Please join us at Odd Fellows Hall, 218 Concession Street, Kingston ON.
The Rotary Four Way Test
Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned
Rotary Reflection
For food in a world where many walk in hunger
For peace in a world where many walk in fear
For friends in a world where many walk alone
And for the opportunity to serve others through Rotary,
May we be truly thankful!
The Loyal Toast
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Queen of Canada!
Acknowledgement of Territory
We are gathered on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory. we are grateful to be able to join together in Rotary Fellowship on these lands.
The meeting opened with the singing of the National Anthem and acknowledgement of territory.
Guests:Tom Thayer, Guest of John Richards;Niall O’Driscoll, Dad of Guest Speaker Olivia; Olivia O’Driscoll, Guest Speaker; Charlotte Lynn, Guest Speaker; Sara Stephenson, Guest Speaker
Friends of Rotary:Jim Rymerson; On’A’Gotay
Visiting Rotarians: Ayo Banjo, from sister club in Lagos, Nigeria
Service Commitments and Makeups: Ana Sutherland: Service Committee
Heather Kembel, Terri Hodges, Jim Rymerson, John Farrow - Bingo; Greta du Bois: Centenary meeting
Member Sharing
Fun Master - John Farrow
By the seat of my pants, again! Who had less than 10 people for Xmas? Who didn't have turkey? I want to hear from everyone about what they did on their Christmas holidays, please!
Happy/Sad Bucks
John Farrow: one year anniversary of when I fell and broke my ankle last year. Spoke with my family about it and apologized that I wasn’t so easy to live with – my son responded that yeah – I was quite an ***** (oops!)
Greta: International Christmas lunch at my house: 2 students from Pakistan and 1 from Botswana.
Heather Nogrady: Treated myself to a 1980 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon – and didn’t share!
On’A’Gotay: 44 children at Tipi Mosa Christmas party and it was a beautiful day. Every child got a present and thank you so much from the Indigenous community.
Ayo Banjo: Happy to be back! Thanks for the invitation Bill E. (who is teaching me how to swim!) I left London on Christmas day and a woman was assigned the same seat as me on the plane. She refused to leave the seat and I was upgraded to business class!
Bill Egnatoff: Wonderful to have Ayo back! Ayo is a member of the club in Nigeria that my dad founded in 1961. We’re still working on writing the history of the club. It was a 5 year old Syrian refugee boy who was teaching Ayo to swim!
Bernie: My son, partner, granddaughters at our house and a stranger who has received a liver transplant 5 weeks ago.
John Gale: Happy to spend Christmas at Deerhurst with family
Robert Reid: Best Christmas gift ever! Marin (first grandchild) born December 19th. All are well!
Announcements
Robert Reid
On’A’Gotay has a show Friday 9-5 at HARS (846 Princess Street – across from Giant Tiger) and he’ll be there will his beautiful, handmade gloves and mitts, as well as paintings and cards.
President's Announcements
President, Ana Sutherland:
District Conference Oct 16-17th Ana won ½ price registration fee!!
PETS training - Cornwall March 21st
Insurance policy has changed: if we are organizing any event ourselves and bringing other people to help, we need separate coverage
Supporting new Canadians: meeting Thursday at 7am – I usually attend, but everyone is welcome. We’re having a monthly social with newcomers to Canada and is being held here at the Odd Fellows hall Jan 20th. Every meeting will have a theme that highlights something about culture and will include food. Third Thursday of every month 5-8pm. Kids corner, as well.
Board meeting coming up at Kingston Dodge, January 16th, 4 pm
Heritage Fair: May 14th this year on West Campus – Greg Mumford will be organizing with his committee – booth manned by volunteers and we’ll sponsor travel to next level for winners.
Adventures in Citizenship has a spot open – May in Ottawa. Deadline Feb for candidates.
Climate Change symposium Jan 16th noon at the Grand Theatre. A new service area for Rotary is the Environment. Let’s get on board!
Upcoming Dates/Events
Mar. 5, 2020 - Rotary Day at Brier Patch- Rotarians will volunteer at the Patch
July 19th, 2020 - Rotary Centennial Birthday Party at Rotary Park
Sept 19, 2020 - Tree Planting - Rotary Park - Rotarians to assist in planting 100 trees
June 25th, 2021 - Rotary Anniversary Gala, St. Lawrence College
Chase the Ace!
Robert's number was drawn but no joy - the pot continues to build!!
John Farrow introduced Olivia, Charlotte, and Sara from the Machine Mavericks Robotics Team. Olivia reached out to Bill Egnatoff who suggested them as speakers. The Mavericks are a community High School Robotics team made up of students from 5 area schools who in their inaugural year made it to the world championships!
The Mavericks compete as part of the FIRST ( For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology ) Robotics Canada. At the high school level, teams of 10-50 students design, program and build a 125lb. robot. FIRST has 4 categories, starting with Lego robotics for kids as young as 6 years of age.
The Machine Mavericks are 20 students from 5 different Kingston high schools and are 52% female in membership. They are unique as they are the only team with their own machine shop (6,000 square feet, with milling machines and plasma cutter), computer lab and practice field. They are getting lots of media coverage, even from The Agenda on TVO – particularly around their goal of gender parity in club membership. The Mavericks chose 50% instead of an all-female team because they want to reflect the reality of their future workplaces.
The Mavericks were a bit discouraged after their first competition in Toronto, but did some redesign work and won their next competition in Windsor (failure and reworking a project is a big part of the learning process according to the girls). One success from the first competition was the awarding to the Mavericks of the Rookie Inspiration Award. They then went on to the provincial championships which they won, along with getting the Rookie All Star Award, and then went on to the world competition in Detroit, placing 30th out of 68 teams in their division. Detroit was a big deal - there were 400 teams from 37 countries! 47,000 people in total descended on the city for this competition. The competitions require the teams to design and build their robot, then the robot must play a 'game', negotiating obstacles and placing items like balls in a target. A new game comes out every year and they have just received details of the new game for this year.
Outreach is a huge part of what the Mavericks do too. They have been involved in presenting to and working with younger kids' robotics teams, sponsoring international teams in Puerto Rico, and working to start a 'breakfast with bots' group in local schools. They have also created handouts on promoting diversity and teamwork. And they are gracious enough to let the other two area teams use their practice space.
After several questions from members, Ed Thomson thanked the members of the team with the usual loaf of bread. Quite an impressive group of young people judging by their presentation.
Registration and Greeting
Members: Robert Reid
Guest: Michelle Chatten-Fiedorec
Greeter: Bernie Allard
Hall and Kitchen setup: Ana Sutherland, Greg Mumford, Ed Thomson
Hall and Kitchen clean up: Murray Cotton, John Gale, Ed Thomson
7:15 Call to Order and Welcome Ana Sutherland
7:16 Rotary Invocation and Toast to the Queen Heather Nogrady
7:17 Breakfast Parade Bill Egnatoff
7:35 Welcoming of Guests and Visiting Rotarians John Gale
7:38 Announcements and Board Positions Ana Sutherland and members
7:43 Fun Master Bill Egnatoff
7:50 Speaker Intro John Farrow
7:55 Speakers Nour Mazioum - Queen's Career Apprenticeship: Kingston (QCA:K) Program
8:20 Speaker Thanks John Richards
8:25 Draw Murray Cotton
8:30 Adjournment Ana Sutherland
Scribe: Terri Hodges
Piano: Terry Hicks
Announcements
Jan. 16, 2020 - Board Meeting - at Kingston Dodge 4PM
Jan. 16, 2020 - International Committee meeting - 8:30 AM at Ambassador
Jan. 23, 2020 - Social Event - Fun, Food and Festive - New Comers to Canada at Odd Fellows 5-8 PM
Jan 23, 2020 - Joint Membership Committee Chairs meeting at Smittys - 6-7:30 PM
Mar. 5, 2020 - Rotary Day at Brier Patch- Rotarians will volunteer at the Patch
Mar. 21, 2020 - PETS Training at Nav Centre, Cornwall
May 14, 2020 - Heritage Fair - Queens West Campus
July 19th, 2020 - Rotary Centennial Birthday Party at Rotary Park
Sept 19, 2020 - Tree Planting - Rotary Park - Rotarians to assist in planting 100 trees
Oct 16 & 17, 2020 - District Conference at Ottawa
June 25th, 2021 - Rotary Anniversary Gala, St. Lawrence College
