The Westerner for October 21, 2013

Posted by Brian F. Thompson 
on Oct 22, 2013
 

Meeting:  Chair - Duane Evans; Music - Jerome Martin; Grace - Jim Johnston

Attendance / Guests: 30, including Betty & George Skrepnek, Edmonton Glenora, Doug Campbell, St. Albert, Brian Rawking, Osoyoos, and Raj Sran

Announcements:

  • Sherry Holmes thanked Fred Kraft, Chris Gowers, Steve McEachern, Brian Thompson, Jerome Martin, Mike Henry and Bob Kimmerly for supporting literacy by reading to students at Landsowne school.
  • Jim Spalding has tickets for the Cosmopolitan Music Society Remembrance concert at the Jubilee Auditorium on Saturday, November 9th.
  • The Petroleum Club will be closed on Monday, November 11th, so there will be no Rotary meeting that week.
  • Al Holmes reported on the hospitalizations of Grace Young, Doug MacDougall and Carol Turner.  Grace fractured her back and is in the Glenrose for rehabilitation.  Doug had colon cancer surgery and is in U of A Hospital, likely until the end of the week.  Carol is still in U of A Hospital.  Dianne Cox has indicated that she would like to participate when we next have a "social" evening.
  • Raj Sran was inducted as "The newest Rotarian in the World" by District Governor Betty Skrepnek.  His proposer Chris Gowers introduced him as born in Edmonton, earned a Degree in Criminology at the U of A, worked for City of Edmonton Police, now operates a UPS Store in south Edmonton and also helps manage a construction company.  He is married and has a son and a daughter.  Raj was welcomed by all the members.
  • 50/50 Draw - Zen Moisey and Jim Johnston did match cards.  Although it was announced that they would be splitting $93.00, the Treasurer has done due diligence and the correct amount is $74.00.  It seems that some of the people doing desk duty forget that the club takes half of the pot each week.
  • Don't forget to order your grocery gift cards from Brian.
 

PROGRAM - DISTRICT GOVERNOR'S ANNUAL VISIT

Assistant District Governor Doug Campbell introduced District 5370 Governor Betty Skrepnek.  Betty has been a member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Glenora for 18 years.  She was President and CEO of BGS Enterprises Career & Corporate Development, and Board Chair for an Alberta insurance corporation.  She has been honored with an award by the YWCA Tribute to Women in the category of Social Services for the Edmonton Capital Region.  She and husband George have been married for 43 years and they have a son with developmental disabilities.  Betty proudly states that he has been her most influential teacher.

Prior to today's lunch meeting, Betty met with the Board of Directors to bring messages from RI and to review the projects and goals of the club.  She was very impressed with our Membership Growth Plan and with the Strategic Plan that is currently being developed.  Both have potential to become models for other Clubs in the District to follow.

Betty was pleased that we had 8 or 9 attendees at the recent District Conference.  That is where Rotarians really learn about the power of Rotary to make positive changes in our communities and in the world, so the fact that we had multi attendees bodes well for the future of our club.  Every Club in the district is different and it is the differences that create power.  We must be on the lookout for new ways to harness that power.

Betty told a story about how and why she joined Rotary.  At her first breakfast meeting she met many very busy people who all had made commitments to serve via Rotary.  She was impressed then and remains so today.

Membership is a huge problem in Rotary and in many other service clubs.  Last year we had 41,000 new Rotarians join, but we lost 55,000.  We have to find ways to stop the bleeding.

Other things that Betty talked about include:

  • The skills in the room
  • The Belize Literacy Project has now expanded to many other projects in Belize
  • The Rotary District Aboriginal Program
  • The Rotary Employment Partnership Program
  • The Projects Database for the District - Each Club should be adding to this list.
  • The power of connecting with other clubs to undertake projects
  • Her Polio Gonzo Mascot.  She is asking each Club to have a special fundraiser for Polio Plus.  Nigeria is now 99% polio free.  Matching dollars (up to $350,000) are available from the Government of Alberta and then 2 for 1 matching dollars are available on top of that from Bill & Melinda Gates.  Remember that November is Foundation Month, so you may want to take care of your annual donation to the foundation.  Easy to do at Rotary.org or talk to Chris Gowers for more information.

Betty thanked our Club and presented a water color painting to President Duane.  Duane, in turn, thanked Betty for the high-energy District Conference that she recently completed plus the visit to our Club. 

The meeting concluded with the viewing of a video showing Conference speaker Emanuel Kelly competing on X-Factor singing John Lennon's "Imagine".  Powerful stuff!