Aug 27, 2018 Bulletin (Aug 27, 2018)

Bulletin Date

Opening/Chair: President Ryan was the chair today and he asked Steve to lead the group in the singing of O Canada. Still a few "in all our sons command" were heard. This was followed by the moment of personal reflection.

We all sang Happy Birthday to President Ryan and Rotarian Marilyn who shared a birthday.

Visitors/Guests: The club was pleased to have PDG Gord Hankin and his wife Dale as guests today. Gord and Dale now live in HRM and Gord is a member of the Rotary eClub of Atlantic Canada which he helped form. Always great to see Dale and Gord.

Speaker: There were in fact 6 speakers today. Club members, Wayne Gillis, Brian Matthews, Marilyn Brown, Sharon Corcoran, Barbara Goit and Jim Goit had all attended the Rotary International Convention in Toronto in June and they reported on their individual impressions.

The International Convention is a big event. Over 25,000 Rotarians from 175 countries world wide were there. Another 7 to 8 thousand could not get visas in time. It was reported that there was more that $48.5M in economic impact in the Toronto area as a result of the convention. There were 6 from our club attending and over 130 from the District, which is a high percentage.

Overall the team was impressed with the quality of the main speakers, the energy of the plenary session, the efficiency with which people were moved around, the quality of the breakout sessions, the friendliness and helpfulness of the Toronto Police force, the quality of the evening events and the diversity of displays in the House of Friendship. Everyone brought something new home.

Meeting people from far and wide, all singing the same song and believing in the same things, was something that people also mentioned as being very impressive. Everyone mentioned the coincidence of meeting people they knew or were related to or merely had similar interests in common. It was like have 25,000 friends all in one place.

There were several Rotary Fellowships mentioned. Brian joined the International Travel and Hosting Fellowship - ithf.org and Jim joined the Cycling 2 Serve Fellowship cyclingtoserve.org as a result of the convention.

There were some great questions asked following the presentation. It was recommended that Rotarians should plan on attending at least one Convention if they can. It is an experience like no other.

Many rotarians build the convention attendance into their vacation plans and go many times just to see their friends and experience the cultures of the various places where it is being held. There is even a Fellowship for that specific interest. Brian is planning to go to next year's Convention in Hamburg Germany accompanied by Jim Gould. If others are interested in going and sharing accomodations, let him know. The following is a list of when and where conventions will be.

2019 Hamburg, Germany, 1-5 June

2020 Honolulu, Hawaii, USA 6-10 June

2021 Taipei, Taiwan 12-16 June

2022 Houston, Texas, USA 4-8 June

2023 Warsaw, Poland

2024 Singapore

2025 Calgary, Alberta, CAN. 21-25 June

President Ryan thanked there group on behalf of the club.

The full presentation can be downloaded from the club website.

Member Health: No report.

Announcements and Reports:

Les reported that money was still coming in for the swim and if Rotarians had money outstanding, get it to him as soon a possible so one deposit could be made. The on line donation process has been giving some people problems since conversion to CDN$ so is now back taking $US. It will function until the 30th after which time donations can only go to Les or directly to the RI website for Polio.
Jane reported on Bollywood night. Only a few tickets were still available, so contact Barbara if you have a requirement for them. She also reported that Laura needs help with the silent auction portion of the event. Please let her know if you can help before or on the night of the event.
Ryan reported that there was one full team lead by Dave Mills and another team looking for a couple of members to Golf at the Rotary House Challenge on September 13th. In addition to donations to the teams there is need for volunteers for the day to help with the event. Contact the Workshop or Ryan for details.

Happy Mug:

Christine was happy to have had a great trip to Scotland with her grandson. She visited a Rotary Club and brought back a banner from the Rotary Club of Thurso and she presented it to President Ryan.

Alana was sad she was going miss Bollywood but happy that she would be going to the Zone Institute in Montreal at that time.
Lydia who was celebrating she and husband Alan's 50th anniversary.
Jane who daughter just turned 4 and had also celebrated a 10th wedding anniversary.
Marilyn who had just returned from a great visit to Cape Breton with two night on the Trail.

50/50: Ed MacDonald had picked up the winning ticket on a trade but failed to find the joker and missed taking home the pot.

Closing: 1:27 pm