Rotary Echo Aug 2 2023 (Aug 04, 2023)

President Len, opened the meeting by welcoming everyone,.

A toast was made to the King, Canada, and Rotary. Will Gibson gave a new Rotary grace.

Guests:Fran Mitchell Charles Bridle (PP Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise) Connor Ryan Louise Ringuette

Announcements:

Ron Strickland (our MEETING Coordinator) announced that Exchange student Jude's presentation had been postponed to the next meeting and that today would be all about our club
Since our food didn't seem to be coming out President Len filled in the void
Len is working with the Chamber of Commerce our Governor Juanita and ADG Andrew to make sure that our 90th anniversary is celebrated in style. A gala event will be planned for May or June 2024.
Len would like to have an informal social evening at the end of each month starting in September
Public Relations are very important to Len and he will be working with the Press to make sure they know about what's happening with the Rotary Club of Huntsville.
Len is lining up a series of local politicians and others beginning with Hugh McKenzie to speak to us on issues important to Huntsville.
Len has decided to temporarily stop doing the Land Acknowledgement until we can understand why we are doing this. An Indigenous Study Group consisting of Jennifer Simpson, Bill Sibeon and Louise Ringuette will help us explain why we need to do the Land Acknowledgement by October.
Rob Saunders , Treasurer, reported on the Club Finances. While we are currently in an excellent financial position our existing Fundraisers , The Auction and Bingo are basically fully committed to expenses such as the Hospital and International Service. Bingo funds Youth Exchange, Local Charitable Giving and Food Banks. Bingo income has declined significantly from Pandemic days. We still hold a $50,000 GIC from the Alumni Hockey Game that is designated for an Outdoor Sports facility
PP Jen spoke on what makes our Club unique in Huntsville.
A) Only Club with an International Focus Guatemala Nepal etc
Strong Environmental focus with the Trans Canada Trail
Youth Exchange while it pulls all 3 Huntsville Clubs together in the committee we are the only club able to fund it.
We can do larger projects because we do significant fundraising
We have 90 years of Rotary history in Huntsville
We have a Lunch meeting where we can socialize over a meal
Jen encouraged us to think of thinks we can do to keep our members engaged with more fun and fellowship
Can we collaborate with Dr Roldan on a Guatemala specific fundraiser
Rick Wearing spoke on Membership Looking at where we meet the speakers that we invite ( are they interesting) Reviewing how people are treated at meetings and focus on asking people to come out to lunch and see what goes on in Rotary. We are looking for 5or 6 new members this year
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Will G (Secretary) spoke on the value of our Social Media presence with 1141 Facebook followers our posts have reached 4491 people in the past 28 days. Jen s has a great schedule of posts on our 90th Anniversary which will greatly enhance our image over the coming year.
The Board is also working on making our Bylaws compliant with Ontario Not for Profit Corporations act guidelines This will basically simplify our Bylaws but we will retain other policy statements currently contained in the bylaws in a separate Policy Book.