The Rotary Club of Langley’s 43rd regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 21, 2020. Great social interaction was enjoyed by members and guests signing in. When he deemed appropriate, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome.
Welcome from Wayne: “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects
the World. I haven’t connected with the world, but I did connect with six young women on your behalf and made them very happy. They were excited to hear from me that they had been awarded Rotary scholarships. We did not have guest speakers on May 28 or June 11, so I arranged for three students to speak to us on each of those occasions. Club members on the Membership Committee were also able to connect with others in District 5050, and I’m hoping more club members will take advantage of the opportunities to become involved in online training sessions offered by our district.”
Announcements included an updated speakers list, membership information from Claudia, and correspondence from DG Brad. Wayne expressed pleasure that our club was ahead of the game in already conducting activities requested by Brad. Club members who have been unable to attend meetings should be receiving phone calls from our volunteer phoning committee: Claudia, Rudy, Brendan, Allan, Bob L., John and Wayne.
George Garrett was our guest speaker, informing us about the need for and services offered by the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society. Over 3500 people were assisted in 2019 by about 200 drivers, and 2020 had projections of 27000 trips. The service is very well used. George also shared anecdotes from his career as a reporter for CKNW, proving to be an informative and enjoyable speaker.
Executive members passed motions proposing Jim See and Jack Miller as new members of our club. Jack was a guest again this evening, and we enjoyed his participation.
We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and shared a number of humourous stories, as this meeting seemed to have more laughter than usual. We closed with a toast to Canada.