Bulletin - March 24, 2011

We were warmly greeted this morning by Darren, who handed out cushions to insure our “little touches” would be warm during the meeting.  Chairperson John presided over his first meeting since joining the Club.  Noting that this was not his favourite time of day, he proceeded to flawlessly get us through the meeting.

As Katrina was the guest speaker today, she brought, as her guests, former host families, the Higham (Peter) family and the Perkins (John) family.  Dianne brought her hubby Frank, while Robin introduced the 1st year MTA student who organized the paper crane fundraiser for survivors of the earthquake.  Outgoing RYE students Chloe MacIsaac (going to Belgium) and Klarissa Gondreau got their first taste of what goes on at a Rotary meeting.  No guest Rotarians were present today.

There was a decided lack of interest in anyone admitting to a birthday or anniversary.  However the pin-pal opportunities presented themselves to Dianne and Wayne.  Seems Dianne met an old friend who is a member of the Amherst club, while Wayne met this lady from Fredericton at the recent breakfast.  She was a former RYE in 1989 and she made a $100 donation to our club before she left.  Some old guys never loose their touch.

Almost the whole club received make-ups this week as a result of: projects, fundraising and RYE committee meetings, all those who worked the breakfast and Pam H. who was at the Pictou NS club.

The 50/50 draw was won by Prez Ken, which prompted a comment from Brian – more money for the bankers.  In the Happy Dollar front, Ken was real happy he won the whopping $10 +.  Wynn was happy that Sandy agreed to stay on a President of the Chamber of Commerce (that let him off the hook) and he could see the fruits of his mentorship as John guided today’s meeting; Charlie was happy that Laing managed to “escape” the Drew and made today’s meeting; Dianne for having a card to send to Jake; Darrell for having “happy tickets” (disguised as Wine Tasting Tickets) for everyone to sell; Pam H. for a “thank you” poster from students who were sent cookies; and from one of Katrina’s host families who had a chance to preview her talk today.  Dale paid the big bucks for his request for volunteers to assist in loading the shelter boxes into his truck after the meeting.

The duty roster for next week saw John returning as Chairperson (that cost him a happy $), Dianne as the greeter, Bill as the Introducer and Darrell as the Thanker.  (Note these are published weekly on our web site sackvillerotary.ca)

Gayle announced that the Wine Tasting Committee will meet each week at the Olive Branch Restaurant from now until the event concludes.  Only one committee report this week – Sandy announced that the club members have donated and average of $348 per member to the Foundation during this Rotary year.  This is an all time high and the highest in the District.

Prez. Ken announced the next Rotary Leadership Institute course will be on April 16th from 9am to 4:30 pm at the Dieppe Community College.  Registration is $100 and is paid for by the club.  See Ken for more details.