Date: September 6, 2017

 

Attendance: 14 (including 1 guest, Karl Smith, who is checking out local Rotary clubs with a view to joining)

 

Anthem: Dave Hardy

 

Grace: Peter Masson

 

 

- Maddy announced that we have collected $1,020.00 for the Foundation Walk so far. If you haven’t contributed yet, see Maddy. The walk takes place Sunday, September 10^th in Whitby.

 

- Pres. Mike reminded us that next week’s speaker is Bill Martin, the mayor of Summerside, P.E.I.  Bill is a Rotarian and will be speaking about business in P.E.I.  Should be an interesting meeting.

 

- Pres. Mike also reminded us that our Sept. 20^th luncheon meeting has been cancelled in favour of a joint meeting on Sept. 19^th at the Scarborough Golf Club commencing 6:30 pm. The cost is $20.00.

 

- Pres. Mike further announced a Meet and Greet at Centennial College on Sept. 29^th at 5:00 pm where we can meet the politicians who service North Scarborough. There will be no speeches or self-promotion, just a chance to network with politicians at all levels.

 

- Peter Masson and Basil announced that Rotary volunteers are still needed to serve breakfast for the Habitat for Humanity Women’s Build on Sept. 20 to 23, and 27 to 29 inclusive, 7 days in total. Basil will send out more info. to club members by email.

 

 

 

Marbelous Draw was conducted by Frank Lippa and was won, and  lost, by Frank Lippa. Talk about doing it all! Way to go, Frank!

 

Sgt-at-Arms Gord Brown levied the following fines and Happy Bucks:

- A dollar for all those who did not know that the headliner for the Invictus Games was the Boss, Bruce Springsteen

 

 

 

With respect to Happy Bucks, the following members contributed:

 

- Maddy was happy that her daughter was back to school. LOL!

 

- Frank Allison was happy to spend time with his son and grandsons

 

- Frank Lippa was happy for all those parents whose children were back in school

 

- Basil was happy that the heat from Montserrat’s volcano caused Hurricane Irma to veer away from the island.

 

- Our speaker, Paula, was happy that all of their staff in Myanmar were safe.

 

Paula Tenaglia, Action Against Hunger, was introduced by Madhavi. Paula is the Operations Director for Action Against Hunger who has worked in the field in many countries and was previously with the World Food program.

Paula commenced her talk by thanking Rotary for accepting her to the international student exchange program at age 16. This program had a significant impact on her life. In many ways, it was through this experience with Rotary that she developed the courage to travel, explore and take the time to understand the places and people of the world. It also helped her to build the resilience that one requires when placed in difficult and challenging cultural situations. 

Paula has been working in the humanitarian sector for 13 years. Much of her field assignments focused on the overall management of country teams dealing with programmes, logistics, security and coordination with government, United Nations and communities.

Action Against Hunger (A.A.H.) is in 50 countries worldwide, and delivers lifesaving programmes for women, men, girls and boys adversely affected by natural disasters and conflict. The organization invests in development programmes that go beyond emergency issues and address relief from hunger in a sustainable way. A.A.H. also works in Canada with young people to create awareness of global hunger issues and to develop skills in horticulture and nutrition in the classroom. In fact, for the past 6 months, Paula has been working with a Malvern school to develop and pilot innovative food security programmes.

Paula next turned her attention to the hunger crisis in South Sudan, explaining the history of this relatively recent breakaway nation. South Sudan gets lost in the world media coverage, but Paula explained that there is great need in this nation. There are 12 million inhabitants in 60 different tribes, and the country has been embroiled in civil wars since 1955. There was a peace deal in 2005 that ultimately allowed South Sudan to secede from Sudan, but the violence and food crisis continues to plague the people. There are still no health services or potable water, and the child mortality rate is very high. The population is highly dependent on external aid. A new civil war broke out in 2013 displacing about 3 million people in a country of 12 million. About 2 million are internally displaced with a million having to flee to neighbouring countries.

South Sudan is on the top is the list of most dangerous countries for conducting humanitarian work, but it is also one of the four African countries that faces a famine that the U.N. categorizes as “the worst humanitarian crisis [in which the UN has intervened] since the UN was founded in 1945.”  A.A.H. is intervening in South Sudan to ensure the basic human right to food, medical treatment and health care during these crisis times. A.A.H. has a team of 200 people in South Sudan to combat the crisis of under-nutrition by understanding its underlying causes, determining the programmes that are required, and by implementing these solutions in partnership with government, national organizations, international organizations and the United Nations.

 

Arthur R. thanked Paula for a very interesting and informative presentation, which made it clear how fortunate we are to live in Canada, and that we can make a difference for the rest of the world, as has Paula, by supporting organizations such as Action Against Hunger.

 

 

 

 

Recordings:

 

Meeting terminated.