January 16, 2006 South Mouth
Posted by Roseanne Morissette
"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life..." - Sophia Loren
SouthMouth
Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South
January 16th, 2006 .
Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South
January 16th,
Volume Nine, Meeting 20
JANUARY IS ROTARY AWARENESS MONTH
Reporter: John Teibert
OPENING THE MEETING
Call to Order: President Bob McKay
National Anthem: George Fitzpatrick
Toast to Queen and Canada: Jason Pollock
Invocation: John Klassen
GUESTS AND VISITING ROTARIANS
Jim Shannon welcomed the following guests and Visiting Rotarians: Mr. Hugh Grant from the Fonthill Rotary Club; Ms Amy Grant, 2005 Rylarian; Mr. Fred Farnham from the Welland Rotary Club; Mr. Rick Dykstra, guest of Jason Pollock; and prospective members Debbie and Roger Garneaux, Julio Batrus, and John D'Ambrosio.
SERGEANT-AT-ARMS
Doug Foss, serving as Sergeant-at-Arms, accepted Happy Dollars from:
Peter Snodgrass, who is happy to be going back to New Zealand, although the visit is due to the recent passing of his mother;
Andrew Bowles, who is going on vacation to Mexico;
Matt Taylor, whose son Chad is returning to Guatemala to marry his sweetheart;
Norris Brown, who, while upset that he missed the most recent poker mishap, is happy that it didn't happen at his house;
John Klassen, who contributed to the Doug Foss Disaster Release Fund (poker related);
Ross Elliott, who used the opportunity to announce an upcoming Donations Committee meeting;
David Cooperman, who is glad to see that members of our club still have a sense of humour and appreciated how his name badge was altered;
Jason Pollock, who was glad to be having lunch with Conservative candidate Rick Dykstra;
Jim Hooper, who just got back from a vacation in Hawaii; and
Keith Shaver, whose curling team ended up in second place in their event.
Doug Foss, serving as Sergeant-at-Arms, in jest, fined:
Bob McBride for the recent poker disaster at his house. In keeping with tradition, Bob spilled wine again at poker. Fortunately, this time, it ended up all over Bob. Bob was so soaked that Doug had to provide Bob with a complete change of clothes. The rest of the night, Bob drank out of a sipper cup!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Membership Proposals:
Cathy Henry, Fundraiser, proposed by Bob McKay;
John D'Ambrosio, Auto Collision Repair, proposed by Ian Forbes;
Julio Batrus, Business Market Analyst, proposed by George Fitzpatrick;
Roger Garneaux, self-employed, Phone Directory Sales, proposed by Matt Taylor; and
Debbie Garneaux, Controller for Flexo Products, proposed by Matt Taylor.
Diamond-Studded Gala:
Co-Chair Bob McBride reminded us that last year's gala netted over $22,000 and 328 tickets were sold; there were 138 silent auction items and eight live auction items, and we received $1,700 in cash donations. This year's goal is to sell 325 tickets. The price has been set at $85. per person. The list of what each member solicited in donated items will be distributed shortly, and a letter to last year's donors will be mailed by the end of this week. Bob asked that members started selling tickets and soliciting donations. This is our major fundraiser, and it is our collective responsibility to make this a successful event.
Bingo:
Greg McDonald announced that bingo raised over $9,000 for our club in 2005! The first bingo of 2006 was a success thanks to Matt and Georgette Taylor, June Manning, and Rich Cavers. Volunteers are needed for February 11th and March 11th, 2006.
Club Assembly:
The next Club Assembly will be held Monday evening, February 6th, 2006 in the Orchard Room of JJ Kapps (Quality Inn/Parkway Convention Centre) on Ontario Street. Topics include: Hospice Gala VI at Qeen's Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake; Hospice Niagara, who is looking for volunteers to help with their capital campaign; Rotary Park sponsorship; St. Catharines Para Transit - donation to sponsor a bus ($7,500 over five years if other Rotary clubs do something similar); and Matt and Georgette Taylor, who are looking to volunteer at another dentistry clinic this fall. Unfortunately, RI has placed a moratorium on paying for airfare. Matt is looking for our club's help. Please let Ron Kozub know if you are planning to attend the Club Assembly.
Other Announcements:
CRYSIS is now called SUCCESS. Tom Schulz and Laetitia de Witt are keeping in touch with Kernahan Park to see how we can continue to support that program.
Bob Hayden has resigned from the club. The Board of Directors has approved his status as an Honourary Member.
Peter Snodgrass has severed his affiliation with the Brantford Rotary Club. He presented us with a banner from that Club.
Ian Forbes announced that Cam-Am Bonspiel - a major international Rotary sporting event - is being hosted this year (this weekend) by the St. Catharines Rotary Clubs and the Grimsby Rotary Club. The winner of the event will play in Scotland next year. Contact Ian Forbes for details.
Ron Kozub announced that our club is hosting a hospitality room at the May District Conference. We will be serving wine made by our own hands and the committee is looking to make a social event out of this. Let Ron Kozub know if you are interested in helping to make some fine wine and to have a bit of fun at the same time.
BIRTHDAYS
Happy Birthday wishes were extended to Peter Snodgrass. Best wishes for a great year, Peter!
50/50 DRAW
George Fitzpatrick drew the winning ticket, the Queen of Diamonds, and took home the wine. There is over $270. in the pot for the next draw.
EARLY LEAVERS
No early leavers reported.
GUEST SPEAKERS
Fred Farnham and Amy Grant were introduced as our Guest Speakers covering RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award).
Tom Schulz is our club's chair of the RYLA Program. Our club has budgeted to sponsor three candidates, and Tom and Laetitia de Witt are committed to seeing that we achieve this goal.
Fred is a member of the Welland Rotary Club. He was born in England and moved to Canada in 1957. He had a career in the sales and service of office machines, typewriters, etc. He retired in 1997 and joined Rotary at that time. In 1988, he received a Paul Harris Award for his activities as a Clown and the fundraising that went along with it. He is now on the District RYLA Committee.
RYLA's purpose is to train leaders for the future. In past years, the target group was young adults between the ages of 18 and 25. After reviewing feedback from participants, RYLA has been split into two - Slapshot for those between 16 and 18 and RYLA for those 19 to 25. Slapshot is held at Canterbury Hills in Ancaster during March break. In recent years, RYLA has been held only in the U.S. because of insurance issues. They are looking to rectify this. This year's event is at the end of July at either St. Bonaventure or at Niagara University. The location has not been finalized.
Both Amy's parents are Rotarians. Amy attends Brock University and is studying towards a degree in Communications Business. Amy's future plans include pursuing a Masters degree in Media Policy.
Amy's experience at RYLA was fantastic. She related her experiences in the various trust exercises and confidence building exercises they held. She passed around copies of the newspaper that one of the groups had to prepare daily. There were two newspaper committees, one social committee, and one program committee. Everyone had to participate.
Amy's enthusiasm came across in her presentation, and she encourages us to continue to support the program.
Both Amy and Fred were thanked by Rich Cavers.
ATTENDANCE
Norris Brown reported 30 members, seven guests, and 17 make-ups for 127 per cent attendance.
ADJOURNMENT
As there was no further business for the good of Rotary, President Bob adjourned the meeting at 1:30 p.m.