Visiting Rotarians:

Announcements:

• Lynn reported that the Youth Leadership reconciliation conference will be held this week.  While our club gave the most volunteers, a couple more people could be used for setup and/or takedown.  See Lynn if you can hep out.
• The Legacy project was presented to the City Finance and Audit committee.  Council voted to send the project out for budget.  When the project is approved we can start on the fund raising.  Ian reported that Ed did a terrific job on the presentation. Thanks Ed!
• The Beer and Burger night made an $1800 profit.
• Don thanked Ed and Larry for all the hard work looking after our storage unit.  Thanks from us all too!
• Also, congratulations to Derek for his art show.  It sounds like it was very successful and we are all proud of him!

Ian Thorpe brought us back a gift from a not so recent trip to Scotland.  The club he visited passed along a small token that they had received from another club.  This small plaque is to be passed from club to club (internationally) to encourage the friendship of Rotary around the world.

Upcoming Events:

• The next breakfast will be this Saturday.  Rob says we look good for volunteers.
• Our next meeting at VIU at 5:30 (not 6:15).  Please let Barney know if you are attending.
• December 19th, 5 club Christmas dinner at the Bastion.  All is invited.
• December 17th for our Christmas party at Barneys house.

Program:

          Barney introduced Gerry Beltgens - a Rotarian from Ladysmith - who gave us some information about Disaster Aid Canada (DAC). (Affiliated with Disaster Aid International)

         Gerry started his new position with DAC the day that the hurricane hit the Bahamas.  That area was absolutely devastated.  Disaster Aid Canada tends to wait until they find out what is required to avoid sending supplies that are not needed or required.  They do this by interacting with Rotarians on the ground in the areas that are affected.  DAC provides different help than Shelterbox and - hopefully - complement each other.  In this particular case, DAC sent tents and DAUS sent water.  They, and the other DA international organizations, worked together to supply the help that was most needed.  All this under the watchful eyes of Rotarians both local and international. 

           Some of their projects are much closer to home.  They provided help for the 60,000 people displaced from the fires in the interior BC a couple of years ago. 

     Carly thanked our guest for a very interesting presentation.