April 4, 2016  

President John opened the meeting with the singing of O’Canada, Rotary Grace and a toast to the Queen.

Guests:  Student of the Month nominees from LCVI: Kayla Farewell and Alexandra O’Neill and teacher Christie Gordon; from I.E.Weldon: Aoife McGrory and Ryan Daley and teachers Lyne Archambault and Marie Bew; from St. Thomas Aquinas: Mercedes Laking and Aspen Thurston and teacher Holly Ashton; from Alternate Education: Mackinley Price and teacher Amy Mullen. Other guests were Gillian Willcocks, Kerry Daley, Karen Spearing, Mike Simpson, Joan Simpson, Mel McGrory and soon to be a member, Don Finlayson.

Humorist: Bert said he couldn’t find an audience appropriate joke about doctors so he brought one about an engineer who fixed everything in hell. 

 

Special Announcement: President John told those present about our participation in the “Kids Against Hunger Canada” project called ONE MILLION MEALS.  On Saturday, about 15 people including Rotarians and volunteers went to Peterborough to join approximately 600 other folks to assemble and pack 120,000 meals. This feat was accomplished in about 5 hours.  There will be another event of this nature in September when it is expected that there will be more people and multiple locations.  The goal of one million meals does not seem out of reach judging by Saturday’s results.

 

Today’s Door Prize was won by:  one of our guests, Lyne Archambault.

 

Business announcements:

The Tri-Club Rotary Meeting will be held on May 2nd at the Peterborough Golf Club.  President John has enough guests for a full table but would welcome more members and guest to reserve a second table.

Lynda says that every member is expected to have a job in support of Rotanza. If you haven’t volunteered, please do so.  She hopes that everyone saw the piece in the paper last week and says to expect to see more. The ticket price quoted in the piece of $127.80 is the “on-line” price. The regular price (off-line) remains at $120.00 The Earlybird draw will be held on April 18th (two weeks) at our regular luncheon meeting.  Lynda hopes that we will all make contact with the people on our lists before then so that they have a chance to win the $500 prize. 

John Hunter (the one with the tan) hopes to distribute tickets for the Rotanza raffle at next week’s meetingg. They are $5.00 and the prizes are: a) Patio Set, b) BBQ and c) $300 CTC gift card.  The hope is that each member will sell a ‘book’ of tickets. John wants the stubs back by the 28th. 

Next week, Dave Harvie will bring us some information about the Rotary Foundation. 

 

Duties for next week April 11, 2016

Sgt at Arms: Tracy Richardson and John Hagarty

Thanks/Fine master:  Ron Cork

Greeter/Prize: Barb Swain

Humorist:  John Bennett

Speaker: David Harvie

 

Happy Bucks:

Happy Bucks were collected by Fine master Barb. 

Teresa recently studied for an examination. She is happy now to hold the designation of Master Memorialist.

Lynda is happy that spring is somewhere out there?

Sharon is happy to see our guests today.

Garry is happy to have seen several cranes (of the feathered variety) in front of his house on the lakeshore.

Danielle is happy that her daughter has had good news from Harvard. 

Neil is happy that the Jays are starting out on the right foot with a win.

Mike Simpson (a guest) is happy that his grand daughter is a Student of the Month

Carol is happy that our chauffeur (president John) delivered us safely in the big yellow bus to the “Kids Against Hunger Canada”  project called ONE MILLION MEALS, in Peterborough and then back home again.

Rohan is happy about Adam and Nancy Hayward’s 17th anniversary

John Hunter threw in 5 return tax bucks and said it’s good to be back

Gill Willcocks is happy her grand daughter is a student of the month

There was a fine for all those who have not sold at least 3 Rotanza tickets which netted more bucks than we would have wished. 

 

50/50 Draw Garry Burns ticket returned $5 but he did not find the joker. The pot lives.

 

Student of the Month Awards:

A representative of each of the four participating secondary schools came to the podium to introduce their student of the month nominees for the months of January and February.   Each teacher explained the individual attributes of the students that made them candidates for the award.  These young people excel in various areas of school life; academics, athletics, music, drama, volunteerism, student civics and humanity.  It is to be hoped that their efforts will continue to be rewarded. 

 

Today’s Guest speaker, Garry Burns did a classification talk today.

The AV presentation that he had prepared suffered a technical glitch so he went with the unscripted version. 

Garry is the Chief of Staff at Omachron Science Inc.  His journey to that position has seen him involved in security at several levels from gaining insight as a frontline guard all the way to setting corporate policy and training programs.  While working at Darlington Nuclear facility, Garry could see opportunity in the private sector and followed his instincts to a management position in a firm that became very successful. He and his employer Gerry Johnston developed the first security guard training program in Ontario. The firm grew to 300 employees and sales improved from one million to four million dollars annually. Garry’s penchant for giving his customers more than what they expected, led him to be coaxed into joining Omachron Science Inc.  With facilities in Hampton and Bobcaygeon, Garry and his wife Brenda decided to move to CKL  in late 2013.

It isn’t hard to tell that Garry enjoys his job.  He explained that the main efforts at Omachron are in research and development which is understandably carried out under high security. Entry to the facility is by invitation only and clients guard their identity closely. Government regulatory bodies are routine visitors ensuring compliance on specific projects. Garry suggested that we might be surprised to learn how many products with which we are familiar, have been developed by his company. Certain of the products developed within their walls here in Hampton Ontario have impacted  employment on a world wide level.

A few projects they have been involved with are, the water recycling system for the International space station, cyclonic patents for moving particles in air ie. a popular type of vacuum cleaner, and water treatment purifiers. 

Garry is a team leader.  His skills are transferrable in that he holds the rank of Major in the Air Force Reserve, he is Commanding Officer Designate of the Whitby Air Cadet Squadron, and a member of the Oshawa Air Force club.  Garry also serves as the vice chair of Kawartha Haliburton Victim Services board of directors and is a member of the Bobcaygeon Legion.  He is a Paul Harris Fellow and a former member of the Oshawa Rotary Club.

Garry’s reason for joining Rotary? It’s an opportunity to give back to the community.

 

There being nothing further for the good of Rotary, the meeting was adjourned.

 

 

Your scribe,

Jim Mackey

 

If you couldn’t attend our luncheon today, we missed you.