President Mark Sorenson welcomed everyone to our meeting today, and he thanked everyone who braved the fierce west wind and helped out at Rotary Centennial Park in Dunmore on Friday. The 100 trees for our Centennial were planted and properly installed and hopefully the park will be a great social place for the Hamlet of Dunmore.
There were 30 Rotarians and 2 guests joining us at the meeting today, which is great attendance.
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.
The next meeting is Monday, May 10th - our new Police Chief Mike Worden is our guest speaker.
The DG and President Mark have requested that we limit our in person gatherings while COVID cases are still present in the community. Our meetings will be virtual until at least Monday June 28th that is currently our first scheduled " in person" meeting.
Upcoming Rotary District and International Events:
Also, the next Club Learning webinar is on Wed May 5th, and it touches on the new, 7th area of focus in Rotary work, that being the environment. The webinar is titled "Protecting the Environment: Practical Ideas for Clubs to Consider". Register to attend at this link, on the District website. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NeormnXDQZa72HNPvjSOwg
The Rotary International convention for 2021, originally scheduled in Taiwan will now be held VIRTUALLY as well. Watch for updates on registration and programs.
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 Rotary Club was delighted to welcome Martha Gue to our meeting today. She was welcomed by President Mark and introduced by Past President Margie Booyens. Martha is a well known figure in our community who has done a great deal of voluntary work. She is currently a member of the Grasslands Naturalists Society and a founding member of the South East Alberta Watershed Alliance (SEAWA). Their website is https://seawa.ca.
Martha spoke about an idea which occurred to her because of the cancellation of displays for World Water Day, and how being restricted from doing the normal outdoor activities caused her to do some thinking. She wondered who was "looking after" the ponds in town? She discovered that there are 20 ponds in Medicine Hat, a combination of natural areas, park ponds and storm water retention areas. She started an "adopt a pond" program, to help deal with invasive species, pick up trash and repair damage and engage families and friends in enjoying these outdoor areas. The idea started on March 8th and all but two of the twenty ponds have been adopted. The two remaining "orphan" are Southridge Community Park and the Stormwater Pond behind Candidan Tire.
She also spoke about the repair projects that SEAWA has been engaged in, along the riparian areas along the creek and river banks.
The work of SEAWA fits very nicely into the new 7th Avenue of Rotary Service, "Protecting the Environment". The information that Martha provided will be forwarded to our Community Service Committee, for review and for a recommendation on some aspect that might fit well into our existing projects in the Community. I suspect there will be more to discuss in the upcoming months.
No draw this week, but we are working on a "garage sale" for stuff that is gathering dust in the Storage Room. A list will be published soon.
Minute People:
Anne Carrier mentioned that Dr. Bill Taylor, who has been a long time supporter of the Rotary Music Festival, is looking for four "missing" Stars of the Festival programs. He is missing the programs for 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1997. If anyone has spare copies that they would be prepared to part with he'd love to have them. If you can help, please contact Anne Carrier, or Stan Sakamoto.
Dale Stein recommended a movie on Netflix with a Rotary theme. The movie is titled "Breath", about Robin Cavendish who contracted polio in Africa and became an advocate for people with physical disabilities. Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland were involved in promoting the film, and the movie is a great example of Rotary in Action.
Dave Panabaker promoted a few of the Rotary Learning opportunities that are occurring this month.
May 29/June 2 - 3 hour Club Leadership Training #3 - Select the one that works on the District website.
Keith Walker mentioned the Club Leadership Training as an opportunity as well, and also mentioned that the District 5360 AGM will be June 7th, a "virtual" house of Friendship will take place on June 9th and DG Mary will host a Year-end Celebration on June 16th. Lots going on in the last two months of this Rotary year, so watch for the opportunity to sign up and participate.
Kitt Brand had two "Rotary minutes":
One was a thank you to Brent Secondiak for helping with a speeding problem on their street.
The second was a recommendation to watch a documentary "Grey Roads" by Jesse McCracken, available through Hot Docs, as part of the film festival until May 8th. Free to those over 60 and only $10 to others. The documentary shows how his grandfathers work in Rotary has affect both him and his community of 1,200. The town involved is Markdale, Ontario, about 2 hours NW of Toronto. The film is featured in a May 2nd CBC radio interview. Definitely not a PG film, Kitt provides a language "alert". If you are interested, check it out here Welcome to Hot Docs - Hot Docs
Gail Halderman announced that 2021 Rotary Rib-Fest has a date, the weekend of Aug 13 - 15. Everything is not confirmed with the "ribbers" at this point, but we are proceeding to plan as so we can secure sponsors and organize advertising.
Our friends at the Medicine Hat Sunrise Rotary Club are having another e-bike raffle this spring. Please support their efforts in Rotary by getting a ticket or two.
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: May
Anne Carrier May 5.
Ray Kemp May 16.
Doug Fleming May 19.
Ian McLaughlin May 20.
Ted Cowtan May 25.
Dawn Barr May 31.
Club Anniversaries: April.
Ian McLaughlin 29 years May 1, 1992.
Dick Northcott 21 years May 1, 2000.
Sue Withers 3 years May 14, 2018.
Dan Kammerer 17 years May 19, 2004.
Makeups:
None recorded.
Family of Rotary: (PLEASE KEEP ADOLF INFORMED ABOUT MEMBERS SO THAT INFORMATION CAN BE PASSED ON TO ALL IN THE WEEKLY NEWS)..
Our condolences go out to President-elect Melanie Harty and her family on the recent loss of her Mother-in-Law.
