MEETING RECAP - 25 September 2025

 

Submitted by Will Arscott

 

Education Brings Hope - Jim Weber

 

We met in the Main Dining Room of the Saskatoon Club. Past-President Steve Wilson was our MC.  Members sang O Canada led admirably by Gary Rusu. Gary Rusu asked the blessing and gave thanks for the joy we experience in so much of our lives. The meal was soup and sandwich and dessert.

 

Cashier was Wayne Palmer. Technology was ably handled by Paul Gauthier. Greeter was Don Lepp. Again, a very special thanks to Avis Hardy for organizing and communicating the roster.

 

Visitors and Guests 

 

There were no visitors or guests at this meeting.

 

Health of the Club

 

No report at this meeting.

 

Announcements

 

President Will made several announcements outlining the Rotary Year through to Christmas:

 

Our first event is on Saturday September 6 at The Space on H. We will host a BBQ at noon. It will be a chance to recognize volunteers at The Space and to show our project to our fellow Rotarians from other clubs. The cost is only $10 which must be paid in cash at the event. Please let Wendy Cooper know if you are attending as we need to order food. Rotarians, partners and guests are welcome.

 

We are planning a steak night for Thursday October 16.  The venue is still to be finalized. It will be a steak night with choice of steak, chicken, or vegetarian. The cost will be the cost of the meal. We want to have a 50/50 draw and a silent auction. The event could be successful or not based on two factors: First, we need our members to invite their friends and associates as it will not work if only our members attend. We need items for the silent auction so please try to contribute something to be auctioned. Please get your items to President Will or Past-President Jack This project will help support our local initiatives, particularly Hope Restored.

 

The next event is the Rotary Craft Fair on Saturday November 1 from 10am to 4pm. We will need volunteers for the set-up and take-down. Linda Petrow has been working incredibly hard on this project and has nearly all the tables rented.  It should be a good fundraiser for the club.

 

Also, in November we will have our annual Foundation Dinner. This is being organized by Paul Gauthier. If you want to be recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow or a repeat Paul Harris Fellow, please complete your donations as quickly as possible as it takes time for payments to go through the system and things to become official.  Paul is organizing quite a night and there may be honorary members recognized. The evening will be our annual potluck likely at Mayfair United Church.

 

Finally, we will have our annual Christmas luncheon on December 15. A busy fall is planned for the Rotary Club of Saskatoon.

 

In other announcements:

We need members to volunteer to be scribes for the Rotateller. In August, Secretary Steve did the first Rotateller and your president prepared this one. Both of us have major jobs in the club already and we really need new blood to do the Rotateller.  It is not onerous once it is prepared you simply email to Avis for publication. It would be a real loss to the club not to have a publication.  Please consider helping.

 

We are down three members from last year. District 5550 is concerned about membership and the threat we could be re-districted. It is up to all members to be on the lookout for people who could benefit Rotary and who could be benefitted by Rotary. There are membership incentives for each new member and for increased membership.

There will be a District Governor’s visit this fall with the date to be determined.  Our district governor is Wayne Jacobson from the Rotary Club of Neepawa. An announcement will be forthcoming once his schedule is known.

 

Grocery cards are available from Donna Gauthier. This is an easy fundraiser. This year we have Sobey/Safeway and Co-op cards available in $100 denominations.

 

Happy and Sad Dollars

 

•    Apparently, some of our members and a special past-members went fishing, caught fish and had a good time.  Paul, Jack and Gary each put up $100H for their trip. Past member and past president Dave Sundby put in 25H.
•    $5S from President Will for mistakenly forgetting to put out the meeting notice and roster to the members. Will promised not to make anymore mistakes for the rest of the Rotary year or until the next meeting whichever came first.
•    $100H Elaine Zakreski for having celebrated her 83rd birthday in good health.
•    $H&S from Jim Weber.  He was happy that the Huskies had such a good first half and sad that lightning ended the game before the second half could be played.

Rotary Minute

 

We were magically joined by our own Prem Sharma live from Nepal where he is visiting family and our Rotary project. He came through remarkably clear.  Having people join us by internet from their projects is something we should try to do whenever it is possible.

 

Here are the brief progress reports of our ongoing Literacy Program.

   

1.  I had a productive conversation with our current DG (RID 3292) Rtn Binod Koirala. He has expressed his interest in long term Scholarship program. In addition, I have been continuously working together with our past president of RC of Pokhara New Road Rtn Pushpa Kamal Poudel to explore different avenues of partnerships Projects.

 

2.  Our goat project to support our literacy programs is doing well. We (Mahadibya Farm) were able to make C$240.00 from the selling of goats. With that money and support from our longtime partner Baba Foundation Nepal, we were able to purchase school supplies for Janachetana Primary School (our sponsored school since 2018) for full academic year. We are eager to scale up the goat project and start supporting more schools.

 

3  I will be meeting with President of RC of Baglung (Club ID:74282) on coming Sunday to discuss about different partnerships projects; those which are sustainable and impactful.
 
4.    In my absence, our passionate and dedicated Rotaract member Rusha Sharma (international projects service chair: Rotary Club of Parbat, Pokhara) will work together with different clubs and NGOs and Government organizations to carry out our activities.

 

Yours in Rotary,
Prem Sharma

 

I think I can speak for club in saying we are very proud of the work undertaken by Prem and the difference our club is making in Nepal.

 

Speaker:   Jim Weber on Education Brings Hope.

 

Jim requires no introduction and didn’t receive one. Jim is a past-president of our club and has served the club tirelessly in many capacities.

 

Jim brought us up to date on his project in Puerta Vallarta. He has built this program over many years and previously it was known as the Becas Program which is the Spanish word for scholarship. In Mexico public education only goes to grade six. Education past this point costs money. While the cost is modest by our standards there are many poor people in Puerto Vallarta and many children miss out on further education because of the cost and the loss of a family worker. This is particularly true for girls. The program has recently been renamed Education Brings Hope to reflect a larger mandate that has developed.

 

It is now twenty years since Jim saw the need. The first year they had six students enrolled in the program and in the second year six students. They now serve some hundred and twenty-five students. Students must have a need and be good students. They are expected to maintain high level academics during their time in the program.The scholarships can extend from grade seven right through university.  In recent years the program has seen its first university grads. Each student is sponsored by a donor. The idea is to create a relationship between the student and the donor that will be motivational for the student.  Much work has been done to secure reserves for the overall program because donors inevitably leave or retire. The idea is that once a student is accepted into the program they will continue to the end of the schooling.

 

The program is well known in the PV community. It is sponsored by the PV Rotary club and Jim has helped train teachers and others to look for students in need of sponsorship. The money is given to the parent or guardian of the student, and it can be used for the family as needed. The program does not micromanage the funds. However, the student must stay enrolled in school and maintain their academics. This was important during Covid when the whole economy of Puerto Vallarta collapsed with lack of the tourism industry.

Many hundreds of students have been helped and Jim told several heart-warming stories of the appreciation expressed by the students and their parents. I will not try to reproduce those stories here.

 

Elaine Zakreski reported attending a grad where the scholarships were given and experienced the appreciation of those who had been helped.

 

In honor of Jim’s talk the regular donation will be made to Bethany Homes.

 

Next meeting is September 8 and speaker will be Councilor Bev Dubois.

 

Adjournment