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Attendance: 12 Members plus the guest speaker
Chair: President Mike Anthem: Peter Masson Grace: Jim Boyko
Announcements:
- Peter Masson announced that we had received 10 Paul Harris Scholarship applications.
- Barry Smith reminded International Services Group members that there will be a committee meeting immediately following our luncheon meeting in the restaurant area.
- Frank Lippa announced that he had received another 9 Loblaws gift cards from members to be donated to a local food bank.
- President Mike reminded members that our luncheon meetings will now take place on Fridays, but that the luncheon meeting next week is cancelled in favour of the Fireside, and the meeting for the last week of April is likewise cancelled in favour of the Mayor’s luncheon.
- President Mike also reminded members to sign up for the Fireside which will take place at the Highland Yacht Club on Friday, April 13th, 2018 at 6:30 pm. Gate codes will be sent to those who register for the function.
- The Mayor’s luncheon will take place on Monday, April 23rd, 2018 at the Delta Hotel at 11:30 am to 2:00 pm at a cost of $70 plus HST. We only have 4 members signed up so far and need 10 in order to have a Rotary table at the event.
The Marbelous Draw was conducted by Gerd Wengler and was won, and lost, by our newest member, Kathleen, who was awarded a double consolation prize of $10.00.
Sgt-at-Arms Gerd Wengler levied fines and Happy Bucks:
- First, Gerd fined Roland for questioning his authority to increase the marbelous draw consolation prize.
- Secondly, Gerd auctioned off a special Rotary lapel pin which featured the Toronto skyline including the CN Tower. He noted that it was magnetized and therefore not appropriate for someone with a pacemaker. Frank Lippa questioned where Gerd obtained the pin, and was also fined for questioning the Sgt. At Arms. Frank, however, won the auction and purchased the pin for $20.00.
- Gerd next quizzed the members as to which 1973 movie he watched on Easter weekend that was diametrically opposed to the other movie that he watched on the weekend, being the Steven Hawking movie. Dave Seemungal won the quiz by naming the movie as Jesus Christ Superstar, and was awarded with a fine to pay for making the rest of the members look bad.
- Kathleen was happy to donate her $10 consolation prize.
- Gord Brown was happy that the TFC won their game that he attended by a score of 3-1. Gord donated $3 for the 3 goals.
- Our guest speaker, Laura, donated a happy buck, because she enjoyed the movie, Son of God,on Easter weekend.
- Arthur R. donated a happy buck for his speaking engagement at the Scarborough Bluffs Rotary Club which meets very early in the morning.
- Peter Masson was happy that we were able to increase the number of Paul Harris Scholarship applications to 10.
Program: Interact Club and Other Support of the Precious Blood Catholic School
Gordon Brown introduced our speaker, Laura Monaco, a teacher at Precious Blood Catholic School. Laura loves to empower student leaders. Laura is currently teaching Special Education and ESL at the school.
Laura first thanked our club for its support of many projects over the years at this primary school. She pointed out that there are a lot of needy students at Precious Blood, the average family income of the school’s population being only $40,000. In addition, the school accepted a lot of Syrian refugees, which presented additional challenges for the school’s resources.
Many students had witnessed a lot of pain and suffering in their lives and trauma counseling was required to help them to cope.
Our donations to the school were used to fund many programs, including lunch programs and a Grade 7 trip to Guelph University, where a marine biologist on staff set up a marine biology lab for the students to give them a hands on experience, and where they were given a tour of the university, including the student residence, to familiarize themselves with university life, open their eyes to the world beyond their school, and encourage them to work towards a university experience.
A playground structure for the school is also in the planning stages and should be a reality by September as a result of our donation to this project.
About three years ago, our club assisted with the forming of an Interact Club at Precious Blood, and Laura reported that it is still thriving. The Interactors have organized a banquet for the ESL community, and this past Thanksgiving they were involved in a Thanksgiving food drive.
In short, the Interact Club has taken leadership roles in the school.
Rotary has been given credit for the initiatives for which they have provided funding, and the students have created and delivered thank you cards to the club in appreciation of our support of this community school.
Arthur R. thanked Laura for a very informative presentation and praised those dedicated teachers, like Laura, who can positively impact students for a lifetime from their unselfish support. In recognition of the excellent work being done at Precious Blood, Arthur presented a further donation from our club in the amount of $2,500, which was gratefully received by Laura on behalf of the school.
Laura's presentation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6vvnmlz2vrxc2xc/School%20presentation.MP3?dl=0
The meeting was terminated.
Thought of the day:
Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?”
