President Margie welcomed everyone to our first meeting of June 2020. She started by passing on thanks to Peter Mueller and Dawn Barr for organizing our Centennial Trail walk/ride to celebrate the club's 102nd birthday. There was a nice article, not a great photo in the Medicine Hat News the next day.
Margie also passed on kudo's to Dawn Barr, the group she is part of was complemented in the Friday June 5 Medicine Hat News for sewing over 13,000 masks for charities and front line business's across SE Alberta.
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PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FELLOW ROTARIANS, ESPECIALLY IF SOMEONE NEEDS ASSISTANCE. ALSO, IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION TO SHARE WITH THE CLUB, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH PRESIDENT MARGIE B., OR NEWSLETTER EDITOR DAVE P. AND WE'LL MAKE SURE IT GETS COMMUNICATED.
Rotary Club - "What we can do"
The City of Medicine Hat website has a relatively complete list of local issues....check this out as well.
District 5360 has provided a single website to provide up to date information on other club meetings, on activities around the District and some links to Covid-19 sources as well.
President Margie Booyens ended the meeting today, by reading a recent statement from Rotary International, regarding the continuing protests on discrimination and policing issues throughout the world. She expressed the wish that we as a club and each of us as individuals, could embrace this statement and work hard to live it.
The Rotary Club welcomed Honorary member, Mayor Ted Clugston to the meeting today.
Mayor Ted was introduced by Mike Christie (as Ted Grimm), but we aren't sure he wants to serve in the role quite as long as Mayor Grimm did.
Ted ran through a number of issues ongoing in the community at this time, particularly the impact of Covid-19 on the business community and how the City has responded to help restart the local economy and give everyone a little breathing room to pay City Taxes as they become due at the end of the summer. Mayor Ted also spoke about the large cannibis greenhouse being constructed by Aurora, as well as the annual potential flood event which this community has been dealing with for many years. The berms are almost finished, but as the Mayor said "a 98% berm is basically not much good, so that work continues".
Ted took a few questions and spoke about the impact of the social distancing and shutdown on operations at City Hall. As always, a great talk...thanks for your time today Mayor Ted!!
This is the third and last part of a story by Rotarian Terry Cooper, on his experience wintering in Mexico.
Escaping Winter in Rincon de Guayabitos – Part 3
During our walks we often took along bags to pick up any pieces of small garbage (especially plastic) which was appreciated by both the locals and visitors. Many thanked us and even contributed to our collection! The beaches were cleaned regularly so we were simply picking up what the cleaners missed and the beaches were far cleaner than we have seen at other beaches we’ve visited over the years.
Staying in a fishing village one would expect that fresh fish would be available along the shore and we weren’t disappointed. Most mornings we walked along the beach to get fresh fish from our favourite fisherman Jose who always greeted us with a smile and often threw in an extra filet of another fish. We normally paid around 200 pesos (~ $14 CAN) for about a kg of fish which gave us a meal for two days. I think ate almost all of the offerings to – dorado (mahi-mahi), sole, red snapper, sea bass, marlin, tuna, shark, prawns. The nice part was that the fish were fileted so there were no bones or extra work.
We often ventured outside the tourist area to visit local communities such as a show factory and brick-making facility. Visiting the shoe factory in Compostela reminded me of the sweat shops we saw in southeast Asia. There were about 5 people, including a school aged boy, who were working the human assemble line. The young boy worked in the morning and went to school in the afternoon. The soles were made from old tires while the rest of the shoe was made from leather. At the front of the shop was the store where the shoes were sold for around 220 pesos (~$15 CAN). Belts were also sold and now I wish I had picked up one seeing the process and labour involved.
On our trip to Compostela we observed a worker making tiles and bricks using a traditional process passed down over the years using basically three components – clay, cow dung, and sawdust. After mixing the three components, the worker poured the mixture into a form, wetted the surface, removed the form and repeated the process. Later the tiles / bricks were used to create the kiln which was then fired using wood. The worker has been working here at this small operation for over 30 years at wages that would embarrass us – pennies per brick. Most buildings in Mexico are made of brick, tile and concrete because wood is very expensive and requires constant treatment to prevent damage from terminates.
PDG District 1285 Graham Jackson and his wife Ann, joined us from Irlam, England.
Honorary Rotarian Ted Clugston, was our guest speaker today.
Minute People:
Dave Panabaker reminded Rotarians that Theresa Eisenbarth is still working on the Interact Garage Sale. "I'm still collecting for the sale for the students. I spoke to Sue Withers and it will be highly unlikely that we can plan for this at the school any time soon. I'm going to do the sale myself, right down there at the Rotary Sea Can. I'll set up tables, mark everything. If you have items, please hold onto them and you can contact me to arrange a time to meet and place the items into storage. The Sea Can is located behind the Bingo Hall on Industrial Ave. All the proceeds will be given to the Interact Club."
An update that the new Sunrise Rotary draw for two electric bikes is going very quickly, less than 200 tickets remain and they will be doing the draw early, if they can sell out. If you want some tickets ($10.00 each) they are available through any Sunrise Rotarian.
Treasurer Gail Halderman advised that our donation to the Community Foundation based on "avoided" meal costs is now at approx $4,500 and he is still taking donations.
Kitt and Dieter Brand have a supply of Rotary "themed" protective masks...please be in touch if you would like one.
Kitt Brand wanted to pass on the availability of the Rotary Canada One "E-Club" for those that are interested. https://portal.clubrunner.ca/8529
Wayne Chelsey told a very funny story about the residence in Vancouver that Jay and his wife have rented for a year. It was so great until he walked through a doorway or tried to take a shower. That could be a very long year, great story Wayne!
Don't forget the "Come and Go" reception for Joe Chacko, as he and his family move to Calgary. Thursday June 11, from 5 pm to 7 pm, on the second floor of The Mezz (the old Beveridge Building)
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: June
Terry Brekko June 9.
Jay Chesley June 14.
Sandy Mackay June 15.
Mike Hertz June 19.
Dave Maclean June 26.
Club Anniversaries: The month of May.
Neil Mardian 1 year June 10, 2019.
Rod Dal Collo 1 year June 24, 2019.
Melanie Harty 10 years June 30, 2010.
Adolf Seiler 44 years June 30, 1976.
Makeups:
No attendance being recorded during the pandemic period!
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 Kitt Brand the best, as her twin sister battles some serious health challenges in Mississippi.
We hope that Rotarian Gerry Nadeau is doing well, as he recovers.
We also wish Rotarian Rod Dal Collo the best, we understand he is facing some health challenges.
We have Rotarian Gregg Martin in our thoughts and prayers as he gets final appointments and lab results from his recent brain surgery.
Rotarian Glen Presley will be undergoing stem cell transplant surgery, starting on May 21 and the process should be complete by early July, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
