February 3, 2009

Chair -Peter Brown chaired the meeting and skipped the mini-classification talk since he had given it in November.  He chose instead to talk about the Super Bowl and how it turned out to be one of the best games in history.  Go Steelers! 

Singsong - With the help of Gabe Chaisson on the piano, Wayne Thompson led the singing of Bicycle Built for Two and I'se the B'y that he dedicated to Steve Cudmore who is currently sailing in the Caribbean.

Makeups -none.

Visiting Rotarians - none. 

Guests - Nelson Snow introduced his guest, Bernice Kinch.

Queen of Hearts Draw - Katie Irwin handled the duties. The jackpot of $913 was missed by Ron Gallant.  The Queen of Hearts remains.

Attendance - Ron Gallant reported an attendance of 75%. A bit higher than last week.

International Toast - Peter Brown toasted the Rotary Club of Chicago.  His daughter is currently living in Chicago. He and his wife will be visiting in March, and will be there to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Rotary Minute - none.

Sunshine Reports

Dale Sabean announced that his daughter gave birth to the first "PEI born & bread Sabean" last Friday. Ralph Thompson and his wife Karen are leaving for the Florida Keys on Saturday for two weeks. John McCarthy was in Ottawa last week with his brother and nephew.  They skated the full 16km of the Rideau Canal. John Griffin was also in Ottawa last week for a conference.  While there, he had dinner with the Minister of Fisheries, the Hon. Gail Shea.  He leaves for Cuba this Thursday.  Derek Key announced that today is a happy day because he and Mrs. Key are the same age and will be until his birthday.  

Estefy had a busy week.  Last Thursday, she skated at Queen Elizabeth Park.  It was the first time she was skating in Canada.  She then had a wonderful time at the exchange students winter weekend.  She thought the curling was cool but felt she wasn't very good at it.  She thought Saturday was a really fun day, the PoliceAcademy being the highlight.  She had not realized being a police officer could be so much fun.  Although she was not successful in the obstacle course, she did learn to fight and thought that was "so cool".  She said she was given a baton and told to hit everyone because she was the police and that is what police do. She never had so much fun as during a scenario where she wanted to kill an assailant. They then visited Lennox Island and afterwards went skating.  The students spent the night at the Boys & Girls Club but did not get much sleep.  She had to get up early on Sunday morning for her snowboarding lessons.  Estefy was looking forward to a snow day to catch up on her sleep.

Committee Reports

Ted Cross followed up on Estefy's stories and reported that the winter weekend was a hit with the 21 students who participated.  He thanked all those who helped make the weekend a success.

Les Chipperfield reminded everyone to sign up for the pancake breakfast coming up on February 28.  To sign up, log on to the website and go to the bottom of the page. Tickets will be available next week.

Guest Speaker

Nelson Snow introduced Mary Kent, a youth care worker who discovered SNAP (Stop Now and Plan) in Ontario while researching different care options for children under 12 showing behavioral problems. 

Mary and her committee are now working on securing funding to establish SNAP on Prince Edward Island. SNAP is a self-control and problem-solving strategy that helps children (aged 6-12) and their parents regulate angry feelings by getting them to stop, think, and plan positive alternatives before they act impulsively.  The purpose of the program is to reduce crime.  When a child in trouble is referred to SNAP, the child and parents participate in a twelve week program where they assist weekly sessions with counselors. The child participates in role-playing exercises and is video taped.  The video is then shown to parents so they can become aware of what the child has learned. The cost for establishing a 12-week program is approximately $28,000.  Each 12-week program can accommodate 8 children.  Mary was thanked by Dale Sabean.

President's Report

President Sandy Rundle welcomed everyone to Rotary and thanked our guest speakers for their presentation.  He reminded Rotarians of next week's presentation on the website and encouraged everyone to log on to the website and volunteer for the pancake breakfast.  He thanked Ted Cross for all his hard work with the youth exchange winter weekend, and all those who helped. The Easter Seals Ambassador will visit our Club on February 17 and a GSE team from Japan will visit the District and our Club in May.  And on Saturday, February 7, Estefy is having her Ecuadorian night at the Trinity United Church. 

Sargeant at Arms  

Ralph Thompson fined all Rotarians wearing a necktie because he feels neckties are a useless piece of clothing. He also fined Richard Wedge for not having a Rotary Minute and Nelson Snow for having been dumb enough to poke fun at the Sargeant at Arms in front of the entire Club.