Kentville Rotary: Paddy’s and Zoom meeting

 

Technology posed a wee bit of a challenge this week. Our hosts at Paddy’s were frozen out half way through the meeting … Zoomers and Facebook Live continued informally, until it became apparent the joint meeting would not resume. Meanwhile back at Paddy's the meeting continued.

 

 

O Canada led by Sue

 

Karen welcomed everyone to the meeting including guests Dale Sanford, Entrepreneurship teacher and his students: Owen Donnelly, Emily Bennett, Zack Johnson, Tyler Croteau, Kyle Barbour, Ahryn Havercroft and Thomas Gaskins. Also welcome to guest Rotarian Rod McMahon (Calgary West) via Zoom.

 

Karen introduced our guest presenters. Northeast Kings Educational Centre (NKEC) is near and dear to our hearts at the Rotary Club of Kentville. We helped to create an Interact Club, have supported the breakfast program, awarded scholarships and partnered in many other worthwhile ventures. We were interested to learn about the Grade 12 Entrepreneurial class and their project. We thank you for accepting our invitation to speak with us today. Welcome NKEC

 

 

Each member of the team had an opportunity to talk about the class project. Dale was quick to point out that the students ran the class and his role was primarily as a mentor.

 

The Class Dynamic: They tried to create an environment where everyone’s input was valued. They felt it was important that everyone felt comfortable sharing ideas with the collective. As some peers started to come out of their shells, great ideas and even better criticisms came out. It was only after everyone voiced their opinions that progress started.

Behind the Scenes: They dealt with adversity from choosing an image, to designing the market brand and so on. For many of the discussions they brainstormed numerous ideas for what the product would look like. There were never serious conflicts which could not be worked through, but there were times when one idea was scrapped in favour of another. Every aspect of the business and brand required each and every individual effort. At the end of the day, it was agreed that in order for the business to be successful, everyone needed to be in support of what would actually be produced.

The Drive-In Venture: As a class they decided to hold a Halloween themed drive-in in October. Beetlejuice was chosen as the movie and they sold popcorn, pop and candy through the canteen provided at the drive-in. The first idea was to host it at the school, however COVID regulations and problems meant the class had to improvise. One of the classmates went out on a limb and contacted the Valley Drive-In Theatre for advice and to see if they could help. In the end, the Valley Drive-In offered their facilities at cost (because the profits were to go to charity) and the class was able to raise $1500 profit which they presented to Chrysalis House.

Clothing Brand: After consideration of several ideas for a second venture they decided on a COVID themed clothing brand. This was their best idea because they all believed in it. Unlike other ideas, this was a concept all Canadians could relate to. They created designs as a class so that everyone could have input on what the clothing would look like. They partnered with a local business to print the clothing (to support local). They chose a Website as their most professional option to sell the clothing and communicate with their customers.

The Website: Shopify, a website building service, was used to build the Website. Some classmates had previous experience with website creation, but no one had ever finalized one. The process was more difficult and took longer than anticipated. The three main parts to creating the website are: layout, inputting products (size, colour, style, article of clothing) and appeal to customers (pictures, colour, logo etc..). The website was used to manage all the orders, organizing where, when and the way products would be delivered.

Conclusion: In their own words: "The Drive-In project and this clothing line has given us an amazing and unique experience. We have gotten to learn and improve on skills that will help us succeed at the next level and wherever our future takes us. Being able to help better our community has made these experiences worth all the hard work and hours we put in."

 

Elva thanked the students and teacher for presenting to us. The project is impressive and we can learn from their experiences.

 

It was at this point we experienced technical difficulties and the ZOOMERS were separated from the main Paddy’s meeting. Rotarians adapt and the split meeting went on!! What follows are a compilation of fellow Rotarians who stepped in to fill in some blanks!!!

 

 

Rick G. 100% Valley Faces receivables collected

 

Ellen C. New grandson arrived in good health and 8 lbs plus.

 

Sue: Granddaughter Emily in Ottawa is 5 today. Very happy Joe was not at the meeting as he was getting his Covid vaccination today.

 

Karen:  Had one worker test positive, quarantined, and now all  foreign workers covid free.

 

Secretary’s Report: Rick mentioned we had been contacted by a Rotary Club in Circleville Ohio who will be celebrating 100 years next year and are looking for parade float ideas. They found our photo on Facebook and contacted us from there. You never know who you will reach!

 

Illnesses: none to report

 

 

Bill welcomed our guests from NKEC. He highlighted items from the recent District Governor notes that were circulated.  More details are on the district website. Mark your calendars:

Next week will be Easter Monday. For some this is a holiday so we will not be meeting as a club. Please join us on April 12.

 

Remember the “Do Good Celebrating our Foundation” gala. For those who missed it last week, details and links are in the news section above.

 

Paul Harris Award: Phyllis presented a Paul Harris pin to Peter Clarke in recognition of his contributions to Rotary International. Congratulations Peter.

 

 

 

Special Events: (Sue) There will be a meeting at 4pm on Wednesday

 

Strategy Planning: Members of the committee will be meeting on Sat Apr 3^rd.

 

Rotary Foundation (Phil): Committee met last week. Peter Clarke is the new co-chair. Charter night was delayed until at least September (due to COVID) in hopes we will be able to have more people attend. Folks have until June 15 to nominate Rotarians for Paul Harris Awards. Groups/non-profits can not be nominated. Community members can be nominated. Forms are available from Phyllis.

 

Valley Faces of Business (Phil): We are ahead of last year, but still have a way to go before reaching our goal. Please make good use of your personal relationships with businesses. Follow up on your contacts.

 

 

The Rotary Foundation produces a number of resources that help Rotarians learn about the work that we do around the world.  Here are some favorites:   

1. The Annual Report: annual-report-2019

2. The Rotary Foundation Reference Guide: reference-guide  

3. Videos about our work: rotary-videos

4. Our website: rotary.org

What is something new that you learned from these online resources?

 

Chase the Ace – Lucky ticket belonged to Rick Graham. He drew the 7 of clubs. With 11 cards left in the deck, the pot grows and it’s a roll over for another week.