Second
Quarter Report
Rotary Year 2003 - 2004
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ORGANIZATION Listings of club directors and members of the 11 committees appear on our web site. In early December members were canvassed for candidates for the position of President Elect for 2004-2005, and at the Christmas lunch it was announced that Gord Parks has accepted the position. The current President -Elect, George Heintzman was pleased to announce that Kathryn Hope Sobolof has agreed to serve as Secretary for 2004-2005 . The Board will consider the number of other board members required for 2004-2005 and will ask for nominees during the third quarter. A focus group was held with a selected group of members while a questionnaire was sent to all members. The results will be submitted to members in February to help us all determine what steps we can take to better serve our members. From October 1st to December 31st we welcomed one new member, Doug Crowe who transferred from the Don Mills Club, while Mary Margaret Caldwell resigned to take up residence in New Zealand. A fireside meeting of new members of the last year will be held at Pat and Doug Robertson's home on January 22nd. December was a sad month for our Club as two retirees, John Wilson and Ed Lavery died, as did Val, the dear wife of Tibor Gregor. Several days before the Christmas lunch John Bonnick suffered a stroke. We understand he is recovering quite well. PROGRAM Carrying on from having the Minister of External Affairs speak to us in the first quarter we were fortunate to have the Minister of Agriclture, Lyle Vanclief speak to us in November. Every year the program committee, chaired by Chris Tworkowski. has to produce close to 50 guest speakers for our lunchtime meetings. A difficult job for any committee and one that every member should endeavour to provide help. The upcoming speakers' schedule is posted on our web site. * In the event you require a copy of the first interim report covering the period July 1 to September 30, 2003 contact Dave Sampson. Your
board decided that we should reintroduce the practice of presenting
lunch time guest speakers with more a than a verbal thank you. A
package containing a short list of club projects prepared by Tibor
Gregor under a 50th anniversary logo designed by Sum Cheung and
printed by Incheol Hwang, together with four beautiful Benjamin
Chee Chee prints was prepared. We ordered 100 at a cost of $6 per
package. The unused balance will last until mid 2005 at which time
we will have an opportunity to reconsider. Recipients have been
very appreciative with comments such as "will frame the prints
for the office" and "the list of projects provides a measure
what you do and the difference Rotary must make in the world". As of the end of December four members had not paid their 2003-2004.dues. A 10% penalty is levied on all dues outstanding as of October 31st. As
of December 31st Club draft balances amounted to: FUND RAISING Fund
raising activities during the second quarter included the continuation
of our volunteers' efforts in the bingo hall, raising almost $7,000
during these 3 months, a very successful "I can hear the music"
jazz night and silent auction at the Left Bank managed by Carolynn
Nemeth and Bob Crawford which also raised $ 7,000, and wine sales
by Peter Armstrong in December. We contributed a substantial number
of children's gifts at our annual Christmas lunch where 69 attended,
and a number of members rang bells at two Salvation Amy kettles
at Eglinton Avenue locations. We were told that our efforts increased
collections very substantially. FOUNDATION FUND
Donations made from the Foundation fund in this quarter were payment for a computer to St. Benedict Day Nursery and Infant Hospital in St. Vincent's, a payment of $7,500 being part of the proceeds of the golf tournament to McLeod House, and $5,000 to the Rotary Club of Claremont in Johannesburg towards the Idea Truck operations.
The committee completed its review and negotiations for a $50,000 donation towards construction of a library forming part of a new Salvation Army facility to be built under the aegis of the Army's Anyone Anytime Anywhere the Circle of Caring campaign. The proposal was approved by the board and will be presented to the members in early 2004. The source of funds will be the Club's bingo account. W0RLD COMMUNITY SERVICE The world Services continued to meet monthly to assess potential short term and multi year projects and to monitor on going projects and the disbursement of funds such as those described in the Foundation report.. The committee continued working with a local Rotary club in St. Vincent and the staff at St. Benedict to develop projects that our club could undertake. Of great benefit to this process was a visit to St. Benedict by Mike Hazel who met with local Rotarians and St. Benedict's staff and children and did a needs assessment. Mike had lived in St. Vincent for some time and this was his first trip back in almost 25 years! YOUTH SERVICES Planning
has started for the youth component of the October District 7070
Conference which we are hosting. The winner of the Helen Gregor
Award was selected and will be presented on March 4th. Updates for
our web site's youth corner were submitted. During a presentation
at Frontier College we learned how other Rotary clubs are involved
with Reading Circles raising the idea that they might be pertinent
in our involvement in Cabbage Town and the future Salvation Army
Centre we are helping to sponsor.
Upon investigating over a dozen private clubs within the immediate area all indications pointed to either the Toronto Skating/Curling Club at Wilson and Avenue Road or The Granite Club at Bayview and Lawrence. Upon reviewing what each environment had to offer as compared to our requirements for that specific evening it was decided that the Granite would better serve our needs. Each club has much to offer and the committee especially appreciated the help provided by Ed Unger and Rae Cowan during our assessment. Popular radio personality Roger Ashby of Chum FM has been asked to MC the evening. Roger not only has had considerable involvement with special Rotary special evening events but also is very knowledgeable about the 50's era, especially the music. In addition we are in discussions with the Martels Show Band about providing music from the 50's to the present. An
up-beat celebration for all our members and friends. Gord
Park has agreed to be our Club's representative on the TCRC replacing
Rae Cowan. |
