Called to order at 7:18am by Shelley McCaffrey.
O'Canada
Grace: Bill Fox
Four Way test
Minutes: Shelley McCaffrey
Mystery Greeter: Darren Gallacher
Rotary minute: Don DeGroot
How do we describe what Rotary does? Three lines quoted from The Rotarian magazine, from RI President Ian H.S. Riseley: Improve people's lives, Locally and Globally, Through Service. Don led us all in repeating it aloud three times!
Fellowship: Bob Barbour - no report.
Joke master: Gord McCrady had a doozey about Dr. Geezer and Dr. Young.
Birthdays and Anniversaries: Tim Ross and Pierre Atchison had birthdays but were not present; Mario Zambonin had his 1 year Rotary membership today.
50/50: $232 was up for grabs but no winner after Gord McCrady and Doug Radford pulled cards.
Happy fines: Doug Radford was happy to be growing his mustache for Male Cancer awareness this month.
Attendance: Gord reported there were 15 regulars and 2 guests today for 44.1%.
Fines master: Bill Fox had great fines for people reading minutes, using ClubRunner, Remembrance, and hockey...good for Sens fans but not for Habs fans.
Announcements: Rotary Christmas kettle Duties for the Salvation Army is on December 2nd and a list was distributed at the meeting today for sign ups.
Food Bank Update: Total for October was $30,390 which was $3,000 ahead of last October and $5,000 ahead of what they had budgeted for the month.
Bonnie asked for a special announcement to go out to members of both clubs about the speaker for next week - Colin Thacker is a Rotarian visiting from North Bay to talk about his International Project bringing literacy to Guatemala. Shelley will send out an email to both clubs and request numbers to inform the Country Club. Also Marilyn Powers is looking for someone to attend Pineview School on November 15th at 9:45 to deliver the Quilt of Belonging to the school. Also, she is asking for someone to attend with her at St. John Bosco school on November 21st at 9:15.
There will also be a Joint Meeting on November 20th at noon with Dr. Macdowell coming from Queen's University to speak. No morning meeting on the 22nd.
The Christmas Ham sales are going well - reminder to purchase and donate one, if you're not interested in one for yourself. Loaves & Fishes, the Food Bank or others will happily accept the donations. The cut-off is the end of November, and there will be two delivery dates in December.
The Parade shares on social media are going well - big thank you to Andrew Melchers for his website help. Next meeting at 5pm on Thursday. Will be looking for volunteers a day or two prior to the parade for help with the Santa Claus float.
Introduction of Speakers: Doug Beattie introduced Amy Mackie and Laura Parrot from the Leeds and Grenville Stewardship Council.
This council was established in 1995. Initially it was MNR focused on Public Lands. In 2013 the members took on additional responsibility with the loss of the Coordinator position. It is all volunteer run, has 13 members and all decisions are made by consensus. in 2015 Karen Brown was made Chair and Dave Robertson is Treasurer. They acknowledge the great assistance they receive from their partners. They are autonomous but under the umbrella of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority and Habitat Canada for their banking and insurance. They ahve big projects like improving water quality - large project was the Charleston Lake Watershed Stream Restoration Beales, Fosters and Elbe Creeks. The small project turned into a 5 year project that involved many schools and volunteers. Over 16km of fencing was erected to keep cattle out of the water, and over 16km of natural watering systems were created, along with 11 water crossings. There are over 24 hectares of retired pasture and restored 1 wetland, and planted 31,000 trees. Their volunteers are food at finding sources of financing and at writing proposals - they have a 98% success rate. There is a noticeable difference in water quality at Charleston Lake, and excellent fishing.
The council is more successful than the government in talking to farmers, and are therefore better able to work with the farmers in a trusting relationship . They reach mutual agreement in addressing the needs.
They also were successful in creating the Leeds Community Pasture from 2010-2016. Over 16km of cedar rail fencing was established (mainly by high school students), and 227 acres were preserved, as well as 153 wetlands, 8 pastures and 9km of streams.
They have an on-going project protecting Gray Ratsnake from extinction, and assisting turtles. They provide education and awareness visiting 6 schools last year. They also sponsor several events and provide scholarships to graduating high school students studying environmental sciences. They are planning a series of workshops for homeowners and developers in 2018 for native gardening and biodiversity matter. Bat houses are also a new project to help protect different species of bats.
Thanking the speakers: Kathy Hunt
Duty roster for Wednesday November 15th:
Set-up/Take Down: Bob B (and friends)
Minutes: Anne D.
Grace: Doug R.
Mystery Greeter: ??
Rotary Minute: Nick D.
Joke master: Don deG
50/50: Bonnie B.
Fines master: Doug B.
Introduction of Speaker: Bob Barbour
Thanking Speaker: Bonnie B.
Thought for the week: You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. Loosely translated from Andre Gide's "The Counterfeiters".
You are invited to visit us at an upcoming meeting.
