MEETING RECAP - January 4th 2016

Submitted by Will Arscott January 5th, 2016

FIRST MEETING OF 2016 AT THE BESSBOROUGH WITH GUEST SPEAKER JOHN CROSS

The meeting was presided by President Bev D.

Greeter - Bill J.

Cashier - Jack B.

Visitors and Guests - Mike G.

O Canada was led by Wayne

Grace - Clare H reminded us that we have a huge amount to be grateful for. (This includes the wonderful winter weather we are experiencing.)

Visitors and Guests

Sheila Abramoff - guest of Wayne S.

Rick Dobson - guest of Gary R.

Dr. Jackie Maurice - guest of Will A.

Dr. John Cross - guest of the club and speaker

Announcements - President Bev D.

- Thanked Bill J. for his hard work organizing our large and successful Christmas luncheon.

- Board meeting next Tuesday (January 12th) at the Saskatoon Media Group Boardroom

- Announced long-term member Arie VanDuyvendyk's 86th birthday. Congratulations!!

- Let the club know that Samuli had chosen to skip school today to watch his national junior team in the gold medal final. The club will let him get away with this because Finland won.

- Future Meetings:

Next Week January 11th with guest speaker Rabbi Claudio Jodorkovsky.

January 18th club assembly and AGM

Grocery Cards - Wayne S

- Wayne thanked the club for their help and commitment to the grocery card fundraiser. Wayne thanked Wayne M. for his help with the project.

- Altogether we sold $13,450 worth of cards for the year and this resulted in a profit to the club of $965 (the cards are bought at different discounts so profit has to be calculated based on the amount of each store sold). Rotarians with particularly worthy sales included: Jack B. $2,500; Butler Byers $2,750; Bill E. $7,000.

The Roster - Wayne M.

- Wayne reported that the new roster is here and that all members should pick up their copy. Please review for mistakes and tell Wayne FOR NEXT YEAR. This roster is done and if you did not see Wayne before your entry is set for one more year.

Sergeant and Arms - Gary R.

- Reminded the club about Sergeant's tickets and their tax efficiency. Members who could not produce a Sergeant's ticket were fined.

- Fined those going south in January and February (maybe instead he should have fined those staying home for enjoying the fine weather).

- Quizzed us about charitable giving and reminded us that the people on the prairies are good givers though they rank behind BC and Alberta (Editor's note: bet we beat them all on an income adjusted basis).

- Gary reviewed some other financial facts: The last day to deposit to RRSPs for 2015 is Feb 29th and the TFSA limit has been returned to $5,500.

HAPPY AND SAD

- Wayne S, for a happy holiday with his granddaughter and for the club's help with the grocery cards.

- Wayne M. a happy dollar for Wayne S. who does so very much for the club. He was delighted to be able to help with the cards. Also a happy dollar for ski season - Table Mountain is in excellent shape with fantastic powder in the back bowls.

- John D. for daughter's surprise visit from Mongolia.

- Joanne F. for all the help the club gave to the KG fair. This was matched by Heather C. who thanked Joanne F. for her efforts.

- Bill J. for the club's support for the Xmas luncheon.

- Finally Mark G. who, not having any football events, gave a happy dollar for being able to celebrate another Christmas later this week.

Introduction of Guest Speaker John Cross - Bill J.

Bill began by saying that John was a speaker who required no introduction at which time John told him to sit down. Bill referred to the extensive information on John available in the Saskatchewan Encyclopedia. John is a member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit and in 2014 became a member of the order of Canada.

John Cross 'Change is mandatory survival is optional. Choose wisely.'

John began with a short reminisce about his long service in our club. He particularly mentioned his involvement with the your exchange program. He then launched into a motivational talk in the very best sense of that term. He shared his sayings and gems of wisdom at a rate far beyond the scribes ability to set them down.

John talked about being a change maker. Wealth creation is our sole responsibility. This may seem limiting at first but it is absolutely true if we conceive wealth in a broad sense. The wealth we create may be in money, or justice or community or many other things. We can create wealth by investing something this is obvious but relatively rare.

We can also create wealth by taking other peoples ideas and making them work.

'We create or identities in labour' - Karl Marx. This is a very Rotary idea if you (again) conceive of labour in a larger sense. Our identity may be in business, in the arts, in philanthropy or any number of other worthwhile things. It is the things you do that make you the person you are.

How do we create wealth: We can create wealth by investing something this is obvious but relatively rare. (John may be the rare person who has actually created something through is biotechnology company.)

We can also create wealth by taking other peoples ideas and making them work. Sometimes we can take old ideas and make them work better. Occasionally there is a chance to take an idea in a totally new direction. Chicago meat packing led to the Olds and then Ford Automobile assemble lines. Henry Goodman redesigned the wheelbarrow into the shopping cart.

There are attitudes that are common to people who make things happen: Some make things happen, some watch things happen and some wonder what happened. Albert Einstein said we are all miracles. We each need to ask if we have an attitude worth catching.

Change makers know that attitude is everything: 'Honesty is the absence of the intent to deceive.' All business is about people. No person can know everything so you have to be interdependent. Change makers say thank you. We can all choose wisely.

John's talk was very well received. He was asked when his book was coming out. John seemed both surprised and humbled by the suggestion. He also showed us the pair of moccasins he keeps in his office to every remind him that he cannot understand another until he has walked in the other's shoes.

Next Meeting: January 11th 2016 Speaker Rabbi Claudio Jodorkovsky