Rotary Club of The Pas Service Meeting of Tuesday, February 6th, 12:00 P.M. Above Self
Wescana Rendezvous Room
Minutes
President: Don McKay President Elect:
Secretary: Monica Cook
Sargent at Arms: Peter Totte
Call to Order:
CTBO Draw – We will start selling in two weeks – first draw will be March 5!
1. Land Acknowledgement
2. Guests : Val Miron – The Pas Handi-Van.
3. Visiting Rotarians: None.
4. Birthdays and Anniversaries : February 6 Michael O’Rourke was born and the world improved.
5. Approval of Minutes : January 30, 2024 were approved and will be posted on-line at our Rotary site.
6. Presentations : Val Miron was presented with a cheque for $1,000 from Rotary to support the services provided by The Pas Handi-Van. Val provided information on the current status of The Pas Handi-Van, notifying that they are looking at purchasing a new vehicle (10 seat van) – the vans only last about 6-7 years. She noted they were out of service around 60 days in 2023 due to mechanical or other issues with the current van. They will have the funding necessary ($120,000 to $180,000 will be the cost with the accessibility features required), but do hope to also be able to retain some funding for operations as well. The service assists with medical appointments first, school children, other appointments, shopping and other community activities (The Pas, OCN and Kelsey). The Pas Handi-Van is in dire need of casual drivers, and Val asked that we share this information with anyone we know who may be available and interested. A Class 4 driver’s license is required. Val shared that unfortunately there have been times when people are not able to use the service because drivers are not available when the full-time driver needs to be away. Val asked that we please also note and share that their call-in radio pledge show (CJAR) is March 7 and 8 this year – please listen on the air in the morning and call in donations if you are interested.
7. Correspondence: Invitation to 100th year celebration Rotary Club of Estevan April. Members are asked to consider attending – and in turn we hope that other Clubs may support our 100th year celebrations in 2029. Invitation to NMTF Dignitary Luncheon hosted by Calm Air at Wescana on February 16 from 12:00 to 2:00 RSVP by Friday, February 9 to Kim Ballantyne at (204) 799-1446 or kballantyne@calmair.com. They have also asked that you please wear plaid if possible. Don McKay will attend, and Monica indicated she will attend at noon if available on February 16.
8. Committee Reports: None.
9. Board of Directors Report: None.
10. New Business: Don McKay presented Robin Reader with a cheque in support of Duck’s Unlimited. Robin thanked the Club and shared that Duck’s Unlimited is in a bit of limbo at the moment due to various reasons, but the funding is welcome as they move ahead with getting things back on track.
11. Club Banners: Awaiting a further report from Tim Furniss.
12. Exchange Student and RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award): No report.
13. Presentations: Don McKay shared his draft video for the Rotary website, and also shared the manner in which he recorded the video. He will be making some changes to the video and will post it once finalized. Don also asked others to please submit videos, or a message and photo for the website as well – whatever each Member is comfortable sharing to raise the profile of The Rotary Club of The Pas. Rotary Polio Presentation YouTube video Rotary's Polio Dream - A history of polio eradication (youtube.com) Don played this video at the meeting. Members may re-watch the video by pressing Ctrl + Click on this link to open the video, or may copy and paste the link into their web browser.
14. Rotary Fund-Raising challenge to combat polio – Information about a matching opportunity was shared with members via email. A generous anonymous member donated $200,000 US and offered points to our district Rotarians to match. The way this works is that a Rotarian puts in $100 US which becomes $200 US due to the match option. As this is in US funds, we would need to contribute $134 CDN to meet the requirement (based on today’s exchange rate). Don McKay is suggesting that for those who are able and willing to donate, we each consider $150 CDN since currency rates change over time. This matching opportunity expires February 28/24, so please act soon. There was some discussion about the importance of continuing fundraising as polio is not fully eradicated, and is showing up again in some parts of the world. Perhaps next year we may consider a community fundraiser of some sort – such as a Rotary “Walk for Polio”. World Rotary Day- February 23rd. Don asked if the Club wishes to move our meeting to the 23rd for that week (from the 20th). There was some discussion and the Club meeting date will not change, but discussion ensued about how we will acknowledge Rotary’s birthday on February 23. Kent mentioned the importance of acknowledging World Rotary Day and also the importance of raising the profile on that specific date (February 23) in the radio spot and other media (Facebook page, etc.). It is also important to highlight more of what our Club has done over the years and is currently doing in the community – it’s our Club’s 95th this year, let’s be proud and celebrate. Our guest, Val Miron, mentioned that The Pas and Area Facebook page may be another place to celebrate and raise the profile. This is another option for getting information out about Rotary and also the 100th coming up in 5 years. Kent also mentioned we could have a cake at our meeting on the 20th and a photo with members around it to post. Don McKay will check into any costs involved with various promotional activities and will bring information back to the Club next week. On a related matter, Kent mentioned that we should send Sonja Susut more photos so that The Rotary Club of The Pas can be in the Rotary Newsletter more often. Don mentioned some more recent photos such as with Bonnie Meadows, Val Miron and Robin Reader today will be shared with Sonja. Margaret mentioned that she has quite a few pictures from the fish fry, and also photos from Catch the Big One can be sent. The deadline for sending photos is the 20th of each month.
15. Unfinished Business: a. Trappers’ Festival - Hot Chocolate volunteers are Kent Whaley, Don Murphy (aka Don 1), Doug Long, Peter Totte, John Pierson, Don McKay (aka Don 3). Peter will pick up the supplies at The Grub Box and Kent will pick up the hot chocolate made at the Wescana and take it over to the Gordon Lathlin Arena parking lot.
16. Installation of New Members: None.
17. Club 100th Anniversary (2029) PERMANENT AGENDA ITEM
18. Happy and not so Happy $$$ Sargent at Arms Next Week: Blair Patience.
Important Dates Feb 13 - Next Members’ meeting (12:00 PM). Please note change in location to the Wescana banquet room (through the front door and downstairs to the right)/
Feb 20 - CTBO Round 6 Draw 1 tickets to be handed out at A & W at noon meeting. 
Feb 23 - World Rotary Day - aka Rotary’s birthday
Feb 27 - Next Board meeting 11:00 AM Wescana Rendezvous Room
Feb 27 - Lisa Gibb to present on Skills Manitoba Competition
Mar 5 - Draw 1 of Round 6 will take place during our meeting
Mar 12 – Our meeting will be in the Wescana Rendezvous Room