President's Corner
President Paul Rostrup noted that we have been busy over the past couple of weeks. The last weekend in January, members enjoyed Dine A Round. On Sunday, Jan 26th, The Arab Women of KW Awards was held, with Paul and Paula attending and Shawky Fahel being the keynote speaker. This past Tuesday, together with the Kitchener Westmount Club we hosted the State of the Region lunch with Regional Chair and Rotarian, Karen Redman. With over 350 people in attendance this was a very successful event.
Paul also noted that the Rotary Club of Guelph will be celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and be opening their meeting on February 21st to the Clubs that they sponsored. A sign-up email was released this afternoon and by responding positively, we will register you, pay your fee and bill your account.
Happy Jar
John Webster that he was pleased to announce, that Sheila's request struck gold and that WestJet has agreed to provide tickets for 2 to anywhere that WestJet flies for our In-Vino event.
Darren Sweeney has returned from his annual Florida vacation. He always attends a few Rotary meetings. As a singing club, they even sang O Canada.
Wayne Boehler came back from his London check-up - cancer free.
Shawky Fahel, in addition to celebrating his 70th birthday, announced that his project now has three Middle East Rotary Clubs signed up as partners, and that the Community Assessment is in process.
Bell Ringer(s)
Howard Pell and his committee for running a well-attended State of the Region address by Karen Redman.
President's Wine Quiz
What is the February Rotary Theme? - Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Additional entries were awarded for using social media to promote the State of the Region Luncheon and to identify what the ION swag handed out at the State of the Region lunch is used for - attach it to the back of your phone as a hand holder. Thank you Richard for enlightening the club.
Club Announcements
Neil Swayze was pleased to present the club with a cheque representing the proceeds from the 2019 On-Line Auction and advising that the final results will exceed the target. The On-Line Auction team will be presenting a report on the results in April.
While additional details will follow, In-Vino marks its return on Thursday, April 16 at the Tannery. While there will be no silent auction, it is hoped to have 5 major items for a live auction.
Bill also noted:
February 10 - District Governor will speak with us about joining with other Clubs on projects.
February 24 (or 25th) an evening meeting will feature Louise and Graham Gardiner sharing their health experiences and promoting organ donation (friends, spouses, older children are welcome to attend).
March 2 - Louise will educate us on the use of Social media.
Friday February 21 - Guelph Club's 100th anniversary
50/50 Draw
Lumi Mironescu, Ross Newkirk and Dave Chatson each missed in their opportunity to locate the jack of hearts.
Program Highlights
Our program consisted of two items - Lumi's "Who am I" and a report from the Car Draw Committee.
Lumi Mironescu
Lumi was born in Romania.
She practices as an investment advisor.
Lumi has been married to Valentin for 30 years and has two children (Ella was in attendance).
After working for Sun Life for 7 years, she determined that clients are more than just numbers, and joined Investia Financial Services, and eventually bought into the business.
Her education is both from Europe and Canada, and she has various certificates, including her Licenced Investment Funds Advisor and various marketing courses.
Lumi enjoys travel, is passionate about health and wellness and the Arts. Both of her children participate in the Arts and Lumi does a lot of promoting of the Arts.
2019 Car Draw
Adrian noted that the thing that he was most pleased about this year is that 35 members actively participated.
He noted the success of both Bestival (Belmont Village) and Crusing on King, where significant dollars were raised. They are looking at participation in a number of car-related events next year.
Issues that continue to be addressed include car pickup, the use of e-sales, larger mail-out lists, and increased use of the market.
Adrian noted our sponsors (K-W Mercedes, Joe Dwyer, Swanson Hardware, the Kitchener Rangers and the Auditorium, Kitchener Sports Association, St Jacobs Market) and friend of the club, Don Zehr who sold about $3,300 of tickets.
A host of Rotarians were also recognized (Bryn and Howard, Lew Ford, Paul, Richard, Mike, Dave, Bill and Tom).
On the financial side, members sales increased by about $5,000 to $56,000 and total sales were about $80,000, similar to last year. Expenses were less in 2019, with the result that the overall profit was up by over $10,000.
The Car Draw team was very pleased with the results. Planning is underway for the Car Draw in 2020, with several enhancements being considered by the Car Draw team.
