Bulletin - September 29, 2011

CHAIRPERSON

Brian chaired our meeting this morning, getting us underway with a Positive Thought borrowed, in part, from Aristotle about giving money to the “right person at the right time…”.

VISITORS

Dave McKellar and partner, Sue Fisher, shared breakfast with us this morning. They are both members-in-waiting from the Ottawa club.

GUESTS

It was great to see several guests this morning:  Trish brought Dad, Bill Edwards, from Picton, Ontario; Su C. brought son David from Middle Sackville;  Robin brought cutie-pie Henry (from Squire Street).  Also with us, our guest speaker and former Rotarian, Steve Epworth.

MAKE-UPS

The Projects Committee met – names were emailed to Barb J.

Pam attended the new Breakfast Club in Lower Sackville (NS) on Tuesday morning.  This is part of District 7820.

BIRTHDAYS

No birthdays this week.

ANNIVERSARIES

No anniversaries either.

PIN PAL

None of these…Moving right along…

50/50 DRAW

Ken made John a happy man this morning with a big $15.00 win!!

HAPPY DOLLARS

John is happy about winning 50/50;

Cathy is happy to be going to “Meat Camp” just outside of Halifax this weekend.  For those wanting to know…Meat Camp is a BBQ competition.  Best of luck, Cathy!

Sue Fisher was happy to have shared a great meal with Rotarians on Sunday and is a little sad to be heading back to Ottawa.

Ove is happy to be heading to the cottage in the Laurentians and hopes that wife, Pat, will be happy to receive him.

Ken is happy to be one of the medal bearers during the Rick Hanson Run.  Good luck with the 200m run, Ken!

Dianne is back from her cruise (with no make-ups).  She also heard from former RYE students Mazuki (Japan 2009/10) and Katrine (Denmark 2010/11).  Mazuki has passed her exam to enter Sophia University – taking English.  Dianne read Katrine’s email which she wanted shared with our members.  She misses us!

Karen is happy to have reconnected with an old pal Allyson Meldrum (Wynn’s daughter) at CurlAtlantic on the weekend; also proud to announce that Tantramar Regional High School won the $4,000 spirit award at Touchdown Atlantic.

George is pleased to have with us Steve Epworth as our guest speaker.   He’s also heading to Newfoundland next week!

Barb J. loved watching the sun rise on her drive to Rotary this morning.  She also requested a drive to tonight’s Club Administration meeting.

Pat informed us that the ‘biker chicks’ were off to a Fall Run on PEI starting Friday.  Have fun!

Trish has had a great week with her parents!  AND, the TiCats won!  Whoot!  Whoot!

NEXT

Cathy = Chair     Pam H. = Introducer     Trish – Thanker     Darrell = Greeter

Guest Speaker:  Su Coish will be giving her Classification Talk.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Membership – Andy – Thanked members for submitted names of potential new members.  All feedback is welcome.  The Committee will be hosting a Fireside Chat sometime in October.

Projects – Trish- Met last night and had a great evening of brainstorming.

RYE – Robin – Students are off to PEI tomorrow for their Orientation for Districts 7810 and 7820.  Have a great time Felix and Pernille!

UPCOMING MEETINGS

Club Administration to meet tonight at 7:15pm at Wayne and Sandy’s by the lake.

Relay for Life (9^th annual) teams are raising funds for this event in October.  One way is by collecting bottles.  Please bring your recycling (bottles/cans) to Rotary the next two weeks.  They can also pick up at your home if arrangements are made.

Legacy Committee to meeting on Tuesday at 10am at the Bridge Street Café.

Executive Committee to meet next Wednesday evening.

PRESIDENT’S TIME

Our recent Golf Ball Drop raised a net profit of $1,564.00;

President Ken thanked organizers for the Bridge Walk held on Sunday and informed us that this has continued to be the ‘standard’ on how other bridges are built;

Ken mentioned this month’s District Newsletter which features a couple of articles on the Sackville Club (RYE and Dragonboat).  It’s a great read!

October 15^th is the upcoming RLI (Rotary Leadership Institute).  Registration begins at 8:30am and participants should be done around 4:30pm.  The Club will cover the costs associated for anyone wanting to attend.  There are three levels to the program.

Chairperson Brian mentioned that a new dock has been approved at Lilas Fawcett Park (an original Rotary project).  Brian wondered if this was a potential project (upgrade) for Sackville Rotary.

GUEST SPEAKER

George was jumping out of his seat to introduce today’s guest speaker, Steve Epworth.  Steve is a consultant for the First Nations Economic Development.  Formerly, Steve has been a police office, a gospel singer/piano player and received his first award at age 12.

Funny-guy Steve opened with a limerick on coming to Rotary this morning, having been notified only last night.  Steve said it was great to see Sackville Rotarians again and informed us that he has been doing a lot of travelling lately.

Steve assured us that he is not Father Christmas, Randy Bachman, nor Ron Aitken – thankfully, after seeing what this would look like on his slide show.  He then told us that he had no idea what to speak about this morning.  He considered many stories like, “My sister’s bumps”, “How I cut my brother’s tongue”, and “Why my father got kicked out of Canadian Tire for life”.  He chose, however, “Why I like to rhyme stuff”.

While working for Indian Affairs, it was noticed that he was quick with limericks.  As a result, Steve was asked by the University of Toronto to teach a course.  Still working with addictions counselling, Steve iterated the importance of humour.  “People don’t laugh enough.”   In a world where times can be tense and hectic, humour plays an important role.  Steve noted that us Rotarians loved to share a good laugh…something he misses being away from Rotary.  On that note, Steve was happy to share a limerick about our members, including Pam B., Wayne, Darren, and made-fun of his own lack of attendance while being a Rotarian.

Rhyming styles and humour…

Steve says one has ‘poetic license’ to make-up words and write was you feel.  If they end up rhyming, then great!  Then shared his poem “Why was we born naked?”

There is also the instructional rhyme.  Steve then shared a poem entitled “Airtiquette”, a guide to the rules of flying (rather than etiquette), including keeping that kid in back of you from kicking your seat!

Steve then showed his serious side by paying tribute to polar bears, which was also a little political.  He says that during his travels he has been thinks that have affected him.  One of these is seeing the habitats for polar bears disappear.

With some time left, Steve finally got around to telling us the story of his sister’s bumps.  It goes something like this:  Around 1970, Steve’s sister “Squirt” was bump-less and hoped for nothing more than acquiring some and informed their father that they would cost $4,000.  Taking out a piece of paper and considering some figures, Dad thought this was a possibility stating, “We can do one this year and maybe another next year…”  Squirt never asked for bumps again!

Su C. thanked Steve for his light-hearted presentation and informed him of the book that would be donated to a local library on behalf of Sackville Rotary.

Our meeting adjourned with the stating of the 4-Way Test.