1) Attached is the agenda for our meeting this Thursday at 6:30pm.
2) The Gobble Till You Wobble Pub Crawl will be taking place on Thursday April 13th of the Easter Long weekend. More details will be presented at our upcoming meeting.
3) March is the month when Rotary International celebrates Rotaracters. The Rotary Club of Stratford extends a warm invitation to the members of our club to be their guests at one of their weekly Thursday lunch meetings. Just let Charlene Gordon know if you can make it so she can advise the welcoming and food committees. edgo@cyg.net The meeting begins at 12:10 at the Kiwanis Centre and ends at 1:30. Scooters can leave at 1 if necessary. If you haven't been to a Rotary meeting, this is an excellent opportunity.
4) Check out the poster below for the Rotary Spaghetti Dinner. It was a delicious feast last year!
5) If you have missed a meeting, please send your make-up to Kelly Daum, our new club Secretary. kellydaum15@gmail.com. Or if you have volunteered at a Rotaract event such as Trivia Night or sub-committee meeting, send this to Kelly and she can bank it for a future meeting you may need to miss.
6) Below are the minutes from our previous meeting.
Advice to those going out into the world – take a year off before going to post secondary school. Get international experience if you can whether it’s travelling, or working.
Block Parent Program:
Run by Rotary. Chaired by Ryan.
Block Parent originated in London Ontario in the 1970s and focuses on keeping people, particularly children, safe.
The program is facing challenges – some communities are shutting down their programs.
Barriers:
Fewer people are home during the day to monitor the block.
People are wary of screening procedures.
Two different kinds of Block Parents:
Businesses – Front line staff are screened.
Homes – You don’t have to be home all the time to become a Block Parent – you can do this when you’re available. You may put the sign up in the window when you’re available and take it down when you’re not available.
Block Parent is a program where a business or home is a safe haven for a person in distress. Young or old, in school or out of school – the program has been redesigned to serve a variety of individuals.
Program is more flexible than it used to be.
Crime prevention occurs through environmental design and the block parent symbol acts as a deterrent to motivated offenders because it acts is a suitable guardian.
Also ties in to Broken Window Theory – crime occurs most often in deteriorated neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood can actually increase crime rates if it is dishevelled. Block parent assists with making neighbourhoods safer places and reduces incidents of crime.
You don’t’ have to pay to be screened to become a Block Parent; you are automatically re-screened every two years.
Works closely with Stratford Police, which educates children in schools about Block Parent.
New website for the region: stratfordblockparents.ca
There are currently 70 Block Parents. Would like 300.
1 or 2 Block Parents occurrences in Stratford each year.
3. Previous Minutes
Amendments to previous meeting minutes
No Amendments.
4. Standing Items
4.1 Upcoming Guest Speakers
March 16 Classification – Andrea
4.2 Club KUDOS
KUDOS to Improv Comedy Show and Flowers were fantastic – KUDOS to Andrea.
KUDOS to Alyssa for Making the Cupcakes and Lauren for testing them and delivering.
KUDOS to Jonathan for his ticket sales for the Improv Show – he sold 14 tickets.
KUDOS to Nisha for her work on the website.
5. Business Arising
5.1 Es Artes Donation
Club voted unanimously to donate to Es Artes as our International Project for this year. $3,000.00 is to be donated to sponsor a student to come to Canada.
