Special appreciation to Lindsay Dressel & Co for these meeting notes
Land Acknowledgment & Invocation - Debbie Klassen
Point of Pride (POP) - prepared by Maria Derkacz (not in attendance)
"Today I am proud of our Club to be instrumental in implementing a 3 year program to Eliminate Preventable Maternal & Child Mortality in Guatemala. This project began in 2016 when Alice Klamer travelled to Guatemala with a small group of people associated with the International Needs Canada. At that time Guatemala was the 3rd worst Latin American country for maternal and child mortality.
The project involved educating midwives, mothers, families, and communities on basic health practices to ensure children’s birth survival. What started with $1,000 donation from Lincoln Rotary grew to fund an $84,500 Rotary International Global Grant Project in the Western Highlands Region of Guatemala. Between October 2020 and July 2022 a total of 84 TBAs were trained in the health district of Paquip (department of Chimaltenango) and the health districts of Sumpango y Alotenango (department of Sacatepéquez). The comprehensive training program taught these women how to assist pregnant woman in a safe baby delivery and how to prevent &/or reduce newborn mortality.
Today Alice along with Sue and Margaret are traveling to Guatemala to meet with the project coordinators and personally witness the success on this great initiative. We wish them a safe trip and I we are looking forward to their report."
HAPPY BUCKS
Terry - for Youth Exchange students in attendance
Brenda & Terry - to be going to Mexico
Debbie - to be taking care of the Kotwa’s dog while B&T are away
Martha - to have her grandkids visiting this March Break week
Bridget Olds - for good weather for riding her bike during March Break
Wolf Toms - for what’s to come with Youth Exchange
John K - for the March Break sun & farming with his grandkids
Dale - for great turnout at our meeting
Joanne - for attending the Bike Show where she purchased new shoes
Rob - for already delivering Sue & Margaret to Pearson International this morning
Bill - for the students attending our meeting
Gayle - for the sunny day
Paul - for youth and technology contest
50/50 DRAW
Andy had the winning ticket but was unsuccessful in pulling the Ace of Spades!
PROGRAM
2024-25 Rotary Youth Exchange
Martha Kralt opened with this introduction...
At the heart of the Rotary Youth Exchange program lies a noble mission: the promotion of world peace and understanding. Young individuals from our communities eagerly apply and are carefully selected and prepared to embark on a life-changing journey, spending up to a year immersed in a foreign culture.
While these adventurous souls venture abroad, the sponsoring Rotary Clubs, extend their hospitality to students from foreign lands, introducing them to the richness of Canadian and North American cultures. Students must be between 15 & 18 years old at the time of their departure.
This year, Lincoln Rotary has two students - Bridget Olds and Bewolf (Wolf) Toms, both very good candidates.
The Rotary Club of Grimsby is sharing a student with us. Bridget is that student. RCL has a signed MOU with RC Grimsby outlining expenses and commitments. When you send a student out you are required to have an inbound student from another country.
NOTE: Host families are needed for our inbound student. Please contact Sue, Margaret or Gayle for more information if you are interested.
As a second candidate, Wolf needed a host club. The district is normally able to find another club that is willing to host students. However, they were unsuccessful with that this year so they asked RCL to sponsor Wolf with the agreement that we would only need to have one inbound student. Our club agreed. Greater expense and commitment to a club comes with inbound students.
Our outbound students have already been involved in a few activities with more to come before they leave this summer.
A highlight for both Bridget & Wolf was the D7090 Youth Exchange Winter Trip...
Here's a quote from Jill Norton, District 7090 Youth Exchange Chair, to describe this annual trip…
“Each February the District 7090 Rotary Youth Exchange Program organizes a trip with our students to Algonquin Park. If you are not familiar with this trip, you are probably asking yourself, “Why in the world would we take a bunch of teenagers to Northern Canada in the middle of winter where there is no running water or central heat?”
The answer is simple: Our goal is to provide the students in the program the most memorable experience of their exchange year. The Rotary Outdoor Leadership Experience has been going on for almost 40 years and is a unique feature of our district. It is held in February so that our recently selected outbound students can interact with our inbound students in challenging circumstances that force students out of their comfort zone.
The trip is an opportunity for our outbound students to experience being away from home in an unfamiliar place with new people before they head out on their exchange year. The trip allows our inbound students to reflect on the challenges of their exchange and inspire them to finish the year strong. It is a marvel to see kids from all over the world and from all walks of life come together and bond.”
Wolf Toms is going to Japan
Bridget Olds is going to France
Martha Kralt is RCL's 2024-25 Rotary Youth Exchange Program Lead
The two students generalized their experience when discussing the Algonquin trip. They stayed at a facility in Temagami. Students from Denmark, Spain, Italy, Japan & France were in attendance along with outbounds from District 7090 (Canada & US). In total 11 students attended the Algonquin trip.
Having the ability to connect with the other students, the experience left them feeling more prepared for what lies ahead. A group chat has been established and they are looking forward to keeping in touch with their new friends.
The activities in which they participated helped them learn new things about themselves. Bridget realized that she had to become more comfortable with embracing failure. The experience helped her understand that she has to be more adaptable and be ok with things “not going her way”. Wolf explained that the experience showed him that he gained teamwork skills and that he enjoyed working with the others.
Although they enjoyed rather mild weather, they still felt they had the “North Experience" having taken a polar plunge and spending time outdoors to complete activities.
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