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NEXT LUNCH MEETING:
 
January 30, 2017
Our speakers will be from Dignitas International
 

COMMITTEE MEETINGS:

Adventure in Citizen – Thursday, January 26, 6:00 PM, 610 Bronson
 

RAFFLE:        

 

Kokoro Nakayana, our exchange student, won the raffle.
 
HAPPY TOONIES
 
Andre Bourdon was happy because he and Hélene are off to Florida for two months. Hélene is particularly happy because she just retired.
 
Dan Kelley was happy because he and Mary just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. Congratulations Mary and Dan.
 
Rich Fisher was happy because the Community Service Committee, which he has served on and Chaired for many years, has been again successful in finding a good diversity of projects this year.
 
Kateri Clark informed us that Julie Cugalj’s mother had cancer but the treatments have been successful so far.
 
Don Rogers was happy because he and Diane are going to Spain for a month. He was also happy meeting his 5th grandchild a week ago. There are now 5 (3 girls, two boys) all under six years old.
 
Angela Kelly was happy to update us on the Syrian family. The mother and father are working hard to improve their language skills. The Father is taking advanced classes at Algonquin, while the Mother continues with ½ day classes. The improvement is remarkable. The 4 children are doing fine in school and day care.
 
Eva Hammond, while reminding us of the importance of promoting Rotary at every opportunity, was pleased to announce that she had recently sent off 1,194 womens underware (panties) to Rwanda. This has been a project of hers for a few years and addresses the need for comfortable and sanitary clothing for women in Rwanda.
 
Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
ClubRunner
E-News - January 16, 2017

President John Lark called the meeting to order at 12:15 and followed with the Invocation.

 

VISITORS:

Kateri Clark introduced our visitors:

Robert Alsberry

Kokoro Nakayana, exchange student

Kershaw Goel

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS:

 

Rich Fisher informed us that Ken Sargent’s wife had passed away recently. They had been married for 68 years. Ken was one of the really good Rotarians for many years.

 

Robert Therrien reminded us of the Chilly Chilli social event coming up on Sunday February 12. This is the annual event when we gather for some food and fellowship with our local Rotaract Club. We will be skating at the Rink of Dreams at City Hall from 5 to 6 PM and then enjoying a good pot of Chilli and treats on the 2nd floor of City Hall from 6 to 7 PM. See you there.

 

Don Rogers announced that the Community Service Committee arranged for the Club to gather at the Foodbank warehouse on Thursday February 9 from 1:30 to 3:30 PM to help sort food donations.

This is a good way to see these services in action. A sign up form and further instructions will be distributed at our next meeting.

CLUB ASSEMBLY: 

Don Rogers provided an update on the activities of the Community Service Committee. The Committee has supported several important and unique community projects:
  • the infant mental health program at the Youville Centre
  • a youth employment initiative to teach entrepreneurship skills to high risk youth
  • Best Buddies program run by U of Ottawa students who match students to isolated disable individuals 
  • 2 individuals with severe spinal cord disabilities
  • continue to support the very popular Dictionaries for Life program in 4 Ottawa elementary schools
  • considering a playground project for an elementary school in a less advantaged area
The Committee is pleased with the diversity of the projects and the community needs they help fill.
 
Andre Bourdon introduced Keshaw Goel, a student at Lisgar, who won our Club’s Citizenship Award this year. Keshaw outlined the community activities he has been involved with for the Club. 
 
Angela Kelly updated us on the progress and accomplishments of 12 of our past hosted exchange students. They were from Venezuela, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Brazil, France, Hungary, Japan, Austria and Taiwan. What an impressive group. It is obvious this program has very positive impacts on the students.
 
The International Services Committee provided the following updates:
  • Support for the refugee initiative continues to be a preoccupation of the committee. As previously announced, we have submitted the application for a second family (Mohamad's brother, wife and daughter) and we are happy to hear that the application has been accepted by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. We are not sure how long the processing will take, but at least 6 months.
  • Our Centennial project continues to progress and we urge members to look at the website for some latest information from the two girls we are supporting.
  • We have a good list of prospective projects to support for the current year and the Committee will be making a decision in early February.
  • On January 30th, our lunch time speaker will be from the Uxbridge Rotary club, with whom we partnered on a project to combat AIDS in Malawi.  This promises to be a very interesting presentation on one of our major past projects and we urge as many members as possible to come out and hear this presentation.
  • We are working to re-establish closer ties with the District on IS projects and hope to have more to report on this in the near future.
  • President John updated us on his meetings with other area Clubs on how by working together Rotary can have a bigger impact. An example is combining golf tournaments.
  • He is also looking for comments on how we as a Club can keep all our members involved.
President John updated us on his meetings with other area Clubs on how by working together Rotary can have a bigger impact. An example is combining golf tournaments.
He is also looking for comments on how we as a Club can keep all our members involved.
***You are receiving this email as a member of the Rotary Club of Ottawa. We welcome your feedback to Margot or to Glenn Campbell, Chair, Enews Committee (rglenncampbell@gmail.com).***