Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 10 August 2016 - Thuli from Lesotho

Reporter: Tom Croft

Membership Development Month!

With Ryan on cash and Lynne M on 50/50, the Garron was kept entertained and Ryan balanced, good work Garron.

Lorna Curtis filled in for President Lori who is vacationing.  She opened the meeting at 12:20 sharp!  Lorna is asking us “Why did you join Rotary”?

O’ Canada was sung a capella and led by Neil Rawnsley.

Grace was provided by Janna “Small acts performed by millions of people can transform the world!”

Neil Rawnsley, Tav MacPherson, Tom Croft, Mary Canty, Perry Bamji, and Victoria Pitt all provided their varied reasons for joining Rotary.

Lorna handed out business cards, “The First Lunch is on Us”.  Membership packages were also left on the tables to encourage us to invite more friends and prospective Rotarians for lunch. All Rotary Clubs will have the information packages by the end of September.

Visitors were introduced by Tav; Jean Dickson, Colleen Force, Donna Chow, and Thuli Kamohelo our guest speaker.

Announcements:

• Pub Crawl for Polio; eradicating polio one step at a time is August 27^th, 2016.  Get tickets on line at ride.c/pubcrawl.  Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Downtown Victoria.
• District Governor Salmon BBQ, August 20^th, last call for tickets.
• Joan Peggs, Youth Services Committee, thanked everyone for donating $650 for sponsoring lunches for Rotaract and Interact.
• Mary Canty: Pablo coming up from Mexico, to perform with his quartet and is looking for billets from Sept 5 to 9^th.
• Janna, baby pool 50/50 for Rotary
• Anne Mac, Westjet raffle tickets $20 for anywhere they fly, draw is Sept 10 proceeds of Soap for Hope.
• Wendy, Social Committee 5^th meeting dates, this month will be a surprise at the Victoria Lawn Bowling Club, (do we have to wear our Whites?)
• Janna announced a new Fireup Bell project. 

The Rotary Moment for today was provided by Lorna, on changes to the legislation of Rotary. The governing body meets every 3 years to go over and update Rotary governance.  Recent changes:

.     Rule of 85, combined years of membership plus age, with a 20 years minimum membership .

.     Club flexibility to change meeting schedules, must meet twice a month.

.     In person, on line or both; check out E-Club of Canada One.

Lorna Curtis thanked the Oak Bay Collector Car show volunteers, it was a great success again.

Celebrations Master/Sargent at Arms, duties were performed by Joan Firkins. Canada’s first medal? Rotary’s other motto? “Those who serve first serves best”, Who wrote the President’s message? the President John Germ.

Birthdays: Ryan Gisler.

Anniversaries: Wynne and Sanjay.  Club membership: Lynne and Don 16 and 17 years respectively.

Happy Sad Dollar: Dallas thanks for taking over as CM, Lorna Happy for granddaughter’s 6^th Birthday and Disneyland; Tav – women’s Rugby, Heather – finally a CFP, Lynne 100% attendance over the 16 years. Vicky happy because her niece was called to the bar. Draw was won by Brian.

Guest Speaker:

Nadia introduced our speaker Thuli Kamohelo whom she met in Lesotho.  Thuli began with a song called “This is my story, this is my song”, “I am praising my saviour all the day long”.

She told us the story of her very difficult life, her father and mother died at a young age, she became the head of her household. Nadia and Helga helped her by providing emotional support during her struggles to find herself and raise her siblings. She won an award for being one of the top 10 students in the whole country received a scholarship to attend University which she has just graduated from in Nursing. She will be returning to Lesotho in September, but even though she is a qualified nurse she will not have a job when she returns there.

Thuli is motivated to help her women of Lesotho gain access to health services and be there for them. Her life experiences have given her wisdom to realize there are many girls who like her, need help to get through school. "I want to be role model for change in my country"!

Neil Rawnsley provided a very thoughtful thank you on behalf of the Club. Expressing many of our feelings that we are so fortunate to have had Thuli visit us and tell us her story.

Lorna closed the meeting with a Rotary minute, “How did you get started in Rotary”.

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting of 2 August 2016 - Joey Vaesen, Co-President of the Rotaract Club of Victoria

Reporter: Dr. Jim Force, Past-president

Photos: Jack Petrie and Bob Schelle

Master of Ceremonies: Assistant District Governor for Area 6, Lorna Curtis.

Kick Off: Lorna started the meeting by informing the group that August is Membership Month (by the way Lorna is our club Membership Director this year). From there she asked the question, “What does Rotary do”? Part of the answer is a two-page handout that describes what our club does. This handout will be made available to speakers and guests as part of this year’s campaign to promote Rotary. She also asked us to check out the new look of the Greater Victoria Rotary website at http://rotaryvictoria.org

Mustard Seed Donations: Given the low number of members in attendance (23), the amount of food donated was staggering – over a dozen, filled to the brim, shopping bags. Way to go Rotarians!

Invocation: Don O’Coffey

Lunch: As usual the lunch was fantastic – best Rotary meal in Victoria, in this reporter’s humble opinion:

Panzanella Salad

Gnocci with Asparagus

Mixed Veggies

Roasted Chicken pieces

Chilled Melon Soup  - a real hit for those who tried it

And of course a selection of desserts – my favourites are the chocolate ones

Visiting Guests: Alyx Valdal introduced our three guests: speaker Joey Vaesen, Co-President of the Rotaract Club of Victoria, fellow Rotaractor, Paul Henderson, and former club member Kathryn Duncan visiting form Ontario. Note about Kathryn. When I joined the club, she was a great mentor and played a big part in getting me integrated into the club – thanks Kathryn.

Rotary Moment: Treasurer, Victoria Pitt, presented the club’s budget for this Rotary year, which was passed by the members present. Total expected revenue $61,350. Total expected expenditures $66,693. Again this year the budget expenditures are greater than the revenues. However, that was the case last year and it all worked out even in the end. It is expected this year will be the same. For copies of the full financial report, contact Vicky.

Announcements: 

• President Lori, who is taking a play from my presidential play book, was present but not serving as master of ceremonies. Rather, she was connecting with folks and enjoying herself. She did announce that we are invited to participate in the Canada 150 Mosaic Project. The project will consist of 600 4”x4” tiles. The tile painting will occur on August 12^th and 13^th. For more details contact either Lori or Lorna.
• Joan Firkins, our club’s Rotary Foundation Director, announced that 14 members contributed to The Rotary Foundation today. If you haven’t yet made a contribution this year, please make sure you take an opportunity to do so at one of the next couple of meetings. 

Celebrations Master:  Joan Firkins collected a variety of fines by asking a number of individuals questions ranging from how many Rotary Clubs in Area 6 and 7 – (This is a bit of a trick question in that two clubs are in the process of merging and is Rotaract considered one of the clubs. As such it is my opinion that the number is yet to be confirmed), how many folks attended the RI Conference in Korea – 44,607, how many countries were represented at the conference – 160, and finally some thing about some ball player for the Blue Jays, who are battling for first place in the AL East race. Mandy was fined for not mentioning Rotary in any of her numerous posts about Alan’s bike accident – We wish Alan a speedy recovery.  

Club Anniversaries: Janette N – 2 years and Pete L – 9 years. 

Happy Dollars: Alyx was happy to celebrate her wedding anniversary. Vicky was happy for a windy sailing on a 49ft yacht. Kathryn was happy to have a 5-day visit in Victoria. And Jim F was happy to have a Madison, Wisconsin Rotarian join Club-in-a-Pub. He was also happy that Colleen has made sour-dough bread from wild yeast – that’s not "wild geese" as some heard – collected from their back yard.

50/50 Draw:  Today was the big draw, one marble left, winner takes all - $247 and change. Such being the case you’d think we’d have had a packed house, but such was not the case. Kathryn drew the winning ticket that was held by Ron Cooley. 

Guest Speaker: Perry introduced our guest speaker Joey Vaesen, co-president of the Victoria Rotaract Club. Joey, a former Interact student, is a 4^th year Bachelor of Commerce student at UVic specializing in service management and entrepreneurship. Joey chose business because it allowed for great diversity in career options. He has a passion for service and enjoys time spent assisting others. The quote that captures life’s meaning for him is “the people who think they’re crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who do.

Joey began his brief, but informative, talk by thanking our club for the support we give to Rotaract. The purpose of Rotaract is for young folks ages 18 to 30 to get their hands dirty in the service of others and to develop themselves both professionally and personally. The Victoria Rotaract club is the largest in Canada with 48 registered members in June 2016. During the summer, they meet bi-weekly, with 10 active members, as many members are away from the university. During the 2015-16 Rotary year, they raised over $11,000 through various fundraising projects.

This year, their focus is on membership. As the District Rotaract representative, Joey is involved in developing a District Rotaract Committee. This came about from his attending the Bid West Rotaract Conference that included Rotaract clubs from zones 25 and 26. 

An important part of Joey’s talk was related to the mutual benefits to Rotaract and to the Rotary clubs that sponsor Rotaract. There is a sharing of ideas and projects as well as mentoring that works both for the Rotarian and the Rotaractor.

Jack, in his thank you to Joey, mentioned that now that Rotaractors can belong to a Rotary club while being in Rotaract, he nominates Joey as our president-elect for 2017-18. 

Closing Video: Lorna closed the meeting by showing the Come Join Us in Rotary Video, which can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7AGVYDSEao