The meeting was called to order by President Roger at 7:07 am. He reported that he was happy to be back from holidays and thanked Past President Lyn for filling in for him over the past 4 weeks.
36 Rotarians were present with 3 guests (speakers Patrick and Jennifer Menard). Roger also welcomed Kathleen Meaney who is attending her third meeting as a guest.
Martha provided her ‘Rotary moment’. She began by providing a history lesson on where the concept of April Fools Day originated. Apparently in France the ancient tradition was to play a prank on April 1st by sticking the image of a fish onto someone’s back. The term ‘April fish’ subsequently became ‘April fool’. Martha stated that her first interaction with Rotary occurred several years ago when she was dating a Rotarian from the Campbellford Club. She initially had some interaction with club members at social functions. She also had the opportunity to host an exchange student from Finland and really enjoyed this experience. The first female president at the Campbellford Rotary Club ultimately invited Martha to join their club in 1999. She recounted a story where she went to a Rotary event in the US which commemorated the 100 year anniversary of Rotary. A Japanese exchange student accompanied her and unfortunately they were detained for 5 hours at the border! Over the years Martha has hosted students from Brazil, Mexico, Germany (twice), Holland and France. She also functioned as a councillor for exchange students. She has also travelled to Europe and visited some of her former exchange students at their homes! Clearly the Rotary student exchange program is something that strongly resonates with Martha and she is passionate about re-invigorating this program within the Wellington club.
‘O’ Canada’ was sung. David Hawkins recited an invocation. Breakfast was served.
Roger enquired about the health of members. Tim noted that Geoff Telling is getting about after the recent death of his wife. There will be a celebration of life for his wife on April 11 at 11 am at St. Andrew’s Church.
Margo introduced guest speakers Patrick and Jennifer Menard. They live in Prince Edward County and are married with three children. They came today to describe their recent experience in the Rotary Wheels for Learning Program in Cambodia. They also wanted to thank our Rotary Club for financial support toward this initiative. This is the 14th year of a program which was established by the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst. Members travel to Cambodia where they purchase second-hand bikes, fix them up and distribute them to children in need. They also deliver water purification systems while in Cambodia. During their 3 week stay in Cambodia Patrick, Jennifer and 18 other volunteers handed out 800 bikes to children. In the 14 year history of Wheels for Learning approximately 13,000 bikes have been distributed to children. They also described some of the amazing sites they witnessed and learned a great deal of the history of this country. Patrick and Jennifer played a brief video of their experience and provided President Roger with a certificate of appreciation. Martha Murphy thanked Patrick and Jennifer for their presentation. They subsequently addressed several questions from club members.
Business
Colin spoke about the Rotary Golf Tournament in June. Unfortunately he still does not have pricing with respect to green fees and dinner costs.
Roger noted that Yvonne attended the Rotary President-Elect training course in Chicago this past weekend. He will look forward to what Yvonne has to report regarding her experience.
Dawn spoke about upcoming spelling bee events (including the inter-club competition) and received a strong response from members willing to participate.
Ken reviewed the recently amended bylaws and moved that these be approved by the club; seconded by Mike; approved unanimously. John Inwood did note that he had provided feedback with relatively minor recommendations but wasn’t sure if these had been incorporated into the most recently amended version. Ken will review John’s recommendations and review with the board.
Lyn recommended that we consider having local business members speak with us on Tuesday morning meetings so we can better understand the challenges they currently face with respect to ongoing road construction and closures.
Chris reminded members who had previously expressed a desire to attend the annual service club luncheon hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Belleville that this will take place at noon tomorrow.
Roger told his joke of the week. The happy toonie jar was passed around.
Norm’s ticket was drawn for the 50/50 draw – nobody wanted Norm to win more than Norm himself! Despite laser focus he failed to pull the ace of spades.
The meeting concluded with the 4-way test.
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