A Beer and Burger event will either be at  the Lantzville  pub on either March 29 or 22 or at the Legion on Tuesday March 31. The cost for the beer and burger between both locations is comparable.  
Wine Draw Jim received an email from Catherine Hargreaves offering to donate 20 bottles of wine that Bob had purchased through the Opimian Society. The fundraising committee will decide  on how to turn them into cash included raffling 2 or 3 bottles off each meeting or selling tickets for several meetings with a draw at the end for the 20 bottles. 
Garage Sale  - Saturday May 23 at the lower level of 7187 Lantzville Road.  This is the same location that we have held the last 2 sales.  It is generously provided to us free of charge by Lance McNabb.  Set up will be held on Friday May 22.  Jim now has room for smaller items in his storage locker so please contact him if you have items you need to store for the sale. WE DO NOT ACCEPT CLOTHING NOR ART WORK. Neither are saleable.

Cinco de Mayo

Sheila has suggested a fund raiser celebrating the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo.  The discussion of this event included location, date, food, music, and other activities.  May the 5th is a Tuesday which would be our first meeting in May.  Jim will contact Sheila who is currently in Mexico to garner any ideas of activities that would make the event an attraction.  
Larry provided  list  of potential fundraisers, but our plate is full for the remainder of this year.  The two events that had some appeal were the online auction a marathon event with many categories based on age . We may do a hot dog sale at a Country Grocer location in early September and have some involvement with the Christmas celebration in Downtown Nanaimo.  

Fund Allocation.

We have received 2 funding requests.  The first on was for financial help with a playground in the Sunview Road area.  Fundraising is being done through the City of Nanaimo Partners in Parks program.  This is not something we can financially support at this time but will let our members know as apparently donations to this program will receive tax receipts for you income tax reporting.  

We received a request from Ashley Dieno who is on PWD and her 8 year old son needs significant dental work.  Our club does not provide funding for individuals but several of the committee members will contact her to inform of options,  Federal Government Dental Plan, Nanaimo Schools Foundation student support, potential help from dentists etc   Her email address is ashleydieno12@gmail.com.

Don reported on:

Coldest night of the year walk - February 28

Paul Geneau gave an update on the SeeCan project to which the club previously committed. The project is in partnership with Canadian Vision Care (CVC). Paul started by giving some background on CVC  which was started in 1981 in Jamaica, by Canadian optometrists graduating from the University of Waterloo.  CVC has grown to providing year round comprehensive eye care in Jamaica, Philippines, Malawi, Guyana, Costa Rica, Uganda, Kenya, Madagascar, Vietnam, Cambodia, with a large roster of volunteer optometrists, ophthalmologists, opticians, nurses, general physicians, and lay people.  Sustainability is an underpinning principle and the ultimate goal is to build self-sufficiency in countries that currently rely on charitable relief.

Dr. Allan Jones, from Calgary, the Chair of CVC, first visited Malawi in 2010 on a CVC mission, and was struck by the desperate need for eye care in a strikingly poor country.  Malawi ranks 174 out of 189 countries in the poverty scale. He found that another charity, Optometry Giving Sight, had opened an optometry school at the University of Mzuzu and, motivated by the potential, chose to commit to supporting the school's development and quality of education.  He dedicated funds that he inherited from his parents to build an eye care clinic adjacent to the university's hospital and has led and facilitated many missions to Malawi with CVC volunteers including Canadian and Malawian optometry students to supplement their education.  In 2022, CVC partnered with the Rotary Club  of High River Alberta on the See Can project.  A 40' sea container was filled with all the building supplies and equipment sufficient  to convert it into a stand alone eye care clinic after delivery  to a village in Malawi.  To see how that was done go to: www.canadianvisioncare.com. 

Allan challenged Paul to duplicate this project with the Rotary Club of Nanaimo North and transferred $10,000 to kickstart the project, from a grant received for this purpose from Optometry Giving Sight.  We currently have $15,400 set aside.   

Originally in was intended to apply for RI Foundation matching grant funds, but with lack of cooperation from the partner Malawi Rotary club, that is not possible. Since the first container was delivered, two other See Cans have been sent to Malawi, without Rotary sponsorship.

Over the past couple years, Paul has been accumulating eye care equipment and eyeglass frames, donated by optometrists and suppliers that will fill a 40' container, together with a load that will be brought here from Calgary.  Next step is to buy a shipping container, which needs to be in new condition and certified, then pack the container, and arrange for shipping.  Further fundraising will be expected to complete the project, which will include appeals to other Rotary clubs to contribute, and to look for grant assistance from the district and the Vancouver Island International Service Committee.