The Westerner for August 29, 2011
Meeting: chair, Sherry; music, Jerome; grace, Kieran
Attendance/Guests: 37 including Jess Morrill, Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield; Erin Sobat, Centennial Interact Club; Wayne Cashman, Rotary Club of Edmonton South; Catherine Wright, club not identified; Darrel Ripley and Darryll White, both proposed members
Condolences: Jim Rowand is in the Mazankowski Heart Institute, best wishes on a speedy recovery
No Meeting September 5 (statutory holiday)
Grandview Extended Care Centre: Jerome advised our September 26 meeting will be held at Grandview where details of an extensive concert series surrounding our recently donated grand piano will be revealed
Polioplus: Jess Morrill, phone 780-470-0051, as written a book on his life as a poor boy turned aircraft pilot and Rotarian. He is selling the book and the proceeds are donated to the Rotary Foundation towards the Polioplus program. Call Jess if you wish to participate. The book is interesting.
Fun Golf and Steak Dinner: call Bob Lamoureux if you wish to either golf or attend dinner or both; September 8 @ Victoria Golf Course, tee times 12 noon, dinner around 5:30 pm
50/50: Bob Lamoureux and Richard did not match cards
Finemaster: Bob Lamoureux fined anyone not buying Jess' book $1 and $1 for wearing a tie among his list of fines.
Gift Cards: contact Brian to purchase. Better yet, send him an e-mail stating what cards you want, and he will have them ready in an envelope to exchange for your cheque.
Happy Bucks: Al Sanderson since his son has been accepted into the U of A Pharmacy program; Bob Kimmerly as he retired August 28; Catherine Wright as her family has finally moved to join her in Edmonton
Volunteer(s) Needed - Dave Turner, who normally writes the Westerner, will be away on September 12th and 19th, so we need some member or members to take notes for the Westerner on those two Mondays. Please let Brian know if you are able to do this on one or both dates. Thanks
New Member Proposals - This is second notice for Don Turner (Industrial Sales) and Ben Turner, both proposed by Dave Turner. Ben would be in a new class of Rotary Membership called New Generation (he knows more about this than we do).
Guest Speaker: The Rotary Club of Edmonton West has Lorne as its New Generations Director. Lorne talked about the Rotary Foundation's program Youth Exchange. There are 2 components - outbound student from the Edmonton area; inbound student from some other area of the world.
The first priority or our club to participate in this program is to identify 4 host families to billet the inbound student. If we cannot host an inbound student, we cannot send an outbound student for a great year's experience as a high school student in another culture.
Our club, over the years, has participated in this program and either sent or received students from 9 countries. Our guest, Erin Sobat, was attending this meeting to find out more about possibly becoming an outbound student. Student particpants have to be in the age group 15-19 per Rotary Foundation guidelines. District 5370 prefers ages between 15 and 18, but the outbound student must be 17 or younger on the date of his/her departure. Students must attend high school in their destination country even if they have graduated at home. This allows them to generate friends in the new culture and learn more about the new culture. Student particpants usually are outgoing personalities, and have a reasonable achievement record in their education performance.
If we are to particpate in outbound, we need to identify the host families for inbound immediately as the initial outbound orientation occurs in September. In bound students arrive in September so our club's inbound participation would now be for 2012-13 Rotary year. After the initial outbound orientation, clubs choose their student by November 15, the name goes to the district committee and the process starts for selecting a destination countrry. The district interviews the student in January to confirm the student is an acceptable candidate. The final orientation occurs in March which includes the current inbound students and recent rebound (outbound that have completed their year and have returned to Edmonton and area).
The cost of sending a student is about $5,000 and our club funds part of that amount. If the student needs financial assistance, the club may step in and fund the entire amount but the student has to put up a deposit to ensure they really want to participate. Deposit is refunded once the exchange is complete.
Cost covers air fare, jackets, admininsrrtation costs for both the home country and the destination country and other incidentals. The exchange is a 2-1/2 year process from selection to exchange to final orientation.
See Lorne if you wish to be a host family. We have 2, need another 2.
Lorne was thanked by Al Sanderson. Jess Morrill gave an accounting of the positive experience that their club's first exchange provided.