Saturday, 3 September 2016

Rptary Club of Oak Bay Meeting of 17 August 2016 - Katie Coard, President Rotary Club of Downtown Victoria

Reporter: Dr. Jim Force, Past-president

Master of Ceremonies: President, Lori McLeod

Lori had a few last minute tickets to the Meet the District Governor BBQ in Sooke on Sunday. There are around 14 of our Club members and their friends planning to attend. Should be good fun.

Lori also mention a concern about low attendance at the luncheon meetings and invited folks to suggest “great speakers” that they may like to hear. Send suggestion to her or Bob.

O Canada: Led a cappella by Lori and Thuli

Invocation: Naida Hyde

Special Presentation: In acknowledgement of her dedication, courage and commitment to serving others, Jim Force, on the behalf of the Club, presented Thuli Kamokelo, with the tools of her trade, Littman stethoscope with carrying case, aneroid sphygmanometer (blood pressure cuff), and penlight with pupil gauge all wrapped in a beautiful hand-made gift bag.

Lunch Menu: Another great lunch – delicious and nutritious
              Caesar Salad
              Roasted Butternut Squash
              Beef Stroganoff with Garganelli Noodles
              Potato Bacan Soup
              A selection of delightful sweets

Introduction of Guests: Given that neither of our scheduled greeters were able to attend today, Lori introduced our guests: Visiting Rotarian and guest speaker, Katie Coard, president of the Rotary Club of Downtown Victoria. Visiting guests: Thuli Kamokelo guest of Naida, Dariusz Dziewanski, Rotary Scholar and guest of Vicky Pitt. Jean Dickson, soon to be a member of our Club, guest of Lori McLeod. Maya McIntye guest of Anne McIntyre.

Rotary Moment 1: Rotary Scholar Dari, a Ph.D. student at the University of London, England, who has received a Rotary Global Grand, talked about his doctorial research into the normalization of gang violence in Cape Town. Normalization means that the violence has become so much a part of people’s lives that it seems normal to them. Cape Town is one of the most dangerous cities in the world with a homicide rate of 65 / 100,000 people, compared to 1.5 / 100,000 in Victoria. He also mentioned the mentoring groups that are working to reduce the gang violence. He hopes to have the first draft of his dissertation completed by the end of November.

Rotary Moment 2: Jack inspired us with a most delightful, creative and inclusive Rotary Moment using a sport’s analogy in likening our club to a winning team. Here are a few quotes that highlight his message:
“Our rookies and veterans inspire us all to do more. . . . No superstars, just supporting team mates. . . . New players make a difference. . . .  Another important aspect of a Championship Team is Scouting. We are all officially scouts for our team. So find some rookies and invite them out. . . . And stay tuned for the ‘MOD Squad’ this year. It’s the ‘Membership Overture Department,’ a special team within a team that is dedicated to making the newcomers fell recognized and attracted to our club.”

Announcement: Wendy reminded us of the Lawn Bowling Social on Tuesday August 30th at the Victoria Lawn Bowling Club in Beacon Hill Park. If you haven’t yet signed up contact Wendy or Bob.

Celebration Master: Wynn Taylor extracted money from the real estate folks who weren’t on a modern team such as Tom Croft’s in which he was pictured with two lovely young women. He then fired out numerous questions about past Olympics related to places, dates and events, which were surprisingly well answered – for the most part.

              Club Anniversaries: Lynne 16 years and Don 15 years.

              Birthdays: Corey and Don.
             
              Wedding Anniversaries: Sanjay (in a suit and tie) and Bill (in shorts) Both paid fines for anyone else dressed in a similar fashion.

              Happy Dollars: Alyx, Vicky, Lori, Wendy, and Perry all had something to be happy about, but were just to fast for me to record. Joan Peggs mentioned that she received a $66 donation from 49 Below: artisan ice cream. Check them out at http://www.49below.ca

              50/50 Draw: Maya pulled the ticket that belonged to Jenny, who unfortunately, drew a white marble, not the winning black marble.

Guest Speaker: Sanjay introduced Katie Coard, president of the Rotary Club of Downtown Victoria, Chair of the Area 6/7 Public Image Committee, and former member of the Vitoria Rotaract Club. Katie is originally from England and is a free-lance website developer, who is currently in the process of developing our web page.

The Area 6/7 PI Committee includes representatives from all 13 local Rotary Clubs and Rotaract Club. Joan Peggs is our club’s representative. Questions can be directed to her. One of the difficulties of marketing Rotary is that there is no singular specific client group. We market to everyone. Also Rotary is very complex in that it is involved in a wide variety of service activities. Thus, Rotary is not about selling a product but rather promoting and experience. As such, Katie has designed the new Greater Victoria web site in which three areas are highlighted: Join Leaders, Exchange Ideas and Take Action. The best way to get an appreciation of what the site offers is to visit it at http://rotaryvictoria.org Keep in mind that it is designed for folks who might be interested in joining Rotary more than for those already in Rotary. However, there is lots of valuable information for Rotarians who are introducing others to Rotary. So do check it out.

Katie noted some of the new promotional material that the PI Committee has put together. It includes a new rack card, membership packets, flyers and an upcoming video that should be available this fall. Of course there is also the Greater Victoria Rotary Newsletter that all local Rotarians receive. If you have something you’d like included in the Newsletter contact either Katie or Joan Peggs.

Wynn, thanked Katie and presented her with one of our Club mugs.

Lori closed the meeting with a bang on the bell.


PS: After the meeting Thuli used her new stethoscope to listen to the heart beat of Janna’s yet to be born baby.

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