Rotary Club of Vermilion
Meeting Minutes, March 28 , 2019
7:00am-Club Room, Vermilion Regional Centre
Call to order
O Canada
Rotary Grace
Four Way Test
Guest: Gordon Hall (C.L.A.S.S.)
Birthdays & Anniversaries:
Lorne Maier-March 28 & David Bates-March 30
Announcements:
Thank you to Team 4 for Breakfast.
Rotary Music Festival: Final concert is at 4pm on Sunday at Parkview Alliance Church.
Rotary Club of Lloydminster: 90 years as a Rotary Club-celebrating at the beginning of April. Also, their club chartered Vermilion. A card will be circulated to sign.
Integrity Awards: Dawn: Nominations are due Sunday. Please get your nominations in to Dawn. Nominees will be gathered from past & present submissions.
Garage Sale: Brenda: Sign-up sheet is being circulated. We need Rotarians to sign up to work with the volunteers from the youth organizations that are volunteering. This Saturday we pick-up stashes and put into the trailers. Getting lots of calls for information and pick-ups.
Garage Sale Breakfast Celebration: Sign-up sheet will be passed around-for Thursday April 18th.
C.L.A.S.S. Presentation by Gordon Hills: Board member and tutor: Gordon briefly introduced the program, then we watched a video by Lindsay Carton. The organization began in 1973 to access grants to help bring newcomers to Vermilion. CLASS facilitates life long learning and supports inclusive programming. There are 3 staff, a board, and volunteers. They have moved to their new location which has greater space for labs, office, storage, and also includes a small kitchen. They are funded by Advanced Education - and those programs must focus on Literacy and Foundation Learning, the general interest programs are no longer funded. Those programs must be cost recovery. C.L.A.S.S. continuously re-evaluate the needs of the community such as providing childcare for programs like Coffee Time Tech Tips . They offer a wide range of lifelong learning classes and support in areas like technology, creative arts, english training, safety, essential skills training. Rhyme & Read was created to help families connect, help newcomers have interactions-less isolation, practice speaking English. C.L.A.S.S offers community support such as Canadian cultural practices-swimming pool, car seats safety, and other cultural tips. It can be a challenge to keep programing and funding. Attendance has dropped recently in Rhyme and Read-they had 14 families and what seems due to circumstances (winter, family) they were down to 3 families. Hopefully it will get back those numbers this fall. In 2017-2018 there were 17 government mandated courses and 20 general interest courses offered. They offer community support and will refer to other agencies-like immigration, as needed. Still need to fundraise; they recently did a classroom Escape. C.L.A.S.S. participates and is proud to be a part of the community. Taking part in community events like Canada Day, the Parade, Festival of Trees, and Race of Vermilion.
Questions: What is the total budget? About $150,000. Receive government grant for about $80,000. Fundraise & cost recovery for the remainder. Current short-fall (fundraising) is about $6000. Alway need to do more fundraising to provide more for the community. C.L.A.S.S. provides a valuable service, particularly for those new to the community. Gordon is a board member as well as a tutor. Do not need an education degree to tutor., alway looking for people who are interested. Rhyme & Read-helps get mothers out who are otherwise isolated. How welcoming are we, for non-english speaking newcomers. Many people work very long hours and therefore had decreased social integration. Can be lonely in a small community without others of their culture and often move back to a larger centers (Edmonton) where there is a larger cultural community. Depends on the family and the culture.
Theme Reveal for 2019/2020 & Spring Training: Mary Lee: At Spring Training MaryLee met Tracy Vavrek, District Governor-elect. Two speaker sessions were particularly good and had an impact: Ken-Planning for Success: Strategic Planning and Christina- Protecting Mothers and Infants in Uganda. Present new banner_ Rotary Connects the World. The banner will be go up July 1, 2019.
Sergeant’s Report: No Sergeant- if you are grateful for the good weather-leave a $1, except for Craig, leave $2, since he thinks it is cold.
Meeting Adjourned
Upcoming Meetings:
April 4-Business Meeting
April 11-Pre-Garage Sale meeting
April 18-Garage Sale celebration morning