Oct 30, 2017 Bulletin
Opening/Chair: Audrie-Jo was chair for the day and she asked Laurie to lead the group in the singing of O Canada. This was followed by moment of personal reflection.
Visitors/Guests: Youwei Chen was a welcome guest of the club today. Youwei attended our "Get to know Rotary" meeting on Oct 23rd and is interested in finding out more about Rotary.
Joining our guest speakers Augusto Enriquez and Klarol Garcia Rodriguez was Paul Barrett. Paul was formerly responsible for the CEC band program and now is the driving force behind the New Horizons adult band program.
Member Health: It was reported that Garth was making progress in his recovery in hospital.
Happy Mug: There were a number of happy Rotarians today.
- Dave Mills for a weekend concert and the great talent he enjoyed.
- Kevin Quinlan for an upcoming up visit to Houston to visit grandchildren
- Lech Krzywonos for a great Saturday of learning at the Rotary Leadership Institute.
- Mike Dolter for a great Home Town Hockey event. Also has new granddaughter.
- Alana Hirtle for a great week in Rotary starting with the visit of DG, the Get to Know Rotary event, the Rotary after hours reception and finally the excellent RLI event on Saturday. She'd like to take a car load to the next event in Dieppe on April 7th.
- Tom Savary
- Jim Goit was happy for a great RLI event. He also said that leaves weren't the only things falling off trees. No one could guess what they were. He displayed a pot full of nuts from the Black Walnut tree on his and Barbara's property. He invited Rotarians to take what they wanted and gave planting instructions. They grow into big trees with very valuable wood. By planting these nuts we will be fulfilling part of the RI President's environmental challenge for planting one tree for every member. All 15 he had were taken. Jim has at least 30 more if people have places to plant them. Just ask.
50/50: Dave Mills had the lucky ticket but his luck didn't hold and he missed the joker. The $197 pot will roll over to next week.
Announcements and Reports:
- Brian reported that the Christmas Index office is up and running. Work is starting on the annual appeal for toys and donations.
- Tom indicated that a plan was coming together to start a series of vocational visits around the community. He was proposing that we start with businesses associated with Rotary members and then include yearbook subscribers. He is looking for volunteers to start. These visits will be integrated with the Rotary After Hours events.
- Judy reported that the December Director's meeting and Club Christmas party will be held on December 5th at the home of Jim and Barbara Goit. An Invitation will be going out soon.
- The Annual Rotary Club Christmas Brunch will be held at the Glengarry on December 9th. Judy asked that people reply promptly to the invitation that will be going out soon with the number of young people who will be attending. Santa has some shopping to do.
- Mark circulated examples of new ads for the Christmas Index for comment by club members.
- Kevin is looking for a speaker for Nov 27th. If you have any suggestions please let him know.
Speakers: Audrie-Jo introduced the speakers for the day.
Augusto Enriquez is one of the most well-known and charismatic singers in Cuba. He has been a rock star, classical tenor, salsa band-leader and jazz singer and it has taken him literally “all over the world”. He has shared the stage with greats such as Sting, Andrea Bocelli, James Brown, Lou Reed, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Didi Bridgewater and more. In 2004 he was invited by Maestro Luciano Pavarotti to participate in his concert TV show, ”Pavarotti and Friends”. In 2013 Augusto was awarded the highest honour possible from the Cuban Ministry of Culture.
In 2011 Augusto Enríquez was invited by Los Primos to visit Nova Scotia and perform with HavanaFax. In 2014, he opened the Halifax Jazz Festival with Paul Barrett’s “Back Alley Big Band”. Now he spends all his spare time working for Los Primos.
Klarol Garcia Rodriguez was born in Holguin, Cuba and has become one of the most recognized players in the Holguin Cultural business community of that city. She studied at University of Holguin where she earned two degrees, one in Social Cultural Studies and the other in Social Communications with specializations in Computer software programs, marketing, business administration and event production.
Her work experience includes 15 years with Romerias de Mayo International Youth Arts Festival as Director of International Relations, 2 years as producer of the Theatro Guiñol – (puppet theatre), Producer Patria Grande Rock Festival in Havana, Sales Manager for Excellencia Magazine (Spanish publication) and Manager of Los Mariachis (Mexico).
Klarol has been working since 2015 with the Los Primos project organizing cultural exchange trips between Nova Scotia and Holguin,Cuba.
Augusto and Klarol outlined the history of Los Primos. Los Primos (the cousins) was started in 1997 when Jeff and Amara Goodspeed held the first fundraising dance to try and help Cuban music schools deal with an aging fleet of instruments that were failing. Since then almost 650 instruments have been delivered to young musicians and music schools in Cuba and the program has had more than 30 cultural exchange trips which have resulted in very strong ties between musicians in Nova Scotia and Cuba.
In recognition of Canada's 150th anniversary, Los Primos now would like to collect at least 150 instruments to send to Cuba.
They asked for club support for sourcing the instruments and promoting the project in the community.
Augusto concluded his presentation by relating a story about the help Rotary gave his community during difficult times in the 1990's and it was something he could not forget. When asked, he gave us an impromptu musical number displaying his powerful voice (see video). He also offered to come back to Truro for a full concert.
Barbara thanked our speakers on behalf of the club.