RCO Bulletin July 13, 2017

 

Leading his last meeting as Club President, Tareq opened the meeting at 6:30pm.

Myra led us in saying Grace, while John Smith led us in the singing of O Canada.

To begin with we had 19 Rotarians in attendance, plus 3 guests: Diane Farrow, Peggy Dodds, and Dana Dennaoui.

Ralf shared the recent news that the Town of Oakville announced that the Oakville Rotaract Club won the Community Spirit Award for Groups in recognition of the many community projects that they assist in each year.  

Ralf also reminded members that recently an e-mail was sent to all members informing them of which POD they have been assigned to. On a rotational basis each member is asked to help in the running of our meetings for the benefit of all. He asked that when your POD is on duty to please step forward and take on some of the roles required to run each meeting.

The next Club meeting will take place at Rotary Centennial Building at 17 Stewart St. which is our annual Dinner for Senior’s for the residents. Members are asked to arrive by 5:45pm to assist in numerous roles required for the successful dinner for the senior residents.

Len also mentioned that new members who have not seen the residences can have a tour of two buildings. They are asked to arrive at 5pm at 30 Normandy Place for a tour of that facility and then will follow with a tour of an apartment at 17 Stewart St. 

Tareq was very pleased to have the opportunity to induct a new member at his last meeting as Club President. Tareq asked Dana Dennaoui to come forward as well as Frank Morewood, Membership Chair who also proposed Dana to the Club, and then proceeded to formerly induct Dana to our Club. After a warm round of applause Dana graciously shared how welcoming both she and her husband felt when they first visited our Club and that she is excited to become an active member of the Rotary Club of Oakville.

Tareq spoke of the success our Club had this past year including the recognition our Club received at the District level for both Membership (6 New Members as of June 1!) and for our support of Polio Plus. Congrats RCO !

Tareq summarized our successful year by mentioning briefly some of the numerous accomplishments many of our committees and individuals made this past year. They included:

Rae Townsend, George Farrow and Len Warrington plus others for facilitating the sale of a significant asset of Trafalgar Senior Homes to Halton Region from which the proceeds from the sale were placed in the newly created Charitable Trust foundation on a preferred tax basis.

Venue Committee led by George Farrow and John Smith for their efforts in finding two locations for our Club, Oakville Golf Club and for the winter season Seasons Restaurant.

Membership Committee Chair Frank Morewood who oversaw the induction of a record six new members during the first 11 months of the Rotary Year.

Visioning Committee led by Tareq himself with contributions from many members over the past year. Tareq mentioned that the Visioning project is a “live” project, it is never really finished, always evolving.

Judy Warrington and her many helpers who organized our Program for each meeting throughout the year.

The large committee that organized this year’s Speaker Series which was a great success. Led by Judy and several other key individuals had over 50% of the club’s members active in some way in organizing the event. This annual event involves great coordination and is a wonderful Community event.

Golf Tournament Committee led by Graham who happily welcomed several new members who were very active in making sure we had a successful event this year. The key new members included Mike Marner, Mike Henry and Nick Nanos.

George Vincent and Klaus’s involvement in the Oakville Rotaract Club and Michael Bissauge’s involvement in Blakelock’s Interact Club was mentioned.

The Bursary Award program led by Jean Wettlaufer and her committee was recognized.

Tareq shared a bit of his and Nada’s experience as Chaperones at Camp Enterprise and recognized Ralf for his long term leadership and his committee (including Michael Bissauge) for the success of Camp E.

Tareq thanked the members of his Board including: George Farrow, Amin Kawr, Michael Conway, George Vincent, Jean Wettlaufer, Myra Hanna, Len Warrington, Rod Craig, Frank Morewood,  

Tareq welcomed input from board members in his decision for which members would receive recognition for their exceptional contribution to Rotary this past year by awarding a Paul Harris Fellow Award to the following:

Len Warrington x 2, Contributions to the sale of TSH property and the creation of the new Foundation

George Farrow x 2, Contributions to the sale of TSH property and the creation of the new Foundation

Rae Townsend x 2, Contributions to the sale of TSH property and the creation of the new Foundation

 John Smith, leading the Venue Committee and leadership in the Speaker Series event

Richard Roberts, quietly behind the scenes Richard is always willing to assist in the financial record keeping and was a great help for Rod in updating our club’s finances.

Judy Warrington; Her leadership for both the very successful Leadership Series event and our club’s program committee.

Graham Dunn; quietly and diligently leading the organization of our annual golf tourney to another successful event plus building a new leadership team from our club.

Rod Craig; for his tremendous contribution to our Club as Treasurer and for going back a couple of years to get our books in order.

Frank Morewood, for leading our Club’s Membership Committee and Ralf Soeder for his leadership at Camp Enterprise were also recognized with beautiful desk clocks.

Tareq then asked Len to come forward to officially start his Club Presidency. They each exchanged pins, President for Len, Past President for Tareq. Len also presented Tareq with a beautiful large desk clock as recognition of his large contribution to our club this past year as Club President.

Len spoke briefly on some of his objectives for this coming year. One of his priorities is for the various committees to be active and involved. This accommodates the Club to grow from the grassroots by allowing the members to have valued input via their committees.

Len asked every member to add two key dates into their calendars:

September 23^rd is District Conference. For new members (under 2 years) registration is free. For the rest of us if we register before August 1^st it is $99.

June 23rd – 27^th, 2018 is Rotary International Convention in Toronto. Len strongly recommends that every member experience a Rotary Convention at least once. There is no better time or at such an affordable cost as 2018 in Toronto. Advance registration is $US 335 online or $US 345 by mail or fax before December 16th.  Having attended 4 conventions to date Len stated that each of us will be humbled by attending and learning of Rotary’s accomplishment globally.

 

After starting off with a fine for our new Club President, John Smith ended up fining most of us. Several members also contributed Happy Bucks on behalf of family experiences and accomplishments.  

Len closed the meeting with a Toast to Friends & Rotarians around the world.