Toast to the King, Canada, and Rotary. Vice President Avrum.
Attendance: 11 members were in attendance.
Guests: Frank introduced his wife Bette and Past District Governor and previous member of our club Ralph Jones. Basil introduced his better half Dorothy and Barry introduced a local pastor Andre Anderson.
Guest Speaker: Avrum had done his homework and told us about the Paul Harris Scholarships that our club awards to a few students every year. He then asked Peter Masson to introduce our speaker – Victor Lal.
Victor was a Paul Harris Scholarship recipient from our Club in 2015.
His organization is ‘Haven,’ and they help refugees when they first come to Canada and have been doing this since 2017. From their website: “Victor first heard about the Beshmafs, a family of five from Aleppo, Syria in 2017. To raise the $35,000 needed to sponsor them, Victor created Canadians for Syria and biked from Toronto, ON to Cape Spear, NL, the easternmost point of North America - a 2,600 KM journey. More than 300 Canadians donated to Canadians for Syria to bring the Beshmafs to Canada.” Also, “In 2018, we organized a national advocacy campaign to bring more Syrian refugees to Canada. Victor swam across Lake Ontario, a 52 KM adventure that took 21 hours of non-stop swimming. A team of 20 sailors swim coaches, and logistics coordinators came together to make the crossing possible. More than 400 Canadians nationwide donated to raise $60,000, bringing us to 14 Syrian refugees sponsored.
Then they were mainly Syrian refugees. In the last 2+ years of course, there have been a lot from Ukraine. He estimates that now there are about 170,000, and by the end of the year, there may be up to 250,000. When the war started, Haven partnered with NGOs with ‘boots on the ground’ to assist.
Please go to the website www.findhaven.org. to find out more about the organization.
Sergeant-at-Arms: Rocco was the SAA today - he was very generous and did not fine anyone but just asked if anyone was happy.
Danny was happy that he had a good vacation on a cruise.
Dhanni was pleased that she had sent out all the tax receipts.
Basil was sad that Bette’s brother had passed away.
Gerd had been on vacation in the Bahamas and was showing off his tan. He then told a joke which can’t be repeated here.*
Bette gave a donation in memory of her brother, who had lived to be 84.
Arthur told a joke – which can’t be repeated here either.*
Barry was very happy for a few reasons - his guest Andre was able to attend International Women’s Day, and Avrum had done such a good job.
*(Maybe one lunchtime Gerd and Arthur should do a ‘stand-up comedy routine’?)
As there was no other business VP Avrum closed the meeting and thanked us for ‘letting him be’ a guest host. Well done, Avrum – a good rehearsal for you.
.gif)
.jpg){kind=small}
.png)
