The meeting was called to order by President Roger at 7:07 am
29 Rotarians were present (27 in person and 2 on zoom).
Chris spoke about why he joined Rotary (and no it wasn’t just because Yvonne told him too…). He was briefly introduced to Rotary approximately 10 years ago when a colleague invited Chris and his daughter to attend a dinner meeting at his Rotary Club in Toronto to hear a graduate student present their Master’s thesis in ‘Peace, Conflict and Justice’ studies.
Rather than an earth-shattering Aha! moment Chris recounted a quiet revelation while picking grapes at Lyn McGowan’s vineyard in September 2020. He was struck by the personal qualities and commitment of Rotarians who he met that day (notably Dave Robinet and Howard) and felt that this was a reflection of the strength of the club. He knew that the Wellington Rotary Club was a great organization to belong to.
The Rotary song was sung. ‘O’ Canada’ was sung. David Hawkins recited an invocation. Breakfast was served.
Club Forum
Chris provided a review of correspondence messages received and sent. Three members (Lyn, Yvonne, and Bill Mitchell) expressed a desire to attend the Annual Community Service Club luncheon in Belleville on behalf of our Rotary.
Bill provided a comprehensive treasurer report for the month of January 2025. David Mackinnon moved to accept the club financials for January as presented; seconded by Peter; approved unanimously.
Yvonne presented on fundraising initiatives. She noted that 90% of maple syrup bottles have now been presold. The sap should be flowing soon. For the Canada Day Rib event she is exploring with Norm the possibility of purchasing ribs directly from the “Dugout” restaurant in Belleville. They feel that this would greatly reduce the workload involved with rib preparation by our club members.
Norm provided an update on his literacy portfolio. There has been only one student selected for the upcoming RYLA symposium (MJ Patel from PECI). A new book has been chosen for this year for the ‘Story Book Walk’ – ‘Beneath’. Book pages will be laminated and installed onto story book boards in the spring. 375 Diners and Duffers booklets have been ordered and will be ready for pickup on March 18. There has been strong feedback from the single father with 2 sons who were able to play organized hockey this year due to financial sponsorship from our club. Norm is wondering if anyone has connections with either a local baseball or summer soccer league. Norm noted that the next electronic recycling event will be April 6 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Picton Home Hardware. The inaugural fellowship bowling event will take place on March 5th – twelve people have enrolled to participate.
On Ken’s behalf, Lyn presented several proposed changes to our club bylaws. She was not seeking a vote on these bylaw changes but rather soliciting feedback from members. There were several questions and comments made. Lyn will review these with Ken and bring back modified bylaws at a later date.
Chris reported on a recent Wellness Committee meeting. There are three upcoming wellness presentations: the next will be addressing depression and mental health by Dr. Joseph Burley, a psychiatrist from Queen’s University. This is scheduled for Tuesday March 25 at 7 pm at the Legion. Additional presentations on Lyme disease and safety in the home are forthcoming. The recent committee meeting also addressed the lack of daycare access in the County. David Mackinnon met with representatives from the HUB who felt that the most expeditious means of addressing this crisis would be to increase the presence of home daycare within our community. We discussed the logistics of this process and how our Rotary club could help. Finally our committee also discussed the upcoming Provincial election and the Conservative Party promise of a significant increase in funding for Primary Care. We wondered whether this would impact our prior discussions regarding increasing the number of nurse practitioners in the County.
Funding requests;
The IPPC requested $2,000 to support 2 scholarships for indigenous students to attend Lake Head University. This request was tabled pending the request for further information.
The Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory had requested $2,500 to support the Youth Program of their Spring Birding Festival and the board decided to donate $500 to this cause.
The Baxter Arts Center had requested $5,000 to help construct an accessibility entrance to their facility. The board recommended donating $1,000 toward this cause; Howard moved to support this initiative; seconded by Jacques; carried unanimously.
Business
Dawn is once again actively involved in the Spelling Bee. There are 30 different schools involved in our region – 5 within the County. She asked for volunteers to participate in overseeing the spelling bee events.
Yvonne wondered if members were interested in having pancakes for breakfast next week on Shrove Tuesday. There was a show of hands but not sufficient interest among members to make this happen.
Roger reported that he will be away for 4 weeks and Lyn will be filling in for him as acting president.
There were no birthdays or anniversaries this week.
The happy toonie can was passed around.
Gregor’s ticket was drawn for the 50/50 draw yet again (!!) – unfortunately he was unable to draw the Ace of Spades.
The meeting concluded with the 4 way test.
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