South Mouth March 29, 2010

President Paul called the meeting to order at 1:15 p.m.
 
National Anthem: Rob Welch
Toast to Queen and Canada: Jim Howes
Invocation: Matt Taylor
 
GUESTS AND VISITING ROTARIANS
 
Ron Kozub reported one visiting Rotarian, Don Hetherington from the Downtown Club, and one guest, prospective member Bev Cockcroft.
 
Bev Cockcroft is proposed as a new member. Her classification is Insurance, Long-Term Care. If anyone knows any reason why Bev should not become a member, please let John Teibert know. This is the first publication.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS 

Cathy Henry, serving as Sergeant-at-Arms, accepted happy dollars from the following members:
Jim Hooper - Benjamin David Henry Hooper was born March 5^th 8 lbs/5 oz. Mom and babe are doing fine;
Peter Snodgrass - he can walk without too much pain;
Ron Kozub - happy to be able to be here;
Brian Radford - happy to be here;
Najeeb Syed - has lost five pounds;
Paul Massuet - happy that the joint Paul Harris Fellow night was so nice- Congratulations to the committee;
Jason Pollock - happy to have had such a great vacation in Aruba;
Jim Howse - happy Jim H didn't have the big V;
Don Hetherington - had a hole-in-one on the weekend in Wainfleet;
Rob Welch - the joint Paul Harris Fellow ceremony was terrific. Thanks to President Paul and to Ron and John for helping out;
Paul Monoghan - Happy about the joint Paul Harris Fellow night. Rob was the Emcee and he did a classy job. The presentations were reasonably short.
Bev Cockcroft - happy to be invited to become a Rotarian;
Greg McDonald - back from South Carolina and had a wonderful time golfing, biking, shopping;
Laetitia de Witt - happy too about the joint Paul Harris Fellow night;
Bob McKay - $3 1) had a great time in Mexico at Laetitia's son's wedding; 2) will be working at another dental office in Burlington starting April; 3) Unhappy that will have to switch to the Lakeshore Club as a result of the job change;
Jean Holbert-Leighton - happy her daughter is home from University;
June Manning - happy to have her income tax into the accountants;
Matt Taylor -happy he was able to get his golf clubs out last week;                   
John Teibert - happy to have attended Pets II.

President Paul reminded everyone that we are re-directing happy dollars in March to Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY).  Thanks to all members.

ROTARY MINUTE

Jim Hooper read about the Vimy Pin Campaign:

It is not only at the Olympics that Canada secures its victories. The Battle of Vimy Ridge, widely embraced as a seminal moment in this country's history, is where Canada emerged from onto the world stage.

On April 9, 1917, nearly 100,000 Canadian solders assembled in Northern France for the first time as a united fighting force. They had the task of dislodging German invaders from a seemingly impregnable position, Vimy Ridge. Before the day was out, Canadians had taken the Ridge and secured a stunning victory that caused the world powers to take notice - but at a cost of 3,598 men. It remains the bloodiest day in Canadian history.

Canada's success that day is one of the reasons why it earned signing rights at the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War; a major step forward in Canada's evolution from dominion to nation. We were no longer unknown - we were a national amongst nations!

Over 90 years later, The Vimy Foundation has taken on an enormous challenge of its to maintain and enhance the memory of Vimy Ridge in the hearts and minds of all Canadians. In 2003, the Canadian Government proclaimed April 9 of each year to be Vimy Ridge Day, yet only 7% of Canadians know that we are meant to celebrate this remarkable day in our history. The Vimy Foundation wishes to change this by having all Canadians wear a Vimy Pin on April 9^th as a celebration of this great victory. This Vimy Day is particularly poignant as we salute the passing of Canada's last surviving soldier of the First World War.

To order one or more Vimy Pins, please visit www.vimyfoundation.ca  Monies raised will support the efforts of The Vimy Foundation in promoting awareness of Canada's First World War history. A portion will also be given to the Military Families Fund.

On April 12^th, our club will listen to a speaker from the Vimy Ridge Foundation (Bill Finlay/Avital Sternin).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

April 5^th: No meeting
April 8^th: Joint Rotary luncheon, Quality Parkway Inn, 12 Noon, Nick Dixon, CHCH anchor is the guest speaker. He will speak about his excursions in Haiti. Members need to register online. Roseanne will send out an event registration notice.
April 12^th: Regular meeting
April 15^th:  Board meeting
April 19^th: Presentation from Aids Niagara (Marie Belliveau)
April 26^th: Blasdell meeting

Other Rotary events that may be of interest:
- Rotary Club of Welland's 90^th Anniversary, April 1^st, Welland Civic Square. Paul Massuet is attending.
- Hearts Gathering Children's Concert, April 11^th, 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Bethany Community Church
- Special Haiti Celebration Dinner (200^th well), April 18^th, Michelangelo's Banquet Centre, reception 4:30 p.m. and dinner at 5:30 p.m.
- Karen Cimba-Zabel Memorial Charity Golf Tournament, Dinner and Auction, May 27^th, 2010 at the Millcroft Golf Club, Burlington.

May 2^nd Explore Niagara Car Rally - 34 more days to go before our major fundraiser. Cathy needs to know a head count of those members who plan to participate (13 raised their hands). Please get your registration forms into Jim Hooper as soon as possible. We need a number for the goodie bags and vehicle decals. Prizes are needed. Please go back to your gala contacts and ask for the club. Tickets for the 50/50 draw will be available on Wednesday. It would be great if each Rotarian could sell a couple of books. From 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. six volunteers are needed to take money and correlate with pledges.

RYLA June 11-17 - looking for young people with leadership potential.

Haiti Water for Life - Laetitia read the invitation to join the Haiti Water for Life celebration - April 18^th at Michelangelo's Banquet Centre in Hamilton. Tickets $37.50
District Conference, May 15^th at the Niagara Falls highschool in Niagara Falls, New York.  It would be good for incoming Board members to attend. Go to the District 7090 website for details.

Bingo - Greg thanked Jean Holbert-Leighton and her husband as well as Roseanne for helping at bingo. Over $1,400 contributed.  Sheila will need volunteers for the next bingo session, April 10^th.

July 24^th St. Catharines Dragonboat Festival. Arie is organizing.

BIRTHDAYS 

Bob McKay (March 18^th) and Tom Schulz (March 31^st)

50/50 DRAW

Bev Cockcroft drew the nine of diamonds.

EARLY LEAVERS

George Fitzpatrick expressed regrets to President Paul and our guest speaker and took early leave.

GUEST SPEAKER, ARIE VRUGTEVEEN

John Teibert introduced Arie Vrugteveen to the club for his classification talk, commenting that since joining the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South, Arie has immersed himself in club activities.  

Some background on Arie: he began his career in the greenhouse industry and then went on to buying and fixing up properties. It was while doing this that he happened upon a senior's complex and was appalled by the conditions he saw there. This was a turning point in his life - he decided to become involved in In-Home Care and Senior Care. He began looking for a company that would give seniors the option to live in their own homes and found Retire-At-Home. Today, Arie is the Executive Director of Retire-At-Home Services, St. Catharines.

About Retire-At-Home

Since 1994, Retire-At-Home Services has been providing personalized home and health care services to individuals who are dealing with health concerns that affect their independence. These services give them the choice to stay home for as long as they wish, while maintaining their independence.

"What makes us so different," notes Arie.

"First of all, the spectrum of services that we offer allows our clients to have all their medical, personal, and practical needs addressed through one agency. This alone makes their lives much less complicated and increases their quality of life.

"To us a very important aspect of client care is building a good relationship with our clients. This is accomplished through matching the personalities of our clients with those of our caregivers. Another important part of building this rapport is keeping the same caregiver with the same client.

"In addition to this, we assist our clients in accessing any Community and Professional services (both medical and non-medical) that they may request and/or be eligible for (our advocacy services are free of charge). We help people to deal with all the complexities involved in accessing community services and by providing all the services that are not available through the community."

Jean Holbert-Leighton thanked Arie for his informative talk.    
 
ATTENDANCE REPORT

Ron reported two guests, 23 members, 11 make-ups for 100 per cent attendance.

ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business for the good of Rotary, President Paul wished everyone a good week in Rotary and adjourned the meeting at 1:30 p.m.