President Charles led the meeting which began with the members singing O Canada .
Joan Ryan inspired us with two historical quotations from Rotary:
“Man has affinity for his fellow man, regardless of race, creed or politics, and the greater the variety, the more the zest. All friendliness needs is a sporting chance; it will take care of itself in any company”. A Road Less Travelled, The Rotarian February 1934.
“The best antidote for international fear is international understanding; the best way to cultivate international understanding is through business and social intercourse”. Message to 1928 Pacific Rotary Conference, Tokyo.
Guests
Dave Hammond called for the introduction of guests. Jason Bradley introduced Dorien Abbekerk, exchange student from the Netherlands and Doreen Charboneau was a guest of Carlene Shaw There were no visiting Rotarians.
Health of the Club
Yvan Gosselin reported that Rudi Steinmetz had been in hospital, was on the road to recovery and Wayne Anderson had just come through knee surgery.
Announcements
President Charles read a letter from Literacy Central Vancouver Island thanking us for our recent $20,000 donation.
A new Roster is being prepared for the five clubs. Members are asked to check and update their details as it will be going to the printers very soon. Donna Allen (Daybreak) is leading this project.
Next Friday’s meeting will be a Club Assembly. Members are asked to submit items for the agenda by email to President Charles.
Sponsor opportunities for DLTA are available at a cost of $250 for one year.
The District $15,000 graduate scholarship remains available.
The Comox Rotary Club Whiskey Fest will be held on February 2. Tickets are $100.
The membership training seminar will be held at no charge on 12 January in Victoria.
The Centennial Committee was to meet following today’s speaker to review the Centennial park designs.
Janeane Coutu appealed for additional book sorter volunteer(s) to help deal with incoming books on week day mornings. Donations are flowing in very well and we simply need more help to keep up.
Brent Barootes said that there are still some tickets available for the Chinese New Year celebration on 25 January. He mentioned that Henry Jiang will be back from China in time to bring his wife.
Motion
A notice of motion having been previously given, Doug Cowling proposed on behalf of the Community Grants Committee that the Club should donate $1,500 to the Nanaimo military cadets in support of their planned educational tour to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The motion was seconded by John Salem and approved on a show of hands.
Sgt-at-Arms
Sgt Joan Ryan declined to fine any members, even for not taking down their Christmas lights, and so we went directly to:
Happy and Sad Bucks
Joyce Smith was very happy to be getting her car back after a long absence in the body shop and to be going to California with husband Ron for two months.
Carey McIver said she would be sad to miss next week’s meeting because of planned dental surgery. But she didn’t seem sad about the surgery.
Jason Bradley was happy that his daughter would be coming home from Norway later in the day.
The draw
Behzad Forghani won the table stakes. Yvan Gosselin won the card draw and came close to winning the prize by drawing the ace of diamonds instead of the ace of spades.