February 13, 2006 South Mouth
Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South
February 13,
Volume Nine, Meeting 23
Reporter: John Teibert
OPENING THE MEETING
Call to Order: President Elect Matt Taylor
National Anthem: John Klassen
Toast to Queen and Canada: Ron Kozub
Invocation: Matt Taylor
GUESTS AND VISITING ROTARIANS
Norris Brown welcomed three Visiting Rotarians: Messrs. Rick Merritt and Sandy Peters from the St. Catharines Downtown Rotary Club and Ms Penny Towndrow from the St. Catharines AM Club.
SERGEANT-AT-ARMS
Brian Radford, serving as Sergeant-at-Arms, fined:
Matt Taylor for starting the meeting too early for Brian's liking;
An entire table for hogging all the guests;and
John Klassen, Bob McBride, and Norris Brown for expressing their political and religious viewpoints during lunch!
There was only one Happy Dollar from Bob McBride and the other volunteers from Saturday bingo, who had such a good time at the after bingo party they closed Lina Linguini's!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bingo:
Greg McDonald gave his bingo report for February 11, 2006 and is looking for helpers for the March 11th bingo. Please note: Our bingo hall will soon offer a smoke-free environment.
Diamond-Studded Gala:
Andrew Bowles advised that the 9th Annual Diamond-Studded Gala will be held on May 13th, 2006. The price of the tickets are $85. each, which is a tremendous value. Everyone's help is needed for selling tickets, soliciting items for auctions, and volunteering the night of the event. The event qualifies for approximately four community service hours for highschool students, so let any students know they can volunteer for this event.
Club Assembly Update:
At the February 6th, 2006 Club Assembly, our club approved a $7,500 donation to the St. Catharines Para Transit to help sponsor a bus. This donation will be spread over five years. Club members also approved $1,000 to help offset Dr. Ken Taylor's costs of providing medical supplies to those in need in Afghanistan. There were other significant donation and sponsorship requests and these were referred to the Donations Committee for further study and input.
Howard Etherington Award:
Ed Telenko has advertised our request for funding proposals (we provide a $2,000 grant to the successful applicant) and Ed has received some requests, but he is looking for more. If you know of any project in need of funds, or if you want to know more about this initiative, please speak with Ed.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
February 20, 2006, 12 Noon, Guest Speaker Peter Snodgrass, "Classification Talk."
Fireside Chat, February 22nd, 7:30 p.m.:
All new members are invited to attend at Fireside Chat at Rotarian Keith Shaver's house. For more information and directions to Keith's house, visit our website: www.stcatharinessouthrotary.org
February 27, 2006, 12 Noon, Guest Speaker Judith Barker, "Hospice Campaign Update."
Rotary Lunch, March 6th, 12 Noon:
Our March 6th Rotary meeting will be held at Kernahan Park Highschool, which is the location of our Success Program.
March 13th, 12 Noon, Guest Speaker Teo Frans, "Olympic Ice Maker."
District Assembly, May 5-7:
Rotary Club of St. Catharines South is hosting a Hospitality Suite. Help is needed. We are also looking for corporate sponsors. Please speak with Doug Foss or Dan Toppari for further information.
Diamond Gala, May 13, 2006:
Mark your calendars. Purchase your tickets. Collect auction items. Our best fundraising event!
BIRTHDAYS
There were no birthdays to report.
50/50 DRAW
New member Debbi Garneaux had the winning ticket, but was unlucky in drawing the winning card. Next week's 50/50 draw starts at $325.
EARLY LEAVERS
No early leavers reported.
GUEST SPEAKER
Ian Forbes, our Web Master, was the guest speaker, discussing our website program.
Ian has been a member of our club for approximately 13 years. He is a Past President and has also served as Club Secretary and board member. Ian has been involved with RYLA, CRYSIS, Rotary Medals, SouthMouth, and a number of other club committees. He is an avid curler and has represented our club in an international Rotary curling event in Scotland. Ian is going back to Scotland in March to participate in the "friendly" side of the tournament. He is also a good golfer and has qualified for this year's Senior Amateur Championship.
Ian has been instrumental in bringing our club into the computer age. At last year's District Assembly, he came across a web page product by Club Runner, liked it, and recommended it to our club. Since that time, Ian has customized the software for our use.
There are two ways to visit our club site: 1) you can click on the link provided in the SouthMouth e-bulletin; or 2) you can type www.stcatharinessouthrotary.org in the address line of your web browser.
Our club site is up and active. Ian demonstrated how to navigate the site to see photos, previous newsletters, and articles, and to link to other Rotary sites. He demonstrated how Club Directors and Committee Chairs can use the website to organize and communicate to other Rotarians. You can update your own member information, print out a current club roster, get maps, etc. There are endless possibilities. It was a professional presentation.
Ian Forbes, Roseanne Morissette, and Ron Kozub are the primary contacts in updating club information.
John Teibert thanked Ian for his informative presentation.
ATTENDANCE
Jim Shannon reported 85 per cent attendance.
ADJOURNMENT
As there was no further business for the good of Rotary, President Elect Matt adjourned the meeting at 1:15 p.m.