The Westerner for September 12, 2011
Attendance / Guests - 31 Total, including PDG Jackie Hobal, Athabasca, & Nadine Fulmer, Edmonton Northeast (& Rotary Employment Partnership)
Announcements:
- On Monday, September 26th, our 12:15 pm lunch meeting will be at Capital Care Grandview rather than at the Petroleum Club. Jerome will be playing the piano. The club will be calling to determine who will be attending this luncheon.
- If you have a special interest in Group Study Exchange, there will be a District GSE Meeting on Wednesday, October 5th. Contact Sherry for more details.
- 50/50 Draw - Shane and Rob did not match cards so the pot grows by roughly $15.
- Finemaster - Jim Johnston collected twonies for missing the Club golf tournament or for watching either the CFL or NFL on the weekend.
- Thanks - To Bob Lamoureux for organizing last week's fun golf tournament. Four teams of golfers had a fun afternoon on a beautiful day at Victoria Golf Course, followed by refreshments and a very good steak BBQ. All participants took home some kind of prize, not necessarily for their golfing skills.
Book Launch - Ed and Judy Schultz are excited about Judy's first novel, FREDDY'S WAR. They will be having a book launch at Greenwoods' Bookshoppe, 7925 - 104 Street on Wednesday, September 21st, at 7:00 pm. The book is about a young man who joins the Canadian army in 1941, gets sent to Hong Kong, becomes a prisoner of war, comes back to Canada and then finds the memories of war a heavy burden while he fights to survive in a world that has left him behind. Judy and Ed would be very pleased to see Rotarians at this book launch.
New Member Induction - Darryll White was inducted into membership by President Sherry, Membership Director Bob Kimmerly and Proposer Mike Ryan. Darryll's Classification will be "Community Development". Darryll was welcomed to the Club by all members present.
Proposed New Member (New Generation Category) - Benjamin Arthur Turner. Ben was the Charter VP of the Calmar Interact Club, as well as the International Director of that Club. He has six years experience as an Army Cadet, attaining the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. Ben is proposed by Dave Turner, and his Classification would be International Affairs.
The DISTRICT ASSEMBLY is being held on Thursday, October 27th commencing at 1:00 pm at the River Cree Resort. There will be sessions on Membership, New Generations, Rotary Foundation and Belize. All Board members are encouraged to attend. A special guest dinner speaker from RI will entertain in the evening.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 28 - 30), the DISTRICT CONFERENCE will be at the River Cree. These meetings require attendees to register prior to the Assembly and Conference. You can do that on the District 5370 website: www.clubrunner.ca/5370/ or by clicking the link to the District website on our own website.
Program: BELIZE UPDATE by Duane Evans and Al Sanderson
International Service Director Duane provided some background to where we are today. During the last three years we have been working with the Placentia Rotary Club on several projects including providing scholarships for students to attend high school, building new flush toilets with hand washing facilities and conducting educational upgrading programs for students and teachers.
This year, we did our first "hands-on" project (as opposed to just funding projects executed by others). Duane believes that we have developed some excellent relationships which make this a very good place to do international work, and to consider for vacation purposes. This summer, Al Sanderson, Karen Sanderson, Cathy Evans and Wendy ? travelled to Placentia, and then on to a small neighboring community called Siene Bight. Purpose of the visit was for Cathy and Wendy to conduct remedial reading classes at Siene Bight school, and for Karen to conduct sewing classes at Independence High School. Al was checking on projects and developing relationships for future projects.
Al illustrated his presentation with maps showing where Belize is located, how relatively small it is, and where Placentia, Independence and Siene Bight are located. He also showed slides to illustrate the people we are working with, the projects, and the beautiful scenery.
As is normal in Central America, things don't always go quite as planned (this is very understated), and on day 1 they found that the school rooms had been double-booked, and so they had to look for somewhere else including a private house and a kindergarten to conduct the remedial reading classes. When the classes did get going they were very successful, including having some of the kids parents participate as well.
It is apparent to the Canadian teachers that the old British education style used generally in Belize is not as effective as the modern technigues used in Canada, and so we are attempting to make changes to the way they manage their classrooms.
The Rotary Club of Placentia has less than 20 members, but they are good ones, and the Club is very active in assisting that and its neighboring communities. Al mentioned that the food is very good there. He was very pleased with the outcomes of this summer's initiatives.
Jackie Hobal is the Chair of the District Belize project. She thanked our Club for its involvement and leadership in Belize by Ralph Playdon, Jennifer Lawley, Sherry Holmes, Chris Gowers, Jerome Martin, Al & Karen Sanderson & Duane & Cathy Evans.
The district is currently looking into connecting the schools wirelessly, and has decided that it is best if we have people visit Belize regularly in November, March and in the summer.
Duane and Al were thanked for their presentation and for their efforts to help the people in this part of Belize by Ben Doz.