NOTE:   Last week, friend and past District Governor, Bob Bruce, joined us for breakfast and to present to our President, the matching grant from the Rotary Foundation.  Club money and the matching grant were used to support the orphanage in Manzilla, Mexico.    Thanks, Bob!

 

It was a lively, energetic group that gathered this am to share breakfast and learn more about space.   Dylan Ewen proved to be a great assistant to George Gould and rang the bell and asked for Happy Dollars.   Dave Carson introduced our guests:  Lynne Morrow, Helen Massey, Tracey, Alison and Julia Vance, Marilynn, Julie, Shaun, Elyssa, Liam (Robear made an appearance too!)Armstrong and Kaden Leysk (Armstrong grandson), Barb Wood, Dave Kelday, Dylan, Daniel and Audrey Ewen and Jenn Evans.

Happy Dollars:   Daniel is looking forward to going to camp this weekend while brother Dylan will be playing in his hockey team finals, Elyssa is sooooo excited she is going with her family to the TO Zoo to meet the baby pandas, Lynne is thankful to live in Canada and not be part of the political scene south of us, Shirleyenjoyed her Caribbean Cruise, Jessica celebrated the great turnout this morning and Derek clarified that tall buildings are intended to sway slightly!

Dave Carson put out a call for assistance with our local group who are supporting the Syrian refugees (government sponsored).    Lamps, pictures, kitchen pots and pans, glasses, plate sets, baking supplies are all needed.   These items need to be clean and in good condition.  We are also in need of a storage space for furniture held until the families move from local hotels to an apartment.  Wayne offered the Montesanto garage (!) but we are still in need of real space.

Our speaker this morning was Bob Morrow, back from his extended holiday and eager to share his knowledge of space, NASA, astronauts, tomato seeds from space and his outstanding power point presentation with truly amazing pictures and views of space.  Bob talked about the deceiving distances – between planets and earth, depending on the position of the sun – we are talking about thousands of kms and hundreds of thousands.  We were able to view the International Space Station and astronauts at work, eating, playing and sleeping.  We saw the Canadarms 1 and 2 functioning and the robot “Dexter” for “fine work”.

Bob talked about the projected Mars trip (7 months there and 7 months back) and the need to solve problems which include food, water and space debris before we can take next steps in order to be able to bring people back from Mars.

Most exciting is the continuation of the Tomatosphere project with greater involvement in the US (it has been primarily Canadian classrooms) and the intent to grow seeds in space as well as have young people grow seeds that have been to space and brought back for distribution. 

Thank you, Bob, for enlightening and exciting the young and old kids in your audience this am!

Dylan Ewen asked for any further announcements and closed the meeting.