Would that they were all so easy.
It was President Bryce’s first day in command today and for a moment you’d think a new broom had swept through. The breakfast fare was unchanged, which was comforting, but almost the first thing Bryce said was; “We’re going to do things a little differently this morning.” You could feel the crowd shifting uneasily. Change? Whatever next?
Well it was actually rather benign. Our outgoing student, Tristan, wanted to try out her “This is Canada” presentation that she’s expecting to have to deliver to her host Rotary club in Peru. She asked if she could go first in our order of service citing incipient unwellness. So she ran through the slides she’d prepared and sought our input and constructive criticism; and took away some ideas to work with.
Then Dean did what was supposed to be a brief presentation on the outcome of a recent polling of members as to the value of Rotary Youth Exchange. Of course the paradox, or maybe irony, is that we all seem to love to see and hear the students. We have all admired young students like Juliette, yet the pool of potential host families is forever shallow. There are dozens of reasons why it’s a positive experience to host – take it from your seven-times-a-host-dad scribe.
Our next inbound student is Agustina Perez Saucedo from Argentina. We have her first two hosts settled, but come next spring…then what? Dean and Sheila need our support.
Our new Sergeant at Arms is Bernie Hanna, and should he be unavailable Dan Kalmats is his deputy. Corporal at Arms?
Sgt. Bernie spent a bit of time on a spelling test asking people to spell discombobulated, d-i-s-c-o-m-b-o-b-u-l-a-t-e-d, and then the name of the Greek Prime Minister (Alexis Tsipras). He told us about being hung over following Canada Day celebrations on his beach, and all about a $16,000 bathtub he bought for his new house but which is still in his garage with an uncertain future. He’s close to paying someone to take it away. He also shared with us that he and a bunch of colleagues have created a fund from which they make donations to worthy causes. To that end, they have confirmed a donation of $10,000 to our Partnership Golf Tournament and $3,500 to the Rotary Burlington Music Festival. Now that’s philanthropy.
There will be no morning meeting next week. The show is a Four-club BBQ at the home of Rotarian Karl Sury on Miller Crescent (off Guelph Line by #1 Side Rd.)
And that was pretty much it for Bryce’s first, the Tristan, Dean and Bernie Show.
P Scribe.
