Submitted by Steve Wilson 

 

Mike Giesbrecht was our MC. Avis Hardy was on cash, Jack Brodsky announced Visitors and Guests.

 

 Members sang ‘O Canada’ and Rotary Grace with the assistance of Wayne McGillivray.

 

 

President Vic announced that we have officially cancelled our Monday lunch arrangement with the Bessborough and we are still on civil terms. We had soup, salad, sandwich and dessert for lunch today for $20.00 and at the next meeting on March 16th there will be a hot meal for $25.00. We will continue to alternate until the majority or the Board decides otherwise.

 

We have officially cancelled our plans to build a pavilion (gazebo) in Rotary Park. (Ed. note thank you for the hard work of Mark Gryba and Paul Gautheir while this plan was being investigated. We have some funds from other clubs which we will be returning to them. The funds which will remain with our Club, which are approximately $38,000.00, will either be devoted to a new legacy project or other new projects.

 

Dave Sundby is continuing to sell honey. He brought some to the meeting and will likely have some at the next meeting he attends.

 

Paul Gauthier reported on the stored items which are being removed from the unit at the Besssborough, which is on the 7th floor. Items of interest include plaques and banners, Just in Case Binders, a filing cabinet, and some paper records, some of which have already been shredded. There will be a meeting at the Bess on Monday at 9:00 am at the storage unit. We're looking for new storage options and this will be an item for the Board to discuss.

 

Grocery Cards are available for sale. We recently ordered $5,000.00 in more cards.

 

Badge, Shield and Star tickets are available. Joanne Fisher has them and they will be available at each meeting. We need to try to start figuring out numbers of attendees.

 

                

Gary Rusu was happy to have spent 30 days in Mexico. He also mentioned that he misses Peter Zakreski and Peter’s contributions to Rotary.

 

Jack Brodsky echoed Gary's thoughts of Peter and mentioned that Peter was like a mentor to him. He recalled one trip they had when they were in the car together for about 16 hours. Every time they stopped for a break it seemed as if there was someone there that Peter knew.

 

Wayne McGillivray was thrilled with the University Men's Hockey team who won two games and the Hardy Cup over the weekend and the Merlis Belcher Place was almost packed one night.

 

Tammy Pshebylo announced that the Village at Stonebridge is a finalist for an award from NSMA for new direction.

 

Mike Giesbrecht proudly read a letter from his son's school his son for befriending a boy with Cerebral Palsy and supporting the boy in his move to a new school.

 

 

Gary Rusu introduced Clinton Monchuk. He grew up on a farm near Lanigan. He has his BSC from our University and then a Masters from Guelph.

 

Clinton spoke to us about Farm and Food Care, an organization which has been around since 2014. Its main purpose is to bridge the disconnect between the Consumer and the Producer of farm products. The organization includes Producers, Processors, Distillers, RMs, The Government, and Agri-Business.

 

People want to know what is in our food and how it is produced. More and more they want to know the environmental impact of farm production. 

 

Through the media we are told: wheat, meat, GMOs, pesticides, dairy, sugar, chemicals and corporations are all bad.

 

The following crops are genetically modified: corn and soybeans. The following are not: canola, wheat, barley, and oats.

 

Round-up has a bad reputation but consider the following. In the days when our fathers farmed the soil would be tilled about four times a year to remove weeds but this also disturbed the plant matter in the soil and turned it to dust. Now if you do one pass with Round-Up a year the weeds are taken care of and your soil is not disturbed. Organic matter builds up over time and that can also retain moisture in case of drought.

 

The organization has a web site - Canadian Food Focus. Their continual goal is to try to engage with the public and one way to do this is to organize Farm tours.

 

 

 

Adjourned