Submitted by Will Arscott January 2nd, 2016

 

REGULAR MEETING AT THE BESSBOROUGH WITH ROTARY VOCATIONAL TALKS

 

 

The meeting was presided by Past President Wayne McGillivray

Greeter - Jack Brodsky

Cashier - Wayne Storozuk

Visitors and Guests - Adriana Van Duyvendyk

 

O Canada was led as usual by Wayne McG.

 

Grace - Gary Rusu impressed us with a rhyming grace

 

 

There were none at this meeting. Adriana reminded us that we have lots of empty chairs in the room and guests are most welcome to bring guests.

 

 

- Al Morton reminded the club of the World Community Service Meeting on Thursday at 7:30 am at the Saskatoon Club. All club members are most welcome and this is an important meeting as the subject will be the committee’s budget for the upcoming year.

 

- Dave Sundby asked for help with the annual Rotary Golf Pool which has been very much a one man (Sundby) show in recent years. Wayne asked if there was something specific members could help with. Dave indicated that several members would be needed to help with the mailing. This could be organized for one time or people could do it at home. Wayne quickly got members to volunteer to help Dave.

 

- Wayne also took the roster sheet from Adriana and obtained volunteers for the remaining spaces through the end of March. We still need a couple of people to volunteer to say grace in March.

 

 

- Adriana began by remembering a visit from a past Rotary Governor that had been a special event in the life of the club. We will again have a special event associated with our 100^th anniversary. Please feed in your ideas even if they seem bizarre; i.e. take the whole club on a balloon ride.

 

 

- Heather C. Put in a happy dollar that Sammi was over his injury and back playing the hockey he loves. Sammi asked if he could give an update later in the meeting.

 

- Al M. put in a happy dollar for his pending trip to Cuba.

 

- Scott B. (who has hair again) put in a sad dollar for his cousin Mike G. having damaged another vehicle. It would seem that Scott really doesn’t like having to pay claims even when they come from relatives. However, he did end by putting in a happy dollar for his holiday in Hawaii. Mike G. responded and put in a happy dollar for the KofC Games of which he was a sponsor.

 

- Wayne M. put in a couple of happy dollars: One for not being injured in a collision with a Kamikaze skier. He was relieved that his student was skiing in front of him and was not struck. He says he had a few choice words for the fellow that hit him. He also had a sad dollar for the fall he took on his neighbours’ driveway which resulted in an injury to his elbow.

 

- There was a happy dollar from Adriana Van D for Mike LeC’s. return. Mike indicated that he is still battling shingles and his eye is still quite sore.

 

 

 

Duron considers himself new to the province of Saskatchewan only having been here for fifteen years or so. Through his wife he is integrating in a big way.

 

His route to his current vocation was not direct. He grew up a small kid who was bullied severely until the kids discovered he was smart and could help them with their homework. He resolved that he would not be bullied and began to lift iron. By age 24 he was six foot two and 240 pounds. He was no longer being bullied.

 

His academic training was in computer science but when a job wasn’t available he became a fireman. As a fireman he competed in fireman strength competitions. He continued to grow reaching 270 lbs with 3% body fat. He showed a picture which was tough to believe of himself as a body builder.

 

Eventually Duron left firefighting for computer science and had a number of jobs none of which was lasting. The highlight of his career was a project in Japan with Nortel. He was laid off in Japan. When he returned to Canada he found that none of his earnings had been direct deposited. He had been evicted from his apartment and his car had been repossessed. His paychecks were waiting in his mailbox.

 

After being unable to establish a secure career in the computer industry he decided he should make a big change and find something he could really enjoy. Duron went back to school for physical fitness and related skills. He is a qualified personal trainer, dietician, and massage therapist. He now has a physical fitness business.

 

 

 

Joanne by telling us about how she came to our club. Everyone knows Joanne and it is a little hard to believe she has only been in the club since 2007. In 2007 Joanne had returned to Saskatoon for the first time in a very long time and was working at the Bank of Nova Scotia. Bill Edwards approached her manager saying that our club would be interested in having a member from the bank particularly one that was on their way up. If that member could be a woman that would be even better. Joanne came to a wine and cheese and met Bill and the rest as they say is history. We all know Joanne has served our club well as treasurer and now with the KG project. She joined Rotary originally in order to build her network in Saskatoon. Besides Rotary Joanne has a husband and two sons now 11 and 13. She is at the stage where family life revolves around the sons’ sports activities.

 

In her professional life Joanne works at the Bank of Nova Scotia in their small business department. She is a member of a team of five that serve roughly twenty-five small business advisors out in the branches. Here team is responsible for marketing the bank to small businesses in the city and north in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba. As such Joanne has had to learn about the farm economy which was not part of her background.

 

Banking is changing as are all financial services. Regulation is increasing rapidly and more and more effort is required to satisfy these regulations. A part of Joanne’s job is to help her advisors be compliant. This includes audits which are not here favourite part of the job but have to be done. She points out that many of us will notice the increased requirements in nearly all our interactions with the banks.

 

 

Marketing also is most important and is becoming more of a challenge as clients do not come into the branches regularly and have more options, including online options. The clientele is also more diverse than ever before. One area of diversity is age: How do banks engage the millennial generation? How do the banks get more women involved particularly in positions of leadership? Saskatoon is much more culturally diverse than it was even ten years ago.

 

An area of Joanne’s involvement and interest is the bank’s involvement in community events and charities such as Read Saskatoon and our own Badge Shield and Star Dinner. Last year the Bank of Nova Scotia matched 1.2 million in giving in our district.

 

Wayne M. thanked our presenters. Bill J. indicated he hopes to have Rotary Vocational Talks every two or three months.

 

 

Sammi has moved to a new host family in the past several days. He is now with Rod and Patty Loeppky of the North Club. He has finished his semester one finals and thought they went well even though in the end they do not count for anything.

 

The good news is that his concussion is behind him and he is cleared to play hockey once again. A bout of regular sickness kept him out of a game last Thursday but he was able to play on Sunday. He played a little more than half of his regular playing time and got two assists. The team won for the first time in a while.

 

As part of the District 5550 exchange the students are charged with raising money for Shelterbox. Sammi is expected to raise $100. He is looking for ideas from the members on how to do this.

 

 

 

Next Meeting: February 8^th: TBA