Nice to see such a great attendance!

 

Great to see Gill back!  We also welcomed Rotarian Tessa from Vermilion, whom also led in OCanada and  Les Dickeson who

was a member of our club awhile back.

 

Thanks to Colin for sharing "What is Rotary Foundations funding cycle?"

 

Ed thanked those that volunteered on Feb 28th and raised about $845! Sounds ike a very busy day.

The next opportunity will be March 26th at the Downtown Diana Krall Plaza and will go from 10-3. There will be lots going on so lets hope for some great weather that Easter Weekend. We will have the Popcorn Machine out and be selling both the Coupons and 50/50 tickets!

 

Gill presented the club with a banner from the club that she went to in Mexico.. She also shared with us the Clean Water Program that the Bahia de la Cruz Club is working on.

 

Lee presented a Pin to Larry Rumming from Rotary International for sponsoring a new member.  

 

Rob shared a quick version of his wonderful weekend at PETS!  He was with the 4 other Pres Elects from Nanaimo.  Sounds like a great time and learning and Polio Eratication is almost there.  Just 4 new cases this year compared to 100 last year.  Very Exciting!!! Rob will share the other messages learned at some future meetings.  Sounds great.

 

Larry spoke about an upcoming Vocational Services Progect and type of Trade Fair but more, up at VIU on April 14th.  He is looking to get a committee together to work it out and the target audience will be students, parents and the unenployed.  Look for more info to come.

 

Jim gave us great NEWS!  We have now received the $20,000 gaming grant!  He thanked Ed for getting this accomplished!  Jim also talked about how we are going to get more non-restricted funds from our up coming Coupon Day.  Coupons will be sold be club members for $20 and will be used for May 28th in about 20 of the downtown stores and restaurants.  Some of the businesses on side so far are Flying Fish, the Museum, Minnows, Two Chefs.  This is for 20% off shopping!  Some will be the whole store and others will be more specific.  Sounds like fun!!!

 

 

This was such an interesting presentation!  Chris is very passionate about his job, which really made us all want to donate!  He spoke about how its collected and managed and also about the One Match Stem Cell Network.  They recently began operating the Cord Blood Bank and have begun mandate to improve organ and tissue transplants in Canada.

Some interesting Stats!  

Blood is needed every minute of every day!

*  52% of Canadians say they or a family member have needed blood

*  4% of Canadains actually donate

*  Can Blood Services collect about 850,000 units nationally

*  You can donate every 56 days on the Island

*  Average blood donor is 56 years old

NEXT Clinic is March 8th,9th and 10th in Nanaimo.  

We could even do this as a team, which creates awareness and excitement!  Thanks Chris for sharing this very essential service, and its value!

 

NEXT WEEKS MEETING-- We will go somewhere and drink something!!!  Sounds like fun!