March 31, 2015 Meeting
Guests: Our Rotaract Regulars, Elizabeth & Caitlyn. Also, Deanna Folliet a guest of Bill Robinson.
Announcements:
- This is the last day for early bird registrations for the Rotary International Conference.
- Ed gave a report on our 50/50 project. We did very well selling tickets at WalMart on Mar 29 and sold 185 tickets ($925) – that’s 40 more than our last Walmart day. Well done team! Our next big day is April 11 when we’ll need all hands on deck. We’ll be at the Country Grocer Customer Appreciation event selling 50/50 and also our Community Breakfast. Be sure to mark your calendars and sign up for a shift or two.
District Leadership Training Assembly (DLTA) - Larry gave a report following his attendance at the recent DLTA. He said the sessions were inspirational and a few things really stood out for him:
- Rotary is wanting to change how it approaches membership but in the process realizes that it may be many different approaches as the culture of small and large clubs is so different. New initiatives such as meeting every other week, e-clubs, satellite clubs.
- Understanding why people join and stay in Rotary helps to focus attraction and engagement of members
- Friends and contacts
- Local community impact
- Valuing vocations
- Working with leaders and leadership development
- It is not that we have been doing things wrong but perhaps focusing on, or emphasizing the wrong things to attract a younger membership. We need to look at our meetings, our website and social media presence.
Foundation Minute - Colin provided information about the Ambassadorial Scholarships. The purpose of the program is to further international understanding and peaceful relations among people of different races, nationalities, ethnicities, and religions while pursuing a program of study at an institution of higher education in a foreign country.
Rotary International Recognizes One of Our Own: At our meeting last week, our very own Doug Pearson was presented with a special award in recognition of his efforts to attract new members to our club. Well done, Doug!
Program:
This week’s program was an overview of our newly revitalized Literacy Committee. The Committee is comprised of Lynne Hannay (Chair) Barb Thomas and Suzy Depledge. For most of us, reading and writing are as natural as breathing. But nearly 800 million adults worldwide lack the literacy skills needed to complete a job application, understand a child’s report card, or read a prescription. Literacy is an essential ingredient for reducing poverty, improving health, encouraging community and economic development and promoting peace. RI encourages Rotarians around the globe to select and carry out literacy projects that meet their community’s needs. The Committee has created 3 viable and exciting initiatives:
- Community Breakfast Colouring:
As there are often young children coming with their parents to the Community Breakfast at the 7-10 Club, this project will give them a coloring activity.
- The Lending Library:
We are seeking permission from the Board of the 7/10 club to build a book
case to house books at the site. Bob and Ed have offered to work with the Committee on this project.
- Provide Aboriginal children books to Nisaika Kumtuks Elementary Centre
This initiative will work in cooperation with Chris Beaton to provide culturally appropriate books for the aboriginal community and will be seeking financial support from our Club.
- Future Projects:
The Committee is exploring the possibility of an elder story teller at the Literacy Centre on Commercial Street this summer and is open to other ideas as well.
Birthdays/Anniversaries: We sang a rousing Happy Birthday to Ed who seemed most appreciative…. We also congratulated Jim and Marianne on their 41 wedding anniversary. That’s a real milestone!
Our next meeting will focus on a special presentation by Donya Baker: The Impacts of an Aging Population on the Future of Volunteer Leadership in Community Organizations. This is one meeting you won`t want to miss. Don`t forget to let Audrey and or Barb whether or not you will be attending for the meal.
