President’s Corner
Dave introduced Dave Martindale who spoke to the members regarding the passing of long time member Audrey Wipper on the weekend. Dave reminisced about his time working with Audrey on the African Women's Education Foundation to improve the education of women in Kenya & Uganda by funding tuition to university. Audrey was a retired professor of Sociology from University of Waterloo joining the faculty in 1967 at its inception. Members were guided to the newspaper to read her obituary for further information.
Bell Ringer
The legacy of Audrey Wipper.
Sergeant-At-Arms/Guest
Dave Smith livened up the meeting with his sense of humour while introducing exchange students Jess & Elyse.
Birthdays
Cam noted the birthdays of note; Gary Parker on the 9th, Russ St. Louis the 19th, Carl Zehr on the 10th and new member Brandon Towns on the 12th.
50-50 draw
Total to date $589 .00. No luck for Paul Rostrup, John Webster or Darren Sweeney. The pot lives.
Club Announcements
Cam Yule gave his last pitch to join us at the In Vino evening this Thursday, April 19th at 7:00 pm. He only has 10 tickets left.
Bryn Jones has been proposed by Ed Fowler for membership under the classification of Engineer-Facilities Management. Any considerations from membership may be submitted to the Membership Committee in writing by April 23, 2018. This is the 2nd and final notice of this announcement.
Special Presentation
Three new members were inducted into the club today by President Dave. He read a short bio of each member; Christie Reid, Caitlin Simpson and Brandon Town. Christie is a grad from Laurier in 2008 in business and works presently for Roynat Capital. Caitlin is a graduate from Conestoga College in financial planning and is now with Assante Financial Management Ltd. Brandon is from Listowel but has called Kitchener-Waterloo home for the past 10 years. He is a partner and sales representative at The Zhand Team Real Estate Advisors Inc. All have been members of the satellite group for over a year. John Webster welcomed them to the club and Dave passed out their Rotary pins.
Program Highlights
Online Auction Presentation was conducted by Jim Phillips; assisted by Candi Harrington. Jim outlined three areas; the first being an update on the 2017 results. We were able to secure 5 sponsors which was the same as 2016 even thought we were looking for 12.
We collected 98 items for the auction; although our goal was 155 items so we attained 63% of our stated goal. The target revenue from the auction was an ambitious $15,000 of which we attained 56% of our goal with $8,411 net profit. We were joined in this venture with four other clubs from Oakville, Milton, North Burlington [a new member club] and Mississauga [who returned after a year absence]. The auction generated $80,000 over the five clubs from 929 items offered and 39 sponsors. Some of the positives from this year's auction was the use of a new software program that was actually cheaper and easier to run. Our new warehouse facility at National Self Storage was donated by Al Way which proved very useful due to the space, easy access for committee members, customers and other clubs dropping off items. Some of the challenges that remain are keeping up member participation in accessing sponsors; bringing in auction items [e.g. gift cards] and offering to assist with data entry or sign distribution. Jim was looking to members to see if a club sponsorship approach would assist with lowering the costs which would then improve the bottom line.
The second area of the presentation covered the results of all three years that we have been involved. Our committee has shrunk from 11 to 6 members over the three years which results in more work per member. The number of items we presented for auction rose from 42 in 2015 to 98 in 2017. Gross revenue continued to rise from $7,714 in 2015 to $9,416 in 2016 to $11,241 in 2017. Net revenue [after shared expenses with the other clubs was 2015 $6,410; 2016 $7,165 and 2017 $8,4 11. Central expenses in 2015 was $904; in 2016 $1,344 and in 2017 was $958 [a decrease mainly due to an increase in clubs being involved]. Local expenses for 2015 was $400 then in 2016 it rose to $977 [mainly for advertising signs] and in 2017 it was $1,876.
Lastly, Jim spoke on the topic: Where to next? If we are to carry on with this fund raising project what is needed to maintain the success we have enjoyed. Firstly, is the continued support and participation of all our members who have done well in getting sponsors, auction items and distributing/collecting signs. Several more members who could join our committee and others who could assist with data entry would help. Secondly, we need to increase the number of auction items in order to reach the attainable goal of $15,000.
Jim wrapped the session with a Q & A from the members and a discussion. John Webster spoke in favour of our continued involvement in the Online Auction as a means to generate funds for local initiatives outside of the Foundation which requires a recognized charitable group for income tax purposes. With our new members present from the satellite group; they could help assist in various areas. President Dave spoke on the topic of the club sponsorship approach which has been a topic of discussion with the board members and may be striking a new committee to handle that approach. Jim asked for a show of hands to see if support was there for continuing the Online Auction committee. Majority agreed it was a worthwhile enterprise and it should continue.
Audrey Wipper – Scholar, Rotarian, Benefactor- 1928-2018
Audrey was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. She attended McGill University where she graduated in Arts in 1952. After completing a Master’s Degree in Sociology she went on for further graduate studies at the University of California – Berkley. (One of the first woman!) In the early 60’s she went to East Africa and worked out of Makerere University in Kampala. A pioneer in the field of scholarship on African women and development issues, her Ph.D studies focussed on various religious movements involving both Christian and indigenous women in western Kenya. After receiving her Doctorate she returned to Kenya for post-doctorate studies. While there she was offered a position in the new Sociology Faculty at the University of Waterloo, where she spent the rest of her career, retiring as Professor in 1996. Over the years Audrey had an active academic career authoring numerous books and editing journals, many having to do with conditions in Africa.
For much of her life, Audrey owned her own horse. She enjoyed riding most days and was involved in competitive riding and dressage where she often travelled to shows pulling her horse trailer.
In 1993 Audrey Wipper became the second woman member of the Rotary Club of Kitchener. She had been a regular weekly Rotary attendee. She is an eighth-level Paul Harris Fellow, the highest in the Club. In 2005, Audrey went to India as part of a Rotary National Immunization Campaign against Polio and helped vaccinate hundreds of children.
In 2009, Audrey asked her Club if it could set up a fund for the university education of African women. It was her belief that educated African women could have a profound effect on both their societies and families. With her significant contribution, the Audrey Wipper Educational Fund was established in the Rotary Club of Kitchener Charitable Foundation. This Fund provides the major support for the Rotary African Women’s Education Fund (RAWEF), a committee of the Rotary Club of Kitchener’s Charitable Foundation. The RAWEF has supported over 40 women from Uganda and Kenya in their university studies. 16 women have graduated and have returned to work in their communities.
Audrey is an honorary member of our club in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the Rotary African Women’s Education Fund.
