The meeting on the 13th was motivating, exciting and a big reveal. Our special guest was District Governor Fred Wright.
The meeting began with our usual opening and guests were introduced; District Governor Fred Wright and Rotarian Hobie’s wife, Brenda Searles.
Diane was a one woman show as she prepared, served and cleared the tables with a little help from some of the Rotarians. The District Governor rated the meal as one of the top meals he has eaten as he visited all of the clubs in the district.
While everyone was being served Rotarian Jean gave a brief report on the NOW (Nutrition on Weekends) project. The volunteers are still filling an average of 54 bags every Friday. She is keeping stats related to the cost per bag, types of foods included, future plans and possible grants and donors
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Then came the big reveal. Rotarian Jean introduced two Grade 12 students from the Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive School, Avery Vestby and Kya Jackson, who have started a Rotary Interact club at the school. Although it is still in its early stages they are meeting every week, have about 23 students involved from grade 10-12 and are identifying a local and an international project as well as ways to fund raise for them. Kevin Lopuck has agreed to be the teacher supervisor for the group and they are using his classroom for their meetings.
At this time Rotarian Jean and Rotarian Sharon have agreed to investigate our necessary responsibilities and involvement with the group. There will be more news as the year progresses.
The Board is discussing our next steps in planning ways to engage community members in our project decisions. They will be bringing some ideas to the membership for discussion.
The following notes were provided by Fred Wright.
Congratulations on your successful start of an Interact Club with 23 members, meeting weekly for almost two months!
Also, congratulations on the launch of your NOW program!
Recap of discussions from the Rotary Club of Selkirk, January 13, 2020.
What does Rotary do? (Below are all the points from the four tables)
- Programs that benefit youth
- Literacy
- Services that benefit mankind
- Things that benefit the local community
- Partners to improve hearth throughout the world
- Aid for disasters
- Connects people
- Doing good locally, nationally and internationally
- Volunteer opportunities
- Avenue for fellowship
- Fun community events
- Promote ethical standards in all vocations
- We do good for the world and local community
- Fundraising for international, national and local
- Have fun
- Meet people and learn from our programs
- Service above self
- Involved in community (parade)
- Promote literacy (book sale-cheap)
- Eat
- Make new friendships/network
- Serve the community
- Try to make the world a better place
- Fundraise
- Provide fellowship
- Provide networking
- Inspire youth
- Develop leadership
- Help members understand various world issues
- Work toward peace
Editor's Notes:
Rotary provides a venue for fun, fellowship and networking. We join together (connect) to do good in the world. We can do more together than alone. We help make our local and global communities a better place than if we didn't exist. We emphasise youth programs and involvement for succession and to foster peace. We provide literacy opportunities.
Why does it matter?
- To make the community (and world) a better place
- Even the playing field (between the haves and have nots)
- To make a difference in community and the world (If we didn't do it who would)
- To complete projects that might not happen otherwise. such as the skateboard park. Project Echo. Dialysis
- Makes our community a better place to live
- Rotary provides necessary leadership
- Promotion of peace
- Connects people around the world
Editor's Notes:
Rotary matters because we connect with people local and globally to foster peace and make the world a better place. We make a difference for many people and this make life better for our local and global communities
Who benefits?
- Everyone — doers and receivers
- Rotarians
- Community—the world
- Local economy
- Schools. students. scholarships
- Rotary International
- Book lovers
- Everyone, including Rotarians
- Rotarians
- The community (The rich, the poor, the underprivileged)
- The world
- Third world countries
Editor's Notes:
Everyone in our local and global community benefits from Rotary.
President Maloney said in this month's Rotarian that "we remain committed to fellowship, integrity, diversity. service and leadership." That about sums it up. Without Rotary, Selkirk would be less of a great place to be. A lot of people benefit from what Rotary does. Think about the youngsters who use the skate park. the students who receive scholarships, the patients who need dialysis. So how do we ensure that we continue Rotary into the future for another 115 years?
- Consider everything that we do and decide if it furthers what we do and why it matters and who it benefits.
- Do we meet for a purpose or just to meet? We need to meet for fellowship and to plan our activities.
- At least one of our District Clubs have changed their meeting format. They still meet weekly. but one meeting has a speaker, one meeting is for club business, one is for fellowship and one is devoted to project work. Could this work in your club to be more beneficial to your members and potential members?
- Do we write cheques or do we provide money and help?
- You get the idea.
This is a great time to be part of Rotary.