Chair of the Meeting: President Danny Cassidy

 

Anthem: Arthur Retnakaran

 

Toast to The King, Canada and Rotary: President Danny Cassidy

 

Land Acknowledgement: President Danny Cassidy

 

Attendance: (12 Members, No Guests or Visiting Rotarians)

 

 

 

Speaker: Suresh Agarwal – The Rotary Foundation

 

Suresh was introduced by President Elect Basil Dias.

 

Suresh commenced his presentation with his own Rotary story. Suresh was first inducted as a Rotary member in the newly chartered Rotary Club of Milwoods South Edmonton in 2003. His growing business and the time pressures involved forced him to leave this club, but in 2012 he joined the Rotary Club of South East Edmonton which was a large club of 50 plus members and offered him great growth opportunities for service to the Edmonton community as Community Service Director. Suresh co-ordinated the donation of sewing machines to an Edmonton Women’s Shelter, arranged a donation drive to construct 15 bus shelters for school children in the Fiji Islands, and supported yearly Gala fund-raising, and well as many other projects and activities.

 

In 2021, Suresh relocated to Toronto to be closer to his family and in 2022 joined our club. Last year President Danny asked Suresh to take the role of the club’s Foundation Director. Although most of our members are quite knowledgeable about the Rotary Foundation, it is a wonderful reminder for our senior members and an opportunity for our newer members to learn more about, participate in, and enjoy the benefits of the Rotary Foundation.

 

Suresh then outlined with a slide show the history of the Rotary foundation and its main components. The foundation was established in 1917, with matching grants being introduced in 1963, the Polio Plus campaign being added in 1985, and the Gates Foundation contributing $100 million to Polio Plus in 2007. Suresh highlighted that the administration fees of the Rotary Foundation are a mere 8%, which is one of the lowest administration fees in the charitable field with many major charities having administration fees of 40% or more.

 

Suresh took some time to explain the benefits of contributing to the Rotary Foundation, plus the Paul Harris Award donor recognition program, as well as the other recognition programs. Suresh also touched on the Foundation Walk, Rotary Peace Fellowships, and the District and Global Grant programs that our club has been involved in over the years.

 

Suresh concluded his talk with three thoughts:

 

1. Rotarians generally profit in proportion to their efforts in contributing to Rotary;

2. Beneath good works is the invisible power of good will, and,

3. We are here to learn the lesson of how to separate ourselves from ourselves.

 

Gordon thanked Suresh for a very informative talk and was also thankful that Rotary had raised 2.5 billion dollars for Polio Plus without taking into account the Gates Foundation contribution.

 

 

 

Sargeant at Arms: Frank Allison collected only Happy Bucks

 

 

There being no further business for the good of Rotary, Danny closed the meeting.