President Marty congratulated our member Mike Schreiner on being elected MPP for Guelph.

Michele Richardson called for more volunteers for Canada Day. Please ask family, friends, everyone! Sign up can take place online, or on the posters at the club, or by contacting her. She also reminded us of the traditional Canada Day Kickoff Celebration at our meeting on Friday, June 22, and asks everyone to dress up for Canada Day!

President Marty Fairbairn warmly thanked all the volunteers working on preparations for our club’s 26th Canada Day In The Park.

 

 

 

 

 

Carolyn Weatherson was positively beaming when she simply said “I love Guelph, the best city ever!”  (We could read between the lines, Carolyn – nice one!)

Rick Le Feuvre had warm wishes for his sister celebrating her 65th birthday.

Michele Richardson shared happy experiences from Scott and herself visiting two of their daughters in the UK, with some amusing memories of visiting Moray Firth in the north highlands, some whisky distilleries and taste-testing a few drams, then driving a standard-shift car on the wrong side of the road (correct side for the locals, fortunately).  

Dave Latreille had a sad and happy buck.  Sadly, his mother passed away, and he gave thanks to The Elliott for the fine care she had received there. On a happier note, he reported participating in a group of 12 running an annual relay race from Cobourg to Niagara Falls. Their group won the Masters’ category, and came 11th in the race overall.

Marva Wisdom had a marvellous trip to China and Japan with her cousin to celebrate their birthdays, and grateful that her cousin handled all the planning and did a great job. Upon her return, she was surprised and delighted that her son had done all her front yard gardening for her, and she is amused that he is now calling her to ensure that she is taking care of it. Also, she is thrilled that she will become a grandmother again at the end of July and intends bringing baby Cassidy to Rotary from an early age to learn the ropes.

 

 

Bev was back in full force today, raising a good sum for our Polio Plus campaign with fines ranging from:

Tom Funk for not helping Bev to avoid “stepping in it”

Martha Rogers for being so decisive

Derek Matisz for being our guest today

Paul Truex for his cane being perceived as a warning to others

Jim McKenzie for making too many rebuttals

Marva Wisdom and Joanne McAuley for holding up the lunch line while discussing fashions

 

 

 

Greeter Jane Armstrong introduced and welcomed one guest today:

 

 

 

 

Paul Dredge introduced our guest speaker, Christine, who has been with PIN (formerly known as the Volunteer Centre of Guelph Wellington) since 2004 in various roles. She is now the Executive Director at PIN, the People & Information Network. Outside of work, she enjoys yoga and hiking with her husband and two children and their dog named Phoebe.

 

Christine mentioned PIN’s rebranding and renaming exercise from just over a year ago, which typically takes people at least two years to get used to.  She appreciated the experience they went through of re-evaluating who they were, what they do, how they want to be known.

 

She went on to explain PIN’s three main pillars of work:

Each pillar was introduced by a video, well worth watching on their website at http://pinnetwork.ca/pillars-of-work/

 

It was surprising to hear that there is a noticeable reduction in volunteering, with older volunteers gradually stepping down, the middle “sandwich group” being super-busy with work while also caring for both parents and children, and millenials having different ideas about volunteering. PIN is responding to these changes by continually tweaking their operations.

 

The essence of PIN is this:

 

 

Prior to and following any club meeting, there are often committee meetings for our many club activities. This is the Youth at Risk & Children's committee. This is the last meeting as they are to be combined in the new year into one committee.

 

Correction to bulletin of June 1, 2018. An error was made in attributing our Lawrie Jones as working with Brain Studies at University of Guelph. His question was asked as a pain clinician worrying about the long-term effects of this drug on our young and senior members of our community. He is not an expert in this field but that doesn't stop him from searching the literature and from worrying about how big a mistake we are making.