South Mouth February 14, 2011

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

National Anthem: Paul Monahan                 
Toast to the Queen & Canada: Jean Stewart
Invocation: Ernie Carrillo

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS AND VISITING ROTARIANS   

Ron Kuzob welcomed all Rotarian spouses.  

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS

Najeeb Syed, serving as Sergeant-at-Arms, accepted happy dollars from: 
Sheila Bristo - happy for her three valentines;  
Jean Holbert-Leighton - happy her daughter is home;
Peter Snodgrass - happy to be celebrating 42 valentines;
Jason Pollock - happy he was in Vancouver for the first time;
Arie Vrugteveen -  happy to celebrate his second anniversary;
Rob Welch - happy about his trip to New Zealand;
Ed Telenko - happy about the fines from the week before;
Dan Toppari - happy that his grandsons event turned out to be the perfect gift for his wife;
Ron Kuzob - happy he was able to share his Valentine's story;
Beth Cockroft - happy that she and Tim attended a Robert Cray concert.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bingo Update - Next Bingo is Febuary 18^th (Saturday), and Beth is looking for two more volunteers. 

February 21 no meeting as this is Family Day.

February 28 meeting moved to Wednesday March 2, 2011. 

March 2, Paul Harris Fellowship Dinner - Jim Hooper advised that drinks and fellowship will commence at 6:00p.m. with the program to follow. Jim Hooper advised that we need the numbers for attendance by the 22^nd; and that Rob Welch will be the Emcee. We will need a volunteer to work the doors.

May 10^th - there will be a joint meeting with South Shore Blasedell Rotary Club @ 6:30p.m. at Ilio DiPaolo's Restaurant; this is a longstanding meeting since 1976/77 year.

Tour de Lac - Ian advised that there had been a very successful committee meeting last week, that there are currently 11 people involved in the committee and he is looking forward to the next meeting and more people becoming involved.

BIRTHDAYS

Happy Birthday was sung to Frank Strathearn and Ron Williams.

50/50 DRAW

Dan Toppari had the lucky ticket and he drew the nine of Clubs. Better luck next time Dan!  He choose a tire pressure gauge from the "goodie bag".  

EARLY LEAVERS

Jason Pollock expressed his regret at having to leave early.

GUEST SPEAKER, WENDY TIMMS, PRESIDENT INNER WHEEL

Dan introduced our guest speaker Wendy Timms, President of Inner Wheel. 

Wendy has been a member of Inner Wheel since 2005. She teaches part-time at Niagara College in the Computer Applications Software to Engineering students, and her husband is a Rotarian from the Welland Club.

Wendy shared with us the history of the Niagara Chapter of Inner Wheel. There are currently 18 members who live in the Niagara Region, Coburg, St Mary's, Scarborough and Trenton.  

The St. Catharines  Inner Wheel Club was chartered on November 7, 1997; and meets  the second Monday of each month. They meet for fun and friendship. Raising money is not the main object of Inner Wheel; however, the Club did set a goal to raise $8000 or more in eight years for the Niagara Health System Hospital. They completed that goal in less than five years.

Inner Wheel as an organization is for women and is separate from Rotary, although they do maintain strong links with local Rotary Clubs. It was founded in 1924 and became international in 1967 and is now one of the largest world-wide organizations for women.  There are about 100,000 members in 95 countries.

The Objective of Inner Wheel:
·         To promote true friendship
·         To encourage the ideals of personal service
·         To foster international understanding 
  
Paul Massuet thanked Wendy for an interesting presentation and presented her with a small token of our appreciation.

ATTENDANCE REPORT

Ron Kuzob advised there were 18 members in attendance, seven guests and seven make-ups for 76 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, before adjourning the meeting, left members with this thought for the day:

"I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon."  -Author Unknown