Martin Jones, Past President assumed the chair of today’s meeting and called the meeting to order at 12:45 pm. He indicated that he thought he was through with chairing Rotary meetings when he became the Past President last July.
He highlighted a number of significant events and accomplishments from the 2013-14 Rotary year. During that year the club’s Strategic Plan was updated, the bylaws regarding the club’s Charitable Foundation were put in place, The Audrey Wipper Fund, which was shared with a second club, was brought back to our club exclusively, the Youth Forum evolved into a ongoing community/city program, and the club donated $90,000 to the House of Friendship for the Women’s Addiction Centre. While all of these special activities were happening, the club’s regular activities, including weekly meetings, continued at the regular high level. All of this demonstrates the power and possibilities of good people doing good things.
In recognition of their leadership and commitment to last week's Kids Ability Fun Day, Paul Rostrup and Melissa Tummon were the Bell Ringers at this meeting.
Guests for Monday's meeting were: Prospective member Neil Swayze, guest of Howard Pell, in bound exchange student Saeko Oshima and her parents, Junko and Keiko Oshima, outbound exchange student, David McCrae, and his parents Linda & Robert Olsen.
Ed Fowler, Chair of our Youth Exchange Program, focused our club on our Youth Exchange Program. He began by pointing out that it is because of the volunteer families who host our inbound students that our club can be involved in this program. This year it is the Harris and the Gardiner families who have made Saeko’s exchange with our club possible.
Ed also made us aware that not only do we have the parents of our out bound student present at our meeting, we also have the parents of our inbound student present as well. He extended a special welcome to Saeko’s parents, attending from Japan.
David Macrae, our out bound student to Argentina was the first speaker. David explained to the club the series of events that an outbound student experiences in preparation for being our club’s ambassador to another country. It started with the selection interviews and ended with the Erindale weekend where the students received detailed information about the exchange experience and the country in which they will be staying. David closed by thanking the club for its varied contributions to making this future activity possible for him.
Saeko started her presentation by reminding members of her first meeting at our club where she won the 50-50 draw and didn’t understand what had happened. Since then, time has seemed to move very fast.
Saeko planned to become an exchange student when she was enrolled in grade 7 or 8. Her family have hosted exchange students from Canada, United States and Australia. Her father was an exchange student with another organization. She chose to go to Canada over the other countries due to her experience with the exchange student from Canada that the family hosted
Through her association during her year in Canada with Canadian Students as well as the exchange students from other countries, Saeko now has many amazing friends from all over the world. The friendships with the other exchange students have built during the many weekends when all of the District 7080 Exchange Students gathered in one location. These locations have included Kitchener, Bolton, Mississauga, Burlington, Wanakita and Erindale. During some of these weekends she was billeted by Rotarians some of whom had younger families and others where similar to her grandparents, both types she enjoyed.
Being away from parents and family was not a problem in that she had two host families, the Harris and Gardiner families who effectively became substitute families. One family provided sisters and the other, brothers. Her best memory about her exchange was Christmas with two meals of turkey and many presents.
In closing Saeko indicated that this year was her best year ever and that she was very thankful for the club giving her this amazing opportunity.
Ed informed the club members that Saeko will be leaving on a tour of eastern Canada with other exchange students in a few weeks, returning to Kitchener for a short time and then flying home. Our next inbound student will be arriving in the last week of August.
Acting Chair Martin, thanked Ed for the time and effort that he is and has for some time, put into making the Youth Exchange program work for our club. Although the members may not be aware, there is a lot of effort required to make it an effective program.
Jim Phillips reminded members that they will be hearing more about the Rotary Auction that is coming up on November 7 to 21. Three clubs are involved and there is an active committee working on the project. There will be a “kick off” at our August 31st meeting.
Howard Pell showed us a video he has prepared for the Rotary Clubs in Mississauga that is being used to assist in growing club membership. He is requesting involvement form club members who would be willing to assist in the production of a similar video for the Waterloo Region Rotary clubs
Cheryl Ewing was happy to share an email with the club members from the Women’s Addiction Centre. The email expressed the appreciation of the clients at the centre for the outdoor spaces that the club has provided. The use of the patio area adds to the beauty of the facility and the gardens have add to the enjoyment.
Karen Redman reported her enjoyment having attended the Rotary International Conference in St Paulo. She found the conference to be inspirational and provided an opportunity for her to bond with the incoming local club chairs.
Melissa Tummon was happy to report that the Kids Ability Day was a success with 500+ people in attendance. She was thankful to all who assisted and requested any and all helpful feed back
The Rotary office is now located off the main foyer at KidsAbility. It is the second office on the left as you enter the main foyer.
Normally I am in the Rotary office on Monday, late Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon from May until Oct. However, on June 22nd I'll be out of town, returning to the office on June 23rd, late morning. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
