President Raj welcomed us and Katie Watson read the 4 way test. Matt Morris did the Innvocation and President Raj raised a glass to toast Canada, Rotary and Rotarians around the world.
SAA Jim Johnston reported 15 Rotarians present (12 in person and 3 were a Zoomin'). Guests included Speaker and Fellow Rotarian Neil Dunsmore as well as Titi Olukoya and Kirstie Patterson Pedro. These two ladies did a stellar job introducing themselves from the podium. Titi is from Nigeria and was already a member of Rotary before moving to Canada. Kirstie noticed our social media presence and our community spirit picqued her interest to find out more about us. I believe we might very well see more of these ladies in the next few weeks.
Our very own Katie Watson did a great job filling in for ol' Johnny Smooth. George Szczepki and My-Ticket-Gets-Pulled-Yet-AgainPaul Cody culled two cards from the pack to keep us going for the another week. The deck thins and the pot thickens.
Jim Johnston is happy to be walking around after a month of surgery and chemo. Jim was diagnosed with bladder cancer Sept 20 and had day surgery and some chemo flushing on Oct 8th. Biopsy Oct 19 showed that things are in good shape (although he is still rather bent). It's amazing what this guy can do in 4 weeks!
Brian Waddell showed some photos of the rowing team from the U of Waterloo. They seem to have had a 'smashing' time a few weeks ago at the Head of the Trent that didn't glean much in the way of awards but they all won golds last weekend at Brock.
President Raj reminded us that World Polio Day is this Sunday, October 24th. To find out about events taking place and to see just how close we are to eradicating Polio, visit World Polio Day.
NOTE CHANGE OF TIME for NEXT WEEK'S MEETING! It's a Double Header!
Our club will be having a Club Assembly/Social next Thursday, October 28th from 5:30pm to 7pm at the Galt Country Club. Spouses and guests are welcome. Appetizers are in the offering as is mighty fine fellowship. RSVP is required by MONDAY and President Raj will send out more details.
That very same night is the Second Wilf Rieck Annual Pitch Day. This virtual competition coordinated by Conestoga College will run from 7pm to 8pm and will feature pitches from the final three candidates. We are arranging for this to be viewed LIVE from the comforts of Galt CC after our Club Assembly but info on how to log on from the comforts of your own home will also be sent out prior to the date.
Paul McMenemy introduced our speaker, Neil Dunsmore, who gave an excellent and very engaging talk on Service Above Self: A Reflection in the Ripple. Neil is a member of the Rotary Club of Fergus-Elora, an award-winning speaker and a former Corrections Officer and Hostage/Crisis Negotiator with the Ministry of Correctional Services. He has been a business owner, salesman and is currently a Township of Centre Wellington Councillor. Since his days in corrections Neil has been a mental health advocate and is the author of the newly released book, Reflections in the Ripple which chronicles his journey of 531 kilometers.
Neil is an active Toastmaster who has won numerous contests and his talk today gave us an indication why. Neil shared a few experiences from his walk from the township office in Elora to Parliament Hill in Ottawa over the course of September 2020 in support of mental health awareness. The walk raised around $27,000 for mental health organizations and resulted in a book called Reflections in the Ripple. His own club paid for the publishing of 500 books which are now being sold for $25 each. ALL proceeds from the sale of the books are being given to The Grove which is a Fergus hub that supports mental health and the needs of local youth.
