April 30- the birthday of 3 of our esteemed members (twins Lawrence and Doug, and much younger brother Dean), and of course income tax deadline. Maybe that explains the lack of birthday presents over the years.

 

Guests today included Laurier Mantel (Richard Pass), Nima McElhinney (Owen McElhinney), Cam Osler (Bern Scrivener) and Juliette.

 

 

Nepal Earthquake- Acting President Bryce Leggatt told us that the Board has been discussing the best way to respond to the tragedy in Nepal, and it has been decided that the club will match any member contribution up to $2000. The total amount raised from the club and members will be sent to the Woodstock-Oxford club’s Disaster Relief Fund, where it will be matched by the Canadian government. Please bring your cheque to next week’s meeting, made out to our club, and Peter Skoretz will collect them. If you can’t make the meeting but wish to contribute, let Peter or Bryce know ASAP.

 

 

Nima gave us an impassioned update on her native country, Nepal. She said that the entire country is hurting, and 95% of the villages near Mt. Everest have been wiped out. Lack of insurance and infrastructure is magnifying the disaster. Nima asked us to do what we can, any little bit will make a difference. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Nepal.

 

Python’s Pit- Peter Skoretz reminded us that this coming Monday, May 4, 7-9 pm at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, is the evening where the highschool contestants make their pitches live to the Pythons. A video will also be shown of the Open Contestants category, and the winner of the $20,000 grand prize. Tickets are free, but Peter needs to know in advance if you want to reserve a seat.

 

 

Community Service Awards Breakfast- Dean Rutty mentioned that tickets are still available for the 4-Club Event on May 14. Guest speaker is Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s The Agenda.

 

 

Dean also said that next week, May 7, the club’s Youth Exchange Committee will be making a presentation to the club, and asked that you invite any family, friends or neighbours who have an interest in the program.

 

Richard Pass’s guest Laurier Mantel, a first year student at Waterloo, spoke about his experiences with RYLA, and how grateful he is for the leadership skills he has learned.

 

 

 

Gerry Willard thanked the 8 members plus Kyle Welham who helped out with the Highway Cleanup last weekend.

 

Juliette- another busy week. Juliette and Debbie spent the weekend at Richard Pass’s house in Toronto. He covered a lot of territory, and the only one not tired after the weekend was Richard. Tuesday, Dean shuttled the 4 Burlington students to a fundraising dinner in Woodstock for Italian student Maria. She is raising money for the Canadian trip. Wednesday, Janet Canavan and Dean took Juliette and Faustine to play tennis.

 

 

Brothers Lawrence, Doug and Dean got fined yet again for their birthdays.

Happy Dollars- Wayne Gowan for his son moving out of the house, and an upcoming trip to Europe; Marie for Nima’s talk, and for a cousin who passed away recently suffering from depression; Doug Brown for his son completing a marathon; Richard Pass for a great weekend with Juliette and Debbie; and Dean Rutty, for the fantastic time they have had hosting Juliette.

 

 

Bet most of you didn’t know that Jim has been in the IT world for 40 years, and drives to our meetings every week from Niagara-on-the-Lake (I didn’t). He has also quietly been working behind the scenes to keep our club website up to date and manage all the changes.

 

 

Jim said for Clubrunner to really be a useful tool, we need more involvement from club members; more stories and content. It is constantly being upgraded, and there are some excellent features that we don’t come close to taking advantage of.

 

In a nutshell, our Clubrunner website contains stories, calendars, events, photos, links to the District and to RI, and FAQ. Once you login, you can see member information, committees, attendance, club documents, and have the ability to email all club members with one click. It also has links to the club Facebook page and Twitter, and to the 4 Club website “Rotary Events”.

 

For those of you who haven’t logged in yet, and we know there are a few of you, your login is first.last name, and the password is your first name. It will then prompt you to change your password to something else. If you have trouble, just email Webmaster Jim at webmaster@rotarycbc.on.ca

 

Many thanks to Jim for his continued dedication to our website.