In the pre-meeting zoom-off - Paul T. C.  won the lottery at a local US location - he was so pleased, he'll be returning for all special occasions

Matt and Paul T also shared thoughts on stock vs real estate investing - should have been there...

 

President Heidi started the meeting promptly at 12:31 with the ringing of her bell

Mike T. impressed us all with his recital of our 4-Way Test - followed by Pres. H. toasting thousands

Secretary Larissa P. expertly counted 21 members in attendance

- Paul T. C. - joined Rotary 27 YEARS ago - and our club has bennefitted substantially!

- Pres. Heidi listed off many member milestones - we have a few who were in the club before paper was invented, so the records may or may not be accurate.

- but of note, Bruce Flowers had a birthday Jan 1, Matt M. has been in 28 years, Brian W. 13 years, Treasurer Tom 3 years, and Secretary Larissa 1 year!

- Todd L. put out a teaser about the SuperHero event for KidsAbility - we'll hear more about it in the coming weeks

Matt M told us a real life joke - in walking through his neighbourhood for exercise, someone asked if he was homeless...   boy, a homeless financial advisor isn't something you see very often these days!

Treasurer Tom took control and gave us a mid-year financial update; suffice it to say we are doing well in/on all accounts.  Part of the reason for this is the conservative budgeting done by Tom and our board; Roses, Bingo, and the Auction ALL doubled or tripled expectations.

 

Also, the GCC has waived the necessity for all social members to spend a minimum of $337.00 per year on food, but will of course require us all to pay our annual membership fee of $115 (+tax); with this in mind, the board decided to place a reimbursement credit for all eligible Rotarians on to our individual GCC membership accounts.  President Heidi will be sending out an email notifying all.

 

PP Linda announced on Rena's behalf that we have 7 members on our 'Coldest night of the year' team (4 Rotarians, 3 non) - this is an excellent fundraiser, and will also provide us with a golden opportunity for some out door and distanced fellowship (on February 20th).  Please reach out to Rena if you can't locate her email from last week containing all of those details...  If you're not participating, please consider supporting someone who is!

 

Pres. Heidi also reminded us of the Club Visioning session this Saturday - please attend if you are able!

Dr. Tom S did a great job of introducing us to the Great White North.

 

Some of the highlights:

 

- today's temperature was -28, wind chill -40

- Whitehorse has a population of 26,000, with the population of the Yukon being 36,000

- it is a FANTASTIC place for those who enjoy outdoor activities

- he and Janet have been living in their daughter's basement since September to help with the kids (2 & 5) while both parents work at the new Yukon University in the Earth Sciences program

- they live about 5kms from the mountains

- heat is provided by a propane furnace, with a wood stove to supplement, and for back up for unplanned outages

- there are 40 community ice rinks! and 100's of miles of cross country ski trails; along with local downhill skiing

- whenever out hiking, skiing, etc, bear spray should be carried just in case...

- 200 kms south is Skagway - a town that suffers through the pandemic without the 100's of cruise ships that usually visit

- they also own a 'wall tent', which is really wood framing with fabric, perhaps canvas, pulled over it for walls and roof.

- Dr. Tom actually snowshoed in 7-8 kms, helped get the snow off the roof, then shoed back out again - now THAT is a lot of work

- a new subdivision is being built to house 8,000 people - home prices a little higher than this area of Ontario, however, cost of living is substantially higher

- there are two Rotary clubs in Whitehorse, and they have a Rotary Roses fundraiser, along with a duck race down the Yukon River

 

Sorry for all of the facts I've missed here Dr. Tom, I often found myself just sitting and listening instead of recording :(  I think it looks like a beautiful place to be!

 

Dr. Murray thanked Dr. Tom for his presentation today -

 

Pres. Heidi reminded us that next week we have Dr. Murray and Chris W. telling us about their 28 day curling tour of Scotland in 2018 - oh...  to travel again.....