Submitted by Will Arscott. 

 

 

It was a small turn-out in the William Pascoe Room of the Bessborough. There is no easy explanation why some of our meetings are much better attended than others.

 

Our President Vic was under the weather and unable to attend. We continued our new practice of asking members to chair. Mike Giesbrecht was MC for today’s meeting. It is good to see a variety of our members lead the meeting.

Greeter was Paul Gauthier assisted by Jim Weber    

Cashier was Steve Wilson

Visitors and Guest introduced by Wayne Storozuk

Rotary Grace was sung.

Set-up  and take down was completed by Al Morton and his trusty side-kick Wayne McGillivray.

 

The meeting opened with Gary Rusu and Wayne McGillivray leading the singing of ‘O Canada’ and Rotary grace. Wayne’s recent practice singing for the Huskies in large venues has him in great form.   

 

 

We had Interact member Ali Yousier join us. Ali is a member of Rotaract in Cairo, Egypt. We had limited time this meeting but there is an intention to have Ali back to talk to the club about his experience with Interact in Egypt. Peter Whitenect gave a special welcome as Peter has visited with Rotary in Egypt.

 

Tammy Pshebylo, guest of Gary Rusu, who was inducted as a new member of our club.

 

Donna Gauthier, please see Donna for all your grocery card needs. Donna tells me about half our current inventory of grocery cards have been sold. As the holiday season begins to approach please see Donna and get your cards for your entertaining needs.

 

 

Announcements were ably handled by Mike G and members of the club

 

Peter W announced that Gord Menuz is moving at the beginning of November to the Preston II residence. Gord is finding communication increasingly difficult and it has reached the point where his safety needs to come first. Other than for communication, Gord is doing well.

 

Peter Z thanked the club members who helped serve at the Friendship Inn on October 7^th. Our help was much appreciated. Peter will set-up at another service time in the spring.

Mike Giesbrecht thanked the members who participated in the Kiwanis apple day. Money was raised and a good time was had by those who participated.

 

The Salvation Army kettles are coming up and sign-up sheets will be available. Volunteers will be needed. There was a discussion of location. Most members seemed to like the Circle Center Mall over downtown because parking is much easier. We will try to get the mall again.

 

Dave Sundby has received the schedule for the Enchanted Forest. It runs from late November into January. The first nights are usually not too busy. Help will be needed and great skills are not required. Getting your fingers caught in a window is usually less damaging than having them caught in a food processor. This is an important project so please help out. There is additional information in the email Dave sent to members after our Monday meeting.

 

There will be a World Community Service Committee meeting on November 5^th at the Saskatoon Club. It is likely at the regular time but please check with another member if you are not sure.

 

 

 

2H       Peter Whitenect is happy to be back at Rotary. He did say he had a great time off and played 61 rounds of golf this summer. He was able to walk eight or ten rounds of 18. He also thanked our members who supported his grandson’s fund raising for the national soccer championship in Edmonton. The event is complete and the Saskatchewan team fell victim to the strongest teams in the opening round robin but had a good tournament nonetheless.

 

2H       Dave Sundby for leaving on Thursday to visit his parents on the coast. He also had happy dollars for a good honey harvest, the fruits of which were for sale at the entrance to the room.

 

H         Gary Rusu for the recent good weather and the opportunity to bring the harvest along and maybe complete before winter sets in.

 

2H       Wayne McGillivray for the Huskies men’s hockey winning and for the Roughriders holding a share of first in the west in mid-October. He led us to believe there could be some truth in the rumor that he is to be the head instructor at the Optimist Hill this winter.  (Editor’s note: I hope they have their avalanche plan completed so they can be granted a resort license for this winter.)

 

H         Mark Gryba for the Hilltops winning the PFC championship. They have the possibility of winning a 6^th consecutive national championship. Hey Mark, maybe they should consider a stock split and have two junior football teams in Saskatoon. This would give more junior aged players an opportunity to play and might make for more competitive football with teams that lose occasionally.

 

A bunch of happy and sad dollars:

 

 Jim Weber for the Husky football team that has a chance to finish first. Jim was sad for having to go to Puerto Vallarta and missing the remaining football play-offs. Also sad about Cathy’s encounter with a food processor that left her with two bandaged hands and a husband who has to do things for her. We are glad that it appears that no lasting damage was done in the battle.

 

 

We inducted our latest member Tammy Pshybylo. She was introduced to the club by Gary Rusu and Paul Gauthier. A membership certificate and copy of the Four Way Test was presented to Tammy.

 

Tammy works for Luthercare as vice-president for corporate administration. She hails from the USA. She is familiar with Rotary as she was a member in Palm Springs. Tammy expressed her gratitude at being back in Rotary. Hopefully she can be scheduled for a Rotary vocational talk in the near future. We welcome our newest member!

           

 

Our Club sponsoring an Interact Club was discussed at the last Board meeting. The Board strongly supports an initiative in this area. Mark came to seek approval from the larger membership and to inform us of the requirements of this project.

 

Interact is an official Rotary program for youth ages 12 to 18. The Interact groups are to be self-regulating and undertake Rotary- type projects in local and international service.  Our club is uniquely situated to undertake an initiative in this area through our RAP profile and contacts. It is very difficult to get a program into the schools at the present time because of staff shortages, privacy concerns and other factors. To some extent our club is already in the schools.

 

The high schools have many youth organizations that pursue goals that fit the Rotary model; for example there is a group of students at Bishop Mahoney who are working on a food security program.

 

A step by step plan exists to create an Interact group but club support is the first step.  We want to have a sustainable plan that will see the program continue over time. We cannot just start the program and walk away and expect any success. This is particularly true with a youth program in a school where there is considerable annual turnover due to students moving through their education program.

 

Details are to be worked out through the Local Community Service Committee. We will need to find a leader for the initiative and advisors to work with the program. An initial meeting is being planned for Monday, October 28 in the evening. If you are interested in this initiative please watch for a further announcement. Jim Weber, Jack Brodsky and new member Tammy Pshybylo have already indicated interest.

 

Dave Sundby suggested that there may be Rotarians from other clubs that would be interested in this initiative. There were various questions: The club is planning to set aside up to $1,000 for this project. The expenses are minimal, the initiative mostly requires time and talent.

 

It was reported that Edmonton now has more Interact clubs than Rotary clubs. An active Interact program would be good for the profile of Rotary in Saskatoon and eventually for the membership in the clubs themselves. Tammy spoke of her experience establishing an Interact club. In all, much interest was shown by the club members present.

 

                                               

Next meeting will be November 4^th with a program still to be determined.