Minutes of March 24, 2014

Announcements

Nash- Thanks to all for a great Progressive Dinner! Special thanks to Ted and Maureen for organizing and to Hira and his wife for hosting the “after party“
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Welcome to Jean Do and her mom to Rotary tonight. Jean is the young lady that our club is raising money for to help buy her a service dog to deal with diabetes. Ted updated us by stating that our Club has donated $2000 towards our goal and the District $1500. The goal is $14000. Ted will be seeing the breeder/trainer this Sat. Jean’s mom thanked our Club for taking on this challenge and is especially grateful to Ted and Maureen for supporting her. Donations can be done on our web-page. Donations of $100 or more can receive a tax receipt. Gord presented two personal cheques for $200 and a donation from an elderly friend  of Rotary for $1000.The Club will be looking at other fundraising to reach our goal.

Special Presentation
Nash introduced Tom Lalond to the Club. Tom is a partner at Marshall’s Funeral Home where we have been able to use their space for the auction items as well as Board meetings. Because of his lengthy support of our Club he was made an honorary member.
Paul V.  and Nash presented Tom with his membership and a gift as a “thank you” for his support. The members welcomed Tom to the Club.

Financial Presentation
Richard’s company SBMB Law had a client appreciation night recently where they decided to donate the events proceeds to our Club. Half the money was raised and the other half donated by the Company. Richard presented a cheque for $5225 to our Club. Richard was then presented a certificate of appreciation by Glen and Nash .

District Assembly- Sat. May3/14 at BMO Training Centre-all new members must attend.
The $100 registration fee is paid by the Club.

Golf Tournament- June 17
Cost is $175 each. $250 for sponsors per hole. See Cyril to register.

International Night- May 9,2014 at LeParc
Paul provided posters to advertise. Reminder that each member needs to sell minimum of 4 tickets. Tax receipts may be issued for part of payment. Funds raised go to international projects to help those in difficult situations improve their life. As an example -we provided funds  for water in Niger so that people could start their own gardens-thus growing their own food. We are looking at funding an MRI for a project in Uganda. We saw a picture of some of our funds in action from last year.

Video- Nash showed a video of one presented by the Great Britain and Ireland Rotary in which the objectives of Rotary “to help others” was presented.

Special Speaker- Michael White
                     (Reforesting ORMCP)

Michael thanked the Club for the invite. Nash presented Michael who is President of the Richmond Hill Naturalists Society . His father ( Dennis White) was a long time Rotary member.

Michael met Bill and Shelagh Harris in 2009 and they convinced him to get together with school children to plant trees and re-forest areas of the Oak Ridges Moraine.(Michael showed a number of slides that demonstrated Rotary members(especially Jason) working with kids planting trees). There are a number of “kettle lakes” formed by the glaciers that have left pockets of water in the area. As an example- Bond Lake- is a kettle lake.

Various developers have bought land in this area but have agreed to save 1000 acres for re-forestration. There are many beautiful frogs thriving in this area. They show that “ What we are doing is making a difference”. Slides were shown of the planting from 2009-2014. Many students from grades 5 and 6 were involved. High school kids have been used as team leaders for the planting. A lot of support has been given by the Conservation Authority and Rotary helps manage the site. Thousands of small birds are also thriving here now. The main trees growing here are Red Oak, Ash and Silver Maple. When students get involved they are able to see what the ground cover is really like. Many will go on to pursue studies and related careers after being involved.

Shelagh Harris thanked Michael on behalf of the Club . She mentioned how inspiring it is to see kids becoming more interested in the environment. She also learns more about these issues each time she hears Michael speak.

Nash presented Michael with a certificate of appreciation on behalf of the Club.