November 16th Rotaract Meeting (Nov 12, 2017)

November 16th Meeting

Hi Rotaractors,

A reminder of this Thursday's meeting where Dan Kane will be presenting on the Aqua Box program. These boxes are assembled in Stratford by the Rotary Club and distributed around the world as natural and other disasters strike, limiting access to clean drinking water. In September, we donated our trivia night proceeds to the cause and were able to send five aqua boxes to the Caribbean following Hurricane Irma. Come and learn more about the program we supported!

Things to Think About:

Member Survey - We want to hear from you and are in the process of building a member survey to get a feedback on all things Rotaract. What you like, changes you'd like to see, etc. Please start thinking about thinking about this so when the survey comes out, you have some opinions to voice.

Brain Storm Session - at our Wednesday, December 6th meeting, we'll be revisiting the events we participated in last year and brain storming for events going forward. Please plan to attend!

Other Items of Note:

Rotary International Convention - if you are interested in attending this event in Toronto next June, please let me know by Monday, November 20th so we can book ahead of the early bird registration deadline. The Club has committed $1000 to help cover registration and other costs associated with attending. These funds will be split equally among those interested in attending. Details can be found here.

RI Convention - June 23-27, 2018

Rotaract Preconvention - June 22-23, 2018

Rotary Friendship Exchange - our District is participating in a friendship exchange next May in either Turkey or Croatia. A friendship exchange is where a group of Rotarians and their spouses/significant others go to another country are hosted by Rotarians there. The hosts later come to Canada are hosted by you. Details can be found on the District Facebook page here. Space is limited so if this is of interest to you, please send the coordinators a group sooner than later to be added to their "interested" list.

Make Ups - A remind that if you have missed a meeting but have volunteered at a Rotaract event, please send the details of the meeting you missed and the make up activity to Lauren for tracking/attendance purposes.

Thanks everyone. Have a great week and see you on Thursday.

Laurie

Stratford Rotaract Meeting

Wednesday Nov. 1, 2017 @ 6:30pm

University of Waterloo, Stratford

Members in Attendance: Laurie, Sarah, Kelly, Lauren

Guests: Jennifer, Emma, Val, Janice

Regrets: Katelyn

Agenda Item	Follow up:
1. Welcome, Introductions & What Went Wells
2. Guest Speaker Janice Brown – Experiences in Guatemala -Went to Guatemala as part of an eye care mission -Optometrist John Honer has gone to Guatemala for 18 years now. She asked one day if they needed volunteers -1 ophthalmologist, 7 optometrists and 5 volunteers -Learned a lot about herself, about culture, and about people -Challenged a lot of her beliefs about how she approaches other people and how she thinks -She commented that in some ways things were completely different and in others it was clear that people are the same -Long days (7:30 until 9pm). Saw hundreds of patients -Worked for 6 days and then went to Antigua for 3 days -Experience with one of their hosts, Jorge made her re-evaluate what it really means to be present in a conversation -She shared some really powerful anecdotes about the work they did while there…including essentially giving a woman the gift of sight after 15 years. -She experienced such a sense of community with the others she worked with, and within the community that she worked. She got so used to having that community around her that she experienced culture shock coming home. She found it odd that people didn’t look at one another, she had to get used to larger personal bubbles, etc. -She spoke of the kindness and generosity of the people of Guatemala -“We have so much and they were the happiest people I’ve ever been around”	.
3. Previous Minutes Amendments to previous meeting minutes
4. New Business & Idea Sharing 6.1 New Member Inductions (none)
5. Announcements Updates from committees Future events Rotary International Convention Round table Club Kudos Upcoming Speakers: November 16 – Dan Kane, Rotary’s Aquabox program December 6 – brain storm session/pulse check December 21 – Christmas social January 3 - TBD January 18 – Mimi Price – the YMCA & Cooper Site plans February 7 – Brent Furtney, Boards & Governance Committee Updates: A few people have indicated that they want to help out with ‘UnValentine’s Day’. Sarah will check and see if Andrea is interested in helping out again this year. Brain Storming session will be at beginning of December. Bring your event ideas Rotary International Convention in Toronto is in June. Registration is in December. Let Laurie know if you are interested. –Rotaract will be contributing some money towards attending the conference. We have committed up to $1000 distributed evenly amongst whoever is going. The registration fee for Rotaract members is $70 and then the Rotaract pre-convention is $100. Let Laurie know by Monday, November 20^th if you are interested or forever hold your peace. On Dec. 6^th at the Falstaff Family Centre, there is a screening of a film called “A Better Man” for the National Day of Remembrance We have been asked to provide a trivia night for Stratford Farm Equipment’s staff Christmas party. They will donate $500. Laurie encouraged everyone to plant seeds about other young people coming to join us. Friendship exchanges – The District is looking at organizing a group exchange where Rotarians will visit each others’ districts. They are looking at either Turkey or Croatia. (May or June). –Laurie can get you in touch if interested. Suchitoto Cabaret this Friday This Friday is Random Act of Kindness Day United Way has kicked off their fundraising campaign Bring a friend for our next meeting.
6. Next Meeting and Location Thursday, November 16^th at 6:30pm UW Campus
7. Meeting Adjourned
PARKING LOT Tree planting in the spring