President Jim McPherson opened the meeting. Paul T Cody did the 4 Way test and Heidi said the Invocation. We toasted the Queen and Canada.

Tom S. was SAA.  We had 16 Rotarians at the meeting. We had 7 guests. Jock Loundes guest of Paul Cody. Tom Everrett and Dean Barreca also guests of Paul. Marlena Benak and Richard Castle were guests of Jim Johnson. Machelle Dennison and Christina Proctor were our speakers and guests of Sandra. Mike Laurie was a visiting Rotarian from Cambridge Sunrise.

George said that Chad's mother had passed away suddenly. Our condolences go out to Chad and his family.

 John Jonas was feeling sad because the board had voted to cancel Oktoberfest. He was not present at the vote and I am not sure of the exact wording so I will leave it at that. Maybe some further discussion will occur.

 

Florence is still happy with her new Denali. It does not need snow tires.

Jim McPherson's daughter got her driver's licence on the first try. Now she is driving family members all over the place and Jim is not likely to see that car for a while.

Larry Brokenshire is going to a conference in Bermuda.

Cayley had some surgery and got some hormones. So now she knows what it is like to feel pregnant. I wonder what her craving is? Also she got an offer on her house which is exciting.

No Joke today.

 

Sandra Peltier announced a Cambridge Symphony performance this Friday night at Central Church is Galt. The theme is Spanish. It starts at 730 pm.

Paul T Cody is putting together a Ski Weedend ( sp or a new Canadian word for weekend) for our club at Blue Mountains. Somewhere around Jan 18th. The chalet sleeps 18 but he did not say in how many beds.

Jim McPherson said that we have added some social events and not all are funded by the club such as the ski weekend.

Also Dec 7th is the 3 club Xmas Party at EVOS. You can purchase tickets on our club website.

Last Call for our Club Survey. 39 replies so far. Please do it so Jim can tally the results and present them to us.

Chris Wood  mentioned the Rotary Can-Am Bonspiel on or about Jan 18th to 20th 2018 in Stratford. She needs names for the sign up.

Sandra introduced our speakers Machelle and Christina from ' Strong Start to leaning'.

 

Machelle said that literacy is one of the goals of Rotary International.

Strong Start had its start in 2001 when Lyle Hallman and Lynda Silvester started a literacy programme in a Kitchener School. It has grown since then and is still filled to capacity.

42% of Canadians are semi-literate. 60% of immigrants have literacy issues.

 

They now have programmes running in 43 schools.

 

we know that the maximum impact for improving literacy skills is at a young age.

They essentially offer three programmes:1/ 'Letters,Sounds and Words ' which is offered in schools to 5-7 year olds. 2/'Get Ready for School' offered in community centres for 3-4 yr olds and 3/'Baby Connections' offered to kids under one year old and their parents.

 

Referrals come from Community Centres that identify at risk kids and families. They interface with Rotary Centres and their speech pathologists.

 

Visit their webside at www.strongstart.ca. This is a great opportunity for volunteers.