Chair: President Basil started the meeting by reading the Land Acknowledgement

Anthem: Gordon Brown

Toast to the King, Canada, and Rotary: Basil

Attendance: 10, including Michael Conway, a member of the Agincourt Rotary Club.

2026-2027 President Basil’s First Meeting.

Basil Dias introduced himself as Club President for the 2026/27 Rotary year. He thanked Past President Danny Cassidy for his dedication and
leadership during the 2025/26 fiscal year and pledged to build on that work by continuing to strengthen the Club throughout his term.

 

Club President’s Inaugural Speech

In 1963, a year after the Rotary Club of North Scarborough was chartered, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream” .
In 1958, the Everly Brothers sang “All I have to do is dream”
In 1963, Roy Orbison sang “In Dreams”
Looking back on my first term as your President in 1997, I have always been a dreamer, dreaming of our dynamic club having at least 49 of my
best friends, anxiously awaiting the fun and camaraderie of next Wednesday’s meeting.
We can continue to dream about the good old days, when we planted trees, took seniors out for dinner and a show, enjoyed three-hour lunches
with free-flowing beverages, and looked forward to Paul Sorley providing those awful, pickled pigtails from Kitchener at all of the District
Conferences.
We welcome Rotary International President Olayinka Hakeem Babalola with his presidential message, “Create Lasting Impact”. Yinka is the
second President from Nigeria during my Rotary journey, and he brings a breath of fresh air and promise to our organization. He was appointed
by the R.I. Board following the passing of the person previously elected to be President.
We also welcome District Governor Liz Compton, who is inviting us to attend her District Conference in Toronto on October 23 rd to 25 th , and
experience the “Power of Love”. My journey in Rotary has included many district conferences, where I have met great friends and learnt a lot
about Rotary and projects at home and abroad. I strongly urge you to consider attending this year’s conference, being held in North York, and an
easy subway, car, or bicycle ride. The friends we meet, and the knowledge we gain, will always be precious.
There is a Chinese saying literally translating to “Once you have seen the vast ocean, the mere rivers are not worth looking at”. This idiom
speaks to perspective and experience. It implies that once a person has experienced something truly grand, profound, or beautiful, ordinary
things or minor problems no longer impress them or seem as significant.
I believe the exact phrase comes from a famous Tang Dynasty poem by Yuan Zhen, who wrote it as a deeply romantic metaphor, meaning that
after having loved his remarkable wife, no other woman could ever compare.
To me, it means that as we dream of our nice houses, cars, clothes, and money for groceries and entertainment, and access to medical care and
services we want, we sometimes forget or trivialize others who dream about being able to feed their families, find and afford shelter, dream of
safety and security, education, medicine, and perhaps a handout or a hand up.
As we awake from our dreams to today’s world, let us once again become people of action. Let us face our real world, where food insecurity, food
banks not having sufficient food for all of their clients, homelessness and not enough shelters, mental health and other health problems for which
we don’t have enough beds and healthcare workers.
Many of us are football fans, enjoying the World Cup. We love goals. So together, let us set some goals. Let us decide whose life we are going to
try to make a little better, today, tomorrow, or the next day. Together, we have the ability to continue doing good in the world, through our club’s

foundation and the Rotary International Foundation of Canada. We have the ability to end Polio and other diseases, provide clean water, quality
education, eye care, health and food security. We have the ability to promote peace and understanding, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the
ability to accept everyone as our brothers and sisters, no matter who or what they identify as.
We may not be able to solve all of these in the current Rotary year, but if we each pick one item that we are passionate about and get our friends
and fellow Rotarians and future Rotarians to help, we can get started.
As we start this new Rotary year together, let us remember that I, the President, can do very little without us, the club members. A President’s role
is to encourage all of us to be the best that we can be, to continue making our Club, our District, and our Rotary better and better. We have
appointed a Board of Directors and Club Committees to help run our Club.
We have Rocco, the Director of Club Service, and his committee, to help plan club activities, encourage us to get great speakers, and recommend
our fee structure, among other things.
We have Courtney, the Director of Community Services, Youth, Fundraising and Environmental Activities, with his committee, to recommend
projects which will help our local communities to be better tomorrow than we met them yesterday.
Barry, the Director of International Service, and his committee will recommend projects to ensure that we continue to do good in our world.
Avrum, the Director of Membership, with his committee, is tasked with growing our membership and ensuring that our membership reflects to
mosaic that mirrors our community.
Gordon, our new Director of Membership Retention and Club Activities, will help us as a club to spice up our experiences, and make us want to
come back for more.
Suresh, our Foundation Director, will keep us onside with our ability to apply for grants, help us to apply for those grants, and encourage
Foundation giving.
Also on our Board are Dave, our Secretary; Dhanni Girl, our Treasurer; Danny Boy, our Past President and Gerd, our director at Large, all
extremely important in running our Club. You have previously heard about all of the things that our Past President Danny has done for the Club,
and fortunately, will continue to do. And as for Gerd, we will never be able to thank him enough for what he has contributed to our Club
Our fundraising Gala will be on Friday, October 16 th. This is our major fundraiser, and it is essential that we have all hands-on deck. We will
need all of us, our families, our friends, our business associates, people and companies we do business with, everyone. We need to sell tickets, get
sponsors, auction items, prizes, and help to make this year's Gala the most successful to date. I know that when called upon, we will all answer
that call and step up to the plate to help us carry our Gala across the successful finish line.
Thank you, and welcome to the 2026/2027 Rotary year.

Thanking the speaker: Rocco thanked Basil for once again serving as Club President.

 

Announcements:
 Suresh reminded us not to miss next week’s meeting, which will feature an interesting speaker on physical fitness.

 Gordon has Gala tickets available, and members are encouraged to purchase theirs for the event.

 Barry Smith announced the international group meeting Tuesday, July 14 th.

 Rocco Colangelo announced the Club Service group meeting Monday, July 13th.

Sgt. A.A: Saifoo Lau
 Saifoo donated and collected happy bucks from Arthur, Frank Allison, Michael Conway, and:

 Barry, who is having his son and grandkids visiting from Calgary.

 Dhanni Randeen will be going to London, UK, to visit her granddaughter.

With no further business for the good of Rotary, Basil closed the meeting.