Incoming President Ken opened the first Club Forum of his tenure with 25 members present, Treasurer Yvonne and Chris joining by Zoom and ‘about to become’ new member, Roger Tessier. After the usual opening protocols, Pres. Ken gave details of correspondence received by the Club, including thanks from the Hospital Foundation, Mayor Ferguson and other donation recipients. He then invited Treasurer Yvonne to give her financial report.

As well as making all the paperwork available for members to peruse on line (Club Runner), Yvonne gave a very thorough analysis of the key points of the 2021/22 year. She gave a summary of the main areas of interest including the fact that we had exceeded our budget for projects, events and activitiies (a good thing) whilst reducing our expenses. The Bottle Return Depot had brought in $57,000 and fundraising as a whole was also up. Charitable disbursements had been made to the tune of over $34,000 when those from the Club’s own Foundation were included. PP Trudy then followed up with a fascinating five-year analysis of how many containers we had processed (over a million) and that whereas the overall volume of returns was similar, year over year, the percentage of donations had increased to close to 25% of intake which represented 62% of revenue from this source. Treas. Yvonne’s report was approved unanimously after being proposed by Norm and seconded by William.

Pres. Ken then presented his budget for the 2022/23 Rotary year. For all the ongoing fundraising projects, an income of $86,800 was predicted with expenditures of up to $90,000. The cost of various activities included Wellington Rotary Beach improvements (new kiosk and accessability ramp), setting aside funds for our renewal of the naming rights for the Rotary Room at the Lehigh Centre and Club administration (District dues, RI dues, EREY etc). Lana made a motion to approve which was seconded by Peter and carried unanimously.

Lyn reported on the news that Kate’s Rest has won a significant grant to continue setting up its 130 sq. ft. aquaponics pilot scheme on the property and will be conducting market research to decide on the kinds of food to be produced. The Wellington Storehouse Foodbank has been unable to identify a property that would be suitable for its relocation and that land is now being considered for the construction, from scratch, of a replacement facility. There have been some challenges in finding places for the youngsters we are supporting to attend summer camps and alternative possibilities are being sought for future years. Pres. Ken also requested approval of $2,000 for the new kiosk at the Rotary Beach which was proposed by John Inwood, seconded by William and voted unanimously in favour. A donation to County FM of $2,108 for a studio upgrade was likewise approved unanimously after being proposed by William and seconded by Michelle. Pres. Ken then shared his idea that all those original founding members still in the Club will give their classification speeches again.

In regular Club business, Bill had all the bottle depot spots covered and the cashier can now collect the keys etc from Nash Home Hardware from 8.30 on Saturdays. Dave Robinet advised us to avoid any parking spots with an “L” on them as they are paid for by the Lakeshore Inn. David Smith shared information about Quinte Recycling and the Timber Ridge Golf Club regarding possible use of our returns depot. The Storybook Walk project will be supported to the tune of $2,100 - proposed by Barry and seconded by Kim, agreed nem con.

After congratulating John Heeringa on his birthday and the 4 Way Test, the meeting closed at 8.15.

 

 

9 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Liz Bosma, Chris Compeau, Paul Denault (FoR), Ken DesRoches (FoR)

11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Trudy Brown, Phyo Kyi, Sethu Madhaven (FoR)
Needed: 1 Sorter/Receiver