The Westerner for January 23, 2012
Attendance / Guests: 38, including John Nypuik - Edmonton Mayfield, B. Oakley - Guest of Perry, Piper Alan "Butch" Balch, and Ingrid Neitsch - former member ready to re-join.
It is a tradition of the Rotary Club of Edmonton West to honour the members who are Paul Harris Fellows by having them piped in to the meeting, prior to the singing of Oh Canada. It is also a tradition to have Jim Johnston address the Haggis prior to its being served to members at our annual Robbie Burns Celebration. However, the chef forgot to cook the haggis, and so we will have that tradition enacted next Monday.
Announcements:
- 395 Air Cadet Squadron will be holding a Dress Parade on Tuesday, February 7th, so all members are invited to join President Sherry and others at HMCS Nonsuch at 7:15 pm sharp.
- Kieran LeBlanc distributed nomination forms for our use in nominating our candidates for an Integrity Award. If you have a deserving person in mind, please complete the form and get it back to Kieran by February 13th.
- The Guatemala Eye Clinic Team, 6 in total including Ben Doz, Lorne Proctor and Al Sanderson has returned after taking care of some 830 patients. Al talked about the gratitude shown by many of these very poor people, including an elderly man who returned after receiving his reading glasses with 3 gift oranges he had purchased at a nearby market. Lorne & Al did experience some sickness on this trip, but Al says "What happens in Guatemala stays in Guatemala".
- 50/50 Draw - Al Sanderson and Darryll White did not match cards.
- Finemaster Jim Johnston excempted those who were wearing tartan and/or had flown in the RCAF, but got everyone else for a loonie and those who had not yet been south this year for another twonie.
- Lorne announced that our application to the Rotary Club of Ottawa for its Adventure in Citizenship program has been accepted so we will now start the process of finding and choosing a qualified student to send to Ottawa at the end of April on this adventure.
- Have you had anything to eat this week? Did you eat out or at home? If you ate at home, then you have recently bought food. Chances are you bought some of that food at either Saveon, Sobeys, IGA or Safeway. You could have been using gift cards to make that purchase, and you could have done it in such a way that our club would have raised funds in the amount of 8% of your total food purchase. It is so easy to contribute to our fundraising in this manner, and it cost you nothing extra. To order cards from any of the above, just send an e-mail to Brian Thompson (bthom@planet.eon.net) saying you want say $500 worth of Safeway gift cards, and then bring your cheque to the next meeting. Brian will hand you an envelope containing your cards and you will give him your cheque. What could be difficult about that? Please support our club by using the GIFT CARDS which we have already purchased and have available to sell to you, your family and your friends. Do it right now!
PROGRAM Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Robbie Burns Birthday (on January 25th)
President Sherry introduced Honorary Member Doug MacDougall in his tartan jacket to talk about the life and the poetry of Robbie Burns. Doug started off by saying he was "insulted" by Bill Macdonald saying he looked like Don Cherry with that jacket on. He then congratulated Steve McEachern on his anniversary. (Notice that if you aren't a Mac or a Mc you get no mention at all?)
Robbie Burns only lived for 37 years, but during that time he had several wives, many more mistresses, fathered many illegitimate children, frequently drank to excess, had bouts of depression and heart problems, and held a satirical view of the church.
Doug recited verses from several of Burns famous poems and proposed a toast to Robbie Burns.
Doug received a standing ovation for his presentation.
The meeting wound up with everyone holding hands in a circle around the room singing Auld Lang Syne, accompanied by Jerome and Butch.