The winner of the 2017 Mercedes-Benz B250 is: Ticket #00610, Joan Maxner of Brantford.
Congratulations Joan and thank you to all who purchased tickets in support of the Rotary Club of Kitchener and the charities it supports, primarily KidsAbility.
Early bird prize draws:
Ticket #01614– Dennis Howard- $250 gift certificate from Swanson’s Home Hardware
Ticket #01537– Stella Cocks – Ranger Night for 4, dinner and tickets to a Kitchener Ranger hockey game.
Meeting was called to order by President John at 12:30.
John welcomed all members & guests then spoke of how well the District Changeover meeting was last Thursday, June 22nd. He drew our attention to the new Club banner that replaces the District banner passed on to Kathie Dyck and our previous banner. He also paid tribute to Martin Jones who received a Civic Award for his involvement with the Youth Forum. Also our club received two banners highlighting our contributions to the !00th year foundation campaign.
Dave Smith regaled us with a humourous short story of a funeral misplay from a bagpiper. Our numerous guests for today included: Lawrence McNaught & Andy MacPherson from the Registry Theatre; Bill Poole & Lynda Abshoff from the Clay & Glass Gallery; Cody Miller & Briski from Starlight Youth Festival; Dr. Iman Arab from the Muslim Social Services and Kim Wilhelm from the Food Bank. As well as, new inductee Michelle Gardiner and Graham Gardiner from Kitchener Westmount Club.
1. Cheryl Ewing was delighted to inform the group that on her visit to the Woodstock club on her talk about Nogales an offer of firetrucks was given. She asked if anyone knew how they could manage to send these firetrucks to please contact her.
2. Howard Pell congratulated Bill Proctor on his year as District Governor and looked forward to his year as Past District Gov.
3. Louise Gardiner was delighted with her birthday celebrations with family last week.
4. Bill Proctor hilited his busy week with his wife Judy's accident where her foot was run over by a car and the subsequent surgery last Friday; along with the District changeover meeting but what topped the week was that his internet went down and it took several Bell technicians to figure it out adding to his 150 email backlog which took hours to answer.
5. John Webster was happy to say he had accomplished many of his goals for this year as president; especially the satellite club which lead to today's induction of one of that group, Michelle Gardiner.
1. John was pleased to announce that he received a thank you letter from KidsAbility for all our members help with organizing and running the tenth annual Fun Day on June 17th and assisting with their 60th anniversary tree planting ceremony.
Howard Pell brought to the attention of members that the CAR Draw will kick-off this July 1st, at the St. Jacobs Market along with Canada Day. He would like to see members sign up for any one of the spots at the Market, as well as, others events like the Blues Festival in August, Rotary Rib Fest in Cambridge in August or the Plowing Match in September. Lots of events needing members to offer their time.
Martin introduced the following groups of individuals who received grants from our foundation to assist with the growth of their organizations.
a) Lawrence McNaught & Andy MacPherson from the Registry Theatre spoke of how the grant offered a chance to bring 'Breithaupt Brothers' home to Kitchener. A Jazz & String concert that hilited the civic contributions that the Breithaupt family has made to the Kitchener area and their help in establishing how Kitchener has grown into a welcoming community.As community builders and strong advocates of civic duty; the theatre is creating a documentary video of the concert along with interviews of family to point out how welcoming the community is to all immigrants both past and recent. A local Syrian refugee will be interviewed to show this aspect of our community.
b) Bill Poole & Lynda Abshoff from the Clay & Glass Gallery spoke of how the grant will offer an opportunity for them to place electronic iPad around the gallery to elicit responses from patrons on what the gallery offers and the experiences enjoyed by them. Created in 1993, the gallery is going to celebrate their 25th anniversary next year which shows the need for this type of art to be showcased. It offer Canadian artist from across Canada to place to exhibit their work. The Gift Shop offers a way to support the artists and the gallery alike when the artwork is purchased.
c) Cody Miller and Briski from the Starlight Youth Festival spoke of their thanks to our club for supporting this youth festival of the arts which assisted to educate and bring together new young artists with professionals and give them a venue to showcase their talents. A Jazz ensemble and the school of dance were two groups who benefited as well as Cody & Briski themselves who learned how to organize such an event.
d) Kim Wilhelm from the Food Bank of Kitchener outlined how this group was able to offer 1,600 meals and 240 hampers of food along with organizing 5 million pounds of food for distribution to the community. Of that amount 70% was either fresh or frozen foods which many people are unaware of. With the need to process fresh food; the grant offered by our club will go to creating and constructing a food processing room so volunteers can slice & dice the fresh food given by farmers or grocery stores so the food can be packaged, canned or frozen to be used in the winter months when fresh food is scarce thus creating nutritious healthy meal options for families.
e) Dr. Iman Arab from the Muslin Social Services spoke of the organization working 10 years in the community working to welcome newcomers. The service offers consulting in numerous languages to immigrants to assist them in negotiating government agencies such as education, mental health and well being after the difficult circumstances many have come from. They offer a chance to tell their stories and be heard. They provide an outreach program to child & family services and educational institutions. They have a musical therapy program for children so they can express themselves. Her organization offers public education on the Islamic religion for Canadians to understand them better. She brings in outside organizations, such as, police and child & family services to explain to newcomers how they function. Our grant has helped her to continue and grow these services.
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 bill.proctor@bell.net
Sandra has now officially retired! On behalf of our club she was presented with a beautiful flower arrangement and dinner gift certificate for her and Jim to enjoy! Your board is in the process of investigating the best way to replace the MANY things Sandra has done for us, often without most of even knowing!! Sandra will be formally recognized at one of our upcoming events.
Please continue to email any information or inquiries, including make-up requests to RotKit@sentex.net as it is now monitored by Dave Chatson and John Webster.
Sandra, THANK YOU! for your years of service, guidance and often times patience with our club. Best of wishes to you and Jim!!
