- Barry announced an International Services Committee meeting Tues. May 10th at 6:00 pm at Remezzo's 

- Rocco announced a Club Services meeting Monday via Zoom. 

- Not to be outdone, Arthur announced that a Community Services meeting had already taken place. 

- Peter Masson announced that six scholarship students had been selected, so $2,500 X 6 will be disbursed in scholarships. 

- Dave Hardy announced that the Scarborough Rotary Club and Scarborough Renewal will be providing an All Candidates Meeting on May 18 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at Netwyn Place. 

- Dhanni Ramdeen indicated that any donations that individual members wish to make to the Ukrainian Refugee Support and Education Centre should be eTransferred to her at Dramdeen88@gmail.com 

- President Danny announced that he had secured a furnace from Lennox with an installation donated by Mersey in the GTA for auction, with the proceeds to go to the Ukrainian Refugee Support and Education Centre. The value is $7,000, and the bidding will start at $4,000. It will be offered to all Rotarians in the GTA.

Michal Skup. Rotary Club Warszawa Fryderyk Chopin on Housing Ukraine refugees in Poland 

Michal expressed his appreciation for the solidarity of Rotarians around the world for this project. Rotary clubs in Delaware, Maryland, and Minnesota are supporting it as well as two U.S. Rotary districts. President Danny has joined on behalf of our club to the weekly Sunday meetings of the Rotary clubs involved. The project, which is long-term and sustainable, is to establish a permanent Ukrainian Refugee Support and Education Centre. This centre will address the needs of these displaced Ukrainians, consisting mostly of women and children, such as daycare services and mental health therapy. An Israeli psychologist recommended by the U.S. clubs has been engaged to deal with the refugees' war trauma therapy. The facility itself has been donated at no cost, with the centre being only responsible for utilities. A non-governmental organization (NGO) tied to a local university will be the working partner for the ongoing work of the centre. The university will also provide student volunteers and will assist in hiring psychologists and teachers. 

Michal advised that there is a need to raise the funds required to get the centre up and running for the first year. Thereafter, they expect to sustain the centre through government grants and subsidies. There is a need for a minibus to transport refugees to the centre since it is located outside of Warsaw's urban centre. 

R.I. Disaster Relief Grants can be fast-tracked in order to obtain matching grants. 

Michal then fielded questions, advising that 100 refugees are housed at the centre, but 60 more will be coming in. There is limited space, but the centre will be assisting with providing therapy and assisting those who use the facility to become established in more permanent lodgings since the centre will be assisting with the transition of refugees and not simply permanently housing them. 

Funds are presently being donated to the Warsaw Rotary Club, which will be applying these trust funds to the project. 

Barry Smith, as our International Services Director, thanked Michal for a very interesting and informative presentation and for taking action to alleviate the suffering of these war-ravaged people. The actions of he and his club made us all proud to be Rotarians.

Please have a look at his presentation:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/qj4eoowo9tjhp5n/michal%20skup.mp4?dl=0