Grapevine February 12, 2015

Grapevine Feb. 12, 2015

 

President Bob chaired the meeting

 

Announcements -     For information for volunteer service awards    contact Bob

 

Registration :  Jim H. announced that we had 18 Rotarians plus  our Students:   Joanne and Gabo, and Pat Jaskula, Ingrid Younger, Kaitlyn Younger and of course Catch !!

 

Sgt.-at Arms  Jim  H.

 

  Bill   enjoyed 2 games ( curling - what else )  with Al Nichols with whom he curled competitively some 40 years ago

  Harry  - 40 years of our new flag  -

  Jim H. -  remembered the Diefenbaker - Pearson flag debate

  Wayne  - the Liberals won the flag debate

  Roger  - Marty, Bill, Drew and Roger won the Service Club Bonspiel in St. Catharines  so get to run it next year  !!

  Marty   - off to Jamaica

  Linda L.  off to Grenada

  Clarence - off to Sunday River

  Donna - off to Mexico     

  George- enjoys walking the dogs in the snow

  Don  -  Gerry  enjoys his alternate meals   of hamburgers and fries

  Jeanette is hosting 2 Nigerian students and one from China for the weekend

 Joanne  enjoyed the Algonquin weekend   and even went swimming ??

  Gabo  - found the Algonquin weekend too cold

Bob M.  going to the Rotary Foundation Dinner  - it will  too cold to ski

 

Program

    Clarence introduced Pat Jaskula, owner of Canadian Tire in Grimsby,  and  Ingrid and Kaitlyn Younger and their Labrador Retriever , Catch.  Kaitlyn has autism and Catch is her guide dog.

 

    Pat has been heavily involved with the Lions Foundation Guide Dogs of Canada.  She along with the Lions, Legion and the Area Canadian Tire dealers  helps raise funds for the program in this area  with Walks, and a golf Tournament ( some comment was made about Al Goddard's golfing  ability)   There are over 200 walks in Canada now and they have raised over 1.1 million dollars.

 

    The guide dogs now are able to help people with vision , hearing, diabetes, autism, seizure and physical disabilities .  The dogs are primarily Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers and Standard and Miniature poodles.  The dogs are raised in foster homes for some 18 months  ( Clarence has had 3) and then they off to the only training school in Canada in Oakville.  The dogs are matched with their new owners for whom they are responsible for 10 -26 days.   The graduation ceremony is very moving for the new families and for the former hosts who raised the dogs.

 

   Ingrid and Katllyn showed a video about the relationship of Kaitlyn and Catch  and it showed how much Catch has helped with Kaitlyn's autism control.

 

  Don thanked our speakers.

    Good program !!

 

Future  Programs  

    Feb. 19  Gabo, our exchange student

    Feb. 26   Drew  re community service