President Yvonne called her first meeting to order with a rousing “Happy New Year” and 36 members in attendance.

Peter provided an update on Kathleen who has been unable to attend for a while as she has been caring for her mother, who has health issues. 

David Smith related a story about Jim Lowden, whose obituary appeared in the Times last week. Jim was a silent friend of Rotary who was a big supporter of Back the Build and also helped with construction of the Memorial Garden.

Yvonne started off with a series of “thanks you’s” related to the very successful Canada Day festivities last week – she thanked Norm for the suggestion to source the Canada Day ribs from the Dugout; Shawn for providing the popcorn and candy floss which generated sales of $645; the 50/50 team ( Liz, Iza, Dawn and Christine) who generated $700+ for the club ; and Ann Robinson, the winner of the $787 prize in the 50/50 draw, who donated back $100.

Chris introduced our speaker, President Yvonne Buys, by sharing her answers to “10 Questions” we might not have learned about Yvonne from her Classification speech – a few of those are: she was born in Scarborough, educated at U of T, has 2 daughters, her favourite movie is Scarface (!) and favourite book is Memoir of a Geisha.

Yvonne noted that this year’s Rotary International motto is “Unite for Good, but she has a local motto in mind for this year, as well – “Rotary Refresh”. She has toured around the County reviewing anything that bears our club’s name and feels that most of those artifacts badly need a “refresh” – 

• The informational signs at the beach are so worn as to be almost illegible. She has already reached out to some local naturalists and proposes striking a small group of Rotarians to tackle the update;
• Also, at the beach – Percy continues to be filled with garbage, contrary to the posted sign. Yvonne proposes a change to the sign, maybe less wording, different placement. Kim has agreed to look at this.
• Bottle Depot – potholes in the driveway; Tim advised that Mark does not want to fix the driveway at this time;
• Community Gardens – is there an opportunity to refresh or expand? Geoff has agreed to look into how it is being used;
• Display Cases at the Legion and the Community Centre – Liz has agreed to take the lead on refreshing those.

Yvonne mentioned that Club Runner has a new platform, which we are encouraged to check out. Phyo says there are still some glitches, but it is more informative. 

Yvonne intends to invite our Charitable Foundation to make a presentation to the club later this year, which will help to ensure our directions are aligned. 

She was pleased to note that 80+% of our members are either leading or involved in one or more committees/activities, as reflected in the recently updated Club Roles document.

Club Business: 

William volunteered for the open shift at the Bottle Depot on Wednesday 11-1. He was also presented with the Crushed Can Award for having missed a shift on Saturday. Trudy thanked the early shift for staying overtime to help with the rush,

Howard advised the shirt/hat order is still pending from the US supplier.

Hillier Hall is having a lasagne dinner on July 13^th, starting at 4 pm.

Bill H’s ticket was drawn in the 50/50 draw but, alas, he did not pick the ace of spades.