President Elect, John Webster called our meeting to order at 12:30 p.m.
John thanked the 11 members who were able to take part in the Earth Day event of planting trees at Lakeside Park in Kitchener on Wednesday, April 20th. Thanked organizers Peter Gray & Howard Pell.
Today's guests included: Alan Daniel, Lea Daniel,Ethan Way and Exchange Student Clara Mogo, guests of the club. Visiting Rotarians, Bill Carter of the RC of Kitchener Conestoga and Lorna Pitcher, Rotary Club of Toronto and guest speaker. Welcome all!
Jim Phillips made everyone aware of the upcoming meeting for the Online Auction committee this Thursday at 5:15 at KidsAbility and that the kick-off is next Monday's meeting.
Martin Jones announced that the 'Turnover' mtg. Is June 28th.
Bill Proctor reminded everyone of the District Conference Oct. 14 – 16 and that registration is open on the website with information available on the event. For hotel rooms with views of the Falls you need to book soon.
Howard Pell sent around sign-up sheets for the coming May events from the community service committee. May 16th - Dom Cardillo Trail clean-up [in lieu of our regular mtg.]
May 29th – Humane Society Walk-a-thon [need help with registration, marshalling etc.]
Dave Martindale introduced speakers Lorna Pitcher & Ethan Way from Children of Hope Foundation in Uganda.
Lorna Pitcher spoke on the help provided to the young girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram four years ago in Uganda and had managed to escape capture. Through a donation by Audrey Wipper, and assistance from Bill Carter, of the Rotary Club of Conestoga, this group was able to assist 18 young women. She spoke in detail about the various women and how they have benefited from the Rotary African Women Educational Fund to further their education so that they could overcome the impact of their capture by Boko Haram. Through this program many young women have become future leaders in Uganda in fields such as, medicine, law, nursing, and social work.
Several women are part of the Woman's Advocacy Network that supports the Justice &
Reconciliation project to help unify and heal their country after 20 years of conflict.
Ethan Way spoke of his experience as a volunteer student from U of T Centre for Conflict & Development Studies in Uganda on a one year placement. He connected with several of the 'Aboke' girls as they were known and got to understand their stories and the importance of the project. He did a “post conflict zone” paper on the impact on the area [infrastructure, housing, facilities] and its people. Uganda being a male dominated society; he researched how limited women’s' rights were impacted by this system and that women’s' views, opinions or ideas were deemed insignificant. It has only begun to change with how these women have been able to voice the concerns of women in
their society. Respect is gradually coming about.
Martin Jones thanked Lorna & Ethan for offering us a real view of the situation; their stories of survival and how the future looks for them. On behalf of our group we donated 100 polio vaccines in their names.
It is with regret that the Board has received the resignation of long time Rotarian, Rick Findlay. Rick was a valued member of the club, a Rotarian in 3 cities over 25 years. We wish him well in his future endeavours.
You can check Club Runner for Directory information including Committee information.
All member ID numbers for Rotary International are now listed with your data on Club Runner. This is the number you will need if you are registering for an RI event or contacting RI about your account. From the Home page go to Admin under Membership Manager choose Membership List, current members are listed. If you do not know your password, there is a site for you to click and enter your email address where your password will be forwarded.
Contact information for the new members is available in the Membership List on the Clubrunner site.
Please remember to advise Bill Proctor of situations which would require some acknowledgement from the club - special anniversaries, illness, celebrations, hospitalizations etc.
You are the eyes and ears for the club and without your notification to Bill situations and circumstances will go unnoticed. Bill can be contacted at 519-570-2119 or wj.proctor@sympatico.ca.
