Mae was pinch hitting for Janet and thanked the team  let by Andrew. Not sure it was so perfect with Mae breaking the bell, Leslie mangling the 4 way test and an Oh Canada that put us to shame. You'd think we'd never done this before! And this bulletin is late!!!!

Abraham reported on his fantastic weekend at the Rutty's where he downhill skied for the first time. He did the whole northern gig- hot-tubbing then leaping in snow then back in the tub. thanks to Sheila , Dean and Beth for making it happen.

Later in the week he went to Raptors game courtesy of Joe.

Announcements:

Lakeside is looking for sponsors at the $500.00 level that will get them recognition in the program and a sign on the entryway. If you are uncomfortable asking your friends and colleagues please forward the contact info to the committee and we will be happy to brow beat them for you. We are also looking for a contact in the hotel industry to supplement the Porter fight package . Please let one of the committee know if you know of one.

 Feb. 24th is the strat plan follow-up. Location TBD. Stay tuned.

Rotaract will be hosting its annual Pub Quiz on Sunday March the 18th at  . You can register a team on line. it is either 10.00 a team or a person. Sheila is also looking for auction/raffle items for the event.

We are looking for a Privacy officer to replace Doug Brown. Needs to be in place by July 1st. Please let Janet know if you are interested,

Rod was the SAA today and reminded us to b ring in our wine contributions for Lakeside. Must be a Niagara vinter.

Lots of fines for only eating the top of a muffin ( Bob), Anthony Ford Jones for putting his life at risk every week by leaning back on his chair.  He of all people should be concussion aware!!! Leslie for mangling the 4 way. and Rod himself for dating Joe on Valentine's Day. Don't want to know.........

Gerry had a sad dollar as he was punted from the schedule because according to him there was a really important speaker coming- turns out it is Joe.  Nice.......

Kathleen introduced our own Joe today -the special guest!- and if you missed it well you missed a terrific presentation.

No secret that Joe has jumped into our Rotary Club with both feet but you soon realized that he had a habit of jumping into things and worrying about it later.

Joe is a lifelong resident of Burlington starting with the Beach. In 1933-1934 his grandfather was the mayor and his dad a member of the BGCC.  He has been married for 20 years to Dainne and has 4 children and 6 grandchildren

Christmas must cost a bomb!

Joe's family held a lot of real estate in early Burlington. His father operated a Sunoco station on the beach ad was one of Sunoco's most profitable franchises. Unfortunately after the Edmund Fitzgerald hit the canal they closed the rod for quite a while and resulted in having to close the Sunoco station . Bit of a set back but Joe has wonderful memories of living with 3 other relatives and their  families on Torrance Ave. 

He attended Lakeshore  PS then Lockhart and ended au ta Burlington High School where he excelled in basketball and baseball. He played in front of scouts but never got the call and continued to be active in both sports until his 60's.

He had an early taste for construction and wanted to be and engineer. His Math skills lacked a little- I can so relate to that- and he ended up at Wilfred Laurier dong and business degree. His cousin worked for a construction company and he accepted a co-op placement there. He wrote a fantastic paper on Labour Relations in the Construction Industry that was very well received  in the business community and started him on his way. He joined the Ball Brothers Construction Company and learned tons on the fly . He was offered a job by Dominion Bridge but the Bll Brothers made a very wise decision and matched their offer plus some and gave him the title of Business Development. He has never looked back.

He had a short stint with Indicon who developed land around major intersections but they went out of business. He spent 5 years in the senior ranks of Ainsworth Electric . Ultimately the President of PCL, a very good friend of his, offered him a position there. He was offered stocks instead of salary and Joe became an owner as did all the other employees. The firm is now worth over 8 billion dollars  Pretty good ROI if you ask me. Joe joked that he now works for Rod and Bryce- a hard pill to swallow as the Teacher's Union owns a whole ton of stock. Joe closed the morning with a fabulous slide show of some of the projects that PCL has done.  If I can load his presentation  I will. If not google PCL- you'll be amazed.

Believe me this is just a small synopsis of the "Life of Joe" I have had  the pleasure of working with him on Lakeside and a few other things and you would be hard pressed to meet a kinder and more generous and humble person than Joe.

A sincere thank you for all you do for our club and thank you for a wonderful presentation!

Next weeks speaker is Roopa Suppiah representing at Microfinancing Not For Profit in India.

Upcoming events:

·       RYE Country Announcement Day

Feb 25, 2018

·       NAYEN Conference

Hilton Omaha

Mar 14, 2018 – Mar 18, 2018

·       Constitution and By-law presentation

Apr 19, 2018

·       RYE Spring Training

May 27, 2018 – May 28, 2018

·       Rotary International Convention - Toronto 2018

Metro Toronto Convention Centre

Jun 23, 2018 – Jun 27, 2018

CB