Opening/Chair: The meeting was opened by chair Kirk Saint. He asked Laurie to lead the group in the singing of O Canada. This was followed by a moment of personal reflection.
Visitors/Guests: There were a number of visitors and guests today:
- Brenda Boates our guest speaker
- Sara and Brent from Dashboard Living, guests of Rotarian Dave Mills
- Hattie Dyck, guest of Wayne Gillis
- Lillian Scales, guest of Al Cooze
- Kyle Andrews, guest of Jim Harman
- Darlene McCallum, guest of Laurie Sandeson
- Peter Hatlape a Rotarian from Hamburg Germany who owns property south of Truro. Peter exchanged banners with President Lech.
Speaker: Our speaker today was Brenda Boates, Operations Manager at the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. Brenda has been with the center since 2014 when she retired from her business and was looking for something to do. She found she has a real passion of the birds and animals and really enjoys telling people about the center.
Brenda explained that the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Center stared as the dream of
Dr. Helene Van Doninck, a celebrated Nova Scotia veterinarian and wildlife rescuer and her husband Murdo Messer. The started the center in 2001 in a effort to rehabilitate birds and animals back into the wild.
Brenda explained that the center is driven by donations and fundraising and the services of volunteers. It specializes in raptors and birds of prey and is the only facility in the country that has the ability to let large birds get their flying skill back.
Brenda also related interesting stories about the birds and animals that the center has gotten in past. A Golden Eagle was one of the most interesting. She also described the defence habits of vultures and how porcupines are a personal favourite of hers.
The center is always looking for donations and support from individuals and community organizations such as Rotary. They make use of social media to help with publicity and fundraising. While they don't allow visitors they do have live video feeds so people can see the birds and animals.
The Center is in need of new and expanded facilities for the various wildlife they get. They also are in need of volunteers to work with the animals and are currently looking for people to serve on their board of Directors. Check out their website http://cwrc.net/cms2/wp/. Contact them for more information and for opportunities to help.
Brenda was thanked by Alana.
Member Health: No report
Announcements and Reports:
Larry Beazley reported for the Yearbook committee. There are:
- Agreed: 126
- Declined: 70
- Pending: 57
- Not Contacted: 361
Last week individual lists were resent requesting updated information. There are obviously still lots of sponsors that participated in 2019 but have not yet agreed for 2020. This is a significant concern. This week we will review these sponsors individually. As deadlines are firm, please complete your calls. Kirk asked people to check email addresses as he was finding a lot of bad addresses.
Laurie Sandeson reported that the Summer Social and the Swim for Polio would be held on August 25th at the home of Maralyn Bowness, 344 A Stewart Rd, Shortts Lakes. The swim would start at 10am and roll right into the Summer Social would begin at noon. This is a departure from previous years and an attempt to get more family and children involved in coming out to the social. Mark it in your calendars and watch for more details in the next few weeks.
President's Report: President Lech thanked those involved with the Pride Parade. He also thanked members for the planning group of the summer social and swim.
Happy Mug: Joanna was apparently the only happy Rotarian today. She had had both her sons home to visit.
50/50: Guest Lillian Scales has the right ticket but unfortunately the joker eluded her and she got the usual sympathy from the crowd who watched the $63 pot build.
Closing: 1:05pm
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