Global Medic

Attendance: 19, including 3 guests: Michael Conway (visiting Rotarian from the Agincourt Rotary Club), Adel Shamaileh (former Rotaract member from Jordan by way of Leeds, who is checking out our club for possible membership), Farah Ali (guest of Basil), and our guest speaker.

 

Anthem: James Burchell

Grace: Peter Masson

Chair: President Gerd (back in the saddle again)

 

Announcements:

 

- President Gerd reminded us that there’s no luncheon meeting next week. It’s been cancelled in favour of Tuesday night’s Paul Harris Scholarship dinner.

- Arthur donated $500 to Habitat for Humanity in honour of his late wife, a donation that Rotary will hopefully match.

- Madvi announced that her husband had raised $300 for Rotary amongst his staff in a mini fundraiser.

- Donna announced that there with be a Community Service Group meeting immediately following the luncheon meeting.

- Pres. Gerd announced that there will be a Board of Directors meeting tomorrow at 6:30 at Gerd’s Office with refreshments to be provided.

- Gerd also had received an email from David Barlyn in the Bahamas together with pictures of our donated rescue truck in action. The email was circulated.

- Gerd reported on his trip to the UK, stating that it was his best vacation ever!

- Finally, Gerd was a little teary eyed about the fast approaching end to his two year stint at the Club podium. He was offered the opportunity to three-peat, but reluctantly declined. LOL!

 

Mike Mushet conducted the Marbelous Draw which was won and lost by Roland who is now $5.00 richer with a consolation prize that probably exceeds the balance in the pot.

 

Sgt-at-Arms Mike Mushet only requested Happy Bucks, and accordingly there were a lot of happy members and guests:

 

- James Burchell was happy to back and appreciated the help of all of those who volunteered for the clean-up day.

- Basil thanked James for his assistance and reported that there will be a swearing in ceremony for new Canadians at noon on July 1^st. Contact Basil for details if you’re interested in attending.

- Madvi will be unable to attend the swearing in ceremony because she’ll be taking over her new summer property on the Trent waterway on July 1^st. What a tough life. LOL!

- Adel thanked the Club for welcoming him into our midst.

- Gordon was happy that there’s only 9 days to go before the Euro Cup and claimed that England was going to be the winner.

- Emmanuel will be leaving for Nigeria on June 12^th to attend his Mom’s funeral.

- Arthur is happy that he’ll be visiting with a colleague who he worked with in India 50 years ago.

- Roland was happy to donate a $1,000 cheque to the Ft. McMurray relief fund.

 

Program:

 

Madvi introduced our guest speaker, Rahul Singh, who spoke about Global Medic, a charity that he started in 1998 and that obtained its charitable status in 2002.

Global Medic consists of emergency workers with proven skills who are dispatched to disasters around the globe and provide emergency services, such as rescues, as well as emergency relief, such as clean water for families adversely affected by the disaster. Also, his team provides training to local workers, who can then work alongside his emergency response team.

In addition to responding to natural disasters such as the recent earthquake in Ecudor, Global Medic is also called into former war zones where they train medics to become part of mine removal teams.

Rahul explained that in the Ecudor earthquake there were 1,000 buildings destroyed, but there were only 7 dig teams. Therefore, Global Medic had to determine where best to deploy these limited resources. Accordingly, they brought in ground penetrating radar to determine where to dig in order to have the best chance of rescuing the most survivors. They also used drones in order to make emergency maps of the affected area. In this way, they were able to maximize the use of the limited resources available to them.

Rahul also explained that the best way to prevent the spread of disease after a natural disaster is to get clean drinking water into the hands of as many affected families as possible. They have developed water purification units that cost $50 per family and provide clean water for a year. The mothers in the affected families are taught how to use and maintain these water purification units. These units are assembled by volunteers, such as the Rotary Club in Stratford that has partnered with Global Medic in this way. The Stratford Rotary Club raises funds to purchase the basic materials, then use their volunteers to assemble these Eco boxes that include donated toiletries as well as the water purification unit.

To date, Global Medic has conducted 163 missions in 60 countries around the world.

Global Medic enters into partnerships with various organizations. They were able to respond to the Ft. McMurray disaster by using $100,000 from a billionaire donor to fund their relief operation.              

From a modest start in 1998, Rahul’s Global Medic has grown to $6.2 million a year in donations to fund their extremely worthwhile global relief operations.

 

President Gerd thanked Rahul for a very interesting and informative talk. Gerd also offered warehouse space to Rohul, as other landlords have done, to assist with warehousing Global Medic’s emergency kits, and indicated that the Board will consider partnering with Rohul’s very efficient and worthwhile organization in the future.

 

For the recording of the presentation please click on this link:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/zs7fmaoszbd4uo0/Golobal%20Meds.MP3?dl=0

 

The meeting was terminated