Greetings from the frosty slopes of Mount Sumanik. It is 9am, minus 22C and pitch black.

We zoomers had a good chat among ourselves and our esteemed guests Norm and Suzanne before the mothership could make contact. Finally after 18 tries we were connected.

 

Prez Heidi opened, Paul Cody did the 4 Ways and Noah did the Secular Blessing.

Jim J. was SAA and confirmed 22 live ( for now) members braving Covid. And were they wearing masks? I hope so. 7 Zoomers including Norm Bindon and Suzanne zBinden.

Smoothy Johny ran the 50/50 draw...  meagre at around $65 but the excitement was palpable. But alas both Ivana and Paul T will both get a dead bird from Amazon.

Apologies up front as hearing the speakers was sketchy.

 

Ivana was on the Mike Farwell show and I think spoke of the Coping Centre. A listener reached out and called the show with her story. Heidi was taken with the conversation.

 

Linda could not resist talking about the Auction. Really folks this is a big thing and a lot of effort has gone into it. There are now 140 items on line. Register for the Auction and Share with others spread the news.  Hey guys, this will take the pain out of shopping for that special person. Easy Peazy!!!

No Joke today.

Basically the same as last week but no fishing off Jim McPherson's dock as it blew away in the windstorm.

 

Rena asked that we keep the socks coming. 300 pairs needed. Keep em coming and drop off socks at Chateau Jonas aka Mennonite Furniture on Pinebush.

 

Rena also said that help could be used at a dinner for the needy sponsored by Langs. Some one asked if they could watch people eating on Zoom. I don't know but Rena will send out an email to be more specific.

The Chaddler introduced our speaker Norm Bindon ( keep wanting to say Biden for some reason) .  He is currently the District Director of Rotary Foundation, hails from the Rotary Club of Brampton and was District Governor in 2008-2009. Suzanne zBinden from the Rotary Club of Orangeville was also with us to assist Norm with his Zoom presentation.

Norm's many other achievements were outlined by Larry B's email which I presume you have all read.

Today he is here to talk about Rotary Foundation.

Rotary Foundation is our Charity. Its mission is to do good in the world both with local projects and internationally.

It gets a 100% rating from Charity Navigator. That is impressive.

District Grants tending to be short term have increased since Covid.

Global Grands are larger and longterm. Environmental projects are becoming an area of focus.

He spoke of the Rotary Annual Fund and this supplies grants of projects in 3 years time.

The Rotary Endowment Fund spends only its earnings and supports the Peace Fellow grants

We Rotarians have the choice of several levels of giving / year up to the Arch Klumph Society at 250,000 US$ per year.

Norm was thanked by his longtime friend , Larry Brokenshire.

 

Editors comment. I think speaking about the Rotary Foundation at a Fireside might be a good idea. How do we support it now? He said we were doing OK.

Cheerio. Behave and wear your masks.