April 21, 2009

Chair - Vance Bridges forewent his mini-classification talk to offer local Olympian, Heather Moyse, the opportunity to present two Rotary banners to our Club.  Heather acquired the banners from two Rotary Clubs in Trinidad while completing an internship as a disability sports program officer in 2001.  During her internship, she founded a sports leadership camp for children with disabilities.  The camp was made possible thanks to two local Rotary Clubs who sponsored the program.  Even though Heather is no longer in Trinidad, the camp continues and is being held for the 8^th time in 2009.

Singsong - With the help of Gabe Chaisson on the piano, Vance Bridges led the singing of I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover.

Queen of Hearts Draw - Katie Irwin handled the duties. The jackpot of $343 was missed by Donna MacKay (5 of diamonds), but Donna won an Ecuadorian soccer jersey, donated by Estefi.

Attendance - Ron Gallant reported an attendance of 61%.

International Toast - Atanu Chaudhuri toasted the Rotary Club of Durgapur, India, the first Rotary Club he ever joined, in 1990.

Sunshine Reports

Phil Jost has not attended Rotary since March 16 because of various travels.  He visited Switzerland and had a fantastic time but was disappointed to return to snow.  Johm McCarthy had lovely evening at Wayne Thompson's on Saturday for the Dine Around where the men soundly beat the women in a game of Cranium. Bernice Kinch (for Nelson Snow) had a different recollection of the results of the Cranium match. Estefi was recently away in Florida with her family where she visited Disney World.  She was very happy to see her family and had a fantastic time.  She found it easier saying goodbye for 3 months than she did when she left last summer and had to say goodbye for 11 months.  After arriving back on the Island, she travelled to NS with Richard Wedge and Maureen, to spend the weekend with all of Maureen's family.

Committee Reports

None.

Guest Speaker

Dale Sabean introduced his new host daughter, this year's inbound exchange student Estefania Muñoz.

Estefi gave a presentation of her life in Ecuador, a country located directly below the Ecuador, in the northwest part of South America. Estefi lives in Valle de Los Chillos which is located 2,500 meters above sea-level.  The city has a population of 170,000 people and forms part of Quitto which has a population of 2,000,000.  Estefi lives with her father (Rene), her mother (Irma), and her two younger sisters. During her presentation, Estefi showed photos of her numerous friends, her school, and the things Ecuador is best known for: soccer, food, people, beaches, Galapagos Islands, cocoa, bananas, flowers, coffee, etc.  She exchanged banners with President Sandy and requested that her banner be hung in front of the head table for all to see.  Estefi was thanked by Catherine Rankin.

President's Report

President Sandy Rundle welcomed guests and thanked Estefi for her presentation. He mentioned his family already misses having her around.  He reminded Rotarians of the upcoming District Conference in Antigonish, NS.  There is still time to sign up.  Cathy Gallant has mulch tickets for Rotarians to pick-up.  And, the next executive meeting is April 23 at 7:00am.

Sargeant at Arms  

Derek Key filled in for Wayne Carew. Instead of fines, the acting Sgt-at-Arms shared good news (and not so good news) with the Club:

-          Thanks to the Prince County Hospital Foundation, the province now has its first digital mammography unit at PCH.

-          The latest edition of the Dine Around was superb.

-          The leader of an Alberta GSE team visiting northern Nigeria was kidnapped.  Derek is unsure how that will affect our Club's planned trip scheduled to leave on May 13.