April 14th bulletin

April 14^th Bulletin

President Rudy called meeting to order at 6:30. Bob Dodds graciously stepped in to say Grace followed by the National Anthem led by Frank Morewood. Rudy started the meeting with a President's minute and described the District meeting and dinner that he an Myra attended in Guelph. He explained that the event was a preview of the District Conference which takes place at the same venue later this year.

Terry Scott announced the attendance of 25 Rotarians and 2 guests; Peggy Dodds and Tom Cunningham, who intends to join the club. Rudy announced that the scotch was particularly good and thanked bartender George Farrow for having a heavy hand.

 

Andrew Caird was Fine Master collecting Happy Bucks from Ralf for having Addison home to say goodbye to his house, Brian for having new hearing aids, Jean for having adopted a new dog, Linda for her grand daughters Dance prowess, Janice for announcing ticket sales of >210 for Wines & Lines, and

Fred for planting all his pansies.

 

Andrew charged fines for "two timer" Joe for greeting people twice, Manny for not having money, Myra for BYOD, George for standing outside the bar to drum up business and finally Ralf for selling his house.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Janice announced ticket sales of 215 and asked for volunteers for Wines & Lines to serve food and clean up. Perfect for high school kids needing volunteer hours. She also needs a volunteer with a large vehicle (van) to pick -up trays of food from White Oaks High School at 2 PM on the 24th to take to the hall.

 

Rudy announced the day for the district Turn-over dinner on June 25th at the Hanlon Convention Centre in Guelph and invited all attendees.

 

Phyllis reminded us that RYLA is on Tuesday May 29th and invited us to attend the camp in Orangeville to meet the candidates and other Rotarians.

 

Doug announced that his wife Mary will be walking in the upcoming MS walk in honour of Malcolm Wright's wife  and asked for support. Donation sheets were on the table. An e-mail will be sent to members of the club as well.

 

Manny did his part to drum up golf foursomes and prizes for the Piper's Heath event on June 16th.

 

SUNSHINE REPORT

Doug reported that Al Histead is well and recently enjoyed listening to a Flutist and Pianist at his LTC.

 

Ralf reported that Paul Bannon is doing well and intends to return later this year after a year sabbatical.

 

George How Pak Sing welcomed Allana Dougherty from the Lions Dog Training Center in Oakville. She is an apprentice trainer for Guide Dog Canada and spoke to us about what goes on at the centre.

Guide Dog Canada is a charitable organization that places dogs at no cost across Canada. The cost to train and place a dog is ~$25K with the money being raised through donations.

There are 6 programs at the centre;

 

1. Canine Vision for sight impaired people

2. Service dogs for mobility impaired people

3. Seizure Response to activate life lines etc.

4. Hearing Ear dogs for hearing impaired people

5. Autism Assistance for children with autism where the dog is tethered to the child

6. Diabetic Alert a new program for diabetic response where the dogs are trained to smell the breath of the owner and retrieve the diabetic kit.

 

The Centre has its own breading program and concentrates on only a few breads that are suitable for service work. Pups are fostered for the first 10 months of their lives at which time they are returned to the centre for specific training and fine-tuned to match customers requirements. Allana demonstrated with visitor dog in training Ira and had her retrieve a cell phone from the floor.

 

The talk was obviously well received because there were numerous questions such as does it matter what gender the dog is?,Working Life of a service dog?, How many dogs are trained by a single trainer at one time?, and whether the ability to train was based on capacity of the centre or the amount of funding.

 

Jean officially thanked the speaker and mentioned how appropriate the presentation was since she just adopted a new dog over the weekend.

 

In the 50/50 draw Allana drew the winning ticket of 372. You'll never guess who won.............Liz again. I vote that we ban her from the contest. Any seconders?

 

Rudy finally closed the meeting with a toast to Friends and Rotarians Around the world.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Randy