The meeting was called to order with ten members and three guests attending. Allan, Nav, Brendan, Wayne, Stephen, John, Rudy, Nora and Anthony, plus Lana on zoom, were joined by Rick Davis and Linda Mross from the Rotary Club of Langley Central, and by Jeff Morfitt from the Rotary Club of Langley Sunrise. We sang O Canada quite well, prompting the comment, “Good singing.”
Allan and his wife spent three hours at the RIC working on the cabinets, matching panels to the wall, and finding that the wall has a bow and is not level. John corrected inaccuracies in last week’s presentation (e.g. carrying heavy water containers will not cause scoliosis).
Honouring Indigenous People
Linda Mross spoke to us about HIP (Honouring Indigenous People) and a program doing so in Manitoba. One indigenous student and one non-indigenous student from each district are paired to attend a gathering in Manitoba in March where they will learn more about each other and cultural awareness. Applications must be received by January 25th. This is the first time District 5050 will be involved in the event.
Ribfest update
Next up was our official guest speaker, Rick Davis. Though a very new Rotarian, Rick is serving as chair of the Ribfest Committee and spoke to us about this year’s event. He attended Ribfest last year and has now visited some clubs and is impressed with the common thread of Rotary service, engagement, and community service. Ribfest drew 37 000 people last year and Rick feels that this year’s event on August 18-20 would be a great opportunity for us to recruit new members. He would like us to focus on the event and the Rotary brand, and also have time to enjoy the show. Many volunteers have spent their time working and have not been able to enjoy the experience in the way non-volunteer attendees have done. He’d like to change that.
Rick is looking for volunteers for the various Ribfest committees, including beverage, recruiting, food, volunteers, and marketing and I’m sure there are more. Byron Cooke and Bob Hillmer are on committees already, and more of our club members are encouraged to join. Rick reminded us that it is rewarding to be involved, and feels this event is wonderful for the community and fits well with our Rotary values. He would like one or two people to serve as liaisons/advocates for each Rotary club. Rick is an expert on ClubRunner (Allan’s ears perked up at that) and offered to assist anyone who would like to learn more about the program. You can phone Rick at 604-250-6586 or email him at rdav04@hotmail.com.
Rotary Moment with Wayne
This week’s Foundation Moment from Jack Rae was read by Wayne.
INVESTMENT IN ACTION
The Rotary Foundation plans for the future, not just for today, and helps members put ideas into action. In the words of Arch Klumph:
"Rotary has assumed a great obligation to the world ... Its opportunities are limitless, but its income today and of tomorrow will never permit it to do the many things which it could and should do. Let me remind you of these three facts: (1) money alone does little good, (2) individual service is helpless without money, (3) the two together can be a godsend to civilization."
Thank you for the time, energy, and financial support you give to Rotary's mission.
Other updates
The Light Touch was provided by Brendan, who brought a short video called Diego Goes to the Doctor. He claimed it was really puppets impersonating Dr. John and his interrogation techniques and patient Wayne with his excuses. We all enjoyed the show.
We moved on to happy and sad dollars, with ten Rotarians contributing this week. Comments included: appreciation of both of our speakers; the Langley Field Naturalists writing a book and hoping to have it ready for their fiftieth anniversary; wife apparently settling in at Langley Lodge; Prince Harry being interviewed and showing a sense of humour; wife working with him for three hours, making progress at RIC; daughter-in-law in Santa Barbara amid flooding and houses being washed away; grappling with the delay, the lack of hip replacement; John revealing his interview techniques with patient Wayne; mother-in-law breaking her arm; sister-in-law having to bring toilet paper to hospital in Russia; loved the speakers; Rick taking over the chair of Ribfest; looking for more sponsors at the $5000 level; and again for our two speakers.
We closed with our toast to Canada and wished each other a good evening. If you would like a copy of last week’s power point presentation, ask Wayne and he’ll email you a copy. Next week we meet at the Rotary Interpretive Centre so it will only be an in-person meeting.
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