March 6, 2006 South Mouth

Posted by Roseanne Morissette 
 
 

SouthMouth 
Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South 

March 6, 2006.

Volume Nine, Meeting 26

SERVICE Above Self 

Reporter:  John Teibert

OPENING THE MEETING

Call to Order: President Bob McKay 
National Anthem: Dan Toppari
Toast to Queen and Canada: Don Beard
Invocation: Ron Kozub

GUESTS AND VISITING ROTARIANS

Norris Brown introduced the following guests and visiting Rotarians:  Clarice West-Hobbs from the Lakeshore Club; Barbara Eade, Principal, Kernahan Park; and Dave Kitchen, Teacher (Success Program) Kernahan Park.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS

Rob Welch, serving as Sergeant-at-Arms, took only happy dollars:
Norris is happy that Jim Shannon is OK after breaking a rib last Thursday; Norris and Patti had an excellent trip to San Francisco; Brian Radford was happy that the trip didn't cause Norris' sexual orientation to change; Greg McDonald survived his coldest skiing ever in Quebec; Bob McBride's grandson scored the winning points in a CYO Championship game; Ron Kozub's wife Donna took first place in a recent archery tournament; Laetitia is going to Mexico to fill in as mother of the groom for a former Rotary exchange student, Clarice West-Hobbs recently returned from three weeks in Mexico and had an interesting experience doing a make-up; President Bob announced that District Governor Art is coming to our club.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Diamond-Studded Gala, May 13, 2006:
Laetitia overheard a conversation Bob McBride had with Principal Barbara Eade about the Gala. Barbara's comment was "what a great deal" it was. The price is $85 per ticket, it includes an excellent meal, pre dinner cocktails, a photo, live music, a draw for a diamond and a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas - wow!

District Assembly, May 5-7:
Ron Kozub is still looking for sponsors to help cover the costs of the hospitality suite. To start us off, Ron's company (Wine Gardens of Pelham) is contributing the wine at Ron's costs, about a $400 savings to the club. Way to go Ron!

Remember we are hosting a hospitality suite, your help will be needed. To help off set some of the costs of hosting we are looking for corporate sponsors. See Doug Foss or Dan Toppari for more information. Registration fees for all members are already included in our district dues, you just have to register and pay for any other events that you would like to attend. It is in St. Catharines this year at the Quality Inn.


Howard Etherington Award:
There was a brief Board of Directors' meeting after last weeks meeting, and the Board approved the Committee's recommendation of a $2,000 award to the Folk Arts Festival Board. This award will allow them to purchase a hi-tech printer to print promotional items for all of their programs


Mail:
We received a very nice thank you letter from St. Denis School. They thanked us for the donation of books; Mainstream is holding a fundraising dinner, the City of St. Catharines is looking for volunteers for their Volunteer Award; and Alzheimer Society of Niagara is looking for volunteers. See Secretary Ron Kozub for more details on the above.


Roster:
There is a new club roster, if you didn't receive a copy from Ron via E-mail please contact him.

 

Directors' Meeting:
The next Board meeting is Friday March 17th at the St. Catharines Golf & Country Club at 7:30 a.m.

Fireside:
The Fireside for February 22nd was cancelled and Keith Shaver is trying to reschedule it so that more can attend.

April 24:
The 30th anniversary of meeting with our sister club from South Shore Buffalo (Blaisdel). We are having an evening meeting at the Queenston Heights restaurant. Mark your calendars. More details to come. 


BIRTHDAYS

None to report.

50/50 DRAW


An old member this time - Don Beard drew the Ace of Spades, a good card, but not in this game. There is now close to $360 in the pot and only 22 cards left. 

GUEST SPEAKERS
  

Program - Success

 

Laetitia de Witt introduced both Barbara Eade and Dave Kitchen to our Club. She also introduced Andy Wilson, the teacher in charge of the kitchen and the students who were responsible for the wonderful lunch we had.

 

Barbara has impressed Laetitia as a wonderfully dedicated and motivated individual; she is the Principal at Kernahan Park High School. Dave is the teacher responsible for delivering the Success program. Our program, CRYSIS (Canadian Rotary Youth Stay In School) provides Kernahan with $3,000. They are using the fund this year to cover the costs of rent in their success program.

 

Principal Eade gave us a brief history of various credit recovery programs offered by the education system over the years - summer school, special school programming, and "Complete A Package" amongst others. To qualify for Credit Recovery programs now the student's marks are in the 35% to 49% range. This programming takes place during normal school hours. Kernahan Park is already identified to have students that have diverse needs. As a result the class room sizes are smaller and the teaching is more specialised. Most of the students lack in social skills.

 

There is a Success program operated by Thorold Secondary School at the Thorold Lions Club and at Lakeport HighSchool at Westminster United Church. Kernahan's program is operated out of St. Paul Street United Church.

 

Dave explained in more detail how the program operates. Basically this is the student's last chance to succeed in school.  The students are taken out of the traditional school environment where they can be disruptive and they are taught work-related classes off sight. Rewards for success include a weekly trip to Tim Horton's and physical activity in the gym. Last term 18 students successfully completed the program and 16 return to school.

 

In the future they are arranging premises at the Habitat for Humanity's Restore.

 

Both Barbara and Dave were thanked by President Bob and John Teibert. President Bob presented them with a cheque for $3,000. Andy Wilson and his students were also thanked for a job well done.

          
ATTENDANCE

John Teibert announced that there were 15 members present, one make up and three guests.


ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business for the good of Rotary, President Bob adjourned the meeting at 1:30 p.m.