The Buzz - March 23, 2015
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The Buzz - March 23, 2015
President David opened the meeting at 12:15 pm by welcoming guests Marnie Roberts, Elaine Taylor, Vivianne Grue, Chris Rebus, Dr. Deirdre Duffy and Richard Near.
Health of the Club: everyone is in good health.
Massie Report - another AWESOME week! He attended a Camrose Kodiak’s semi final game with Paul Pedersen, and experienced a power failure during the game. Power failures are very different in Canada, as in Brazil everyone gets very excited and anxious, but Canadians are very calm and wait patiently. He attended fall orientation where he met many outbound students… and one student going to Brazil is “more Brazillian that I am!” He believes the outbound group of students is a great group of students.
David Samm noted that he and Randall N will work with Maciel to make a special Brazilian dessert for the first meeting in April.
Announcements
Rotary Gala Celebration- reminder to keep promoting and selling your tickets and report to Tony H the status of your silent auction contributions. One of the changes this year is that we will accept absentee bids for all live auction items. Items will be advertised in the newspapers prior to the event - this will help encourage last minute ticket sales and encourage higher auction sales.
Change in venue - the March 30th meeting will be the final meeting at the Camrose Recreation Centre before our club meetings are relocated to the Best Western Plus. We will need some volunteers to help move the regalia and cabinets to the hotel. More information and scheduling the move will be organized next week so it is completed prior to the April 13 meeting. (April 6 there is no meeting)
Happy Bucks
-Keith C. noted that because of changes at Bethany and the loss of his position, he has accepted a position at the Alberta Hospital in Ponoka. As a result he regrets that he must resign from the club as he will not be able to attend the weekly meetings. The club recognized Keith for his dedication and contributions to the club during his membership, and he is welcome back anytime.
-David T. brought his wife Elaine to Rotary
-Paul P. great Kodiak’s game
-Ron G. impressed with a recent trip to the Mamawi Atosketan Native School, they have a great school and a great administration. The school has donated $1,000 to help fund the Rotary projects in Belize. Ron also noted that the two projects in Belize have come in on or very close to budget.
-Vivianne is pleased to be attending today’s meeting, and excited to be having the Brazilian dinner with Massie soon.
-LeRoy enjoyed an early spring on the west coast
-Carman was happy to see Norm M. flaunting funky socks in the newspaper to promote down syndrome awareness day.
-Norm was pleased to hear the sock photo made it on “social media, facebook or something like that”...or at least he was told about it.
-Darcy had a great weekend of battling during the SCA (Society of Creative Anachronism) battle weekend in Wetaskiwin. He also noted that he’s acting in the play “Three Musketeers” that launches this week.
Guest speaker - Dr. Detrie Duffy - Vanuatu cyclone relief
-Dr. Duffy showed a short film about the island country of Vanuatu when she was part of Project Marc - providing medical aid to remote communities in Vanuatu. (http://www.alvei.com/projectmarc). The video outlined the culture, people, agriculture and life on the island.
-when the British and French left the islands, all the technologies left with them… leaving behind disintegrating infrastructure, including power and telephone systems. Much of the country has slid back technologically (and medically) in time.
-over the years, medical clinics - very simply by western standards - have been built in very remote areas on several islands. Many sites are very high in the mountains, and all materials for the clinic buildings needed to be carried by hand or by pack animals.
-several sites incorporate water collection systems, solar collectors and other innovations to accommodate the medical needs of the villages.
-while challenges remain in many clinics, they are considerably advanced compared to practicing medicine in grass huts.
-Cyclone Pam which recently struck the east side of the island group, flattened
all the vegetation and homes on many islands, reducing them to wastelands.
-the Vanuatu government has set up a trust fund for the disbursement of funds donated to rebuild the devastated communities.
-while many of the islanders had “nothing”, after the cyclone hit the residents really have nothing now.
-there were few deaths attributed to cyclone as inhabitants found refuge in caves and other shelters.
-estimates set the time needed to rebuild the devastated islands at over one year. The agriculturists are in need of seeds to begin growing crops - which means food sources will take at least three months to start producing food sources.
To follow the progress of Vanuatu rebuilding and huminitarian aid efforts, please visit the followign sites:
https://secure.redcross.ca/registrant/donate.aspx?eventid=170635
As a thank-you for informing our club about her work in Vanuatu and the relief efforts following the cyclone, the club presented Dr. Duffy with a certificate representing the purchase of 50 doses of polio vaccine.
Next Meeting: Monday, March 30, 2015 at 1145AM, upstairs at the Camrose Recreation Centre.
Guest Speakers: Ragnar Gislason - Legion Cenotaph Relocation Project
Judges/Greeters: LeRoy Johnson and Al Rostad
***PLEASE NOTE THAT MARCH 30 WILL BE THE LAST MEETING TO BE HELD AT THE CAMROSE RECREATION CENTRE. EFFECTIVE APRIL 13 MEETINGS WILL BE HELD AT THE BEST WESTERN PLUS CAMROSE RESORT CASINO***