MEETING RECAP - 23rd January 2023
Submitted by Will Arscott
Rotary Club of Saskatoon Annual General Meeting
The meeting was held in the Main Dining Room at the Saskatoon Club. We had good attendance and were joined by four members on Zoom. Our MC for the meeting was Gary Rusu. r. Wayne Palmer acted as cashier over Zoom. The meeting opened with the singing of ‘O’ Canada led by Gary Rusu. This was followed by a very appropriate blessing asked by Maureen Torr.
Several members were back after an absence including Wendy Cooper and Jim Weber.
Visitors and Guests
Donna Gauthier was the greeter and introduced our only guest Meg Schmeider, guest of Jim Weber. Meg is the Community Fundraising Coordinator for ShelterBox and will be our guest speaker at the meeting on February 6.
Kent Smith-Windsor was also present, but he is now a member of the club.
Health of the Club
No report. It was good to see Vic Dubois join us by Zoom.
Announcements
Maureen Torr showed up with what appeared to be a re-purposed peanut butter container. It was labelled for Joy’s Project. She challenged the membership to contribute their spare change.
The Badge Shield and Star Dinner will take place on Thursday April 20 at Prairieland. Jack Brodsky stated that plans are well underway, and it is hoped that this year’s event will take place. The guest speaker will be the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, Russ Mirasty. I believe tickets are already available.
Gary Rusu reminded us that the District Conference is in Saskatoon on May 11 to 14. The events are centered at the Travelodge as is the gala dinner. There will also be a dinner Friday at Wanuskewin with a maximum attendance of 150 people. Those that purchase the full package will be confirmed for this dinner. This conference will also feature an opportunity for hands-on community service. Gary is encouraging our members to be involved particularly when there will be no hotel costs.
Rotary Minute
Gary Rusu read a poem from the early days of Rotary that appeared on the last page of the January issue of the Rotarian. It is a good poem and a timely reminder of our purpose in Rotary. If you have not read it as yet is well worth the time to find.
Report on RAP (Restorative Action Program) - Jack Brodsky
RAP has had a particularly good year and has expanded from nine to eleven schools. This means that we are reaching another 2,000 students or 10,000 in total. The new schools, Nutana and Centennial, are in the public system and they are sharing a RAP worker.
With the retirement of Winston Blake, Leanne Brandt has become the new Executive Director. The transition has gone well, and Leanne has settled into her new position.
A strategic plan has been developed and is being implemented to move from a managing board to a policy board. This process is being facilitated by Catherine Gryba.
Donations remain strong with one foundation headed by Kevin Hegadus providing $200,000 of funding. There have been other major donations.
Jack is about to turn the chair of the board over to Kent Smith-Windsor. Kent will be ably aided by Bill Baker. Byron Mack will become the new Treasurer. Both Jack and Paul Gauthier plan to remain on through the change and beyond. Both are looking forward to less than daily involvement.
The club formally thanked Jack and Paul for their huge commitment to this project.
Happy and Sad Dollars
- Jim Weber was Happy for his one week back home to celebrate a late Christmas with his ninety-eight-year-old mother-in-law. He was delighted we decided to have good weather while he was home. He reported it has been cool in Mexico with windchill values as low as fifteen or seventeen degrees. Jim always has it tough.
- Graham Pearson generously put in $200H for an important birthday. He directed this gift to our support of the Salvation Army.
- For the first time in a while both Graham and Jack Brodsky were present and Jack matched Graham’s $200H and directed it ‘to the cause.’
Annual General Meeting of the Rotary Club of Saskatoon
The meeting was called to order about 12:30 and after a brief battle with the Zoom system went smoothly. Wayne Palmer was able to present the statements by Zoom. The official AGM minutes were taken by Graham as club secretary. This scribe will not attempt to re-produce them here.
The executive slate was accepted as presented by the nominating committee. The only note is that Will Arscott will continue one more year as program chair and take on being the vice president. This means that Wendy Cooper will be president next year followed by Jack Brodsky the following year and Will following Jack.
The AGM ended with the motion to accept the actions of the board for the past year.
At the end of the AGM President Steve summarized the club projects for the past year:
- RAP- we have several members in leadership roles with RAP.
- Hope Restored Saskatoon - $7,200 was given to that charity to fund their incentive program.
- Saskatoon Food Bank - we gave $2,000 and, together with the other Saskatoon clubs, $15,000 was given in total.
- Nutrien Children’s Festival - we contributed $1,000 to the swag program.
- Saskatchewan Polytechnic - we gave two scholarships totaling $1,500.
- Salvation Army Bethany Homes - we gave our annual donation of $250 and at our Christmas meeting gave an additional $500 plus a selection of hair and skin care products to be given to the girls.
- The Victoria Park Community Centre - This is our centenary project and it is proceeding. We are committed to $40,000 on this project.
- Hope for Malawi - supported by many of our members. This project is led by Elaine Zakreski of our club.
- Joy’s Centre in Uganda - we gave $3,000 to buy food as they had a severe drought this year.
- Nepal Literacy Program - $3,000 was given toward a school lunch program and a teacher assistant salary.
- Becas Scholarship Program and Volcanas School - $2,000 was collected along with used laptops donated to the school.
[Editor’s Note: The list above is impressive but not complete. There were also projects we undertook that were not financial. We provided volunteers to the Friendship Inn on a regular basis including on Christmas Day. We also organized a Christmas Faire at King George School to provide presents to families in one of Saskatoon’s inner communities.]
Adjournment
Next Meeting is on February 6 and Meg Schmieder will give an update on ShelterBox activities.