MEETING RECAP - 6th March 2017
Submitted by Will Arscott 8th of March 2017
MEETING RECAP - Meeting at Bessborough: Habitat for Humanity with guest speaker Rotarian Barb Cox-Lloyd
The meeting was presided by President Jack Brodsky
Greeter - Mike Giesbrecht
Cashier - Gord Menuz
Set-up - Al Morton
Visitors and Guests - Peter Whitenect
O Canada - this week we had a slow version with many French words.
Grace - Al Morton quoted Eleanor Roosevelt who said that to have peace you have to first believe in peace. As Rotarians we are charged with bringing peace into our world at the local and international level.
Visitors and Guests - Peter Whitenect
We had three visiting Rotarians:
Barbara Cox Lloyd - president of the North Club and guest speaker
Ed Pek - from the Nutana Club though a regular at our meetings and member of the Badge Shield and Star committee.
Earle Newton - Saskatoon North
Because the three visitors are all familiar to our club we dispensed with the hello song.
Announcements
Hope of Malawi Lottery - Lottery Tickets are still available to fund the sending of a Sea-Can of Supplies to Malawi. Both Wayne Storozuk and Mike Giesbrecht have tickets. The Draw date is March 25th. The prize is first class rail travel to Vancouver hotels etc. Please consider supporting this worthwhile project.
Serving and Friendship Inn - Peter Z is back March 14th and will confirm the volunteer times. We could still use two more people on the mid-morning (9:00am) and clean-up shift (1:00pm). The shifts are two hours. The date is March 20th and there will be no regular meeting on that day.
Adventures in Technology (AIT) - Steve Wilson reported. Steve needs help and time is becoming short. In the past the sponsoring club has filled most of the positions and we are well behind. We need billets and drivers. Billets are responsible for housing one or two students. The student’s days are full so they need a place to sleep, have breakfast and a ride to the assembly point for the day. The students will likely be too tired to do much once they arrive back to need much entertainment. We need billeting from Sunday April 23rd through Thursday April 27th. We also need drivers for fifteen person vans. This is a full day responsibility meeting at the collection point and driving through the day. The drivers will participate in meals and be able to partake of the programs that day It would be quite interesting. We need drivers from Sunday April 23rd through Friday April 28th. Please check your schedule and help out if you can.
Five Club Meeting - Plans are underway to arrange another five club meeting at a date to be arranged. This will follow-up on the previous meeting we sponsored on the RAP program. This next meeting will revolve around the Truth and Reconciliation commission.
Rotary Alumni Event - This event is still being planned. Please search your memory for names of people we can invite. All clubs would like to increase their membership.
Badge Shield and Star Dinner - save the date April 12th for this event. The guest speaker is the fire chief of Fort MacMurray who will speak of the fire and evacuation. The price is unchanged ($125). Tickets are being printed as we meet. Picatic is up and running and you can get a ticket there. We will also have them at meetings.
Grocery Cards are available from Gary Rusu. He was unable to attend as he was under the weather. You can call Gary and arrange for your cards to be available at the next meeting.
Masters of Golf Pool - the entry forms are being printed and will be available next week at the meeting (I believe a facsimile is being emailed to members). Please talk this up with the people you know. Most tickets are sold to non-Rotarians. The costs of the project are donated and we get a 25% top-up of our earnings from the SLGA. This is an easy and worthwhile project. The money raised has to be spent in Saskatchewan so we can use the money to benefit RAP and our scholarship program at Sask Polytechnic.
Rotateller - Will Arscott will do the Rotateller this week and next (13th). On the 20th we are doing service at the Friendship Inn so there will be no regular Rotateller. The following three weeks the sun has called Will down to Arizona. Steve Wilson has done a fine job of the Rotateller but he has taken on quite enough with AIT. Do we have a volunteer or two? You simply write the meeting up as best you can and email it to Gord M.
Sergeant at Arms: Dave Sundby
Dave went on a spree levying unreasonable fines to all in sight. President Jack was fined for not ringing the bell to begin the meeting. Steven W was not fined put it was pointed out that if you want to get things done you need to use executive orders (or not!). Heather C was welcomed back and was fined for all the fines she missed when she was away. Al M was fined because Wayne M wasn’t available to help him set up for the meeting. [did I say unreasonable?] Joanne F was fined for not announcing installation of new carpet at King George. Avis H. was also fined for being back at the meeting. In the future any members who have missed meetings are unlikely to return if they know Dave S is scheduled to be sergeant.
Happy and Sad:
H Joanne F for the carpet being installed at King George. The size of the project required professional help but it looks great. [I believe Joanne is posting a picture to our Facebook site]. She was asked what was next for the KG project and indicated there may be the possibility of grants around literacy. Let’s hope there can be an announcement soon.
H Gary E for his 62nd birthday.
2H Mike G for time in the sun in Mexico. Through his wife, dark skin pigment is part of their family genetics. Some members received dark pigment and others did not. As a result some of the family tanned and others (including Mike) burned.
S member? For nobody recognizing the new RI President from Australia who has just taken up his office. He will be joining us for our event in August.
H Peter for lunch with Bruce Bays. Bruce is doing well. He is moving into Luther Village but still intends to golf. He sends his regards to the club.
PROGRAM: Barb Cox-Lloyd
Barb was introduced briefly by Dave Sundby who mentioned that, though Barb is a fairly new Rotarian, she is president of the Saskatoon North Club. She now serves as executive director of Habitat for Humanity for a region covering Saskatoon and North Battleford.
Habitat for Humanity is a registered charity that brings together communities to provide low-cost housing for families. The purpose is more than building houses but extends to providing opportunities for community service. For the families who are in the program they provide 500 hours of sweat equity in order to qualify to receive a home. For the community, opportunity is provided for volunteers to participate in the building of the homes. The scenes of volunteers coming out to build the homes is now pretty well known.
There is a need for Habitat for Humanity in Saskatoon. The rent for a one bedroom apartment can run between $1,200 and $1,300 per month. This is not even for an apartment that would be a decent place to live. Some families are forced to spend as much as 70% of their income on rent. This makes living nearly impossible. It puts pressure on family units. Too many people in too small a space. There is often inadequate heating. This leads to direct health problems. It leads to children with behavioral problems that do not do well in school. If this is not checked it can be a problem handed down to the next generation.
Habitat for Humanity sees greatly enhanced stability in the families helped by the program. These families often start to contribute to the larger community doing things such as serving on community associations. Receiving a home improves all aspects of family life and children do better with a much higher school completion rate. It is estimated that a $1 investment in a Habitat Home creates $4 in economic activity in the local economy. The impact of a Habitat for Humanity home is immediate and it is lasting.
The charity also operates a Restore selling building materials and home furnishings. This pays for the administration of the program. All money donated can then go to building houses. Interested people are encouraged to contribute financially or to take part in a build. There are sometimes builds that are done by identifiable groups such as the build sponsored by the Bank of Nova Scotia that was done entirely by women. Our club, as a club, could become involved in a build.
Questions:
Families receiving a house have put in 500 hours of sweat equity. They then receive the house with a mortgage. This mortgage is at 0% and it is held by Habitat itself. All payments made by the family go to principal. Once the family has paid for their house it can be sold by them.
Barb’s organization would like to do ten builds per year. This year there will be six builds here and two in North Battleford. Cost per unit is meant to be about $150,000 with two units built on a fifty foot lot. Up until now they have had lots available at a reasonable cost but their inventory is almost used. In the future it may be difficult to hold to the $150,000 if land costs increase.
[Editor’s Note: It is not true that President Jimmy Carter works on all the builds. But he will be involved in three builds this year in Canada including one in Winnipeg.]
Barb was thanked by President Jack.
Next Meeting: Loraas Disposal March 13th at the Bessborough
Adjournment
