Rotary Club of Charlottetown

Meeting Notes for May 6, 2013

Chairperson Dale Turner called the meeting to order with the Island Hymn, Rotary grace and toast to the Queen.

Secretary Report: There were 30 members present and 27 make ups to be credited.  There were two guests of Rotary, Cheryl Millman our guest speaker and Sarah Waddell with Open Door Ministries.  The 50/50 draw was won by Daphne Dumont for $18.00 and there was no winner of the jackpot which remains at $250.00

President report:

Edna Reid, acting for President James, welcomed everyone to the meeting.  She called on Dale Turner to given an update on the Dinner auction.  Dale informed the club that the dinner Auction was postponed and will rescheduled for the late summer. 

Michelle Larazatos reported on the exchange student’s weekend.  There were 10 outbounders and inbounders from PE & NS who participated in the weekend activities.  There were several presentations over the weekend and everyone had a great time.  

Edna advised that July 8, 2013 meeting will be the changeover meeting with Edna coming in as our new President.  She will bring information on two major fundraisers for the club to decide on which one to move forward for the upcoming year.  She will also be establishing committees for the upcoming year.  Edna mentioned that she will not be attending the RI international convention but Richard Gallant and she will be attending the District convention in Halifax this year.

 

Edna also said she was going back to having a head table for meetings with a chairperson and co-chairperson for upcoming year so Dale will not be chair every meeting.

Edna recognized Peter Norton for 9 years of Rotary service and extended wedding anniversary wishes to Jim McNutt married for 44 years and Richard Martin for 39 years.

Guest Speaker: Dale Turner introduced our guest speaker Cheryl Millman who is the Executive director of the Open Door Ministries which is dedicated to rebuilding and improving the lives of marginal women on PEI.

Open Door Ministries was registered as a charity in 2005.  They work at the correctional center where they meet with the women who need help.  They help women who are addicted to drugs, alcohol and abusive relationships.  Mentoring is one of the main things they do to help these women to get back on their feet and reach their full potential.  They also work with other women associations as well.

They have 3 full-time and two part-time workers with Cheryl now working part time.  They work with the women who want to become mentors by having them tag along and learn how to become a mentor.  Sarah will tag along with Cheryl and watch and learn how to become a mentor.

Open Door Ministry works in prisons because they feel they have a social responsibility to help these people.  They are there to let the women know that they are valued and important and help them make a choice to go in the right direction.  Any change is a change for the better no matter how small the change maybe.  At the prison they speak with the women and go over what is going on in their lives and help them learn healthy boundaries and what good grieving is all about.  They help them with their basic needs and provide the women with a bag of personal items and emergency clothing when they get out of jail.  They are the only people who visit these women in prison.  There are success stories and people are getting the help they need.

They are currently a local organization in Charlottetown and dream of having more locations across PEI. Cheryl said that it is their faith that helps them do their work with the women in prison.  Their work is important because the justice system is over worked and if they can get these people back out and working in our society they will stay out of trouble.  Open Door Ministry is funded through fundraising and grant money to cover expenses.

Cheryl presented a short video on how Open Door Ministries work and help people.

Dale Turner thanked Cheryl for her presentation and the help they provide for women in prison.

Dale Turner closed the meeting with the singing of O’Canada. 

 

Rotary Club of Charlottetown

Meeting Notes for May 12, 2013

Chairperson Dale Turner called the meeting to order with the Island Hymn, Rotary grace and toast to the Queen; as Sergeant of Arms, Dale Turner collected Happy Dollars.

Condolences were extended to the family of Rotarian Ira Lewis who passed away last week.

Secretary report: There were 30 members present with 1 scooter.  There was one visiting Rotarian Jonathan Ross of the Hillsborough Club, no guest of Rotarians and guests of Rotary were the group of study exchange students PEI Yen, PP June Jonet, Jocelyn, Yixin and Bee Kee.  The 50/50 draw was won by Tom DeBlois for $15.00 and there was no winner of the jackpot which remains at $250.00

President report:

President James thanked Edna for filling in for him last week.  Serena our exchange student was not at the meeting because she was practicing her part in the play Peter Pan at the Confederation Centre.  President James informed members that the board has passed a motion to raise the club dues.  However, changes to the club dues would require a change in bylaws which would be brought before the club in upcoming weeks, either May 27 or June 3.

Dale Turner introduced our guest speakers the 5 exchanged students from Singapore.

June spoke first and commented on the length of time, 36 hours, it took them to reach St. John’s NFLD.  She is from District 3310 Brunie, Singapore and Malaysia.  The first club was established in 1930 by a Canadian John Davidson from the Rotary Club of Calgary. They have 20 clubs in Singapore with only 2 clubs in Brunie as Rotary was banned there but it still survived.  Brunie is an independent country.

Singapore is 704 square kilometers and achieved their independence in 1955 from the Commonwealth.  It is the trading center for the area and they had 10.2 million people living in Singapore in 2010. 

Malaysia relies on tourism like PEI. Johor is connected by a causeway and it takes an hour to drive across the causeway.  Malaysia established Sarawak as its capital. Houses are built on stilts due to wild animals that still roam in the jungle at night.  Rotary speaks 7 dialects in Johor.

The students then exchanged banners with our club.

Guest Speaker:  Dale Turner then introduced David Keenlyside as the Executive Director of PEI Museum and Heritage.  

The PEI Museum and Heritage has 7 sites on PEI, and was incorporated in 1970 and then became a trust in 1973.  They have a budget of 1.4M with 13 full time and 7 part time staff with students also employed in the summer.  They have approximately 65,000 visitors each year to their sites.  They are the custodians for the Provincial heritage that has 80,000 pieces in the collection.

David referred to the Sorensen stone that was found in 1983 and is approximately 12,000 years old.  It was classified as a Palaco Indian projectile point. The material that was used is not common to PEI but to the Bay of Fundy area of NB.  This type of material was also found at a site at Debert NS, they have removed over 6000 items from this site that were 10,600 to 12,500 year old.  A similar site was found at Blackwater Draw in New Mexico where they also found the bones of the animals that were killed.  Hunting later progressed to the use of spears especially to kill sea animals and from there on to the bow and arrow which is 2500 to 3000 years old.

Archeologists suspect that the hunters were on PEI to hunt the Caribou that would be moving across the ice at that time some 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.  David informed everyone that the stone is on display at Beaconsfield and can be viewed any time. 

Dale Turner closed the meeting with the singing of O Canada. 

Rotary Club of Charlottetown

Meeting Notes for May 27, 2013

Chairperson Dale Turner called the meeting to order with the Island Hymn, Rotary grace and toast to the Queen.  As Sergeant of Arms, Dale Turner collected Happy Dollars.

Secretary Report: There were 37 members present with 1 scooter and 14 make ups to be credited. There was two visiting Rotarians Joan MacFarlane from Stratford and Karen Hatcher of Summerside clubs, no guest of Rotarians and guests of Rotary were Karen Hatcher our guest speaker, Kearsney Smith and Nick Vanouwerkrik both from the College of Piping along with our exchange student Senera.  The 50/50 drew was won by Paul Jenkins for $23.00 and there was no winner of the jackpot which remains at $250.00

President Report:  President James was away so Edna Reid was our acting president.

Edna mentioned that she and Rick Gallant attended the District Conference in Halifax over the weekend.  The conference was excellent and they will give a report on the conference in an upcoming meeting.  Edna mentioned that Greg Coldwell is our incoming District Governor. 

The Changeover meeting will be July 8, 2013 and Edna plans on bringing in some changes, such as one meeting per month where the guest speaker will be a Rotarian, she will go back to having a chair and co-chair for each meeting, to have committee information presented at different meetings, and some fellowship events like the family BBQ on July 29, 2013 at Camp Gencheff and having meetings at a different place now and then.  Edna thanked Dale Turner and Blake Doyle for the quality of the speakers.

Edna also mentioned that Cox & Palmer was designated as one of the best places to work in Atlantic Canada; Ron Profit who works there is a member of our club.  

Birthday wishes were extended to Paul Crant on the 28th, David Thompson on the 31st, Anniversary wishes to Peter Boswall celebrating 25 years of marriage, and David Falkner was recognized for 24 years of Rotary Service.

Guest Speaker: Dale Turner called Ken Gillis to the podium to introduce our guest speaker.  Karen Hatcher is the Executive Director of the College of Piping. She is very busy in the community sitting on several different boards around Atlantic Canada; she is a member of the Summerside Rotary Club and received the Queen Jubilee Medal.

Karen introduced Nick Vanouwerkirk who started out as a student and is now an instructor.  He plays the bag pipes and was invited to the competition where only the top 100 in the world are invited. Nick is now preforming professionally.  She also introduced Kearseny Smith who is the highland dance program instructor.  They both gave a joint performance and when they were done Karen mentioned that the dance that Kearseny had just preformed was equal to running a mile.

Karen has been the executive director for the past 3 years and has spent most of her time fundraising to keep the college open.  The College of Piping is a one of a kind college located on PEI.  From September to June they primarily teach 250 classes a week in 4 disciplines, piping, highland dancing, drumming and step dancing.  Karen said the accept students as early as 8 years old for piping and 4 years old for dancing.

She is now gearing up for the summer events with Highland Storm as their main event to help raise money.  They have new music each year so those who have seen the performance before can come back and enjoy something new.  The college is aided by donations and contributions including time as well as money.  There are 1400 volunteers for the Highland event alone.  They have 64 events planned for this summer.

She invited everyone to drop in and see what is happening at the college, attend the events and help support the college.  They are sending students to the Highland Dance competition in Montreal this year.  They sent 3 piping bands to Ontario for the North American competition last year.  Their band attended the world competition last year and finished first in their qualifier and 5th overall which was an excellent showing as there was 232 bands invited to the competition.

Karen spoke about the Red Jeep fundraiser; tickets are on sale for $100 each.  They will draw tickets with every 50th ticket winning a prize and the last ticket to win the Jeep.

Philip Floyd thanked our speaker.

Dale Turner closed the meeting with the singing of O Canada.