Meeting of AUGUST 5, 2014. COMMITTEE REPORTS

Reporter: Tricia T.

Jack was MC Today. He chatted about wanting people around him who he liked, and couldn't fathom why anybody would not want to be a Rotarian. His delightful slideshow portrayed club members having fun.  There was a bit of a delay - no worries for Jack - he sang a "Young At Heart" song, which some of us joined in. O Canada was next. Then Dave Maxwell  introduced our one visitor, Ryan Gisler, guest of Janna Malo (or is it Janna Gisler?). Jack mused about why it was that when someone "unfriends" you on Facebook, why didn't you get a notification, so that you can send them back a “LIKE”. Good one Jack. He then told a joke, having a go at some members who are not hearing as sharply as they used to, followed by a little "May the Force be with you" fun with President Jim, followed by more Star Wars thoughts with a suggestion that we no longer say to people: Come join my Rotary Club, but Come join my Corellian Corvette, or Come join my Calamari Cruiser! Bill Burns suggested we acknowledge the creators of the videos we use for God Save the Queen, etc., who in this case is none other than Denise Garnier, a one-time Group Study Exchange member, who would "do anything for Rotary". 

Tav found some gnomes to run around with the money cups. Finees were: Anybody showing their knees; Anyone who missed Abkhazi gardents; Anyone who wasn't named Joan Firkins (after the great newspaper article on Joan); and a big fine: $3 for anyone who hasn’t paid their dues. Next week it will be $4, then $5, so pay up. In Tom Lidkea's absence, Tricia was fined for the words "LEBRATIONS master" in an old bulletin [on checking, it says clearly, CELEBRATIONS - look again, Tav!]. Also misspelt was the name Macpherson. [OK, I let that one slip through, but it was a copy and paste from happy-go-lucky Tom!] He had us then repeat M-A-C-p-H-E-R-S-O-N, until we got it right. (Later, some smart Alec [or smart Neil] mentioned that he was sad that Tav had only a small "p" - or something to that effect - I think it was rude :) 

Anniversaries (Club): David Sills; Peter Lawrie; Ted Harrison

Anniversaries (Wedding): Phil Neroutsos – 49 years. Peter J; Wynn Taylor; David Philip.

Birthdays: Aug 8, Ted Harrison; Dallas Chapple (another smart alec said there was $29 dollars put into the fund from Dallas for her 29 years!)

Mary is happy she is going on Thursday to Duffy Lake Road with her friend, Jennifer. All four of her grandsons will be in Victoria for a few days,; they're from Victoria, Kentucky and Ontario. Then she had a sad dollar, and a long story, for the Salt Spring Residents for Responsible Land Use. Another smart alec asked if Mary was today's speaker.

Joan Peggs' sad dollar involved her dog falling off the balcony – but s/he’s still walking. 

Peter J celebrated three weeks in Europe but noted it was good to be back.

Tav was happy that the Heart Tournament at Uplands, which raises funds to buy equipment for the heart hospital, has been running for 37 consecutive years, and raised $120,000 this year. The total over the 37 years is 2.2 million. He also won a raffle scoring $600 worth of meat for his freezer. Neil R won the 50-50, taking home $14 - which won't buy much meat.

There were -WHAT? - no announcements.

Lunch was Shepherd's Pie

President Jim took the floor, to introduce the Directors:

Brian Lamb, our Treasurer, briefly reported on the budget: he is waiting for input from directors, explaining that there were a whole three days in which to change the budget numbers if needed. There was talk of moving the Annual Dinner to the fall, because this year, we had a lot of fundraising happening at the same time. Jim announced that we will evaluate all of our fundraising in September. If we do not do a dinner in the upcoming twelve months we have to find another way of funding all of the youth (and other) projects we do. 

Perry Bamji: Public Image. He reminded us that Jim is also known as “a Force to contend with” – a title given by the local press. The mandate of PI is to disseminate information at regular intervals. He mentioned the club bulletin, the website, and Facebook as carriers of information, and urged members to read them and take part. Club announcements from members and Emails alerting members on specific events, newspapers, and brochures were other methods used. He spoke of the Paul Harris Awards evening on October 2 at the hotel which is a PI event to portray Rotary to the citizens of Victoria. Four accomplished citizens will be honoured. The District Governor will attend, as will the awardees and their families, colleagues and friends. Club members (especially all PHF awardees), partners and friends, are urged to attend. Rotaract and Interact club members will be invited, for which sponsors are needed. The PHF Awards Selection Committee were Jim, Neil, Michelle, Lori and Perry. There were ten nominations; four were selected: Maria Consalvo, Paul Destrooper, Helen Hughes, and Steven Wong (who we have already honoured). The event is supported by the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, thanks to Michelle. The cost is $60 per person and tickets can be obtained at the OBBH by visa, etc. or from Lori and Perry by cheque. DRESS: business (black tie optional). This is our club’s very first awards event so your support is vital to the success of the event. Perry then spoke briefly on Knowledge Management, a strategy for improving organizational performance through information. The Preferred Practices (PPs) are written by Rotarians to enhance and disseminate information. There are now 12 available PPs on our website, and they should be utilized!

FOUNDATION: Neil Rawnsley: Neil introduced himself by stating that he was 'OK' contrary to popular belief. He talked about Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY).  He explained that last year he got a bit aggressive, and some people gave him $20, perhaps reluctantly. But, for the first time we have attained EREY in our club for this past year. Can we do it two years in a row? We can if we start now, as we have a number of people who have already made donations. Only two clubs made EREY last year; we were number two in per capita giving, which was a very good effort. Tav mentioned that one of the most under utilized donation methods is Rotary Direct – where money is taken automatically from your bank or credit card, which makes it painless! Jim reminded us that money for Foundation helps support the grants, and so helps us raise money for our local and international projects.

BoB Schelle: Director in charge of Administration. 
Bob showed us his 'Nice Legs'. He then went on to explain how Program Speakers will alternate between those representing causes, and those who speak on general interest subjects. Jim has requested more people to get interested in “JOBS”. We have four photographers (where were they today while I was taking bulletin notes?); Steve Sharlow will put photos on ClubRunner, so that they are there if people want to access them. We have George doing the roster, Lynne as Sgt. at Arms; Anne as procurement officer (rather than the secretary buying club paraphernalia). He is looking for a volunteer for Club Socials. Giles and John offered to do the bulletin next week and the week after as Tricia will be out of Internet range.

Peter J. and Sabrina will be doing Youth Services. Peter spoke of Interact and Rotaract and of how youth is our future - we are building on their resources and supporting them with money. To better integrate the members into our club, we will invite them to the lunch meetings over the next few weeks, so that they will understand us better, and vice versa. We will relocate the teen centre at the OB High School - Tom Croft has volunteered to help. It will be donated to Steven Pointe's library program, and will be sent to a Northern BC community. Students will attend RYLA (Tacoma) and Adventures in Citizenship (Ottawa). Bill asked if the committee has considered getting back into the Student Exchange program. He is going to Europe this month, and is visiting three of the students who stayed in his home. Tav supported Bill's idea. A sub-committee will be formed. The Youth Services Committee will meet this Friday at 3.30 in the Snug. Jim added that next month is Youth Services Month and some of the meeting MCs will be from the Interact and Rotaract Clubs.

Peter L. and Tricia: International Committee Directors. Peter reminded that there is a meeting after this meeting in the library. Eight People have indicated that they will be on the committee. The budget should be close to last year's of $14,000. Projects include one from John Edgell in Mexico, one in Rwanda (John Jordan), and an interesting new project introduced by Jim in East Timor, for which a Global Grant will be applied for. Pete stressed the importance of having ongoing dialogue with the project leaders - the trick is to know our partners, and that they be ones we trust and have a relationship with. Perry is on our team so we have to make sure that Perry has a full set of the information for maximum communication. Members are John J, Mary, Wolf, Tav John E, Phil, Bill, Perry, and David W. We would like to put together a small team of people who might be interested in building partnerships - some club members are well connected and it would be good to have you on board.

Jim noted that at the last board meeting it was decided to renew the honorary memberships of Ted Harrison and Nils Jensen. Notice was received from Mark Mawhinney that he would not be renewing his membership. Three of the last seven new members have now resigned. Jim spoke of what constitutes being a good Rotarian: We follow the four-way test as best we can. He spoke about what constitutes service. It is not necessarily Rotary-instigated service. It may not necessarily even be Rotary related service. We should rethink what constitutes service, so that people can be busy with their lives, and still be doing service. Otherwise we will just become an old folks club who do good things. Jim thanked the directors.

The meeting ended with that Young at Heart tune - it's now stuck in my head - thanks Jack. Well at least I'm not humming God Save the Queen.