Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 20 October 2015 - Dr. Sabine Lehr, Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria.

Reporter:    Naida Hyde

President Heather welcomed everyone.

We sang ‘O Canada’.

President Heather announced that Rotary International President K. R. Ravindran has named six Rotary Global Women of Action for 2015. The honorees were chosen for their dedication and service which has improved the lives of thousands around the world.

“Every day at Rotary I see first-hand how our members work to change lives and make a significant impact”, said Ravindran. “Rotary’s Global Women of Action embodies Rotary’s motto, ‘Service above Self' ’.

The women will be honored at Rotary Day at the UN in New York on November 7. They will address attendees and lead discussions on various topics related to their work.

They are:

1.  Dr Hashrat A. Begum, Rotary Club of Dhaka North West, Bangladesh, who has implemented several large-scale projects to deliver health care to poor and underserved communities.

2. Stella S. Dongo of the Rotary Club of Highlands, Zimbabwe, who leads the Community Empowerment Project in the city of Harare. The project provides basic business and computer training to more than 6,000 women and youth affected by HIV/AIDS.

3. C. Hobgood-Brown, Rotary E-Club of Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, who co-founded Hand Up Congo, a nonprofit that promotes and facilitates sustainable community-driven business, educational, social and health initiatives to underprivileged communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

4. Razia Jan, Rotary Club of Duxbury, Mass. USA, who has spent decades fighting for girls’ educational rights in Afghanistan. An Afghan native, she is the founder and director of the Zabuli Education Centre, a school that provides free education to more than 480 girls in Deh’Subz, Afghanistan. She was also recognized as a CNN Hero in 2012.

5. Kerstin Jeska-Thorwart, Rotary Club of Nurnberg-Sigena, Germany, who launched the Babyhospital Galle project after surviving the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. With a budget of $1.8 million and the support of 200 Rotary clubs, the project rebuilt and equipped the Mahamodara Teaching Hospital in Galle, Sri Lanka. The hospital has served more than 150,000 children and more than 2.2 million women.

6. Dr. Deborah K.W. Walters, Rotary Club of Unity, Maine, USA, a neuroscientist who has served as director of Safe Passage (Camino Seguro), a nonprofit that provides educational and social services to families who live in the Guatemala City garbage dump.

Anne Sims said Grace.

Guests: President Heather welcomed back Mark Bedford, a former member of Oak Bay Rotary Club.

Two guests were welcomed by the club:

Carleton ? from North Hatley, PQ, and Helen Duff who is to be inducted into our club.

Health of the Club

John Jordan reported that he had spoken to Mary Canty and that she is doing well recuperating at home.

Announcements:

• Bob Schelle announced that next week’s meeting, October 27, 2015, will be held at Oak Bay Rec Centre. He asked for a show of hands of how many will be attending. “The usual” was the answer.
• Jim Force announced that he had attended both Interact and Rotaract Clubs this week. He asked for donations of $20. to cover lunch costs for their members to attend our meetings.
• Jim also announced the Nearly New Sale and Christmas Market happening at the Monterey Centre in Oak Bay on Saturday, November 7^th from 1-5 pm, and asked for donations. Profits will benefit Rotary Club of Oak Bay’s Youth Services Projects.
• Pete Lawrie announced that the International Committee would meet in the Library following the meeting and that our guest speaker, Dr. Sabine Lehr would attend.
•  Pablo Diemecke’s Die Mahler chamber musicians will be giving concerts October 24, November 14 and December 12 at 2:30 p.m., in St. Mary’s Church, 1701 Elgin Rd., Oak Bay.
•  Jim Force announced that the Literacy Roundtable needs a rep from our club.
• Merrython meeting to be held 4:30 pm Oct. 21.
•  Eileen Lavigne announced that October 23 is the third annual World Polio Day celebration. Eileen said that she is a polio survivor and has a number of post-polio symptoms. See our club website for information about post-polio issues. Eileen reported speaking to a group of third year medical students who were enthusiastic about learning what she had to say about polio and her experiences. She belongs to the Victoria post-polio support group.

President Heather presented the club with the Chattanooga Hamilton Place, Tennessee, club pennant.

Helen Duff was inducted and welcomed as a new member of Rotary Club of Oak Bay. She comes to us from the Rotary Club of Ottawa where she was a member since 1999, serving as their president in 2005. She has been involved in Adventures in Citizenship and would like to continue this work. She is also a Paul Harris Fellow.

Celebrations Master Pete Lawrie 

Pete began by fining himself a toonie for both his name badge and pin missing and fined others who had one or other missing. A loonie fine was imposed for all Blue Jays fans.

Ron Cooley and Wolf Schopper collected fines.

Birthdays and Anniversaries:

Lori McLeod

Mary Canty celebrated both her birthday and 14 years in Rotary anniversary this month.

Sanjay celebrated 2 years in Rotary on October 23.

Happy Dollars

Eileen Lavigne for the celebration of World Polio Day.

Heather to mark son Alexander’s fundraising event.

David Sills has been named an Honourary Life Member of Victoria Golf Course.

Jim Force saw a Rock Wren on Monday, a rare species in this area.

Happy/Sad Joan Peggs described being told of cougar sightings as she walked her dogs on Sunday night. Short walk!

Helen Duff is happy to be back, and she saw an eagle.

Jenny Hildebrand sold a piece of her fabric art in the Sidney Art Show.

Anne Sims won the 50-50.

Guest Speaker

Jenny Hildebrand introduced our guest speaker, Dr. Sabine Lehr, Immigrant Services Manager at the Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria.

Dr. Lehr spoke to us about how Canadians can become involved in sponsorship of refugees. In answer to the question, “Who can sponsor refugees?” her answer was:

“All of you!” A Rotary club could become a Community Sponsor.

She spoke with compelling compassion, depth of knowledge, and breadth of experience of refugee issues,  struggles, pitfalls, myths and conceptions re sponsorship.

Mandy Lui thanked Dr. Lehr for her informative and inspirational talk. Dr. Lehr then attended the International Committee Meeting.

The meeting ended with the National Anthem of India.

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 13 October 2015 - Bruce Carter, CEO, Victoria Chamber of Commerce

Reporter: Jenny Hildebrand

Visiting Rotarians and Guests:

Helen Duff, a retiree, formerly of the Ottawa Club

Creole Carmichael, guest of Renate Gibbs

Bruce Carter, speaker

President Heather:  Attended the grand opening of the new Oak Bay high school and is pleased to announce that our club was presented with an award in appreciation of the $40K donation made to the development of the Oak Bay Learning Centre.

Health of the Club:

Mary Canty is recovering and has appreciated our support and well wishes.  Jack Petrie encouraged the club members to continue to call her.

Announcements:

The next Rotary meeting will not be held at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel.  It is likely to be held at the Rotary Room in the Windsor Park Pavilion.  The location will be announced via email and members are asked to rsvp in order to ensure the correct number of bag lunches are prepared.

President Heather mentioned that there will be a Board meeting October 19^th, in the library, and all are welcome.

Creole Carmichael and Helen Duff will be inducted next week.

Lynne Murray donated a few full Canon PG 40 black ink cartridges.

Celebrations Master (Jack Petrie):

President Heather was thanked for making us all feel very Canadian by apologizing 3 times during the announcements.

Did you eat Turkey on the weekend? $1

Which country does not eat turkey? Turkey

Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries, and Club Anniversaries:

Mary Canty is celebrating a birthday this week.

There are three rotary anniversaries: Sandy Currie (2 years), Michelle LeSage (2 years), Pablo Diemecke (14 years).

Happy and Sad Dollars:

Happy - Joan Firkins had a great experience recently at club headquarters.  She also is looking forward to spending a month at Rotary headquarters in Hawaii.

Happy - Heather is pleased to be going to Las Vegas to see her brother and sister-in-law.  She also shared that her family had run their traditional 8 km on Thanksgiving weekend.

Happy - Tom Lidkea’s daughter who currently works as an English teacher in Jakarta is visiting for a week.

Happy - Wolfe Schopper shared his son had recently received 90% on a mid-term exam at UVic.

Happy/Sad - Jim Force shared a joke about his hearing (and not his wife’s) declining.

50/50:

Heather Aked was the winner.

Guest Speaker:

Lorna Curtis announced the speaker.

Some notes from the presentation:

Bruce Carter gave an informative and interesting talk about current local and global economic conditions.  Bruce outlined the main driving sectors of our local economy, how they contribute to the health of our region and the possible impacts a change in municipal, provincial and federal governments could have on them. 

Jack Petrie thanked our speaker and presented him with a mug.

The meeting was closed with the national anthem of Guatemala. 

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting - 6 October 2015 - Club reports

Reporter: Jim Laing

President Heather conducted the meeting starting at 12:15pm and spoke briefly about the good work being done by Rotary for Women in India and invited members to get involved.

Rod Sim said Grace.

Guests: 

Neil introduced visiting  Rotary members:

David Cheatly, Victoria Harbor Side Club

Creole   Carmichael , Victoria Club

Helen Duff, Ottawa Rotary Club

Guests included:

Len Chapple, guest of Dallas

Laura Weisbord, guest of Janna

This was a club report meeting.

 Mary Canty is out of hospital and back home, members signed a card for Mary.

Announcements:

• On October 20, there is a Rotaract Fundraiser for the Malawai Girls School at “The Ten Acres” restaurant down town.  President Heather has details.
• Ann McIntyre provided basket gifts of beer for a silent auction and raised a handy amount of cash.
• She has a project that involves taking 100 back packs from Victoria to school children in Mexico.
• A card of thanks was read by President Heather received from the BC ALS fund- “The Walk for ALS”. Rotary members Don O’ Coffey and Corey Burger barbequed burgers and hot dogs for the participants in the ALS walk.
• Lorna Curtis attended a Victoria Foundation Breakfast, and reported that details of Rotary’s involvement in the “Food Share Program” will be realised soon.
• Neil awarded wine to our members who did a little extra in the car raffle fund raiser, including Bill Burns, Joan Firkins, Brian Lamb, Peter Laurie, Janette, Joan Peggs, and Steve & Eileen.
• Janna announced her “Super Bowls” of hope for youth empowerment with events on October 29 and November 10, contact Jana for details.
• Peter Laurie was “Celebrations Master” and fined Jack Petrie for looking a little sharper than Peter looked.

Peter raised some handy cash and Ron Cooley missed the big cash prize draw.

Birthday Wishes to Janette who was 29? on Monday, wedding anniversary congrats went to Dave and Lisa Maxwell, Club Anniversary for Lori McLeod  10 years and Bill Burns 5 years.

Happy and Sad Dollars featured Janette, Jack Petrie, Tav Macpherson, Janna Malo among others.

Club reports:

1. From Youth Services, Jim Force and Ann McIntyre spoke about a lunch program for Rotaract members. Contact Jim & Ann for details.

Ann spoke about a Christmas market planned for the`Monterey Centre in Oak Bay on November 7, 1-5pm

Thirty tables will be available and members are asked to contribute ``nearly new`` items  to the Fund Raiser.

2. Neil announced November 17, as the date for the Foundation Auction with world famous Auctioneer Tom Croft presiding.

3. A Breakfast Club idea was presented, Jim Force can be contacted for dates and information and how members can help.

4. Vicki Pitt presented the Financial Report, which included the 2015-2016 Budget.

With the lack of `The Big Fund Raiser` next spring (Mardi Gra Dinner) there could be a projected short fall of $25,000 Dollars , unless funds can be raised to replace lost revenue from the Dinner.

Vicki urges members to come forward with ideas to raise money.

Copies of the report are available from our Club.

5.Peter spoke on behalf of the International Service Committee. John Jordan's, Rwanda project – now building more and better toilets – has helped raise $8,250.00 for the on-going project with $3,500 of that comes from our club.

6.Peter referred to a speaker we are having October 20 to tell us about Refugee  resettlement in Victoria.

7.Perry reminded members of the Paul Harris Dinner April 21, 2016.

8.Sandy from Community Services spoke of several projects on going and planned.

9. Rod Sim, on behalf of the Oak Bay Foundation indicated the official Pole dedication is set for November

A   long and detailed   club meeting was closed with a special National Anthem .

Congrats  and thanks to our hard working Rotary members.

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 29 September 2015 - Lunch and tour of the gold display at the BC Museum

Reporter: Jim Laing

The informal meeting / luncheon was headed by President Heather Aked and attended by 20 members and two guests,12 noon, at the Old Spaghetti Factory, Bellevile Street,Victoria, BC.

The menu listed a number of Italian favorites and was served as a sit down luncheon with speedy and excellent service. During lunch, Jack Petrie and Janette Nation hummed a few bars of a beauitful Italian tune that very few of the members recognized, but still enjoyed - unfortunately it was a very short tune!

There was no formal meeting - no speeches - no fines - no problems !!   The lunch gathering ended at 1 pm.

After lunch, Sanjay Uppal, Revenue Manager for the BC Museum led many of the members on a conducted tour of the special gold display at the museum, which was conveniently situated across the street from the restaurant. This display was co-ordinated with a historical display of the Eldorado BC mines, and with gold seeking and mining in Columbia. Members found the tour very interesting and wish to thank Sanjay for hit time and initiative.

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 22 September 2015 - Professor Kerry Mason on the Poles of the Coast Salish

Reporter: Jana Gisler 

Visiting Rotarians and Guests:

Harry Roy, a lawyer from Hamilton Place Rotary in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Helen Duff, a retiree, formerly of the Ottawa Club (she’s looking to join our club)

Kerry Mason, speaker, and guest of Naida Hyde

Creole Carmichael, guest of Renate Gibbs

Lesley Ockermueller, guest of Rod Sim

We did a banner exchange with Harry from Chattanooga.  He said he hadn’t heard about banner exchanges until he got here, so we gave him one of ours and he’ll get one back to us.

President Heather recognised the following members and presented them with Gift to the World pins:

Don O'Coffey for cooking burgers for the ALS Walk

Pablo for donating concert funds back to our club regularly

Health of the club:

Mary Canty has a staph infection in her knee.  She’s on IV antibiotics at hospital. Send her messages to get well soon!

Announcements:

• Jim Force announced our monthly Club-in-a-Pub this Thursday at 5 pm at the Penny Farthing
• There will be a Youth Services meeting next Tuesday, September 29^th at  4 pm at the Youth Centre in the new high school
• Sanjay reminded us of lunch next week, September 29^th at 11:45 AM at the Old Spaghetti Factory, followed by gold exhibition tour at the museum
• Jack commented that our museum was recently voted Best in Canada for the 3^rd year in a row!
• President Heather mentioned that tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 at the Rec Centre there will be a Merrython board meeting for anyone who is interested.

Celebrations Master (Joan Firkins):

We are celebrating that the flags are correct this week: everyone put in $1

No rotary pin? $1

World Polio Day is October 24^th

How many cases of Polio this year? 41

No cases of Polio in Nigeria this year!

This year's rotary theme is: Be a gift to the world

How many Interact students in the world? 423,499

How many Rotaract students in the world? 187,000

Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries, and Club Anniversaries:

Wedding anniversaries for Tom Croft and Ron Beyer

No club anniversaries or birthdays

Happy and Sad Dollars:

Rod Sim had a happy dollar because the Pole job is almost over

Joan Peggs had a happy dollar to thank all who had flags and also the installers of the flags.  She also thanked her neighbors who gave her things to donate to Rotaract

Jack Petrie gave a happy dollar so that he could sing to our guest from Chattanooga.  Also noted that our Rotary International President next year is from Chattanooga

Naida had a happy dollar because she was at the symphony and the program recognised Perry Bamji and his wife for being superheroes with their donations

Pete Lawrie gave $10 sad dollars and $2 happy dollars: happy dollars for his great Europe trip, and sad dollars because he watched refugees walk through Denmark.  It struck Pete that it's a world problem and he came back committed to doing something about it.

50/50:

Jim Laing was the winner of $12.50.  He didn’t get the right marble for the $115.50 pot.

Guest Speaker:

Naida introduced our guest speaker, Professor Kerry Mason, from UVic.  She gave an interesting talk on Coast Salish monumental carvings, and showed a beautiful slide show of different paintings, silk-screens, and carvings.

Some notes from the presentation:

• We no longer say totem poles; they are just called poles and there are different kinds.  For example, a welcome pole, house frontal pole, memorial pole. Shapes of nature are recurring in poles: dorsal fin of whales, mountains, waves on the ocean, etc.
• Poles are often made of cedar, which is the tree of life.
• The idea of a house frontal pole is to make one think about entering a house. The entrance to the house is through the bottom of the pole.
• Poles are historical documents: ways to present and preserve the past.  They are a way to ensure the continuation of  stories  and the achievements/knowledge/status of a family and a vehicle through which the youth will understand the values of a cultural group.

Phil Neroutsos thanked our speaker and presented her with a mug.

The meeting was closed with the national anthem of Israel for David and Batya Westler.