The Rotooter-March 13
This week’s Rotooter comes courtesy of a Foreign Correspondent – or at least a correspondent who is presently a foreigner where he is.
The meeting of March 13 began as usual at 18:15 with President Jim calling us to sing O Canada, toast the Queen and Country and to sing Rotary Grace. There were no guests other than the speaker and there was no singing of songs.
Sergeant-at-arms Jim Miners dispensed a small amount of justice related to the recent, and very successful, 25th Annual Robertson Bonspiel.
President Jim had a few communications to share:
We received a thank-you note from Razamataz for our sponsorship of their program.
There will be a dinner in Barrie on March 31 to acknowledge our District’s participation in the RI wheelchair funding program – Dorothy and Brian Menton are key players and RI Past President Richard King will be present. See President Jim for details.
Our District requires a technical assistant for events such as PETS and SETS – again, contact President Jim
The RI Website (www.rotary.org) now has a link to the Rotary Centennial Website under the Rotary Now heading – try it out, and if you have difficulty finding it, contact Jim Miners
President Jim mentioned the discussion at our last Club Assembly regarding changing the location of our regular meetings. He suggested a trial run at the Wigamog to see what conditions would be present. The club agreed by show of hands to the trial visit. VP Steve will make arrangements for a suitable trial date.
Drew Carey announced again that he still requires volunteer host families for the next inbound student. Contact Drew if you can assist.
Derek Knowles spoke about golf to get our minds temporarily off snow. According to Dale Walker, sponsors are already signing up in good numbers and the player spots are going quickly too. The date for this year’s tournament is July 24. Thanks for the brief snow respite Derek.
A little bit sooner than golf season is the next PETS/SETS conference, set for North Bay on the April 12 weekend. Speak to VP Steve Roberts regarding registration if you are attending.
The final report of the evening was from the team of Dave Gray and Art Dawson, organizers of our recent bonspiel. Although there were a couple of surprises, it was not a surprise that we all had a good time and that some money was raised – approximately $892 to be exact.
Tonight’s Program
Tracey McMullen was pleased to introduce our speaker tonight, her mom Heather. Although we could have pressed Heather for a few anecdotes about Tracey, her reason for being with us tonight was to tell us about the Haliburton Hospital Auxiliary, an organization of volunteers instrumental to the operation of our local hospital. Heather has been involved with the Auxiliary for a number of years and has served as its president since April 2000.
Since its formation in March of 1971 the HHA has raised money through a number of events and means to fund the purchase of many items and services needed and appreciated by hospital staff, patients and visitors. In addition to helping provide such items as car seats, radios, tv’s, razors, heart monitors and interior decorating, the 70 volunteers operate the gift shop and the tuck cart, produce a quarterly newsletter, distribute Christmas gifts and "first baby" gifts.
Anyone who believes in the motto "To Care and Serve", has 10 hours a year to offer and $2.00 for the membership fee is encouraged to contact Heather. In return for your contribution you will be entitled to attend monthly meetings and participate in a variety of volunteer activities. You can then also share in the pride of helping to raise almost $400,000 for the benefit of all those who use the hospital.
Ray Selbie said thanks on our behalf.
Upcoming meetings:
March 20 – Brian Black has the program
March 27 – Board meeting at 16:00, Luke Schell has the program at 18:15
President Jim sent us away at 18:50.
At the Jack Robertson Memorial Bonspeil, Rotarian Sean Hawley demonstrates the fine techniques of curling to exchange student Miki Rastello.
It turns out that the lesson was successful !
