2018-04-30 Rotary General Assembly
Camrose Rotary Club
Lou opened the meeting at 11:45
We sang O'Canada, which was followed by Rotary Grace.
Introduction of Guests:
- Ingrid Neitsch, District 5371 District Governor 2018-2019
- Linda Roberson – Past District Governor
- John’s wife Donna
Lou also welcomed back both Jim and Morris who have been away for an extended period.
Health of the Club
- Roy Fearon is in room 127 of the Daysland Hospital. The Pneumonia has left him on full-time Oxygen. Paul will keep the club advised on his progress.
Katheryn Hansen
- Don advised the club that former exchange student Katheryn Hansen had come to visit with her husband and four children. On Saturday they hosted a get together with Katheryn, her family as well as the Rotarian families who had hosted her during her year in Canada. He said it was wonderful to become re-acquainted.
- Don presented a banner from Katheryn’s club to President Lou Henderson.
Mikkel
- Lou also announced that Mikkel will be visiting for a few weeks in late June and early July.
Kiva Project
- Ted gave an update about the Camrose Rotary Kiva Project. The club is currently participating in three loans in the amount of $50.00 each. They are:
- Yae Cho Bu Tar Village Group in Myanmar (Burma) – Farming
- Miguel Alfonso, Columbia, Business
- Ana Beatriz, Equator – Poultry
- Detailed information about the three loans is attached.
Gala Update
- Dawn gave an update on the Gala project. She first stated that we should stop kicking ourselves for not meeting previous expectations, as we are now a smaller club than we once were. The Gala looks to be a great success with an expected profit of about $30,000.
- We are expecting about 170 people. Tickets are still available.
- Dawn wanted to thank Lou and Jerome for pounding the pavement for silent and live auction items..
- Dawn expects about 90 Silent Auction items with a value of about $12,000.
- There will be 4-5 Super Silent Auction items with values of between $500 and $800 each.
- There will be several Live Auction items with a total values of around $9,000.
- Dawn is asking for about 10 people to assist with the setup on Saturday morning starting at 9:00am.
- Please let Dawn know about any other silent auction items as soon as possible.
BC Wildlife recovery fund
– Lou advised the club that we had received a thank you card. The BC Wildlife Recovery Fund reached $70,000 which has now been distributed to the various local Rotary Clubs. The funding was primarily used for upgrading local fire departments and upgrading emergency radio systems.
Rotary Cares Draw
– Ingrid drew Ticket #82 Sold by Don Rebus – Kent Freeborn won $1000
Greeters
Donna and Brian were the greeters.
Happy Bucks
- Jim – one for the visit with Karen, and another because as of tomorrow his youngest son will be going to work for his oldest son in Cypress, but Jim had to front the airfare.
- David – Oldest Granddaughter has been hired by the Japanese movement to teach English. David also gave a happy buck because today must be the luckiest day of his life – he turned 77 today.
- Shirley – happy to have seen her youngest son in Kamloops
- Morris – is happy to be back and visiting friends. On the way back they visited Ireland where they met family and have fun with some Irish people.
- Dawn – Happy 10
- Exciting stuff around the house. Siding is almost done, she installed a wood feature in her front yard and hung her mailbox, and her counter top was installed on Saturday, so she is making progress.
- Next week for the Gala, her son is playing in a Camrose Triple A Bantam tournament that day at noon and 3 on Saturday. If you are looking for action, you should go to watch the game.
- Grant is happy it is April 30th he is an accountant – enough said.
- Ingrid. She had a lovely drive. Things are almost getting green. She has been in Camrose before, but it is her first time at our club.
Classification Talks
Brian Leibel
Brian has a financial background and is the finance manager at the Bethany group, a position he started about a year ago when he also joined Rotary.
His previous experience included work in municipal governments and also some time in Coal operations in Elkford BC. Brian described the coal mining companies office which was at the top of the mountain with spectacular views. He and other staff would be shuttled to the office each day by a company bus on treacherous roads. Being a the top of the mountain, the weather could change rapidly and dramatically. It was fun to watch the weather coming from his desk, although the views and constantly changing weather made it hard to get work done. This office was definitely his favourite work environment of all time.
Brian received a financial degree from the University of Lethbridge and then went on to get his Chartered Accounting designation.
He describes his work at Bethany as challenging and enjoyable. They are doing good work helping people. He has seven different financial statements to prepare for the various organizations connected with Bethany, so there is never a dull moment.
One accomplishment he is particularly proud of to date are cost-saving measures he implemented which resulted in savings of more than $250,000.
Brian was born in Edmonton, spent some time in Manitoba, and then came back to Alberta. He has an older sister and two younger brothers. He and his wife Heather have a young daughter and a son on the way. They are looking forward to this addition to their family.
Brian is looking forward to his future with Rotary.
Donna Phillips.
Donna grew up in Flin Flon Manitoba and was the oldest of four children. Flin Flon is a beautiful area, particularly in the summer as it s a part of the Canadian Shield.
Donna attended the University of Saskatchewan where she met her husband Warren, and also attained a B.Sc. in Home Economics with a major in Housing and Design.
Donna enjoyed many different careers starting with an Interior Design firm in Langley, then a Home Economics teacher, first in Saskatchewan and then in the Olds-Didsbury area, then while Warren was working on his PhD at U of A, she worked for the Edmonton Board of Health, and when they returned to Olds after his PhD work, she became the Librarian at the Olds library. When Warren and Donna moved to Camrose in 1997, she began her sixth and final career, working as a researcher, writer and consultant for a management consulting firm based out of St. Albert. It was the early years of the internet, so she was one of only a handful of employees at the time who was able to work from a home office, communicating sharing documents online.
Both Warren and Donna have been totally retired for about 5 years. They spend their time in three locations. 2.5 month at their summer cottage at Emma Lake in Saskatchewan, three months in their second home in Mesa, AZ, and the remainder here in Camrose.
She has and continues to serve3 on many boards and committees for organizations like the Camrose Public Library Board, the Hospice Society, Sahakarini, and the Rotary Club.
She has a passion for the Rotary Youth exchange and has been both inbound and outbound councillor, host parent, and continues to chair the youth exchange committee for our club. She believes that the exchange has a profound, life-changing impact on the students who participate.
Donna is proud to be a part of Rotary.
Next Meeting May 7, 2018 at 11:45 am.
- Tony is going to talk to us about pipeline technology. What is a smart pig and what does it do.
- New member – Dan Cole will be inducted next week.
- Greeters are Dan and Jim R.
50/50 Draw – Pot is $666
- Linda drew ticket 165 which belonged to Donna
- Donna pulled the 3 of clubs (now only 8 cards left).
President Lou with 2018/19 District Governor Ingrid, Past District Governor, Linda, and Assitant District Governor Ray.
Four-Way Test
Donna led the members in the Four-Way Test
Adjournment:
Lou adjourned the meeting at 1:00 pm.