Volume 49, Number 9 September 1, 2005

Rotary Club of Toronto West

Rotary Grace – O Lord, we stand for every race, for every creed from every place, to give our thanks and say our grace for food, for health. May peace embrace the world through Rotary.

Last Week – August 25, 2005

One of the highlights of the year, when we have our official visit from our District 7070 Governor Joan Hayward. This is a time for all of us to look deeply into our commitment to Rotary, hear what D.G. Joan thinks of our plans for the remainder of this Rotary year, and for us to hear how D.G. Joan can assist us in completing our plans.

D.G. Joan started off by saying that her purpose was to focus on our roots and our collective past. She mentioned that Paul Harris and his three colleagues became aware of the needs in their community and dedicated themselves to service. These roots found a fertile nurturing soil. D.G. Joan said she would like to highlight four areas that all clubs need to nurture and help to grow.

The first is membership. We cannot provide a nurturing environment if we continue to lose members.

We were reminded of President Carl-Wilhelm’s achievable membership goal for this year, and we were asked for a pledge, as a district, to meet this goal.

The second area that all clubs need to nurture and help to grow is service opportunities. We as members of the Rotary Club of Toronto West are very well aware of the needs of our local community, and we should be able to address these needs. We were reminded that the districts Foundation and World Community Service’s committees are in place and their membership is anxious to help wherever possible.

The third area is our Foundation, when a Rotarian joins a club, he also joins an international organization. Your lapel pin does not say The Rotary Club of Toronto West, it reads Rotary International.

The fourth area that Rotarians need to nurture and help to grow is youth programs. Young people and young professionals are our future; we must provide more opportunities.

Our collective past, our roots, has proven to be a solid base from which to launch our collective future.

D.G. Joan then asked, “What does an effectively, strong Rotary club look like?” saying that it will be our job to assess our club and see how it measures up against the four areas we need to nurture and help to grow

An effective Rotary club’s root, is a strong administration. From this we must have the ability to grow and sustain membership, we must participate in meaningful service projects, we must support the Rotary Foundation, and we must have the ability to develop leaders beyond the club level.

D.G. Joan said that she had tried to summarize the district focus in an easily remembered phrase. She came up with “Let’s get the AIR circulating.” A is for awareness (education about Rotary, what and how) plus I for involvement and R for retention

When people (Rotarians and those who have not yet joined us) become aware of who we are and what we are about and then get involved, retention (and indeed recruitment) should follow.

Rotarians have several tools that could easily be used to get the AIR circulating. These include the Foundation Challenge Walk on September 11th. In beautiful Richmond Hill and also in the beautiful Nottawasaga Valley at the district 7070 Conference on October 15th.

D.G. Joan mentioned that her visiting her first District Conference in 1978 inspired her to attend future conferences. She was struck by the fun, fellowship, Rotary information, and the programs that Rotary promotes.

We were asked to honour our roots, our collective past, as we move into our second century of “Service above Self.

President Stephen thanked D.G. Joan for visiting with us today, and for giving us such and inspiring talk

Wine Draw:

He is catching up fast, to join the regular winners club. Last weeks winner was Mark Dawber. Congratulations Mark.

Visitors:

Michelle Guy, Rotary Club of Toronto. A.D.G. Phillipa Welch, Rotary Club of Beeton

This Week:

A treat for us all, to have Chris Ostrovski give a talk on Community Service. Chris is Chairman of the Community Services committee

Classifications:

1. Paint Retailing.

2. Driving Instruction.

Birthdays & Anniversaries:

Joined Rotary – John Cochrane – Aug. 29th.

Wedding Anniv. – Doug and Diane Ford – Sept. 1st.

Joined Rotary – Bryan Pett – Sept. 2nd.

Members News:

Your Spoke editor has returned from a very pleasant sea cruise to the island of Bermuda. The weather was beautiful.

Our thanks go to Bill Belier for standing in during this time, and for supplying the notes of the meeting.

Next Week – September 8th.

We are very pleased to have as our guest speaker, Superintendent Ron Tavener,23 Division. He will be talking to us about gang violence.

Membership List

Albert Kezes has now circulated a new Membership list. Make sure your in-put is correct

Club Assembly

Please note that our Club Assembly will now be held on Thursday September 15th/ at Strates Restaurant. Dinner will start at 7:00 p.m..

This is a very important meeting and our future venue will be discussed. We must have input from all our members.

Spoke Joke:

A man and a woman living in a seniors residence took a liking to one another, and after a couple of walks together and lunches, he asked her to marry him. She said yes.

The next morning, though, he couldn’t remember what her answer had been, so he phoned her.

“Good morning, dear.” He said. “My memory is playing tricks on me lately, and I can’t remember if your answer was yes or no when I asked you to marry me.”

“I’m so glad you called,” she replied. “I said yes, but I just couldn’t remember who had asked me!”

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