Saifoo Lau's Classification Talk

Posted by Rocco Colangelo 
on Apr 09, 2014
 

Rotary Club of North Scarborough

Rota-Teller

Wednesday April 9, 2014

By Basil Dias

Rota-Teller for April 9, 2014

Attendance:    16 members and 2 guests

Anthem:          Alan Meredith

Grace:              Mike Mushet

Toast to the Queen, Canada and Rotary:       President Rocco Colangelo

Guests:            Flo Forde of the Scarborough Bluffs Rotary Club and Jim Kennedy of the Gate City Rotary Club in North Carolina.

Announcements:

·         Kevin Manual presented the club with a cheque for $16,705.94, including his donation of his expenses in the amount of $85. (In actual fact, Kevin made a donation of $100.00)

·         Kevin will be this year’s chair of the Toronto Rotary Auction. Congrats, Kevin, and thank you!

·         Gerd Wengler presented the club with a cheque for $5,000 from Park Properties, to be given to Agincourt Community Services. Thanks, Gerd and Park Properties.

·         Gerd also announced that he will be taking part in a 50K hike over 12 ½ hours, to raise money to safeguard the Bruce Trail and perhaps even expand it. All donations to this worthy cause will be appreciated and gratefully accepted.

·         Charles Whitney announced that the “Day at the Races” at the Woodbine Race Track has been scheduled for Sunday June 8, 2014. The cost is to be finalized, but is anticipated to be the same as last year, $40 per person. Please let Charles know as soon as possible regarding attendance, as he has to guarantee 20 people.

·         President Rocco announced that he and Lillian will be hosting this year’s Club Fireside at his home on Friday May 2nd. Charles will determine the required contribution for food and refreshments.

·         Just a reminder that the SPO concert is on Saturday May 3rd. Please sell your tickets and get more from Jacob!

The marbelous draw was conducted by Charles Whitney. The winning ticket was claimed by the Gerd/Mike syndicate, but the mutant marble lives another day. The life of the lucky fiver was short!

Sergeant-at-arms Frank Allison relieved all and sundry of a looney for not joining Gerd on the short 50K hike. Mike was happy to be able to pack heat. Alan, Frank, Rocco and Jack made a significant donation to Habitat in the Soo. Alan was relieved of a couple of coins for harrassing poor Flo, and Gerd was happy to be leaving for a three week drive in his new Range Rover to California. Gerd, remember to keep the rubber side down!

Basil Dias introduced today’s speaker, our very own Saifoo Lau, who gave his classification talk.

Saifoo was born in 1948 in Northern China, although he does have three birthdates (way to get lots of presents). From there he moved to the south of China, and then to Hong Kong in the early 1950s. Saifoo worked for many years with the Standard Chartered Bank, where he experienced several bank robberies. He was then transferred to China with the bank, where he travelled extensively, including the sea-coast cities. He has also lived in Taiwan and Macau (no, he doesn’t speak Portuguese).

Saifoo speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, and perfect Hong Kong English. Since immigrating to Canada, he has always lived in the Scarborough area. He has a boy and a girl, both competitive swimmers, and both having gone to the University of Waterloo.

Saifoo has worked in the Banking industry with Scotia, before transitioning to Real Estate for the last 20 years. His passion is volunteering in the community, and he is looking forward to working with our club to improve our community. Saifoo heard about our club from visiting the Rotary tent at our last Ribfest.

Arthur Retnakaran thanked Saifoo for an excellent classification talk, and presented him with a Rotary water bottle. 

A recording of Saifoo’s  presentation will be sent separately.

Here is the link to listen to Saifoo's Presentation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xnpc9eyh01dzapm/Saifoo.MP3

 
 
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