Another hybrid meeting with more members attending from home and most members absent. It would be great to see some of our currently absent members joining us for meetings. If you go to the Timms Centre, you get a cookie (just ask Rudy).
Some of us were wearing green for St. Patrick’s Day, and we chatted about personnel issues, vaccination status for border crossing, free rapid tests, doing things differently in Ontario, and stories about forgetting to spring ahead for daylight saving time, including arriving at church just before the sermon ended.
O Canada!
Leon’s choice of O Canada tonight was sung by the Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus, singing before a hockey game (how Canadian) and was most enjoyable. They first sang the Ukrainian national anthem, followed by the Canadian one, both great performances. Some of us were singing “We stand on guard” while we were seated, but not the courageous three who travelled to Timms (hmm, that’s not the more common Canadian reference to Tims).
Guest Speaker
Without a guest speaker (we really need someone to be in charge of organizing programs) because Leon has too many balls in the air (his words), we got to visit amongst ourselves at length. Dr. John correctly answered the question, “Do you know the name of the one NHL player who is reported to be unvaccinated?” Because he hasn’t been immunized by vaccination he is not allowed to play any games with his team in Canada. Lana said she was going to Victoria to tell off the truckers gathering there in protest. Brendan said he could get a speaker next week on the topic of water, and then volunteered to serve as our program coordinator for one month (hooray!). Nora has a speaker in mind as well. Wayne shared an update about scholarships and wished our website had the 2022 application information. He has delivered our “flood recovery donation“ cheque to LCSS and received an appreciative email response. Les Clay’s family is arranging a 90th birthday celebration for him on Sunday, March 27 from 1-3 p.m. at the Rotary Interpretive Centre. Let’s attend and show our Rotary support for Les! Brendan has called a committee meeting regarding support for Ukraine for next Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. All club members interested may attend the zoom meeting (email Brendan for details).
Rotary Foundation Moment
Our Foundation Moment again focused on the crisis in Ukraine.
Rotarians Respond to Ukrainian Crisis
More than half of the 2.5 million refugees fleeing Ukraine have arrived in Poland where Rotary members are organizing shelter, transportation, and basic necessities for the incoming refugees.
Rotary Club of Olsztyn is collecting and managing donations for refugees, primarily unaccompanied children, staying at Ostróda Camp. Within a few hours, four cars full of donated items were collected— including food, clothes, bedding, personal hygiene products, as well as some toys.
The Rotary Foundation has received thousands of donations, totaling over $1.1 million. These donations support efforts like that of Rotary Club of Olsztyn as well as provide medical supplies in Ukraine and support refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. #RotaryResponds
Donate to Rotary's Disaster Response Fund to support refugees and victims of the Ukraine crisis here: https://lnkd.in/eQTexMPG.
Happy and sad dollars were pledged repeatedly for St. Patrick’s Day (and for heading off to a St. Pat’s fiddle event), for enjoying golfing and wine tasting with a brother and visiting the San Diego Zoo, for the problematic app needed to return to Canada, for the week of fantastic curling shots during the Canadian Men’s Bonspiel and the win by the Brad Gushue rink having to play with only three men in the playoff round when their third tested positive for COVID, and for receiving negative COVID test results.
We closed by raising our glasses and toasting Canada, wishing each other well.
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