President Mark Sorenson welcomed everyone to our Nov 30th ZOOM meeting. We had a total of 32 people at the meeting, and it was great to see some faces we haven't seen in a while.
Mark encouraged everyone to stay safe and help stop the spread of COVID.
Glen Presley, our Club 1000 raffle chairperson, gave an update on the current progress on ticket sales. As of Monday morning, a total of 263 tickets have been processed into the draw barrel and a total of $13,150 has been deposited into the bank account. We have now sold enough tickets to cover the prizes and our costs, so the balance on of the money is destined for the Music Festival.
The next club 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.
Also, important "after meeting" announcement from the Rotary Music Festival Society.
November 30, 2020
It is with regret that the Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival Society Board has decided to cancel the Live Festival for 2021. While much effort and thought has been put into making plans for moving ahead with a live Festival, recent developments have indicated to us that to continue moving forward with plans for Live Festival in the face of uncertainty, would be a less than wise use of resources at this time. As a result, we are moving now, while registration is only just opening, to our Plan C, which is to conduct an online Festival for 2021. This follows the precedent set by majority of the other local Festivals throughout Alberta as well as the Alberta Music Festival Association Provincial Festival plan. This decision was based upon financial considerations involving the Rotary Club, the uncertainty surrounding Covid and our province’s ability to curb the exponentially increasing numbers, as well as the expectation of lower registration numbers this year even with a Live Festival. Our energies will now be invested in moving forward with an online Festival. More details will follow to this regard from our Executive Director, Delynne Lorentzen, in the days to come.
Thank you for your understanding. Stay safe, be well.
Milan Vujovic, Chair, Rotary Music Festival Society
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:
Doug Fleming wanted to share a piece of Rotary history that Dave Panabaker was given and will be processed through to the archives at the Esplanade. The crest was given to Dave by Don and Rae Knutson. It belonged to Rae's grandfather, Milton Moore who was a dentist in town, they believe his office was somewhere on 2nd St. He was a member of our Rotary Club and also served on the Public School Board. Note the date, 1944-1945, so the Second World War was still going on. We believe the initials (S.M.B.L) stand for Senior Men's Bowling League.
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, December 7th - featuring a presentation on the Santa Claus Fund, and a donation from the club.
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
As an experiment in the 2019-2020 year, Margie Booyens asked the Rotary Board if she could challenge the newest Rotarians in the club with spend the "Presidents" $1,000 budget item on a project they all could agree on. Today the club was treated to a wonderful discussion by three of our newest members, about three projects they investigated and about the one they collectively chose to support.
First, Rotarian Shalla Shaharyar and our guest Nicole Nemo spoke about Unisphere Global Center. It is an organization that strives to "foster a vibrant community through global awareness and understanding" Unisphere has three broad mandates; inclusiveness, social justice and environmental wellness.
Their project, which won the approval of all three Rotarians was phase one of a three phase campaign centered on the question, "What do you see when you look at me?" The aim is to record a number of conversations within the community, from recent immigrants, disenfranchised and minorities, and gather their experiences. It is definitely in line with Rotary policy on inclusion and diversity.
Peter Mueller spoke about the "B Youth" program and Igor Grujic talked about the "North Flats Neighborhood Association". Everyone did really well, it was a very valuable exercise and we wish Unisphere every success in their task.
Rotary President Mark "virtually" presented the check to Nicole and Shalla, and we all look forward to their progress.
Over 700 participants from 52 countries attended the 2nd international conference of the NGSE program – virtually.
The program comprised speeches, interactive workshops, presentations, short inputs (including from Dieter and Kitt!) … and a message from RI President, Holgar Knaak!
One of the key conference messages was:
· Established in 2013, more education and marketing need to be done of the NGSE program at all levels, from International to Club levels
To promote understanding of the program among our Club members, I offer the following:
The NGSE is a program for young adults, 18-30 years of age, the main goals of which are:
· Job shadowing
· Service experience
· Immersion in the culture of the country, province, district concerned
· Promoting international peace, goodwill and understanding
· Personal growth, leadership development, widening the perspective of the participant
· The development of a new generation of Rotarians
If you would like to play an active role in this program at Club and or District level, please contact me!
Our guest today was Nicole Nemo - International Education Officer at MH College... and Treasurer of Unisphere..
Club Draw:
No draws this week.
Minute People:
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).
POST MEETING NOTE: Sandy Mackay sent along a short video clip, from the President of Rotary International about the Shelterbox program. Definitely worth a listen. https://youtu.be/08Pmi-WQAUw
Please remember 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.
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.
The Medicine Hat Ignite Rotary Club has planned a "Christmas Convoy", to spread Christmas Cheer at the local hospital and seniors facilities. If you are interested in participating, please contact Karen Blewett, Teresa Schile or Heather Bach.
POST MEETING NOTE:There have been questions recently about the viability of the bingo hall under the current restrictions. Gregg Martin provided the following update. "The Bingo Society met yesterday and Leslie did a comparison of this November to last and yes it is down but not as substantially as we had thought and on the plus side the Balls are way up. So far we are staying open unless the provincial restrictions change. We are trying to get the word out on Social media and by word of mouth that Bingo is still a social activity where more than 2 people can sit together. Attendance has been ticking upward over the weekend so hopefully the initial fear over the single person in the hall is wearing off."
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!!
Team "Free Wheel", the repurposing project for bicycles collected by the Medicine Hat Police Service is moving ahead, and will hopefully be donating their first "batch" before Christmas. More updates to come from Community Service Director Melanie Harty soon.
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: December.
Dieter Brand December 10.
Dale Stein December 12.
Gail Halderman December 16.
Adolf Seiler December 17.
Ken Zollner December 18.
John John December 19.
Kitt Brand December 28.
Club Anniversaries: November.
Doug Thorson 7 years December 2, 2013.
Terry Cooper 13 years December 4, 2007.
Roger Roy 15 years December 11, 2005.
Joan Sauve 20 years December 11, 2000.
Sarah Koch 5 years December 14, 2015.
Ken Feser 2 years December 17, 2018.
Theresa Eisenbarth 22 years December 23, 1998.
Makeups:
Bingo Team for Thursday Nov 26th.
Family of Rotary: (PLEASE KEEP ADOLF INFORMED ABOUT MEMBERS SO THAT INFORMATION CAN BE PASSED ON TO ALL IN THE WEEKLY NEWS)..
We all wish Dick Bide a speedy recovery from his knee surgery on Friday.
Dawn Barr passed along that Honorary Rotarian Joe Hrankowski will be undergoing bypass surgery in Calgary on Dec 17th, we all wish him the best.
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.
