SPEAKER - TANYA MCCREADY
Tanya and her husband, Hank, own Winterdance Dog Sled Tours at Eagle Lake in the Haliburton region. They have about 2,000 guests per year, and have competed in a number of dogsled races.
Tanya gave us an inspiring, touching and entertaining description of the journey she and her husband took from falling in love with a husky in a pet store in Guelph, to creating their Dog Sled Tours business.
She detailed the feat her husband took on to compete in the Iditarod in Alaska. Imagine traveling behind 16 dogs weighing over 800 pounds, the length of a tractor trailer for over 1,500 kms. in 8-15 days through freezing cold and icy conditions.
Her story of his attempt had us all anxious to hear the outcome, which was not positive. Her husband was heartbroken and despondent that he couldn't finish, and was at the point of giving up racing forever However, with her encouragement he entered another race and won. His struggle teaches us that we can face failure and come out stronger for it. A lesson learned was that "its important for a leader to take care of themselves, so that they can take better care of their team!"
This presentation was recorded, so we highly recommend that members take the time to watch it online. You will not be disappointed!
Club Business...
Judy announced that she will be working with Everton and Chris Ainsworth to compose a Land Acknowledgement which will become part of the opening of our meetings in the future.
Birthdays - Neil Aitchison and Brad Enns - July 30th
Wedding Anniversary - Mac Graham - July 31st
Guess the Rotarian - We were stumped by this week's Rotarian, guessing Mac Graham, Moira Taylor and Ian Robertson.
Everton is waiting to hear if the Annisnabeg Outreach Centre would like us to contribute backpacks this year. Kyle said there is a program through Waterloo Regional Police Services and Karin mentioned that KidsAbility might be in need. We will wait for further confirmation.
Judy announced that we will resume weekly in-person meetings at The Concordia Club on the first Wednesday after Labour Day (September 8th). Andrew has been notified to line up speakers. The Concordia Club assures us that Public Health guidelines will be in place.
