President Mark Sorenson welcomed everyone to our Nov 23rd ZOOM meeting, it was a great turnout, the attendance was 36 participants and Adolf on the phone from Mike Christies place.
Mark encouraged everyone to stay safe and help stop the spread of COVID.
As well, Mark reminded everyone that next week is our business meeting, and we will enjoy a presentation by some of our new Rotarians, who will be presenting a project that they collectively support for a donation from Rotary.
Also, the next meeting on Dec 7 will feature a talk from former Rotarian Mike Hertz, who will speak about the community needs around the Santa Claus Fund, and the likely large rise in requests for that service this year. The Board of the Rotary Club has agreed to a donation of $1,000 to the Santa Claus fund and we will do a virtual "Pass the Hat" among the members to raise additional funds.
If you wish to make that donation, please go to https://www.mhsantafund.com and press the DONATE button. In the "notes" section please put a note like "2020 Rotary Club Pass the Hat", so the donations can be totaled by the fund.
Rotary Club "What-z New":
A new club laptop is in our future, the current one will not provide the service required to stream our meetings.
If our hybrid meetings continue in the future, a few more meeting helpers will be required to help run cameras and sound. We are all learning as we go along here, but these type of meetings are manpower intensive.
Rotary Club Membership Update:
If you are interested in helping this working membership team, please contact Mike Christie.
Rotary Club Information:
Housekeeping:
Please collect club draw items. It is an important part of our meeting and the funds generated help to run the club.
If you have a Meeting Minute, please phone or email the Newsletter and we'll include it.
Board minutes can be found on ClubRunner, under Club Documents.
Upcoming Club Program, Activities, and Meetings
Our next "ZOOM" meeting will be Monday, November 30 - a business meeting.
The DG and President Mark have requested that we limit our in person gatherings while COVID cases are rising in the community, so likely the balance of this calendar year's meetings will be done by ZOOM. More information to come soon.
Upcoming Rotary District and International Events:
Mark this date in your calendars, the 2021 Rotary District Conference is May 14 - 16, 2021 in Drumheller, AB.
Future Programs:
The Rotary Club's Program Coordinator is Jillian Koch. If you have future program ideas, please email Jillian at jkoch@jmhca.com
The program today was a short summary of the activity of the Strategic Planning group for the Rotary Music Festival. As everyone is aware, as the membership in our club both shrinks and gets older, handling the Music Festival exclusively within the membership has become extremely difficult. After several strategic planning sessions last fall, a small working group of Mike Christie, Anne Carrier, Wayne Chesley and Dave Panabaker have been working on a plan for the "Evolution" of the Music Festival.
The first priority is to ensure the Festival is successful and sustainable. As well, it needs to be properly funded, and that was also part of the discussion. The Rotary Club has supported the Festival for 65 years, and wishes it to continue long into the future. To do that, it is recommended that a new model for operation of the Festival be created. This new model will take time, this is a multiyear project. The Music Festival is now operated by the Music Festival Society which is made up exclusively of Rotarians in our club.
To summarize the results of the 2019 Strategic Planning workshops
A commitment of the Rotary Club to the purpose/ideals of the Music Festival long term.
Longevity of the name "Rotary Music Festival".
Ensure that any changes are designed to make the Music Festival sustainable and successful.
Updates are required to:
Governance Structure of the Society, including public members.
Fundraising models from the Rotary Club.
Simplification of the relationship between the Rotary Club and Music Festival.
5. Broading of the fundraising to make use of grants, tax status and estate planning.
The conversation went on for most of the hour, but in general there was support for those goals and for including engaged public members in the society.
PP Margie also mentioned that Medicine Hat Sunrise Rotary is having a coffee drive for Christmas. 1/2 lb. is $9.00 and a full lb. is $17 lb. (you can get ground or whole bean).
Doug Fleming mentioned that the Saamis Rotary Club is having a "Cheer for a Year" draw this fall, tickets are available from the Rafflebox website.
Just a reminder that the Sunrise Rotary Club is also having a Christmas 50/50 draw. Tickets are available through the club.
Dave Panabaker reminded everyone that Club 1000 tickets are being distributed and we really depend on the Rotarians in the club to sell these to family, friends, the community and those who would specifically like to support the Rotary Music Festival. As a club we have 1000 tickets to sell, that averages about 20 tickets per person, so please don't delay getting after this work.
Several recent Rosebowl winners and participants in the Rosebowl competition will be performing a concert to benefit St Josephs home. It promises to be a great afternoon of music, these are three outstanding musicians. Please book the date into your calendar and join them for this wonderful event.
AG Keith Walker also reminded everyone that the "Bag for a Mister, Purse for a Sister" work being done by MH Sunrise is on until the end of November. If you have an old purse or bag, drop it off at the Public LIbrary.
Dave Panabaker reminded members that on December 21, Rotary International President Nominee Jennifer Jones will be joining our meeting, and that of a number of clubs in our district for an update on what things have been like for her since the announcement and what the next few years look like. Don't miss it!!
If you have photos or a story to include in the Weekly News, please submit it to Dave P and we'll try to publish it.
Birthdays: November.
Dave Stalwick November 9.
Club Anniversaries: November.
Sig Kappler 34 years November 1, 1986.
Doug Fleming 37 years November 7, 1983.
Shalla Shaharyar 1 year November 18, 2019.
Milan Vujovic 13 years November 26, 2007.
Makeups:
No updates from Doug this week.
Family of Rotary: (PLEASE KEEP ADOLF INFORMED ABOUT MEMBERS SO THAT INFORMATION CAN BE PASSED ON TO ALL IN THE WEEKLY NEWS)..
Former MH Rotarian, Joe Chacko sends along his best wishes and would like to encourage Rotarians to support a small cash raffle in his new club, Rotary Club of Calgary North. e-transfers to jschacko@telus.net will get you tickets.
