegg, John Thompson, Dave Forwell,
Kathy Loveys, Andrew Williams, John Villemaire, Brandon Flewwelling, David Barth, Alison Scott, Tim Bradich, Chuck Thompson, Troy Stuebing, Mac Graham,
21 participants
Announcements:
Laura welcomed everyone to her second last meeting.
Weekly duties will now be assigned again.
President’s changeover will be via Zoom on June 24th in the evening. Cocktails and appetizers at home are encouraged. Troy will also be checking tee off times for anyone that wants to golf that day.
Michelle Gardiner will be inducted on June 17th.
Birthdays:
John Villemaire’s birthday today, June 3rd.
Don Wilcox: June 10th
Wedding Anniversaries
Troy and Angela June 1st
David and Sandy: June 10th
John and Stephanie Rose: June 10th
Club Anniversaries
Laura Power: 5 yrs
Anna Melick: 1st year.
Club and Foundation Business:
Jerome as president of the foundation took the club through the foundation grant budget for 2019-2020. We had allocated funds for Hospice and other organizations this year. We have also been paying our commitment to Hospice down as we are able. We have remaining funds in the budget for this year.
Jack provided a brief overview on a new initiative. Catch the Ace: Laura and Jack have been working with the other clubs on this new fundraising initiative. Our Catch the Ace will be an online program. We are doing this in cooperation with 5 other clubs. This will be one of our key fundraisers next year. Starts August 1, 2020.
Funds have to be allocated in advance of fundraising. The participating clubs have approved Kidsability and 2 Local hospitals as fund recipients.. Funds stay with the lottery. The Lottery host is Conestoga Club so funds will not flow through our club. Our club helps with marketing and supporting local weekly draws.
Discussion was held on the current budget, and changes to fundraising with some cancellations of events and new opportunities. We recognize we will have limited funds next year given COVID-19 since we won’t be able to host the Oktoberfest luncheon and Crown and Anchor at Oktoberfest. The travel lottery is on hold. The Catch The Ace initiative is timely.
Motion:
Motion by Brandon Flewwelling :
“that the Rotary Club of Kitchener Westmount provide a grant in amount of $30,000 to Hospice of Waterloo Region.”
This grant fulfills our commitment of a total grant to Hospice in the amount of $100,000. We had pledged to fulfill our obligation over a period of four years. With this grant we will have provided the funds within three years. The Grants Committee and Board have considered this grant and support completing our funding obligation at this time given our fundraising constraints in the coming year.
This motion was seconded by Malcolm Graham.
Vote: Affirmed by all members present with one abstention.
Judy Nairn did not vote: Abstained due to conflict of interest.
“Guess the member”
-lived on a ranch with 40 horses
-gymnastics on horse
-Chased by a Rhino in Kenya
Alison correctly identified Kathy Loveys as the member.
Guest Speaker:
Judy Nairn introduced Fellow rotarian Dave Forwell.
Dave is a long time rotarian for our club. Dave attended Sheraton College. Dave is a big Dog Lover and he currently Lives with 4 girls in the house. Dave has recently returned to Toronto after living in Dallas, Texas for 8.5 yrs. David is an Aviation enthusiast. Has his own plane and loves Flying and introducing others to flying.
Presentation on Aviation by David Forwell:
Flying for 20 years. Dave currently lives in Caledon to be near to the Toronto airport.
Dave owns his own plane. He upgraded his plane and his plane has been converted from American to Canadian. FAA has been slow to approve the transition back to Canada. Dave’s plane was build in London Ontario at Diamond Air Factory. His plane is a Twin Star, multi engine 4 seater and Dave has done a number of upgrades to this plane.
Davie reminded the club that about 11-12 yrs ago the club toured Diamond Aircraft Factory in London ON.
One of Dave’s current passions is Flight Operation and Dispatch.
Flight operation and dispatch: Dave explained this is an important administration job. This role has been in place since the 1930s. All flights have to be dispatched by a person. The dispatcher does all of the ground flight work for the pilot.
David took a course for Flight Operation and Dispatch. He completed 200 hrs of flight dispatch training in Dallas. Dave took us through an example of what this involves:
A major function is to learn how to do flight plans. For example, Dave took us through a 35,000 ft trip from Pearson to Ft. Lauderdale:
The flight plan prepared 4 hrs before, fuel, maintenance, catering, passengers, winds, weather,
route planning. maps other traffic
The flight plan needs to be filed and approved before departure. A key issue is to get the approval given other air traffic.
45 min before departure plan flight needs to be approved and confirmed.
Flight watch, data, weather, operations control, flight attendants if required. His job is also to
try to save fuel, plan most effective route, communicate with flight pilots, maintain schedules, gate allocation etc.
Dave currently has his American Operations and Dispatch license. He has not got a Canadian license yet. COVID 19 impacted Davie’s plans to become a Flight Operation and Dispatcher.
Dave provided stats on the impact of COVID 19 which has decimated the industry. There is still a lot of maintenance required for planes even through they are not flying a lot right now. This is incredibly expensive. A lot of the big planes are being decommissioned now.
Moving forward we will see 737 and Air Bus plans: more fuel efficient. Planes now need to be reconfigured for social distancing with passengers.
Airlines at high risk of going out of business this fall. Cats flow is a major issues.
Cargo issues; Couriers can’t keep up with demand. have had to convert 737s. Cargo is big business.
Aviation is an interesting industry. There have been lots of changes. The next 3 years will be critical for airlines and it will take them a long time to recover.
Dave will provide links and videos for members regarding fight dispatching, COVID 19, and aviation stats.
Dave fielded a number of questions from members about the Waterloo Airport, weather reporting and airline industry issues.
Dave offered to take members flying when his plane is returned to Canada from Dallas.
Kathy Loveys thanked Dave on behalf of our club.
New idea:
David Barth: Taste at Home Scotch tasting fundraiser. We would deliver scotch to people’s homes. The scotch would be Labelled and numbered ahead of time. Then we’d have a designated Zoom night with tasting notes. People can participate in trivia and try to identify the scotch. Limited to 30 people. $100 a person to participate as a group of friends. We can donate funds after our expenses are covered. David took a list of names of those interested and he and Jack will follow up.
Meeting Adjourned at 1:13 pm.
