April 10, 2017 Bulletin

• Joanna for having a great vacation
• Ed MacDonald for a great vacation and travel
• Brian for a wonderful event at the cenotaph in honour of the 100 anniversary of Vimy Ridge.
• Keith for Charrisa finally getting her permanent resident status.
• Kevin for family visits.

• The board has decided to move the start of the meetings back to 12:30 to allow for more time for members to finish eating and socializing.
• He reminded members that next week there will be no meeting due to the Easter Monday holiday for some.
• The April 24th meeting will be at the NSCC in the cafeteria. 
• He reported that the Board had authorized $2,500 to support a second Syrian family who are coming to Truro.
• He also noted that the Club approved an additional $500 for the first family and thanked the club for helping the father find work in the area.  It is a challenge but there are possibilities turning up.
• The final numbers for the Yearbook are in and it appears that there will be an additional $4,000 available to use for service projects.
• It has been decided that the dues for the 2017-18 Rotary year will be the same at $195. Invoices will be issued.
• Ted thanked Rotarian Jean Gourley-Davis for her work on an estate in which the club had been named Executor.  It was not apparent that the club would receive significant funding but the work still had to be done. 
• It has been decided that the club will move its regular Monday September 11th meeting to Tuesday September 12th to accommodate the visit of the incoming RFE (Rotary Friendship Exchange) team of 12 from Estonia and Finland.
• Alana reported that the club has entered into an agreement with the Town for cross promotion of each others brands.
• Alana reported that the next Strategic Planning meeting will be at her house on Archibald Street, April 18th at 7:00 pm.
• Kevin reported that the Bursary committee, under Martina, still needs a couple of volunteers to select recipients from the applicants at each school. It will be about a two hour commitment in total. Ed MacDonald and Rod Jones volunteered. Thank you.
• Ted reported that the club has increased the RYLA budget as Steve is expecting up to 50 participants this year.  They still need additional help on May 5th. Please contact Steve.
• The Club voted to again support Safe Grad in the amount of $500.
• There was still discussion on supporting Interact students to go to the District Conference in Wolfville in June. The committee is looking for details on the program and the costs.
• There was ongoing discussion on the the possibility of having Rotary Week designated for the Town beginning the third week of April next year. The possibility of moving Charter Night to that time as well as holding other events is also under discussion.
• There was discussion on off site meetings to visit different areas of our community.  The PEG at Masstown Market and other sites were examples.  Stay tuned.
• There was a reminder that there will not be meetings on April 17th and May 22nd.
• It was announced that the regular Highway cleanup will be held Saturday May 27th. The new Truro Earth day clean up organized by the Town is for one hour; plus activities after, on Saturday, April 22 at 9:00 - everyone (not just interested Rotarians) meet at the Truro Civic Square, and pick up starts at 9:30. If you attend, ware something with a Rotary Logo on it! https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/earth-day-2017-registration-32679852318
• Marilyn made a brief presentation on Membership, the role of a sponsor, and the importance of mentoring new members and keeping current members engaged. She announced that the committee would like to institute the Rotary "Buddy" and outlined the responsibility of the member sponsors as buddies.  
  • In addition to the responsibilities for a seeing a new member has the opportunity to complete the requirements under the club's New Membership Program, the club sponsoring buddy should:
    • stay in contact with the new member and let them know the best way to get in touch,
    • introduce the new member to other club members
    • show them Rotary's tools on website and Internet and 
    • invite and accompany them to events. 
• Check with Marilyn if you have forgotten who you have sponsored and who is your buddy.