Our meeting was called to order at 18:15 by President Jim Richards with 33 members present. We sang O Canada, toasted Queen and Country and sang Rotary Grace. Our guests this evening included Julie Gray (wife of Rotarian David Gray) and Past Rotarian Gary Brohman.

Sergeant at Arms duties were shared by Brian Black and Jim Miners. There were numerous infractions that required corrective payments and a few fines related to fashion sensibility.

President Jim read some correspondence and provided some news to us:

Greg Scheffee spoke about the upcoming Snowarama event. As in the past, the event will be held at the Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Centre and will take the place of the regular Thursday meeting. Greg circulated the duty roster sign-up sheet, with lots of opportunity for participation on Friday, January 24 and Saturday. Greg proposed, without disagreement, that the Saturday breakfast take place at the Cookhouse, rather than in the Boilerhouse as in the past.

Dave Bishop spoke again about this year’s car draw, since some members were absent last week. He’s willing to be the chair, as long as we agree to a number of conditions:

The Mentons are still willing to do anything for a buck (some limitations apply). Give them a call, or better yet, a job to do, and help them achieve their goal to purchase a wheel chair.

Ted Brandon mentioned that next week’s speaker, Allan Clark, will provide an interesting program as he tells us of his sports experience both in Canada and at the international level.

Third quarter dues are now due – Treasurer Jim Henwood will be happy to receive your cheque if he doesn’t already have it.

Dave Gray introduced us to his daughter, Larissa, our guest speaker for the evening. Slightly less than 10 years ago, Larissa left Haliburton to pursue her BA in International Studies at the University of Toronto. Since graduating in 1997, she has been a Vatican Representative at the United Nations and worked as Toronto Events Co-ordinator for World Youth Day, 2002. It was her experiences in the latter position that she shared with us this evening. But first, she reminisced about hand delivering the Rotooter around Haliburton in its pre-electronic state. Many of her old "customers" were present and could share the memory with her.

Although most of us were quite aware that World Youth Day took place last summer in Toronto, many were not aware of the two years of planning and organizing prior to the event. From the time the Toronto site was chosen over Australia and Germany in 2000, a team began working behind the scenes to pull it all together for the summer of 2002. It all paid off when the Cross made its way across Canada and each Diocese held events leading up to the 10 days in Toronto.

Larissa’s role was to co-ordinate the almost 1200 events that took place at a variety of venues in Toronto. There were about 400 teaching events, 750 "festival" events and several Papal events for the 800,000 visitors from 161 countries. Arrangements also were made for 200,000 billets and 400,000 transports.

A new idea for World Youth Day, introduced by Larissa, was 114 social service projects enjoyed by 100,000 young people. These projects offered opportunities to reach out beyond the Catholic faith community to the other communities to provide assistance and some lasting impact of the event.

The next World Youth Day will be in Germany in 2004 – do you think Larissa might attend?

In closing, Larissa thanked Rotary for the example offered by its work in the community and for the opportunity to speak this evening.

Sean Hawley attended WYD as an OPP constable and commented on the fine behaviour of the crowd, despite the large numbers and unpleasant weather experienced at times.

Anyone interested in further information about World Youth Day, including pictures and donation details, can visit the WYD Website.

Andy Glecoff said thanks and presented Larissa with a copy of The Essential Haliburton.

Upcoming Rotary Meetings:

January 16 – Board Meeting at 4:00 p.m.

January 16 – Ted Brandon and Linda Beachli on program

January 23 – meeting cancelled

January 25 – Snowarama

President Jim sent us home at 7:07.