President's Comments
President Richard open today's meeting with the notice of the passing of Cam Yule's wife, Carol and the passing of club member Marty Levene. Expressions of condolence were offered to Cam and a moment of silence was held in honour of Marty.
Happy Jar
Adrian DeCoo and Bill Proctor were happy to have had an outstanding day selling Car Draw tickets at the Market on the Saturday of the August long weekend. They sold $1,234.42 worth of tickets. The highlight of the day, though, was selling tickets to Howard Pell's father.
Howard Pell was happy to announce that he has approved the final draft of his latest book and that the Book Launch will take place at 7:00 p.m. on September 24 at KidsAbility.
Elena Shpinel, a visiting Rotarian from the RC of Moscow International, was delighted to be with us today and to have had the opportunity to meet many of us at the Home Hosting event our club held in Toronto as part of the RI Convention. Elena presented each member with a token from the recent World Cup events in Moscow.
Bell Ringer(s)
Our Bell Ringers this week were Caitlin Simpson and other members of our Satellite group who have taken all of the information from the Car Craw ticket stubs from last year and added them our mailing database!
President's Wine Quiz
Question: What is the current number of members of Rotary International world wide?
Answer: 1.2 million
Club Announcements
Wayne Boehler let members know that we are in need of someone to sell tickets at the Market this Thursday. We also need members to assist at the Plowing Match on Friday, September 21 (1 person) and Saturday, September 22 (2 people). Wayne reminder everyone that when selling tickets at public events such as the market or plowing match to be sure to mark the back of the stubs with a red pen or marker. This identifies them as public sales and as such get entered into our mailing database.
50/50 Draw
Our young pot is now at $157 but will continue to grow as none of Adrian DeCoo, Tom Mennill, nor Richard Bruckeder were able to find Jack.
Program Highlights
Our guest speaker today was Hannah Gardiner, a rebound exchange student. Hannah was sponsored by our club to go to Taiwan in 2014-15 and she was with us today to talk about the impact of the exchange and where she is now in her life three years later.
Joining Hannah was her mother Gabi who also spoke:
"Jim, my husband, and I ended up in Asia, a place we never thought to go as a promise to Hannah that we made before she left on her exchange. We promised to go to Taiwan with her three years after her exchange so she could show us where she lived, what she did and, most importantly, with Whom she spent her 11 months.
After having arrived in Hsinchu, Hannah's city, we were in a Uber and I had to get out my iPad and tape the conversation Hannah was having with the driver. At home Hannah would never speak Mandarin to us since we would have no clue as to what she was saying, so when hearing it flowing so naturally I had to tape it to share with people at home.
This Uber drive was the start of outings, lunches, dinners, and even a Karaoke night with individuals and groups that Hannah introduced to us as Rotary, teachers, friends and family. These moments carried on up to hours before the end of our time in Taiwan.
When booking our trip we decided that we would add an adventure to Japan to visit Saeko, our Japanese daughter to see where she lives and to meet her family. Saeko met us the airport and didn't leave our side until our departure. The trip was WONDERFUL.
Jim and I want to say THANK YOU to all of YOU for your support in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program which introduced us to Saeko and many others and for your support of Hannah because it has opened so many doors for her and has given her more than just an experience in Taiwan.
Hannah spoke about her trip back to Taiwan with her mom and dad and reflected on her many experiences there, what they taught her and how they have influenced her. She noted that "Although it is kind of a platitude, I could not imagine my life, as it is now, without my year in Taiwan. In fact, most of my current experiences would not be possible without it"
Hannah will be going into her forth year at the University of Waterloo studying Knowledge Integration, a Liberal Arts program and is taking several classes in Chinese. One day one of her professors mentioned to her about a Chinse Competition for foreign students and encouraged her to participate. Hannah agreed, not really knowing what all was involved. Several weeks of intensive studying ensued preparing a speech and performance piece and she participated in the contest at Brock University against over two dozen students from Ontario and Manitoba. Hannah won the event and, along with students from other regions of the country, got to represent Canada at the next level. Unbeknownst to Hannah until this happened, this included an all expenses trip to Beijing. There, she was one of 6 selected from the Americas group to move on to the next level again. During the next phase much of the contest took place on Chinese television which she found to be challenging and very exciting. Her participation ended at this level but she found the whole experience fascinating and a tremendous boost to her understanding of Chinese language and culture.
Hannah said that part of the reason for coming to speak to us was to show her gratitude for having been able to have the experience of going on a Rotary exchange, saying "I've had a lot of unique experiences that I would never have had, had it not been for my exchange."
Closing Remarks & Reminders
President Richard reminded members that our meeting next week will be at KidsAbility for our annual envelop stuffing for the Car Draw mail out. He also reminded members to continue to sign up for the Market and Plowing Match ticket selling.
It was also announced that a special Cluster Event is to occur on Friday, November 2. This will be a breakfast meeting with Steve Paikin as the guest presenter. Members planning to attend will need to register online and an Invitation will be sent within the next day to assist members in doing so.
