Bulletin report by Ron Cooley. Photos (from Club in a Pub last week) by John Edgell.
Lunch was a delicious Shepherd's Pie.
After a short introduction by President Pete, and Lynne Murray had said Grace, Ron Beyer introduced visiting Rotarians and guests:
Colin McGill of Rotaract;
Connor Trelawny of Rotaract;
Kathleen Armason, guest of Jim Force;
Alan Gilroy-Scott, guest of Dallas Chapple;
Mike Hodges, guest of Dave Maxwell;
Mark Mawhinney, guest of Joan Peggs;
Sandy Currie, guest of Tom Lidkea;
Janna Malo, a proposed new member.
Mary Canty reported on the Health of the Club. Anna Marie Bamji is in the hospital due to a fall.
Connor from Rotaract reminded us that they are having a bottle drive to raise funds for PolioPlus; if you forgot to bring them today, if you take your bottles to the bottle depot, please advise them it is for Rotaract, and they will be credited with the funds.
Bob Schelle notified the club that the meetings on Oct 15 & 22 will be at the Victoria Golf Club. If you have dietary concerns please notify him well beforehand.
Jessica Vander Veen was our fines master:
The first fine was to herself for $3? Then there were a host of dollar fines for: no Rotary Pin; no Name tag; sitting at the same table as last week; single gender tables. Eugen was fined for his gorgeous tie + $1 for being late. Then there was a General fine for John Jordan's grandmothers in Rwanda.
Anniversaries: Dave & Lisa Maxwell (23 years); Lori McLeod (8 years with club); Ron Beyer (5 years with the club). Happy / Sad Dollars: Joan Peggs has car full of bottles for Rotaract; Tom Croft was happy about the Bowker Creek cleanup on the weekend; Jim Laing was happy about the "Pride of Weyburn" golfer, Graham DeLaet, playing on the International Team in the President's Cup [he's the Pride of Canada too, with his Maple Leave calf tatoo, and his Saskatchewan arm tatoo, and oodles of Canadian paraphernalia on his golf bag - so far this year he has earned $2.8 million]; Bill Burns seemed especially happy after a tour of Scotland's Brewery's (16). He enjoyed the friendly natives, one in particular who overheard a question he asked in a restaurant. Her father was a Rotarian for 35 years, and she raises funds for Malawi. She ended up chauffeuring them around Glasgow in a new Jaguar. Pays to be a Rotarian.
The draw was for $20 and the pot was $140. Proposed new Rotarian, Mark Mawhinney, picked the black Marble, and donated his winnings back to the club. Only a white marble remains, so someone is going to go home rich next week.
President Peter started the assembly with a skill-testing question: Which two countries after Canada and the USA, are the most active in accessing our club's website? Answer: Latvia and Russia - who knew! [Editor's note: just checked, and China and the UK are now in position 3 and 4. The race is on!]
The meeting of Oct 22 will be a working session. Please send questions to President Peter beforehand, if you have concerns or questions you would like answered.
Neil Rawnsley started his Foundation talk with a quote from John Wooden "You can't have a perfect day without doing something for someone who cannot repay you." Doing good will make you feel Good. You will get "Helpers High." Helping others will boost your health and help you live longer.
Neil stated that our club has always been near the top in per capita donations but our EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) donations are not near the top and he challenged us to change this. It can be as little as $20/person/year (for ease of tax receipting!) but it could be any amount. Neil is hoping that by Christmas we will have achieved that goal.
Tom Croft reported on the Interact Club: Anna Young is the President for this year; at the last meeting the club had 15 members. Plans for the year include continuing the Memory Cafe at the Oak Bay Lodge, starting on Thursday evening. The club is going to hold a Scary Movie night and has asked for the loan of the Popcorn machine to raise money, which will go to the Malawi Girls School and the Grandmothers in Rwanda. Tom suggested we invite them to a meeting and cover the costs of their meal - perhaps a light, less costly meal. Rotary Youth Leadership (RYLA), for which we sponsor 2 students, will be held as usual in Tacoma, Washington. Interact would like to partner with us (a real partnership, not just asking for help from them at the last minute) on the Merrython and the Tuscan dinner, if it is to be held.
Wynn Taylor reported for Community Services: This past weekend, club members helped out at the Henderson Fall Fair and sold hot dogs at the Oak Bay Community Association's Bowker Creek clean up. They (Don O'Coffey and team) also sold hot dogs at the ALS fund raiser at UVIC. The Community Services Committee's main project will be the Teen Centre at the new Oak Bay High. They have already $30,000 to put towards this, and will raise another $15,000 this year to complete the $45,000 needed. $6,000 was raised by our volunteering for the Victoria Rotary Club's car raffle. The committee is looking for new ideas to raise funds.
Claire Helm gave us the Membership report: She and Barry Mutter thanked everyone for their new member suggestions in August. They will ask for suggestions once a month in future. One of the main challenges is to find younger members. An option put forward is for joint memberships where life partners, business partners or Corporations share membership.
Jim Force let the "CAT" out of the bag and told us about the Community Action Team. Some of the things the committee has noticed are that 1/ people don't like a lot of emails; 2/ there is a lack of response soliciting help; 3/ some people have difficulty attending lunch meetings; and 4/ that there is not a sense of Team. The Community Action Team has a singular purpose: to engage and identify Community Services. Fostering fellowship is a great way to get to know each other. They will offer once-a-month opportunities for community service and encourage attendance at Club in a Pub.
Joan Peggs reminded us that Oct 24th is World Polio Day. Local dignitaries will be arrested and then have to call their friends and supporters to bail them out, hopefully raising $1500. Nils Jensen, the Mayor of Oak Bay, has volunteered for this year. Our commitment to PolioPlus is $1500 per year for 5 years. Joan stated that there was a concern re Canadian children not being inoculated and that polio was just a plane ride away.
In the interest of time, President Peter gave a short budget review. Our account is very close to balanced and if we are careful, the accounts will stay that way through the year.
International Committee chair, David Westler, is away. We now have 6 international projects and some of them are not being overseen by anyone named John! We have 1 in Mexico with John Edgell, I in Guatemala with John Snively, Jacqueline Mealing and Tricia Timmermans; Mark Bedford has one in India and we continue to support the Malawi Girls School.
President Peter, after 100 days at the helm, was overwhelmed with the generosity of club members with their time and money. We should congratulate ourselves.
The meeting closed with the singing of God Save the Queen.
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