Submitted by Will Arscott 26^h of June 2017

 

 

We were in the upstairs lounge where we were served a great carved roast beef dinner.

Many Rotary spouses were present.

 

O Canada - was sung led by Wayne McGillivray.

 

Grace - Gary Rusu gave a very appropriate grace in which he gave thanks for the work of last year’s Rotary executive and asked a blessing on the new executive as they take up their new role. Above all he gave thanks for the life of service of Rotary in the world.

 

 

While there were many spouses present we had one special guest for Jack’s dinner. I am not sure if he should be referred to as His Past Worship or his Ex-Worship but the guy who is our honorary member and was the mayor attended. Thank you Don Atch taking time to share with us.

 

 

Jack thanked the club for the honour of allowing him to serve as club president for the past year. He said we had a very successful year and hit some of the high points:

 

- RAP continues and funding has been maintained in the current difficult provincial budget. Thanks to those who have worked so long and tirelessly on this project.

 

- RAP now has a strategic plan thanks to the work of Julie Jones who President Jack had the honour of thanking with a Paul Harris Fellowship.

 

- Peter and Elaine Zakreski have continued their Malawi project and have begun to receive the recognition they have earned.

 

- Jack remarked that there are so many worthwhile projects sponsored within our small club. Becas and Joy’s Home continue to grow and round out our international commitment. Closer to home our work in King George School is showing results.

 

- Our work was well recognized at the District Convention with a major literacy award (kudos to the KG project again). We also received three other awards at the district level.

 

- Over the year co-operation has continued to develop between the Rotary Clubs in Saskatoon. There will be at least two joint meetings per year going forward. Jack will continue to work with a group of past presidents to see if the administration of Rotary can be centralized to reduce the administrative burden on each club.

 

- Going forward we have the 100^th anniversary of Rotary in Saskatoon in August. It is too bad that the RI President will not be able to spend as much time with us as originally expected. Jack is planning to be his driver and pick his thoughts for ideas we can use. Jack is glad all the clubs are taking part in this anniversary.

 

- In the next year or two we may see the final official eradication of Polio which has been a Rotary project for several decades. In recent years it has been greatly helped by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It will be important to do what we can to see that the contribution of Rotary is properly recognized in the public information around that event.

 

- The one negative that President Jack did address was the fall in membership in our club. This is a problem all across Rotary and in the service club world in general. Rotary is trying to address it at all levels. Membership needs to be a priority of the new Board.

 

[[ Here the club was addressed by one of our many past-presidents Peter Whitenect: Peter recalled that as recently as 2000 our club had about 125 members. One could argue that those clubs did not do as much really significant service as our much smaller club does today. Peter reminded us that, it is not just the number of members we have, but the commitment of those members that will make Rotary successful. The current club is very committed.]]

 

- Outgoing President Jack finished by thanking all the members of the club.

 

 

 

Mark announced that the king was dead and long-live the king. Mark reiterated Jack ‘s remarks about being proud of all the work we do. Again, he mentioned the problem with membership and whether a club of 45 members is sustainable. Mark believes he has a great incoming Board and is proud of the work we do.

 

Thanks to President Jack for his work over the past year and in Rotary.

 

Following Mark there was an open microphone period:

 

A message was read from Past-President Bev Dubois congratulating and thanking Jack on his year. Unfortunately Bev had to attend Council meeting. Did anyone tell her she would have to attend all those really boring meetings before she ran?

 

Don Atchison and Vic Dubois followed with some very kind remarks.

 

It was great evening honouring a great Rotarian and president and everyone went home feeling very satisfied.