March 7 2019

It was another cold March morning-20, brrrr. There was some sunlight starting to peek through to guide our 22 Lakehead Rotarians to our off site meeting at the A&W on Arthur Street. Guest, Jane Lucas was present as well as guest speaker, Mathew Diegle from Port Arthur Rotary. We must not forget our travelling Rotarian, Walter Hardie back from Hamilton! Also, Graham who has returned from Arizona. Welcome home! . President Brian welcomed us all this morning with a HUGE Thank You to Lori Martineau for graciously hosting our meeting this morning! A delicious breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, hash browns, toast and coffee was served. Lori treated us all with extra treats of coupons, root beer, stuffed teddy bear and candy. Lori also, generously donated the funds generated from this meeting back to our club to help our budget! A great round of applause to Lori and her awesome team at A&W! ON THE DOOR IN 2018/19: Thank you to Karl Ratz for being our Door Greeter this morning! Please think about volunteering to provide club service in the future. We still have opportunities for you to volunteer to provide door services for the club. Let Clint know which month works for you. JANUARY Mo Papich. AUGUST FEBRUARY Karl Ratz SEPTEMBER MARCH Karl Ratz OCTOBER APRIL NOVEMBER MAY DECEMBER JUNE Gail Brescia JULY

SPONSORSHIP: If you can help your Club and wish to promote your business or community interests through a month sponsorship, please contact Sergeant Bill or Clint. Here is the list for this for this Rotary year: JANUARY Don/Scouts Canada JULY FEBRUARY Clint/TBAG AUGUST MARCH Volker/RFDA SEPTEMBER APRIL MS Society OCTOBER MAY Salvation Army NOVEMBER JUNE 5 Star Rotarians DECEMBER

OUR SPONSOR THIS MONTH!

Our Mission: “Let no one go hungry in our midst” Our goals are as follows: create a reliable and equitable emergency food delivery system throughout the region coordinate food collection from: individuals, gardens, farms, processors, retailers, and organizations promote the universal right to access a sustainable supply of healthy and culturally appropriate food provide food related instruction and hands on food preparation volunteer opportunities The RFDA hopes to fulfill this mission by better securing and distributing emergency food to meet the needs in Northwestern Ontario. The RDFA was formed in June 2003 to develop and implement a coordinated strategy for the delivery of donated food to community organizations who provide for those with food shortage. Its current membership includes food distributing agencies from the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario and Region. We provide food to food banks. This months club sponsor is the RFDA. Gail spoke on Volker’s behalf. Volker was busy filming with a crew from 100 Huntley Street. They are producing a film on the trials of getting food distributed to the remote Northern communities in the hopes of raising funds to assist.

OUR FAMILY OF ROTARY IN THUNDER BAY

Celebrating birthdays this month CAROL DAGENAIS

Celebrating anniversaries this month

CLUB CALENDAR MARCH IS WATER AND SANITATION MONTH MAR 7 OFF SITE MEETING A&W ARTHUR ST MAR 14 OPEN MAR 17 CANADA CLUB MEETING

JONES & ASSOCIATES MAR 17 ST. PATRICK’S DAY MAR 21 BUSINESS MEETING MAR 28 OPEN MAR 31 PRESIDENTIAL CITATION AWARD DEADLINE

DISTRICT AWARDS DEADLINE APRIL MATERNAL & CHILD HEALTH Our sponsor this month is the MS SOCIETY THUNDER BAY- Rotarian Sandy Lychowyd APRIL 1 MEMBERSHIP DUES INVOICES for 2019/20 APRIL 4 Michael Nitz- B.D.C. APRIL 6 L.E.A.D. (P-E Training) APRIL 11 Bailey Whitefield- Miracle Ear APRIL 18 Club Business Meeting APRIL 19 GOOD FRIDAY APRIL 20 EASTER SUNDAY APRIL 25 open meeting APRIL 25-27 DISTRICT CONFERENCE- MINOT PRESENTATION: President Brian introduced our guest speaker, Mathew Diegle from Port Arthur Rotary who is the unofficial Youth Exchange Officer. Mathew has been involved with The Youth Exchange Program for 10 years. There is a local youth wanting to attend, Leo. His three older siblings attended and he would like to as well. The best exchange is to Slovakia in August of 2019. Port Arthur Rotary is asking for help from all the clubs for sponsorship. A joint venture for fund raising was suggested. The funds required are approximately $2300.00 USA. Help is required both financially and physically. Inbounder guests require lodging with host families. Chaperones for special events and rides places. The program runs through the year from August until July. Port Arthur requires a response in two months. Clifford has stated that we will discuss this as a club and get back to them. Gail Kromm, a past host family stated, “ It’s like travelling around the world in your own living room!” This sounds like an exciting experience to host a young person in the Youth Exchange Program.

Communications: The Communications Committee is having a few growing pains. Committee Chair Audrey Halvorsen noted that we are communicating as much as possible through the website. The Club Chronicle is posted on the public website. Each member can reach the member area by clicking on the button on the top right corner and putting in their user name and password. If anyone needs a password reset, please let Audrey know. The membership requested refresher training on the use of the website and Facebook. Shrimp Fest: Shrimp Fest will be held on May 24, 2019 at the RFDA. Tickets are $60. We already have 5 items donated for the silent auction. We are looking forward to seeing the Alan/LoriAnn team in action. FELLOWSHIP FINES: No fines were collected today due to our off site meeting. CLUB SOCIAL: Lakehead Rotary Curling Mini Bonspiel for fun and friendship on Saturday April 6/19 7pm at the Fort William Curling Club. It will be 2 ends of curling and championship followed by a delicious Chinese Dinner. The cost for the curling is $10.00. Members are encouraged to stay and socialize over Chinese Food. The cost of dinner is the responsibility of each participant. Crying towels free! We hope to see you all there! Special Reminder from Sandy: The deadline for submissions for Rotarian of the Year is March,31 2019. Submissions can be made to Sandy via email slychowd@tbaytel.net 3 past presidents will review the nominations and will then make a recommendation to the Board. NEXT MEETING Thursday March 14/19 at the Valhalla. Guest speaker will be Charla Robinson from the Chamber of Commerce.

Join us for the 2019 District Conference in Minot as we gather the family of Rotary! 2019 DISTRICT CONFERENCE April 25-27 | Minot, ND https://rotary5580.org/