B.E.L. Rotary Bulletin – 2 April 2012 - by Ruth Kuchinad
President Brad raised a toast to Brazil, Mexico and all those places Rotary serves. Bob Craw led the 4-Way Test and Don Thornton gave the blessing. Our guests this evening were Jennifer Tworkowski and Alicia Kinset, our outbound YE student. Chris Tworkowski won the 50/50. Dave Tilley regaled us with lots of great trivia questions.
Club Assembly
President Brad asked each of the Committee Chairs to bring forward their plans and activities.
1. Finances – In the absence of Al Hitchon, Dave Rook-Green tabled a short financial report. This indicates we have $63,000 in the bank but Polar Plunge cheques have not yet been written.
The expenses to date for different committees are: Club Service- $12,500, Public Relations- $900, Community Services - $5300, Vocational Services- $3000 (incl. RYLA), International Services-$2500, Foundation – TBA. Park Expenses are $3000 with revenue coming in at $2000.
2. Club Administration – Chris Tworkowski reported that the Tri-Club Meeting will take place on June 10th. The speakers will be Olympic Champions. Place TBA. Chris also said the committee is attempting to do social events once per month.
3. Foundation – Girv Devitt said that he believes one-half of the monies owed to RI for the Every Rotarian campaign have already been sent. He wondered if the monies for the Polio Plus campaign have been paid. He reminded us that it is very easy to donate to the Foundation through www.TRFCanada.org. Our Foundation dinner is expected to take place on June 4th at Gallary on the Lake.
4. International Committee – Girv told us about the Haiti International Project to which we have contributed. The Wheelchair project will be the recipient of $2500 from us through the Peterborough Foundation. The time and location of the distribution is TBD.
Don Thornton advised us that Alicia will be going to District 4150 in Mexico and that our inbound student is Sarah Leth from Denmark. She arrives in August. Ruth Kuchinad has signed up as a host family and she hope that others in the club will do so too.
Jennette Heffernan is now in Brazil and is sending communications home often.
5. Public Relations – Ruth Kuchinad reported that there have been many articles in the local Lakefield Herald about our activities and many media outlets picked up our materials about the Polar Plunge. She talked about the committee’s plans to continue to provide good media coverage , to improve the bulletin and the website and to get on Facebook. They have created
several special events including the Chamber’s After 5 in November. They expect to improve BEL Rotary’s outreach by participating in groups such as the Polarfest, the Bridgenorth Trailand with the other 2 clubs in the Peterborough area.
She informed us that the 3 incoming presidents have been meeting to determine what common event and fund-raisers are possible this next year.
Ruth also will be calling on Alicia to help organize BEL Club’s media ,such as clippings.
Ruth led the club through the year in terms of events ; e.g. when they take place and what to expect over the year. She will contact Bob Fawcett to investigate whether we should go forward with the Biker Breakfast.
6. Community Service – Dave Tilley indicated that there were many charities which had approached us, but we have helped them through the Polar Plunge. Other organizations which are supported through donations are: Lakefield Youth Unlimited for food hampers, Rotary Bridgenorth Trail for signage, the OPP for their camp program. The Board has approved going forward with the Camp Kawartha trip cabin project and more info will be forthcoming.
7. Vocational Services – Brian Parks told us about the various programs under his leadership. The kids coming to Adventures in Tourism learned a lot and had fun. But the course at Fleming College through which we have been working has been cancelled. We will need to find another way to have student help. RYLA is coming on April 22nd, and we do have an attender for the Adventures in Citizenship.
Discussion: There was a general discussion on the club’s income; that we don’t have a good handle on the revenue stream because of the variability of the Plunge and other events. And we seem to be having difficulty keeping the energies up around events. So, we decided to have a discussion about possible new fund-raisers at a later meeting. We ask all members to think about possible fund-raisers which could supplement or replace some of the others such as the Golf Tournament.
Calling all new ideas – Please bring them to the April 23rd meeting! We need your input!
President Brad thanked all who reported for their time and energies organizing the various programs so important to our club.
Announcements & Discussion
Alicia reported that the inbounds will be having their get together on May 19-22. She continues to study hard with her Spanish lessons.
Calendar
Apr 16, 6:30 pm Chemong Lodge Dave Rook-Green
Apr 23 6:30 pm Chemong Lodge Al Hitchon
Apr 30 6:30 pm Chemong Lodge open