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President Mitch called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and toasted the King and Canada. The Land Acknowledgement was read by Mike Henry and Frank led us in the singing of the National Anthem. A touching and thoughtful Invocation was provided by Reena and delivered by Wayne on her behalf. Twenty-one club members were in attendance along with 3 guests - Tara Wong, our featured speaker and the CEO of the Oakville Public Library; Alison Cobban, Fund Development Coordinator also with the Oakville Public Library; and Bob’s wife Peggy, a familiar face to us all. Announcements George Vincent announced that our annual golf Tournament will be held this year on September 15 at Pipers Heath. The designated recipient charity this year will be Home Suite Hope. George challenged all members to contribute to the GPS challenge ( G – golfers , P – Prizes , S – Sponsors è a nifty little acronym coined by our President Elect Lynne) Ralf announced that the Rotary Educational Awards Event will be held June 11 and be a ZOOM based event. The 3 Oakville Clubs are donating $100,000 this year to 33 worthy Oakville high school students. International Committee Presentation Michael Conway provided an update on the activities of the very busy International Committee over the past year. A slide summary of each of the projects the committee has been involved in and the club has committed funds to - quite an impressive list of 11 projects totaling $100k. Michael has sent to each club member a copy of the presentation, encouraging us all to review the projects using the links provided. Kudos to Michael, Hart, Nancy, Erika, Ron and amin for all your hard work. Happy Bucks and Fines Amin was the fine master for the evening and we had many happy members. Some of these included Ralf was happy - he participated in A Sleeping Children Around the World event in Kenya, providing over 7,000 bed kits to needy children Michael Bissauge was happy – he has completed his executive MBA and is now again able to attend our Monday meetings Amin was happy to be back home after an extended period of overseas travel Rod was happy to have ended his work in assignment in Kitchener and be able to be back at Rotary more regularly And Frank and Mahendra are both happily looking forward to upcoming travel experiences in Europe and Africa Guest Speaker George Farrow introduced our guest speaker Tara Wong. Tara is the CEO of the Oakville Public Library (OPL). She has been part of OPL since 2014 and prior to coming to Oakville had prior leadership positions with the Ottawa Public Library and the Regina Public Library. Tara shared with us information on the very expansive scope of services OPL provides our community – more than just books! Some numbers on the scale of involvement in our community; - 7 library branches
- 140 staff
- $13M annual operating budget
- 2.5 million books borrowed in 2024
- 1.2 million people walked through OPL library doors in 2024
She also highlighted the exciting new capital projects on the OPL plate - A new library branch opening at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex site. Work is well underway and opening is expected in early 2026
- OPL’s new Central Branch Library – expected to be ready in 2028 it will be housed in the old Post Office Building in Downtown Oakville. Set for 2028 to be a landmark building for Downtown Oakville. Guided by community insight, the redesigned library branch will offer flexible and accessible spaces that celebrate Oakville’s history, support lifelong learning, and promote community connections.
Upon conclusion of Tara’s presentation, Nancy delivered a warm thank you on behalf of the members for her very informative, interesting and inspiring presentation. President Mitch then adjourned the formal part of the meeting with a Toast to Friends and Rotarians around the world at 8:10 pm. |
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