ROTATELLER

 

Submitted by Will Arscott

 

 

We met in the Main Dining Room of the Saskatoon Club. MC was President Jack Brodsky. The meeting began with members singing O Canada led admirably by Gary Rusu. Avis Hardy asked the blessing and reminded us that our undertaking was ‘service above self.’  The meal was soup, sandwich, and dessert.

 

Wayne Palmer was back at the meeting and was our cashier. Technology was ably handled by Paul Gauthier. Don Lepp greeted our members. Avis Hardy expertly organized the duty roster for the meeting.

 

 

We had no visitors or guests at this meeting.

 

 

It was great to have Wayne Palmer back and on the mend.

 

 

President Jack reported a conversation with District Governor Peter Tongue. The district is still short members, and he would like the clubs to try to find new people. According to June Cathcart the district is still some 40 members short of our allotment and that, as a result, redistricting looms as a possibility. At the PETS meeting Governor Peter had assured us that re-districting is a slow process and there was no immediate worry.

 

We need items for the upcoming garage sale. Jack reported that he has set aside several items and asked us to also look for items. Please photograph your items and send them to Kelechi.  This project is in support of student scholarships.

 

The President’s Dinner is on June 16 at 5:30 pm at the Saskatoon Club. It will be a three-course dinner. The cost will be $65 per person which is the meal cost. We will need to know numbers.   If you can attend, please contact Will Arscott at will@arscottassociates.com or Jack. It would be great to see everyone attend.

 

On Friday, June 6 Kent and Maureen Smith-Windsor are hosting a social event at their house.   Food is supplied. Please let Kent know if you can attend.

 

Jack was pleased to announce that Claire Mugabe has joined Don Lepp on the Public Image

Committee. Claire is undertaking to develop our social media presence over several platforms.

This was greeted with applause. Thank you, Claire. Don could use additional members to

Please consider helping with this important work.

 

September 6 is the date for the five club BBQ at Space on H. More details will be forthcoming.

 

The club is volunteering to help with a clean-up of the site at Space on H Saturday, May21.The clean-up will be from 9 am to about 2 pm. Members are welcome to contribute time as

they are available. It should be a chance for some good social time with fellow members.The only thing that you are asked to bring are garden gloves.

 

President Jack received a request from the Council on Aging concerning our members contributing as pen-pals for youth. Some time ago the club did a similar project, and it was a success and the people involved enjoyed participating. If you would like to be a participant, please talk to President Jack.

 

Donna Gauthier announced that we have sold out of grocery cards.  This means the club will have no card inventory on our end-of-year statements.  Donna would like to thank all who contributed. This is an easy project and raised about $2,000 for the club. Thank you, Donna for your tireless work on this project.

 

 

According to the roster the speakers were to be introduced by President Jack. Given that the purpose of their talk was to present themselves to the club there was really no introduction necessary or given. They are listed in the order that they spoke.

 

 

Kelechi grew up in Nigeria. His name translates roughly as ‘Thanks to God.’  He was trained as an accountant and a teacher and has continued to follow both paths through his working life. He is now a certified fraud examiner working for the Bank of Commerce. He holds the title of Certified Fraud Examiner. If you are defrauded on your Visa or Mastercard it could be Kelechi who works to resolve the situation. In this position he has also learned much about proceeds of crime and money laundering in general. He was initially trained in this work working for the Fidelity Bank in Nigeria. He also worked for five years as a teacher in Nigeria. In the future Kelechi would like to qualify as a CPA in Canada.

 

Kelechi styles himself as a lifelong learner. A community volunteer and builder. This is also formed by his deep Catholic faith. In his days in Nigeria, he began a windows support group to do small acts of kindness to widows who had faced severe poverty. The purpose was to give this group of people dignity through small acts of care. The program was funded by the community and the gifts were personally coordinated.

 

Kelechi’s interest in Rotary stems in part from his work as a Catholic student worker. One adage that has served him well is ‘if you are the smartest person in the room, you had better find a different room.’ Kelechi looks forward to our members sharing their knowledge and experience.   Welcome Kelechi to the Rotary Club of Saskatoon. Your passion for service and care is apparent.

 

 

Fred also grew up in Nigeria and married there. In 2016 he emigrated to Canada coming first to Ontario and then, in January of 2017, coming to Saskatoon. His academic background is in electrical and electronic engineering. He is now working with AI-type technologies.

 

When Fred first came to Canada he had to work ‘survivorship jobs’before he could be recognized for the training he had received. Now he works for the IT department at the Affinity Credit Union.

 

Fred left Nigeria because he wanted to be his own boss. He is still close to his Nigerian culture serving as President of the Saskatoon Nigerian community. He likes the people in Saskatoon.  Fred looks forward to working with our club’s projects both locally and internationally.  Welcome Fred to the Rotary Club of Saskatoon.

 

 

Claire was born in Swaziland to Ugandan parents. As a child her family moved around quite a bit because her dad was an engineer and worked on projects. She came to Canada following high school.

 

Claire studied accounting at the University of Saskatchewan from 2010 to 2014. After graduation, she found herself drawn to the non-profit sector. This led her back to her original family home in Uganda. Claire worked with the peacekeeping missions of the UN in Africa.   She was a project accountant and auditor.

 

Eventually Claire left Africa and attended the University of London until the outbreak of Covid when she came back to Saskatoon. After Covid she initially went back to Sub-Sahara Africa to work on grant projects.

 

Claire came to Saskatoon for good last summer. She now works at the U of S on a project for Mozambique. The project is under the auspices of the College of Medicine and works on issues around sexual and reproductive health.

 

With her strong background in international projects, one might assume that Claire’s interest would be on the international side of Rotary projects. This is not the case. Claire is very interested in projects for the Saskatoon community. She already spends significant volunteer hours preparing taxes for free for local disadvantaged people. She is looking for additional opportunities for local service.

 

In summing up her philosophy Claire reminds us that we all are a product of the people of the past and need to help the people of now and of the future.

 

President Jack thanked our three new members and reminded them that the usual donation will be made to Bethany Homes. Jack ended the meeting with an additional reminder of the social event at the Smith-Windsor’s on Friday June 6.

 

The next meeting is the President’s dinner on June 16.

 

Adjournment