President Linda Anderson called the meeting to order at 12:00pm. There were 21 members (plus our two guests) present at the Grey Eagle, and 9 people on Zoom.
President Linda presented a new “land acknowledgement”, coming from her recent attendance at a 5 module seminar on Indigenous relationships and issues.
“Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I’ve heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles for theirs is the same religion as ours. The Sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle and the moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.”
O Canada was followed by the introduction of visitors and guests. Present at the Grey Eagle were District Governor Steve Leavitt (of the Raymond Rotary Club), Jo McDowell of Olympic and assisting Steve, and Kurt Kowalchuk, DGE. On line was Stephanie Rodriguez.
Linda gave her Rotary International Moment describing how the world’s first service club was founded on February 23 1905, when lawyer Paul Harris and 3 friends met in an office in downtown Chicago. They named their new club ‘Rotary” to describe the practice of meeting in rotation at the members’ various places of business.
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| Jo McDowell introduced our guest speaker, District Governor for 2022 – 2023, Steve Leavitt. Steve hails from the Rotary Club of Raymond, a relatively small (~a dozen members) but enthusiastic club. |
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Steve described his experiences with the Imagine Rotary Tour and meeting RI President Jennifer Jones. The Tour logo incorporates 7 dots surrounding a circle, and underscored by a green line. The 7 dots symbolize a gathering of people around a table (the circle) underscored by the bar for hard work. He described her as very focussed on DEI and inclusion, with an ambition to visit 50 countries in her presidential year.
District 5360’s theme this year is “Planting Seeds of Vibrancy”, conjuring an image of planting seeds of ideas (perhaps even small) and with diligence, care and focus, bringing them forth to fruition. He emphasized the importance of not focussing on the weeds, but spending our energies on the good and positive aspects of the club.
The District will focus particularly this year on:
Move for Polio
Ukrainian newcomers
Rotary Days of Service (Including the Secret Marathon)
District Conference, May 2023, Lethbridge, theme of Inclusion
Indigenous Relations (with both Reserve and Inner City groups)
Having fun
Steve requested each table at the Grey Eagle to take a few minutes to generate thoughts and ideas for our club. Feedback indicated that for us, as a service organization, it’s important to strengthen our community support, with more communication, cooperation and interactivity. We need more of our members to share the load, and to participate in fundraising, service, social engagements, field trips, pub nights etc. We should consider having prominent speakers from within the community, more days of service and hands on projects (invite friends and family to participate).
Steve Rickard thanked DG Steve for his presence and presentation today.
Steve Strang advised that The Long Term Youth Exchange programme is open for applicants until November 20. Information is on the website. We will be partnering with Fish Creek .
Feed the Hungry is back. Steve is looking for 15 volunteers for November 6.
Marlene is looking for 4 members to form a bowling team for an event this Saturday (October 22) supporting Move for Polio.
Robyn Brayley is providing an online tutorial/seminar (on Wednesday night?) on social media. Look for the info in an email from Rick Istead (Google it).
Rotary Remembers will be held on November 11. More information will follow.
Linda thanked all who were able to attend the Assembly last week. Lively discussion has provided the board with food for thought.
Christmas Brunch will be held again the year at Pinebrook. The cost is $60.
Weeks of Giving will be scheduled in December. Let Linda know if you have a charity you wish to see supported.
Next week’s meeting will feature RAYEC and RYPEN presentations.
And a final thought… from Indira Ghandi: My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group: there was much less competition.
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