Club Assembly

ROTA-TELLER

Sept 12, 2012

ANTHEM: Gerd Wengler
GRACE:  Kevin Moore
TOAST:   President Jacob Lakirovich

ATTENDING:  10

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

- None this week.

MARBELOUS DRAW: 

It was Peter Masson who had the winning ticket.  The $5.00 was generously offered as a second prize (this time the first prize was less than the second). As a small tribute he returned the prize money to the Sergeant at Arms as thanks for the 50 years that Joan and he celebrated together on Sept 8th. 


SERGEANT AT ARMS:

One fine was imposed by S @ A Kevin Moore to the last person who arrived, David Seemungal, who also ordered a special meal from the chef.

Barry Smith gave happy bucks for learning that he and Glennys expect to become grandparents next March. (No cruising in the Med or visiting Bermuda next March, for sure)!

Gerd reported on a couple of amazing weeks he has had as the Chair of the Canadian German Chamber of Commerce.  He has been included as one of the five chief “poobahs” of the German Canadian business community. He started off  having an intimate discussion with the visiting German Chancellor Merkel (or as intimate as any politician is likely to be these days). He then topped that off with a luncheon meeting with Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada.  That must have been a “stimulating” meeting or as stimulating as central bankers are these days! Then he had meetings with the German Vice Chancellor and finally the Minister for the Economy from Vietnam.

PROGRAM: 

This meeting was scheduled as a Club Assembly.  But with only 10 members attending, we had a cozy discussion of what we knew was happening around the club.

Group 2/3

We have scheduled speakers for the rest of September and October except for October 29th.  Please contact Director Kevin Moore if you can recommend a speaker for that date.

Funds have been set aside for Camp Enterprise thanks to our partnership with Park Property Management.  But the date of the weekend next Spring must be secured.

The group will consider the request by the Globe Trotters basket ball team to become involved in their fund raising project.

Kevin and Lori will be investigating the specific needs for the request the club has received for assistance with a child who suffers from autism.

Otherwise our funding is and unknown until after the TV Auction in November.

Foundation:

David Seemungal reported that we gave the District Governor our cheque for “Every Rotarian Every Year” last week when he visited our club.

David also advised that there was funding at the District level that cold be used for the "Warm Hands" program.  However it would involve including many more schools and many more visits to those schools.  This could be a project for several clubs to become involved just in Scarborough.

Other matters discussed:

The promised Financial report for the 2012 Ribfest has not yet been received.  We understood that our club’s participation in next year’s effort was contingent on the membership reviewing those results and examining the budget and plans for the next attempt at generating funds from the Ribfest.

Our support for the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra has been suspended for a year and our recent letter has precipitated the departure of its General Manager and changes to their Board.  Jacob believes that we will have a much more constructive relationship with the SPO after these changes.

We finished the meeting with a discussion on some issues that Tony Baker was able to share before he returned to his mission in India.  He explained that most of their work in India is involved with assistance for the Dalit people (Untouchables) who are the lowest in the Hindu caste system.  The Hindu system holds that if one is born into that caste there is no opportunity to escape it.  Tony’s work is seen by many in the upper castes in that State as undermining the prevailing caste structure as the Christian message is that  all are equal before God.  This results in silly but time-consuming bureaucratic delays in visas and other government contacts in the hope that these missionaries will just give up and go back home.

But Tony was never one to back off from a challenge so back he goes to face them and more rice and curry in India.


BIRTHDAY & ANNIVERSARY REPORT

Member Birthdays

Sept 8 Emmanuel Nwankwo
Sept 9 Jack Holman
Sept 14 Jacob Lakirovich

Anniversaries

Sept 8 Peter & Joan Masson 50 years 1962
Sept 20 Kevin & Lori Moore 32 years 1980
Sept 27 Barry & Glennys Smith 37 years 1975

NEXT MEETING:
Sept 19th 
Diana Gibbs of "YouthLink: A community service for vulnerable youth in Scarborough"

In a changing world, how can we ensure that vulnerable youth do not get left behind?

Investing in the well-being of our youth is important for our future, and our present. YouthLink has been a leader in promoting youth mental health for nearly 100 years, continually adapting services in Toronto to respond to changing needs.
 
Diana Gibbs will speak about YouthLink's current focus in Scarborough, and how the agency is helping vulnerable youth and families in our community to build a positive future.

In Closing: