Bulletin of September 17 .. and recent Oak Bay Rotary events.

It's been a busy Rotary Club of Oak Bay week. To start with, Jim Force and crew (John Jordan, Pete Lawrie and Jim Laing) hosted our club's booth at the Oak Bay Community Expo on Saturday (14th). 

Jim Force at the Oak Bay Expo

Then on Saturday evening, a social was held at the home of club member Bob Schelle and his wife, Kathleen. The 31 who attended all appeared to have a great time. The weather held up very well; many members from Oak Bay left their home in fog dressed for cold and found warmth and sunshine on Cedar Hill. All members brought pot luck supper dishes and the hosts cooked Coho Salmon and grilled tenderloin beef on the BBQ. 

Chefs Bob and Pete

Pete and Jean Lawrie helped out with the kitchen duties with Pete concocting a "secret" recipe for the tenderloin glazing. Don saved the day by bringing 10 chairs from his church. The pool and hot tub received some use by Tom and Jill Croft and then by Vicky Pitt and husband Tim. The social wrapped up around 9:30pm at which time the pool and hot tub got more use by Jean Lawrie, Betty O'Coffey, & Kathleen and Bob Schelle. Pete and Don just hung around and watched! Check out Bob's photos here. [Reported by Bob.]

Now to our meeting of September 17, reported by Peter Johannknecht:

Greeters were Wynn Taylor and Corey Burger with support from Dallas Chapple. Prior to the grace, led by Dallas, Brian Lamb had represented President Peter Lawrie well during his absence and addressed the club, pointing out that September is Youth Services Month. It is about the future and the present, with Interact and Rotaract under full steam. The support of the club is needed for all of our international and community projects, largely focused on youth. Since no piano was available, Tom Lidkea had to sing O Canada with the whole Club.

Guests were introduced by Corey B.: Sandy Currie was a guest of the Club, Joan Peggs invited Richard Acomba; Marcus Ludwig was a repeating guest of Don O'Coffey; and Mike Hodges was a guest of Dave Maxwell.

Health of the Club: Mary Canty reported that Anna-Maria Bamji is recovering from a fall where she sustained a broken ankle and wrist.

Announcements/Help needed:

Wynn Taylor informed the Club of two events coming up this weekend. An open house at the Henderson Rec Centre, where we are asked to sell popcorn to raise money for Rotary. The event is  on Friday 27^th, from 6-8pm. Please let Wynn know if you can help to set this up. The second event is on Saturday the 28^th from 12-4pm. This is the Oak Bay Community Association's celebration of Community and Bowker Creek. Oak Bay Rotary is a sponsor of this event. We have contributed to the costs of the Pennant Making Project. Children will be invited to make pennants at no cost to express what Oak Bay and Bowker Creek mean to them. The event, weather permitting, will be held at the Allotment Gardens behind Fireman's Park. If it rains the event will be in the Scout Hall next to the Fire Station. This event and our participation will require more planning. For the moment, volunteers and ideas for what we could do are requested. Again, please let Wynn know if you can help to set this up.

Jim Force informed the Club about an upcoming Paul Harris event in the spring. He took the opportunity, as usual, to expand on this and educate everyone what PHF actually is. It started in 1957 to help raise funds for the Rotary Foundation. Prior to 1957, $0.5 Million was collected per year. With the help of the PHF, we see now more than $80 million raised each year. More information about the Paul Harris event will follow over the next few weeks.

Mark Bedford announced that today is his actual last meeting as a regular member of the Club, as he is moving with his wife Josephine to Penticton next week. He joined OBR in 1994 and thanked all fellow Rotarians for all of the shared friendships. He will be much missed at our meetings, but we look forward to him visiting when he is back in Oak Bay. Eugen Bannerman spontaneously stood up and thanked Mark for who he is. This summer, he had been going through the OB Bulletin Archives, when trying to determine the last week OB Rotary held its meeting at the old Oak Bay Beach Hotel. He came across the June 28, 2005, bulletin, where he saw Mark's  Senility Prayer.  Here's how it goes:

God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,

the good fortune to meet the people I do like,

and the eyesight to tell the difference.

Proof that most of the black marbles are GONE

As Fines Master, Jessica Van der Veen managed to suck loonies and toonies out of every member's pocket. She has developed a skill where everyone loses for the benefit of Rotary. One smart fine was to pay $1 in honor of someone in the room you were happy to see today and $2 for those you weren't. Lots of Happy $$$ added to the cash. Mary C. had a happy weekend attending her grandson's wedding; Don O’C had managed a great BBQ for ALS; Jim F. had 2 curious S$ for why men get fined for sitting at tables without any women, while the women's table was not fined for 2 consecutive weeks. Tricia is going sailing with friends and had some happy $$. Lorna gave happy $$ for a great evening at Bob’s house and for the fact that her son will be a professor on the faculty of Stanford University. Pablo is going on a concert tour for the next 3 weeks and is looking forward to the trip. Our guest, Marcus Ludwig, picked the winning ticket held by Neil Rawnsley, but who (in super-honest Rotary fashion) owned up to the fact that it belonged to Jim Laing. That's what happens when you leave early. Neil, unfortunately, didn’t pick the white marble for Jim.

Lorna Curtis introduced our guest speaker who needs no introduction: Joan Firkins. 

Joan is an exemplary Rotarian and great Rotarian Ambassador of our club. 

Her topic was “PolioPlus Update September 2013”. 

Joan focused on the current status of global polio eradication efforts and Rotray’s role in it. The past 12 months have been a period of major achievement, challenge and change. Rotary works with a number of international partners, such as the Gates Foundation, UNICEF, Governments of the World, CDC. They work together in polio affected and donor countries. Rotary planned and launched the PolioPlus program in 1985. The Polio virus was circulating in 125 countries, paralyzing or killing 1,000 people a day! Today we have seen only 223 cases in 2012. A reduction of 99%. Only 3 countries have never stopped the transmission of the virus, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. As of July, the number of polio reservoirs in these countries is down 40% compared to 2012. A wonderful, very real progress in polio eradication. The top 5 reasons to eradicate polio are: 1. The Human Cost, 2. It’s achievable, 3. It’s a good investment, 4. It strengthens the system, 5. It sets the stage.

To finish the battle with polio, we need the help of every Rotarian, by continuing to advocate and raise funds for PolioPlus.  A $5.5 billion cost is projected for new Endgame Plan to eradicate Polio. Ending Polio within 5 years from now is realistic. Polio eradication is a roadmap for broader health benefits. For 2013 we face a funding gap of US$217 million to fully implement the plan. However, if the firm prospects are realized, we will fill the funding gap. Clubs are being asked to contribute US$1500 per year for five years, and districts are asked to contribute 20% of their DDF for five years.

There is an important event taking place on October 24^th, 2013: World Polio Day. Watch at www.endpolionow.org at 5:30pm Central Time.

So, what can you do to support the mission? 

ADVOCATE, DONATE, AND RAISE AWARENESS.

Some of you may have noticed the Globe and Mail article entitled What the Rotarians did to help put an end to polio as you walked in the door of the David Foster Foundation room yesterday. Brian Lamb kindly pointed it out - you can find the article here.

The meeting ended with God Save the Queen.

David and Eugen