The meeting was called to order by past-President Ken at 7:05 am. 31 Rotarians were present plus 2 on Zoom. Ken recited a Rotary moment – he indicated that this week the international Rotary convention in Singapore takes place – He reported a convention ‘spotlight on mental health’ and quoted a youth who survived emotional trauma and depression.
The Rotary Song and ‘O’ Canada’ were sung. David Hawkins read the Rotary Prayer. Breakfast was served.
Ken reported that Robynne Smith had agreed to take over the role of Director of Communications from Christine Dimitris.
Chris reported, in his capacity as Secretary, on the notes and emails received and sent over the past month.
Treasurer Report:
Yvonne provided a comprehensive Treasurers report for the month of April. Norm moved to accept the minutes as presented; seconded by John Heeringa; carried unanimously.
Fundraising:
We are still looking for a major fundraising event to support in the coming year.
Norm reported that the D and D booklets sales have been gradually tapering off. He estimates @ $10,000-11,000 profit from the sales. He encouraged anyone with booklets to bring in the money (or unsold booklets) ASAP. He noted that Mary Camp will be helping him in the coming year with the D and D project.
Ken reported on the recent Rotary Yard Sale and thanked both Yvonne and Lyn for spearheading this initiative. Yvonne noted that the yard sale was more successful than she could have anticipated. She projected that more than $4,000 was generated for our local foodbank. She thanked all Rotarians for their support with donations, assistance with setup and help with cleanup.
Ken indicated that the spring Rotary Golf Tournament has been sold out. He reported that approximately 30 hole sponsors have been secured and thanked Tim Cox for personally obtaining 6 new hole sponsors for the event.
Communications:
Christine noted that there have been positive Facebook posts regarding the beach mat installation. Christine also noted that Corey published a great article regarding the beach mat in the Welliington Times. Both Trudy and Margo reported having seen a segment regarding this event on Kingston Global News.
Membership:
Peter reported that Gregor Stewart has completed his application package to join our Rotary Club.
Club Administration:
Trudy and Chris indicated that one week positions at PEFAC and the HUBB summer camps have been set aside for children (age 5-12 years) who will be sponsored by our Rotary. We will identify eligible children for enrollment in the coming week.
Roger reported that a fellowship barbecue will be hosted by Pierre and Connie Lebrun sometime in the summer and more fellowship dinner events will resume sometime in the fall.
Norm reported that the story boards for the story book walk have been relocated to the boardwalk where he has noted that the public response has been outstanding. He thanked Yvonne for recommending that the story boards be moved to this location.
Norm reported on the spelling bee. He indicated that Dawn will be co-chairing this event going forward and has requested support from fellow Rotarians. Trudy noted that this is a special annual event that we should make every effort to maintain.
Norm indicated that Thomas Rice, the student from PECI who was our sponsor for RYLS, completed the symposium. He was nervous about discussing his experience in public however he will express his feelings regarding this event via email
Norm explained that a board decision was made to have both $1,000 Rotary scholarships be issued to PECI graduate students (given the fact that @90% of Wellington postgraduate students attend PECI).
Norm noted that the next electronics recycling event has been scheduled for October 6th.
Ken noted that the Past President’s Dinner is fast approaching on June 25th. Tickets are $50 per person. Members are able to bring their own alcohol as the event will be at Wellington on the Lake Recreation Centre. He circulated a sign-up sheet for members to note their plan to attend.
Ken and Luanne will be taking the initiative of decorating the Canada Day Rotary Float this year. The theme will be ‘country’ with plans for Canada cowboy hats and country music etc.
Ken requested that a committee be established in order to organize a ceremony at the Rotary Memorial Garden to honour our recently deceased members. Howard volunteered (with the support of several other Rotarians).
New initiatives:
Ken provided an update and overview on the work of the wellness committee. He noted that the committee had two general initiatives at the beginning of the Rotary year. The first was to secure provincial funding to establish a nurse practitioner-lead clinic in Wellington in order to address the shortage of family physicians in our community. Unfortunately this nurse practitioner initiative did not receive provincial funding. The second initiative was to educate the community via the establishment of a lecture series focused on preventative health and wellness issues. To date there have been three wellness presentations (Blue Zones, nutrition, cancer prevention) with attendance ranging from 30-60 persons per event. Trudy remarked that this poor attendance calls into question whether the Rotary is getting value for its money with these events. Ken and David Mackinnon noted that if even a few people derived health benefit from these sessions then it should be considered a success.
Margo provided a brief update on the Home Share initiative. A needs survey will be circulated at both an upcoming seniors event as well as through the Community Care for Senior’s organization.
Funding Requests:
Ken presented a request from 99.3 County FM to support the upcoming Radiothon Michelle moved that our Rotary club donate $1,000 to support this initiative; seconded by Pierre; carried unanimously.
Ken presented a request from the Wellington United Church Kids Camp. Yvonne moved that our Rotary club donate $500 to support this initiative; seconded by Chris; carried unanimously.
Ken reported that the board had received a request for $5,000 to repair the roof of the County Arts mobile stage. This request was not supported by the board members. There was no discussion.
Ken noted that in our original budget we had assigned $2,000 for EREY and $750 for Polio-plus. Tim felt that the concept of paying money towards a Paul Harris Award (vs meritorious service) was philosophically wrong. Christine moved that $2,000 be given to the EREY program; seconded by Howard; carried unanimously with one abstention. David moved that $750 be donated to the Rotary Polio-plus program; seconded by Norm; carried unanimously.
Business:
Lyn reported a follow-up on the District grant qualification process. Two club members are required to take the online course in order to access district grant money. John Heeringa and Martha Murphy had taken the course however John took the online course too soon. Lyn subsequently took the course to ensure our club’s access to district grant funding.
Peter Campbell’s ticket was drawn for the 50/50 draw however he failed to produce the ace of spades from the deck.