Our meeting was called to order at 18:15 by President Jim Richards with 29 members present. We sang O Canada, toasted Queen and Country and sang Rotary Grace. Our only guest this evening was Wendy Gunning, wife of Rotarian John Gunning. Thanks to the return of Art Ward, we were able to have a sing song with a spring theme.

Sergeant at Arms duties were performed by Jim Miners. Fines included one for Art Ward who advertised tulips with the sing song, one for Drew Carey related to a missing tooth, one for Tracey McMullen for a missing taste test and one for the curlers who are being blamed for the return of cold weather. There will be a fine next week for any Rotarian who cannot name their team for the card draw.

President Jim mentioned some pieces of correspondence:

The Rotary Foundation sent us a note acknowledging our $3,000 donation. A motion was put forward by Don Popple, seconded by Ted Brandon, that we send another $3,000 to complete our commitment for this year.

There was a thank-you from Frank Tielemans’ family for our recognition of his passing.

We received a note from the Leanne Reynolds Trust Fund in recognition of our donation towards the cost of an overhead lift.

Hugh Nichol passed around two things, a sample prospecting letter for potential new members and a "sponsor" list. Hugh received lots of comments on the letter, which he wanted, and members added their name as sponsor to follow-up after the letters are sent.

Dave Bishop announced that the first winner of the "50 Tickets Sold" contest was Kim Emmerson, and that there are still two prizes left. The car is at Curry Motors awaiting plates and is available for use. Call Dave if you want to reserve a time for the car and keep selling tickets.

Andy Salvatori reported that he had received a letter for Dysart asking whether he knew of anyone who would act as the local co-ordinator for a Man in Motion event to be held in June. If you are that person, give Andy a call.

Drew Carey reminded us that he is still without a confirmed first host family for our next inbound exchange student. He would like to have at least three names, sooner rather than later, so give him a call if you are able to help.

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

Luke Schell introduced Wayne Lavery, well known locally as husband of Karen and President of Patient News Publishing.

Wayne told us that his story began about 10 years ago when he moved to Haliburton from Toronto, met and married Karen, started Patient News Publishing and never looked back. From a small beginning, the company has grown to employ 42 and offer full service newsletter production and distribution to dentists across Canada and the USA. With a present annualized growth of 88%, more than 3,000 dentists as clients and approximately 15,000,000 newsletters sent, it is no longer a small business.

In the beginning Wayne used his health care marketing experience to select a niche market and was lucky to have the support of landlords, neighbours, other businesses and the HCDC. When Karen joined the organization sales processes became formalized, leading to their leading the market in Canada by 1998. Following a relatively easy move into the much larger US market, Patient News is now the largest of its kind in the US and Canada. Within the next 2 months the 3 current locations for Patient News will all be under one roof next to Haliburton Tim-Br Mart.

Wayne has not regretted the move to Haliburton. He and his employees enjoy the local lifestyle, or they wouldn’t be here. And with the growing number of inbound professionals and skilled workers, Wayne has found ample access to key labour for the business. On the other side of the coin, the labour pool is smaller, there are fewer networking opportunities and technology arrives later on many fronts (e.g. fiber optic communication).

There were a few questions, an equal number of answers and a thank-you from VP Steve Roberts.

Upcoming Rotary Meetings:

April 3 – Don Popple and Greg Scheffee

April 10 – Kim Emmerson and Greg Bishop

President Jim sent us home at 19:07.