"Engage your circle of influence - donors, supporters, members, friends, family - make them feel important to the cause." - Verne Milot, re 101 Marketing for Fundraising.
 

President John Teibert called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m.

National Anthem: Paul Monaghan
Toast to the Queen & Canada: Jean Stewart
Invocation: Matt Taylor

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS AND VISITING ROTARIANS

Ron Kozub introduced one guest, our guest speaker Mr. Verne Milot.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS

Arie Vrugteveen, serving as Sergeant-at-Arms, accepted happy dollars from:

Ernesto Carrillo - his daughters wedding last Saturday was wonderful and his niece is dancing in the Nutcracker with the National Ballet;

John Klassen -happy that the builder of his house was incorrect in some matters and not him;

John Teibert - happy about the "gorgeous weather";

Ron Kozub - happy that his mother-in-laws scooter finally sold;

Jim Howes - his granddaughter is dancing in The Nutcracker with the National Ballet. 
  
ANNOUNCEMENTS

December 11, 2010 - successful Bingo, Next Bingo - January 8th, 2011

December 20, 2010 - Cathy/Roseanne - Club Christmas Luncheon, family including children and grandchildren are welcome. If you're bringing children and want them to receive a gift from Santa please bring it with you.

December 27, 2010 - No Meeting

January 3, 2011 - No Meeting

January 8, 2011 - Rotary Leadership Institute - Hillfield Strathallen College in Hamilton. Cost is $50CDN but will be picked up by the club. To register go to www.rli-shiningwaters.org -a three course seminar about Rotary.

January 8, 2011 - Bingo night. Contact Beth Cockcroft if you can help out.

January 10, 2011 - Mini Club Assembly - Ian Forbes will be presenting a new fundraising idea to the club that will help raise funds towards the Cardiac Cath Lab and we will vote at that meeting on our club's participation. The idea is based on a bike ride around Lake Ontario.

January 17, 2011 - Club Assembly - Topic Club Visioning -presented by Sheila location to be confirmed.

Update on Mimi Massuet - Arie advised that Mimi is walking well and improving quickly.

Rotary Challenge - Sheila advised on a challenge between all Rotary Clubs for blood donations during the month of February with the Red Cross. June Manning has very graciously accepted the lead with this initiative.

Group Study Exchange to South Korea - Roseanne advised that the team has been chosen and includes: Katie Deverson, sponsored by the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club; Adam Faulkner, sponsored by the Norfolk Sunrise Rotary Club; Sally Rennick, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fonthill; and Lori Watson, sponsored by the Rotary Club of St. Catharines. Joe Schuster is Team Alternate, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Westfield Mayville.

Donations Report - Keith Shaver advised that the donations committee met and agreed to the following donations amount:

1.       Thorold After School Program.  Up to $1,000 to specifically support their Holiday Party.  It is also our understanding that John  D'Ambrosio and a few others from our club will be assisting with this event.  I do not believe the date of the event has been set but was to be sometime around December 20 to 23.  These funds are specifically for this event.  Due to the timing, if the board approves, it will be necessary to seek club approval at our next meeting since the amount is > $500.00.  Sorry to be long winded about this but we want to ensure this is for specifically ear marked and not a United Way donation.

2.       Start Me Up Niagara - $300.00.  We understand that this contribution will be made as recognition for the assistance Jane Bradley is providing to the club/board.

3.       Salvation Army - $500.00 for the Community Christmas Dinner.

4.       Vimy Foundation - $500.00 to support a St. Catharines person attending the annual event.  We gave to this in June of 2010 based on a requested from Bill Findley to support a local person attending.  Although no request has as yet been made by Bill or the foundation, if approved, we will contact Bill ahead of time to let him know of our clubs support, with the proviso that the person attending is from St. Catharines.

5.       YMCA - $500.00 to sent a kid to camp program.  Again, a condition that this be a child from St. Catharines.  We have not specifically received a request as yet, but we have typically provided funds to the YMCA for this program. 

6.       Community Care - $500.00.  Funds to be used specifically for the food bank.

7.       Community Care - although we are not recommending any specific dollar amount, we are requesting the board and club support Community Care by donating unused coats to the organization. This is something we did a number of years ago and encouraged our members to donate coats to their cause.  We should be speaking to Betty Lou ahead of time to get a better understanding of their needs.

A couple of other matters that came up that we will look at for future donations:

 

1.       Thorold After School Program - the committee agreed that this seemed like a cause worthy of our support into the future.  John D'Ambrosio, in attending the Holiday function, will get a better appreciation as to how we can help out (both dollars and time).  After that, we would be in a better position to make any further recommendations.

 

2.       Child Advocacy Centre - we will speak to Frank Parkhouse to see how our club might assist the organization.  We have provided support to this organization in the past and they have requested continuing support (sizeable dollars).  We felt we want to sit down with Frank and see how we may help and how the funds are to be used.  Again, any recommendations from our committee will come at a later date.

 

The committed amount as per the above is $3,300, leaving us with some $5,000 left to work with.  Other contribution requests will come and hopefully the understanding of the additional programs noted above will lead to further donations.

Moved by Keith Shaver, seconded by Ron Kozub. All in favour. Carried.

Nominations Committee Report - Paul Monaghan moved that the following individuals be approved for the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South 2011-2012: 

President:         Sheila Bristo

President Elect: Roseanne Morissette

Past President:  John Teibert

Secretary:        John D'Ambrosio

Treasurer:        Debi Garneau

 

Directors:

Vocational Service

& New Generations:    Kris Aiklie

International Service: Najeeb Syed

Club Administration:   Tom Schultz

Public Relations:        Cathy Henry

Community Service:   Christopher Michael

Foundation Chair:      Rob Welch - not a Board Member

Moved by Paul, seconded by Jim Howes. All in favour. Carried. 

Car Rally - Cathy asked for any members that wanted to serve on the committee to contact her. The first meeting will be in January - most stock items are still in good supply so costs should not be as high this year. Also the Cambridge and Fonthill Rotary clubs have contacted our club - they want to host their own rallies and have asked for assistance/ direction. It has been given to both clubs.

Key Chain Breathalyzer Fundraiser - Ron Kozub- has reordered his key chain breathalyzers. The first order has sold out. Please contact him if you need any as stocking stuffers. 
  
BIRTHDAYS

December 15 - Sheree Taillon. Sheree shares his birthday with Dave Clark; Tim Conway, comedian; and Nero - the 5th Emperor of Rome.

50/50 DRAW

Don Beard drew "The Joker" and won the pot ($700)!

GUEST SPEAKER

Arie Vrugteveen introduced Mr. Verne Milot who spoke to the club on Marketing 101 for Fundraising.

Verne is a business development professional who believes that economic development of private enterprise is key to a healthy and vibrant lifestyle for all communities. Vernie is married with two daughters and has lived in Pelham for 24 years. Verne holds an Ivey MBA from Western Ontario and has a BASc in Mechanical Engineering from Waterloo. He is a Director of Bosch Rexroth Canada, Director of Canadian Foundry Association, Vice- Chairman of the Welland  Development Commission, Director of Welland/Pelham Chamber of Commerce, Director of Small Business Club of Niagara, and Executive Committee member of the Ivey Alumni Association. With offices in St. Catharines, he is founder and President of Growth Associates, a growth advisory service for owners of small to medium businesses. 
  
Verne spoke of marketing and charitable giving -a frightening statistic is that 62% of donations goes to administration costs in a lot of charities and Revenue Canada is now looking into this aspect. He spoke of the differences between for-profit and non-profit organizations and emphasized that all organizations should have a strategic direction, form business challenges, networking, create wealth to giving, and gain new perspectives to marketing. Create a marketing calendar for the year, embrace new technologies such as Social Media, i.e. Facebook,Twitter, Blogs, etc. To gain repeat customers, it is imperative that they be made to feel important to the cause. Follow up with all customers is vital. Rotary should stress their service record thus gaining interest to perspective new donors and/or members. 
  
Jim Hooper thanked Verne for an informative talk, stating that as most members are in some form of business, it was interesting to get a new perspective on how to reach out to the community at large.

ATTENDANCE REPORT

Ron Kozub reported 20 members, one guest, and five make-ups for 72 per cent attendance.

ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business for the good of Rotary, President John wished everyone a good week in Rotary and adjourned the meeting at 1:25 p.m.