Wednesday May 30th 2018 - Meeting Minutes President’s Updates and other business: Father’s Day Roses These roses are a specially selected species that are grown locally in Dunnville and will be provided freshly cut for us to deliver on Saturday June 16th, the day before Father’s Day. Fort Erie has negotiated a special price of $20 per dozen DELIVERED. This is a fundraiser for our club as we will realize $7 for every dozen we sell. To date we have sold 22 dozen. The friendship visit by Rotarians from South Africa will take place from June 27-29. There are 10 in the group, two couples and six individuals. The Rotarians plan to visit our famous falls along with other tourist sites in our region but they will need a bed for three nights. Your responsibility will be to provide a room and breakfast then transport them to a central spot each day where they will convene for a day of site seeing. Please contact Frank Adamson to volunteer as a driver. Host families are all in place. A BBQ at Mel's will take place on the last evening of their visit and also serve as the year end meeting.
Canada Day: Lance circulated a sign up sheet for the Canada Day event. Paul Allen had some more car raffle tickets and the last for the early bird draw. This is to support Hospice Niagara. The draw will take place in August. Trip of the Month: Frank A. met with the CAA and they can help with organizing the trips. PenFinancial has agreed to be a major sponsor. New Member: Teresa Quinlin from Pelham became a member of the club today. Speaker: Brianna introduced the speaker whom she had met at a RLI event. Leo Johnson is a Hamilton Rotarian who was born in Liberia and spent 8 years in a refugee camp, separated from his family. He tells us he was fortunate to be accepted by Canada and settled directly in Hamilton, attending McMaster and earning a degree in Political Science. He knew there was a need for education for marginalized youth and launched Empowerment Squared with the goal to empower youth and encourage them to be the best they can. He is now spearheading a project in Liberia to build the first library in the country. He will personally supervise the build with boots on the ground. This is a shining example of what Rotary stands for! Liberia has more than 250,000 child soldiers from a war that lasted over 20 years. There is one text book for every 27 students and no good facilities for learning. The library will cost over $2 million, one million for the building, half a million for equipment and a half a million for operating expenses. To date they have raised $300,000 towards this project and the Rotary Club of Hamilton has joined forces with a Rotary Club in Liberia so that this can be managed as an international Rotary project and funds can be raised through Rotary. |