No scribe was apparently assigned to be scribe today. I was in the meeting and looked around and the only other scribe there was Peter Thoem. I caught his attention and did sign language to see if he was the scribe and he signed back that he wasn’t so.... without pen and paper I went on my phone and slowly took notes – probably missed a few points.
Guests: Will Pugh – visiting Rotarian from Burlington Lakeshore and former DG and today’s speaker; Joe Richardson – visiting Rotarian from Burlington North; Monica Fox and Sharon Rattan – both from CNIB.
Announcements and News of Members, former members, etc.
Janet Canavan reported that Kathy Thomas had resigned from the club and stated that she would be missed and thanked her for all she has done for our club. She will still stay involved with Rotary and was seen by a few of us at the Paul Harris Society meeting the day before.
Eric Anderson reported that he had been talking to Bob Simpson who had talked to our Honorary Member Elizabeth Grandbois who is doing well.
Mae Radford reported that Bert had the honour to recently marry Dan Kalmats, I believe, if memory serves me right, at Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery in Beamsville.
Our new Exchange student arrives today. His name is Abraham.
Jamie was thanked by everyone for putting on a great Bar B Q at his place amid the threat of and during the rain. It was enjoyed by everyone who attended.
Telling Tales is still looking for books that would be interest to kids up to 14 years of age. Bring them to the club and Gerry Willard will get them to the Festival.
There is still time to register for the District Conference on September 23rd at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. Cost now is $119.00
CNIB Sharon Rattan was born weighing only 1 ½ pounds and this resulted in her being totally blind in one eye and legally blind in the other eye. She has progressed through life in an independent manner with the use of a guide dog for most of her life and the help of facilities of CNIB. She spoke and gave examples of how the CNIB helps people like her to be independent.
Monica Fox spoke about an upcoming event called Night Steps which is being held on September 8th from 6-9 pm at Central Park as a fundraiser. This event features a walk “under the stars” by teams of walkers. Each walker would be expected to contribute at least $20 and a team would be composed of at least 5 walkers. Nancy Penney, Eric Anderson and others quickly formed a team to participate in this event. Anyone interested can register at cnibnightsteps.ca.
Will Pugh – Guest Speaker Will is on the organizing meeting for next year’s Rotary International Convention in Toronto in June. Will stated that it is a week or two later because the organizing committee couldn’t get the Air Canada Centre until then because the Leafs would be using it playing in the Stanley Cup final - ha. 13,200 people at the Atlanta Convention registered for the Toronto Convention which is apparently many more than normal so the organizing committee is expecting 30-35,000 attendees.
He felt that the Convention is a tremendous opportunity to learn about worldwide service. There are fabulous keynote speakers to learn from. It is also an opportunity to showcase Toronto and the neighbouring towns, cities and countryside and to show off our generosity and friendship.
One of the key points of focus that he came to tell us about was called Home Hosting/Home Hospitality which is apparently one of the most popular features of the convention. This is an opportunity to host people from around the world. There are 2-3 different venues from small to large. In the smaller venue, 2-3 couples or 4-6 people would be hosted at somewhat like our “who’s coming to dinner”. In the larger venues, several people – maybe as many as 30-40 would be hosted at a site. It is planned that the Convention organizing committee would arrange and pay for either a bus or GO train service for the attendees from Toronto to Burlington. It would then be up to us to get them to the host home or site. This event is scheduled for June 24th. Hosts are being asked to step forward. We learned that Sheila Welham is our rep for the organizing committee.
One other thing that Will came to speak to us about is the Beyond Borders Dinner which will be held at the Hockey Hall of Fame on June 23-27th. Information will be provided on various geographical parts of Canada. 8-900 people are expected to attend this part of the convention.
The other thing that Will requested were volunteers for the many aspects of the convention and to make sure that most of us were attending and registered. The cost is $335 US and you can register on the following website ri.registration.org . The cost goes up sometime in the future if you don’t pay now.
Davis Beckett thanked Will for his presentation.
