24 members today were present in person and 3 by Zoom.

President Ken acknowledged the women in our Club and the benefits they brought to the Club and to our community and the world. He recognized International Women’s Day tomorrow. Michelle said that it was too bad that there had to be a special recognition (ie. that it was not already a norm that women are significant).

Jean Claude from the Rotary Club of Markham Sunrise made a presentation of the Burundi Water Project that he is leading for his Club in his former village, Gakomero, Burundi. He has formed the African Hope Service (AHS) to be the organization on the ground since there are no Rotary clubs in Burundi. The most critical needs are water, sanitation and hygiene. The lack of running water in his former schoolyard means the children carry pails of water each day for 1-2 km on their way to school. As well as serving the 1600 who attend the Masango school, the water project would help 3400 who attend the local church and the businesses. The bathrooms at school are primitive - 5 pit latrines or the bush.

The water project that the AHS is planning is 2.9 km of pipeline, gravity fed from a spring in the hills that would provide water all year, benefiting 9,856 households. The total cost would be $74,000 Can of which the first phase to bring the water to the centre of town is $61,140. To date, $30,000 has been raised with a target of $60,000 by June or July. No one has been hired yet. Ken advised Jean to submit a request for financial assistance for consideration by our Board.

From the District President’s Meeting yesterday, Ken reported:

• April 22 is the Great Lakes Watershed Day and that will be our Rotary Beach cleanup day.
• May 6 is the District Assembly when the Clubs vote on the upcoming budget. The President-Elect is to attend.
• September 24 is the Foundation Walk.
• There are numerous District awards, some of which our Club might be eligible to receive:
• External Publication - Ken asked Christine to prepare a submission of our 20th Anniversary newspaper coverage with a covering letter.
• Environmental - Ken asked Mike to prepare a submission describing our Bottle Depot performance in helping the environment.

Shawn reported that part of the funds that we gave Lori Gallant for her overseas work was used to buy the Tanzanian village a water pump that is used to fill water containers on the back of a pickup truck so the villagers do not have to carry the water manually.

Ken advised that the ad for the Syrian earthquake assistance campaign will be considered by the Foundation Board in a meeting after the members’ meeting. All members are invited to the support party at the Wellington-on-the-Lake hall on Friday, March 10 at 6 pm. Food will be provided at no cost.

David McKinnon gave an update on the Wellness Committee project for nurse practitioners:

• A meeting with Corey and the mayor convinced the mayor that our project was complimentary, not competing with the County’s attempt to hire more doctors.
• The decision by the local mayors to inject $900,000 to hire more staff for the Belleville nurse practitioner clinic is independent of our project to start a satellite clinic of Belleville.
• David has reviewed the latest draft of the presentation to be made to the Minister of Health.
• On March 28, our Committee will make a formal deputation of our plan to County Council.

Lana repeated the invitation for all members to support the Curlathon in Picton to support Back the Build.

Today, Barry’s number was drawn for the 50:50 but he did not draw the ace of spades.