It's an important meeting this week for two main reasons. First of all we have to look at our existing ongoing charities that we support on a regular basis, simply because of the lack of government subsidies they have previously received and the affect on them and our continuing support.Gerald Fitzpatrick Home is a classic example. We put in a high tech solar system to handle the Frail Care wing and also to ensure that that the laundry could cope when there was no electricity and that was with assistance from other Rotary Clubs Now Frail Care is closing owing to the lack of subsidy and they are generally down scaling.
We have just put in an upgraded water supply system to Bethany Home. What will be the affect of the loss of subsidy there?
Are we able, or should we, continue to supply vegetables on a monthly basis to organisations when our fundraising capabilities have declined? Should we merely be concerned with once off projects?
These are the decisions we are faced with as well as looking at our traditional fundraising methods such as the Golf Day and Burns Night. Bill Brunjes will be giving us the latest news on this as well as leading the discussion.
Last Week
Peter Beart's talk on Bees and Beekeeping was fascinating and well illustrated. The big surprise to me was how destructive honey badgers can be and how they totally destroy commercial hives, even smashing the wooden louvres quite apart from the loss of honey and grubs.
For me the information that really stood out was that it takes the lives of 1 200 bees to produce one teaspoon of honey. That means it cost the lives of 120 000 bees to fill the jar I have!
Saturday saw our breakfast at Grumpy's Cafe and there were roughly a dozen there. It really was an extremely pleasant place to visit. I am sure we will return.
Next Week
It's the first Business Meeting, preceded by the first Board Meeting of the new Rotary Year.
International - Canada
Drawn by national curling and youth baseball contests, crowds of athletes flock to the small town of Summerside on Prince Edward Island. Townspeople, however, aren’t content merely to be spectators. Each winter, local curlers contend in a tournament that’s been sponsored by the Rotary Club of Summerside for nearly 20 of the event’s 36 years. In March, 36 teams vied in a friendly meetup that raised about CA$40,000 for Strive, a programme that provides scholarships and Rotarian mentoring to high school students. “In curling, [a tournament] is a bonspiel,” explains Paul Power, a past president of the club. “We call ours a ‘funspiel.’” Participants, including about a dozen club members, “love their curling,” says Power. “It’s not competitive whatsoever,” unless you count the points awarded to the best-dressed Mardi Gras-themed team. “It’s basically all hands on deck” — and on the granite stones players slide across the ice once the games begin.
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