Club Assembly

• Attendance: 25 members
• Meeting Start: 6:30pm
• Meeting Ended: 8:43pm

Opening:

• President Susan Sheppard welcomed members
• Lynn Childs shared a Land Acknowledgement
• Susan raised a glass to toast King Charles III and Canada
• Bob Miskelly gave the Invocation
• Mahendra Shah led us all in O Canada
• August Birthdays:
  • George Vincent – August 14, Mitch Sabsabi – August 20. George shared 3 “facts” about himself and we had to guess which one was a lie.
  • Liliana Chocarro – August 21
  • Ian Howcroft – August 24

• RCO Club Financials: reported by Mahendra Shah
  • We ended the year 2025/2026 Rotary year with a surplus of $4,348 versus budgetary deficit of $3,000.
  • The surplus was primarily due to not having to use the $5,000 allocated for our president-elect to go to RI convention.
  • There was also a surplus of $1,577 from the Rotary Club of Oakville West upon the merger of the two clubs that was not budgeted for.
  • The line items in the budget are consistent with the prior year actual results.

• Community Service Committee: report by Mike Henry
  • Mike detailed the donations made since July 1st, the beginning of the current Rotary year.
  • $15,000 for Civix to fund elementary school learning resources
  • $39,000 for Lighthouse for Grieving Children for a new program
  • $6,800 for the Ian Anderson House for a kitchen renovation
  • ~$45,000 – Halton Learning Foundation, 100% recipient of 2026 Oakville Rotary Golf to Give Tournament
  • Local grant requests pending RCO Charitable Fund approval include:
  • $3,000 for MADD Canada for additional classroom training sessions
  • $5,600 for Feed Halton for training and licensing a driver to increase the load capacity for an existing truck
  • $25,000 for Global Medic to repair their roof which has numerous leaks
  • $10,000 for March of Dimes for an automatic door opener at the Howard and Jean Caine Apartments
  • Mike also listed numerous grant requests that are still pending approval by the committee.
  • 2026/27 Budget = $260,000, includes Golf To Give donation

• Environment Committee: reported by Reena Sandhu
  • Reena shared with us that the Environment committee focuses on practical and visible environmental action in Oakville and surrounding areas. They are developing a clear committee mandate. A key project has been supporting Repair Cafes with the goal of helping establish a permanent Repair Cafe presence in Oakville similar to the one in Burlington. Other initiatives have included the Plant Swap, Earth Day community cleanups, bird friendly projects, youth environments stewardship, and raising awareness about improving the return and recovery of non-alcoholic beverage containers in Ontario
  • Reena invited members to the next meeting for the Environmental committee which will be held on October 1st at 7:00 PM via Zoom.
  • 2026/27 Budget = $20,000

• Indigenous Service Committee: reported by George Vincent
  • George shared a history of the various projects that the Indigenous Services committee has supported over the past eight years. Current projects that the Indigenous committee is financially supporting includes:
  • Sheridan Colleges – Technical Bursaries Indigenous students
  • Six Nations Polytechnic, GRPSEO, and University of Sudbury – various Student Bursaries
  • Water First & Indspire
  • 2026/27 Budget = $100,000

• International Committee: reported by Hart Jansson
  • Hart reported on behalf of the International committee and listed some of the projects that the committee has supported
  • Cameroon tuition for young disabled residents: we provided tuition books and uniforms for 50 disabled students for the 2025/26 school year via a District Grant. The project was completed successfully.
  • Prescription eyeglasses for Gaza: 100 eyeglasses were provided to children in Gaza. The project is complete and thank you letter and videos received. Project report will be forwarded to the rest of the club the next week.
  • Women Entrepreneurs Improving Nutrition in Kenya. Project to be completed September 30th 2026. Hart and Michael have spent the last 18 months monitoring and supporting the hard work in Kenya. The host Bungoma Rotary Club and NGOs have done a very good job. The final next steps require additional funding or project closure.
  • Tuition for Destitute Children (India): via the Child Haven International, which is a Canadian charity. Project has started, 63 students receiving tuition and uniforms for the 2026/27 school year with an interim report received. Total project $25,000 with $12,000 from Rotary Club of Oakville via District Grant.
  • Health and Economic Development project in Kisei County in Kenya $10,000 U.S. dollars have been sent as part of a $85,000US project via a Global Grant initiated by the Rotary Club of Castle Pines, Colorado.
  • The approximate budget for this Rotary year for the international committee is $100,000 Cdn. The amount varies depending on when grants are approved by either the District or Rotary International as well as currency fluctuation.

• Membership Committee: reported by Lynn Childs
  • For this Rotary year the objective is to have a net +3 growth in members.
  • Committee objectives include:
    • To attract and retain active involved club members to reflect our professional and demographic community
    • To orient new members and help them find their place in the club
    • To ensure the overall health of the club and support member retention
    • To improve our club's capability to execute it's service objectives
  • Lynn welcomes any interested members wishing to attend the next scheduled Membership committee meeting on September 17^th. For location and time, reach out to Lynn.

• Youth Service Committee: reported by Ralf Soeder
  • Youth Committee Members & Key Responsibilities
    • Lilianna Chocarro: Interact @ District & RYLA
    • Peter DeGroot: Oakville Rotary Education Awards (OREA)
    • Ramji Khandelwal: Adventures in Citizenship
    • Neeraj Nulu: Interact @ Iroquois Ridge High School & OREA
    • Ralf Soeder: RCO Youth Committee Chair, RYLA
    • Ed Sweeney: Interact @ Iroquois Ridge High School
    • Other members include; Erika Coetzer, Larry Rodrigue, Jean Wettlaufer
  • RCO Youth Committee 2026/27 Budget:
    • Oakville Rotary Education Awards @ $91,000
    • Adventures in Citizenship @ $1,200 for 1 student
    • Interact initiatives @ $2,100
    • RYLA @ $1,800 for 2 participants
    • Conrad Grebel Peace & Conflict Studies @ $3,000
    • Total Budget Identified = $99,100
    • RCO Board approved $100,000 on August 24^th

• Club Service Report: reported by Rod Craig
  • Rod shared that the committee's responsibilities include RCO website on Club Runner, social media and press releases. Rod referred to RCO’s “Guide to Public Relations Social Media and Big Cheque Presentations” useful for any member whose committee has a good news story they want to share including donations made in the local community and beyond.
  • Members in Club Service include: Rod, Amaka, Neeraj, Reena, Susan and Aninda

Susan thanked the Oakville Golf Club staff for their efforts in the evening.

The meeting closed with a toast to Rotarians around the world and we collectively recited the Four Way Test.