Great to see Cuppy Katz back this morning, and also former member Nancy Brewer. Reminder, no morning meeting on Dec. 4 due to evening Christmas Party.
Guests:
Tim Cresswell, husband of Marie
Ambassador Wu
Chi-Ling Yu, wife of Lawrence Leung
Victor Liu
Kaylyn Sutcliffe, Mountain Equipment Co-op
Juliette Gateau and Debbie Chou, inbounds
Jules Villinger
Nancy Brewer
Juliette had a busy weekend in Mississauga with the District inbounds, including a Saturday evening Gala and a hockey game on Sunday. Juliette and Jules then celebrated Debbie’s 18th birthday by presenting her with a glowing cinnamon bun.
Cheque presentation- Kaylyn Sutcliffe of Mountain Equipment Co-op presented the club with a cheque for $1310, proceeds from the Century Ride organized and fundraised for by Marie Cresswell and Hoya Kayal.
Photo Contest- Marie had a slide show going of all the photos submitted (over 70 in total), all of them looked very professional. Winners in the various categories were Peter Thoem, Dave Beckett, Andrew Gaydon, Sheila Welham, Juliette Gateau and Dean Rutty. To view the photos, go to:
Christmas Party- Thursday, December 4, Waterfront Hotel. Allan Ramsay sent out an email invitation. Cocktails at 6:30 pm, dinner at 7:00, cost is $49.50/person. As a result, there is no morning meeting on Dec. 4!
Poinsettias- Andrew Gaydon announced that total proceeds for the Poinsettias for Polio campaign hit $15,000. Congrats to Andrew, Ron and Bryce for organizing, and to club members for energizing.
Dean Rutty asked for help in finding a host family for Joao Moreira, the inbound exchange student from Brazil sponsored by the Rotary Club of Burlington. They had a family back out and need coverage for December and January. Let Dean know if you can help.
Football for Polio pool- Rene Papin said all the squares were sold and game on! This scribe can’t figure out the system, let alone beat it, so no idea who won.
Guest Speaker- Ambassador Wu, NGOs in Taiwan
Ambassador Wu is Director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural office in Toronto, has spent over 30 years in Taiwanese foreign service and is a Rotarian. He had a very detailed and fast moving presentation, meaning this scribe was at least a touchdown behind the entire game.
• Canada is 275 times bigger than Taiwan, but our population of 35 million is not much larger than their 23 million people. Interestingly, per capita income is $40,000, compared to $43,000 in Canada. Obviously a very well developed economy.
• Before the 13th century, Taiwan was occupied by aboriginals. In 1885 it was declared a Chinese province, then ceded to Japan in 1895. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, it was restored to the Republic of China. In 1949, with Mao establishing the Communist People’s Republic of China, Chiang Kai-Shek relocated the Republic of China’s government to Taiwan, and 2 million people followed.
• China sees Taiwan as a renegade province, and although they don’t recognize each other’s sovereignty, they do carry on business with each other.
• Taiwan is a very creative economic power, especially considering they have very few natural resources. There are 2195 NGOs in Taiwan, the biggest involved in public health, science/technology and religion-oriented philanthropy.
• Rotary in Taiwan has 36,000 members in 6 districts, including of course the current RI President, Gary C.K. Huang. Taiwanese Rotarians have donated $54 million USD in the last 20 years.
• Ambassador Wu concluded by saying that Taiwan is the “standard bearer of Chinese culture;” they brought the best of China in 1949.
