Stories

Thie Convery: Polio Eradicator

Thie Convery is passionate about the eradication of polio. Back in 1988 when Rotary International started the vaccination process over 350 000 new cases of polio occurred each year. In 2022 there were 30 cases. Up to now in 2023 there are 7 cases of wild polio world wide. Thie decided she wanted to vaccinate over a million children and set about to commit personal funds and help raise money from others. She practiced for over a year to do a marathon swim and in 2010 entered Lake Ontario at Niagara-on-the Lake on her way to Toronto. Bad weather and fear for the safety of her spotting boat ended the swim before she made it. None-the-less with the support of her previous club, The Rotary Club of Dundas, she raised $52 000.

On July 1 2022 she was welcomed into the Arch Klumph Society by RI President Jennifer Jones for her last dollar donation of 250 000USD towards the eradication of polio.

Thie is a member of the Investment Planning Council, IPC Securities Corporation and is a wealth advisor in Dundas .

Jill Bienenstock: Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds

Jill Bienenstock is an early childhood educator who puts that training to use as director of education for Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds. She focuses on ways to extend curriculum outdoors. In a study she talked about, children at school who spent 2.5 h outside per day as opposed to those spending only 45 min per day were more engaged in learning and were better problem solvers.

She said this kind of outdoor learning is imperative for child development. A playground designed by the 60-person Bienenstock team, lead by husband Adam, is an outdoor classroom. The company has designed natural playgrounds from Dundas, Burlington and Hamilton to California and Utah. Check https://www.bienenstockplaygrounds.com to see more about this local company.

Artisan Market September 10

http://www.artisanmarkeddundas.com

Derek Dix: Woodturning

Derek Dix gave a brief history of the art and craft of woodturning. His knowledge and skill on the subject were evident and members had lots of questions when he was finished.
Woodturning began in the 13th century BC and centres around a lathe. First lathes where turned by hand or by foot pedal and are now large enough to turn a column or small enough to turn a jeweller's pin.
Wood turning is both utilitarian (chair backs and bowls) or art work. Safety is very important especially with air quality.
Derek looks on woodturning as an opportunity to be imaginative, creative and active.

Paul Dembe

Every new member is asked to give a vocational services classification talk - tell us about yourself and what you do. Paul Dembe is a long time Dundas resident, growing up in town and attending schools here. He lives in Dundas with his wife and son. His career spans the hotel restaurant business working for a time in Europe and opening restaurants in town; then a switch to long-term care, food services and environmental service; then on to his most recent endeavour, Valley Town Pest Control which is in its third year https://valleytownpestcontrol.ca. He services commercial and residential properties dealing with rodents and flying and crawling insects.

Cynthia Hastings-James

Cynthia Hastings-James is the newest member of the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise. Thanks to her sponsor Russ Powers who met her during the Victoria Day Fireworks and invited her to see what the club is all about. After visiting she decided to accept an invitation to join. Cynthia was a cofounder of Best Life Rewarded Innovations Inc. https://www.blrinnovations.com/about-us/#who-we-are. She is part of 100 Women Who Care Hamilton and believes in fostering community development. Her classification is Wellness Services.

Russ Powers Is The President

The 2023-24 club President Russ Powers is presented with the new Rotary International theme, Create Hope In The World, by District Governor Elect David Alexander. David inducted Russ as our new president and then Russ welcomed all the new board members.

New Members Brenda Blancher and David Maciulis Inducted

As is the custom of the club new members are inducted during the first meeting of the new Rotary year. District Governor Elect David Alexander assisted President Russ Powers, Past President Phil Wood and Membership Director Ralph Montesanto to bring Brenda Blancher and David Maciulis into the Rotary family. David and Brenda are at either end of the photo.

Brenda was the Director of the Grand and Erie District School Board and David owns Natural Landscaping Group.

Ken Turner Bursary Winners

The Ken Turner Memorial Bursary is named after long time Rotarian Ken Turner. Ken had over 40 years of perfect attendance and was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise. The bursary is $1500 per student.

The Ken Turner Memorial Bursary is an annual bursary available to a graduating secondary student who attends Dundas Valley Secondary School, St. Mary Catholic Secondary School or is a permanent resident of Dundas who attends another public, catholic, French or private school in the Greater Hamilton Area.

Benjamin Neiterman – Dundas Valley Secondary School
Benjamin is the president of the DVSS Athletic Council as well as an exemplary student.
He was actively involved in community service. He has participated in 5 Remembrance Day parades, marshalled 2 Terry Fox runs and organized multiple social events at school and in the community.
He has volunteered for many organizations including the Adas Israel Synagogue, National Congregation of Synagogue Youth, Flamborough/Dundas Soccer club and the Dundas Minor Hockey Association. Of particular note is his involvement in the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets. He has completed his fifth year as a Canadian Sea Cadet and achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class. In the summer of 2022, he was the Chief Staff Cadet for the Cadet activity program, training 80+ young cadets.
Benjamin will be attending MacMaster University in the Environmental Science Program. Benjamin is flanked by Rotarian Denise Martins and Principal Lindsay Williams.

Samantha Coit – St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School
Samantha was on the swim team and won several medals to qualify for OFSAA. She has volunteered teaching people how to row, fundraising for different youth programs and collecting clothes for donation to a women’s shelter. This involved collecting an entire motorboat worth of clothing and blankets for the Carol Anne Women’s Shelter in Hamilton. Samantha will be attending the University of Washington in the biology program. Her future goal is to be a doctor where she can support communities in their health and well-being. Samantha is flanked by Principal Carla D'Elia and Denise Martins and Guidance Councillor Jamie Geralimetto.

Susan Sheper: Videographer, Director, Video Editor

Susan Sheper is a videographer, director and video editor. Susan started her filming career with a hand held camera and a back yard sound studio in Kinshasa Democratic Republic of Congo. It was not long before folks started knocking at her door. Projects with USAID to teach children and teachers, AIDs prevention videos and stop child sorcerer videos. A children's show called Bobo and Kipi, http://youtu.be/Mhap2whUcic was very successful with almost a million children in her home city watching each episode. She visited 9 countries to produce a documentary called Dawn of the Light and had a training time in the Central African Republic to teach youth how to make documentaries. Back in Hamilton she produced videos that were portraits of individuals. Her club presentation combined some of her videos and club members were awed by what she had to say and what we saw. Her husband Jason is a great supporter of her work.

Pediatric Hospice Project

Doug Mattina spent much of his working life as a senior diplomat for Canada. He was also chief of departmental staff for a senior assistant deputy minister and foreign minister. Doug, who is a member of the Hamilton AM Rotary Club is now the Director of Public Affairs and the Paediatric Hospice Project.

His club has been working on the Paediatric Hospice Project for a number of years and is into the fundraising stage where $25 million is needed. We have three adult hospices in Hamilton but nothing for those under the age of 18.

Doug said the purpose of today's presentation is, "To raise awareness of the important work underway to build a centre of excellence for pediatric palliative care at 41 South St. W.
This presentation will highlight the need, unique partnerships, a new model of care and a glimpse into the robust services and supports that will be available.
It will also underscore the work through a lens of health equity, population health, wrap-around care and meeting children and families where they are at." The intent is to have the facility running by late 2025.

So, what's in store?
Capital Campaign Team: tasked with raising $25M
Almost half-way there in commitments
Land Acquisition: securing a site within reasonable proximity to MCH, offering families a balance between tranquility and services close-by.
Government Application
Capital funds ~$2.5M (one-time)
Operating funds ~50% of overall operational budget (on-going)

Dundas Sea Cadets

Acting Sub Lieutenant Michael Harris welcomed us to the Lions Memorial Community Centre and outlined some of what the cadets do in the program.

The key themes are leadership, fitness and interest in the armed forces. Some programs are sailing, nautical traditions, Sail Canada certification, marksmanship. orienteering, music, biathlons, sports nights and summer training. Much of the cost is borne by the Canadian Armed Forces; however, The Navy League supplements with a variety of tours and a trip to Halifax during the 2024 March break.

Ken Turner Memorial Bursary

Ciara Kinsella the 2022 Ken Turner Bursary recipient is flanked by Denise Martin on the left and Ciara's mother on the right. Ciara said she is, "Extremely honoured and grateful to have been selected as a recipient of the Ken Turner Memorial Bursary." The bursary is equivalent to working part-time for an entire semester and instead of working she could focus on her academics. As well as going to class she volunteers with Connect Theatre, Dundas Baptist Church, McMaster Hospital Paediatric Emergency Department and even took part in the Mac Sci Musical.

Julia Rose is the other 2022 Ken Turner Memorial Bursary recipient. She is at the University of Guelph studying Geography. She said, "As for volunteering, I have made time in my busy schedule to be the events lead on Geography Society at the University of Guelph. Doing this, I work together with other members to plan events and organise details for students interested and studying geography." Right now she is in British Columbia tree planting. Again, her own words. "I have already planted over 4,000 trees and am excited to plant even more! This job has been both physically and mentally demanding but also physically and mentally rewarding.

Congratulations to both bursary recipients.

Mark Robbins: Innovation and Its Importance to Canada

Mark Robbins is Manager, Venture Projects at Transport Canada's Innovation Centre.

He started with some facts:

To fix this the country needs to do the following.

Adventures in Citizenship Students Elizabeth Lampson and Darrah Smith

Adventures in Citizen students Darrah Smith and Elizabeth Lampson are flanked by President Elect Russ Powers and President Phil Wood. Nancy Baker had them gather at her house before they left for Ottawa. President Phil and Youth Services Committee Chair Nancy waved them off after coffee and doughnuts on Nancy's driveway. Darrah and Elizabeth were both very excited and grateful to start their adventure armed with lunches from Nancy and chauffeured to the airport by their former MP Russ. Both students promised to bring back lots of photos and a full report of their week.

Successful Shredding Day

Club members John, Dave and Joe fill one of 58 totes that hold ten small bank boxes. That means over 14 000 pounds of paper documents were safely destroyed and sent for recycling. Thanks to the community for its continued support for this semi annual club service event. Start pulling those files now to be ready for our fall event sometime near the end of September of early October.

Lobster Rib Festr

http://https://rotary-lobster-n-ribs-grab.square.site/

Click and purchase Lobster Rib Fest Tickets.

Joel Dembe

Joel Dembe is a Paralympian and strategic communications advisor. He was Canada’s top-ranked wheelchair tennis player and won over 30 international titles throughout his career. Joel represented Canada at the Paralympics and won our country's first international medal in wheelchair tennis at the 2015 Toronto Pan-American Games, shortly before retiring from sport. He currently serves as Senior Communications Manager at Royal Bank of Canada and is also co-Chair of RBC Reach, its advisory group for clients and employees with disabilities. He's also a frequent media contributor and keynote speaker, where he advocates for accessibility and inclusion.

Alex Wilson Ward 13 Councillor

Alex Wilson, Ward 13 councillor helped close out Environment Month. His goal is to build a livable future and we must make changes or it keeps happening as usual. Building community relationships, especially honouring our rural community is a key strategy. He is worried that community consent is lessening as the province is wielding more direct control. The city needs a biodiversity action plan and partnering with community organizations like our Rotary club will be a step in the right direction. You can contact Alex at http://Ward13@hamilton.ca

Lobster Rib Fest

http://rotary-lobster-n-ribs-grab.square.site/

Click the link to purchase tickets.

Cindy Smyth

Cindy Smyth is a long time resident of Dundas, going to elementary and high school here. After getting married she travelled the world, returned and set up a store in Ancaster (What a Deal), then headed off to Windsor for 5 years and back to Dundas. After 10 years and 5 years of volunteering at Ronald McDonald House she went into Real Estate, soon joining Platinum Lion Real Estate. It's a different company in that all commissions go to the agents. The agents in turn pay various fees to be part of the company. Cindy hosted a club meeting at Platinum Lion Real Estate Offices in Dundas where she gave her classification talk as one of the club's new members.

Shredding Day May 6

Start getting those files ready to be shredded. May 6 at Eccles Auto Service. $10 cash for a small bank box or its equivalent. 9AM to 1 PM.

Family Day at The Dundas Driving Park

Family Day, 2023. Finally, we were able to get out and enjoy social contacts as the pandemic seems to have dissipated. New member, Charlie Purich and his team (Russ Powers, Cindy Smyth, et al) organized a great program for kids at the driving park, right adjacent to our signature project, the skating rink. Charlie thought of everything - how to line it all up, all the materials needed, prizes, and volunteers to assist. We were blessed with a nice day … sunshine, but a brisk wintry wind … and lots of folk exploring and enjoying the day out.

Thanks to all the Rotarians and their families who helped make this a big success with over 500 in attendance.

Save The Turles

In Long Point, a former Dundas resident, John Everett … and his wife, Jan, have come to the rescue for MANY turtles as they migrate across busy roads. To promote interest in their work, Jan has written a book about saving the turtles on the busy causeway in Long Point. The book has been a huge success, selling nearly 5000 copies. Proceeds from the book go towards maintaining tunnels and fencing in the Long Point Biosphere.

Chantal, a grade 4 teacher noted that “The talk drew attention to important local efforts and gave students the information needed to act locally and globally by understanding the importance of conservation efforts in their own backyard. Jan and John are informative and connect with students, they are engaging and spark curiosity. Students were excited about being able to help with small actions that make a big difference for animals.”

One of her students responded with “I love turtles and I want to help them. Now I feel inspired to do so and this is going to be a passion for me”.

John and Jan have a nice presentation which they have given to service clubs, schools and youth groups.

Also present were two members of the Dundas Turtle Watch; they also enjoyed the presentation and will now try and mirror some of the Initiatives of Jan and John in our own area.

Inside/Outside Family Day February 20

AED4Life/BERRN Consulting

Russ King, Lori King and Nicole Ryan, corporate members of AED4Life/BERRN Consulting gave a demonstration of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AEDs (automated external defibrillator), at their headquarters at 55 Head Street in Dundas. Several times a year the Rotary club will do off-site meetings at an area business or organization as part of its vocational service program. http://aed4life.ca

Heart attack and cardiac arrest are serious health issues but lives can be saved if people know how to do CPR and how to locate and operate an AED.

The Bruce Trail Conservancy

Mike McDonald, CEO of The Bruce Trail Conservancy, welcomed the club to its headquarters at 55 Head Street in Dundas. Several times a year the club visits organizations or businesses in the area as part of its vocational service program. Mike outlined the role of the organization and the size of the area that it manages. Its website

http://brucetrail.org states, “We conserve and care for land within the Niagara Escarpment UNESCO World Biosphere to protect its ecosystems for the benefit of all and make it available to explore by foot along the magnificent Bruce Trail”. The organization is funded without any government money, with over 12 000 members contributing to the cause. Four key areas are, strategic land conservation (70% of trail within protected natural corridor), proactive land stewardship (18 889 acres protected), connecting people to nature, and, engaging dedicated volunteers (1500). All this to give 1 376 km of trail.

Is The US Running Out Of Water?

Club member Dr. Paul Clifford, retired from McMaster University, gave a well presented “lecture” on the dire state of water in the United States, especially on the west coast and central plains food belts. His photos of main dams showing significant loss of water and facts on aquifers moving deeper below the surface raise are very worrisome for the future of these areas and the millions of people living there.

Thie Convery and Frances Manias Newest Club Members

Thie Convery and Frances Manias were inducted into the club. Both were members several years ago of the Rotary Club of Dundas and have returned to the Family of Rotary to start the Rotary Satellite Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise: End Polio Now. District Governor Lisa Bishop assisted club president Phil Wood and Erin Holl (not in the photo) in the induction ceremony.

50/50 Draw Winner

We have a winner of the 50/50 draw to raise funds for the Spencer Creek Heritage Trail Creation. Chantel Todd an employee at Fluke Transport purchased the winning ticket and received a cheque for $4395 from Dundas Valley Sunrise President Phil Wood.

Rene Wetselaar St. Matthew's House

Guest speaker Renee Wetselaar gave an overview of St. Matthew's House and how appreciative she is for the continued support the club provides. She started by thanking Barb Busing and Jody Beck for their leadership in the child care sector of the House. Application was made to the government to be part of the reduced child care fees and they should drop to just over $12 a day within a year. The other key support goes to seniors. Emergency food delivery has at least 25 boxes a day delivered.

St Matthew's now manages the outreach program for the City of Hamilton and the House's outreach workers know where most of the homeless live and visit them regularly. Bringing food to the encampments is now OK. St. Matthew's House is partnering with the Green City Foundation to change the parking lot area into a children's play ground, tree garden and water absorbing parking area.

As well the House received $7.8 million from the province to construct affordable housing where the old food bank was.

Spencer Creek Heritage Trail 50/50 Draw

The club will help support the further development of the trail along Spencer Creek. Purchasing a 50/50 ticket will help the club raise funds for this project.

http://dvsrc100@gmail.com for ticket purchase or contact any club member.

Tiny Sheds: Art Samson

HATS is the Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Sheds. These are buildings that can take the place of tent cities. Homelessness in Hamilton is a problem.

So, Tiny Sheds is a possible solution.

Have a look at this video from Kitchener-Waterloo: https://vimeo.com/486941338.

It gives the story of Tiny Sheds already servicing the previous tent city residents. The Alliance for Tiny Sheds provided the photos below.

8 ft by 10 ft is the maximum size to avoid having a building permit. Heat and electricity are provided. Sanitation and food would be in an attached facility.

If you are interested in supporting the cause contact jkollek2@gmail.com.

Here is the possible site:

David Carson: Remembrance Day

David Carson has built ties to individuals who lived and fought through WWII. His research lead him to the book, X-Troop, The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II. David select a number of individuals from the book, highlighted them and then brought them to life. His research actually led him to one of the individuals who lives in the area and David visited him.

Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre

For the second week in a row the club held its morning meeting off site. We gathered at the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre where President Anton Plas and Executive Director Colin Lapsley welcomed the group. After breakfast provided by The Village Bakery we broke into two groups and were given a guided tour of the building, from the main theatre through the classrooms for various art programs, the dance studio, dressing room and another room with a stage suitable for around 100 patrons.

One of the groups on the theater stage

and in the mirrored dressing room.

Our communities are very fortunate to see this 21 million dollar project built and running.

Cindy Smyth Inducted as Newest Member

Cindy Smyth is welcomed into the club by President-Elect Russ Powers. Cindy is a real estate agent working with Platinum Lion Realty Inc. The office is located in the old post office in Dundas. Cindy is looking forward to volunteering at club events and helping to fundraise.

Marla Panko Curator Carnegie Gallery

Marla Panko is the curator at the Carnegie Gallery in Dundas. The club met at the gallery for its morning meeting, presented a cheque to Marla for the gallery and then had a tour. Marla's art work is theme based as she tells a story over several frames. Here she points to the space program and moon landing. When she tells her story the artwork comes to life.

David Silvestro Vocational Service Classification

David Silvestro is the most recent new member to the club. He is also the youngest. He grew up in the area and attended St. Mary's Catholic High School and McMaster De Groote School of Business. As a youth he excelled in golf and was ranked as one of the top juniors in Canada. Before joining St. Joseph's Villa Foundation in Dundas he was an up and coming entrepreneur, starting with a partner, a landscaping enterprise and a 3D modelling company. Both were sold when he moved on to become the Marketing and Community Engagement officer at St. Josephs' Villa Foundation. As part of his community involvement David works on the Vote Loomis Campaign for Hamilton mayor, is a McMaster Health Innovation resident, and is part of the Young Leaders Program with Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion. Although he has stopped playing serious golf he is leaning towards an interest in golf course architecture. Who knows, he could become the next Stanley Thompson golf course designer.

Danuta Niton: My Walks of Art

Danuta Niton is an artist, born in Poland and now living in Dundas. Graphic design, acrylic and watercolour painting, murals and house sketching are her forte. She has sketched more than a hundred houses in Dundas, some famous and some just because her heart took her to the address. Now, many of those sketches are in her new book, My Walks of Art. The Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee recently presented her The Art of Heritage Award.

Her book sells for $45 and is available at the Dundas Museum. The book has a map with several routes that you can follow to see the houses she sketched.

Amanda Thomassian: Routes Centre

Amanda Thomassian is the Director of the Routes Centre in Dundas. Her exuberant personality combined with the friendly atmosphere of the location will help drive the centre to new heights.

Youth aged 8 to 19 attend the centre for sports, homework completion, and a variety of other structured and non-structured programs. A key feature that draws youth is the chance to have something to eat. It's also a place to socialize in a safe environment.

Find out more with this link. https://www.routesyouthcentre.ca/vision-mission-purpose

Deputy Chief Hamilton: Dundas Update

Hamilton Police Service Deputy Chief Paul Hamilton gave an update on policing in Dundas. The stats he presented reinforced the notion that Dundas is a safe community. Of the more than 95 558 calls for service received by The City of Hamilton, Dundas had 2150 or 2.25%. Auto theft has 17 reports to date or 2% of the city total. Break and enter has 18 or 2% of the total. Here is a look at a comparison of the city and Dundas for "Call types":

Club member and retired RCMP Staff Sergeant Bill Armstrong thanked Deputy Chief Hamilton for the time he took to put together such a thoughtful presentation and for answering all questions asked by club members.

The city is fortunate to have him as a deputy chief.

Fireworks IS ON!

Sunday September 4. Fireworks was on! No rain. Food trucks and music here.

A successful event, several thousand attended. A happy crowd!

John Merrill

John Merrill is one of our newest members and was giving his classification talk. John and Heather (in the photo) were married just over two weeks. He is a real estate agent working out of an Oakville office but living next door to the Dundas Driving Park. Old cars, golf and community volunteering take up much of his spare time. As is often the case, some of our best and most interesting speakers are our very own members giving their classification talk - a brief personal history and a look at their vocation.

Heather McLean Now in the Club

On the morning of August 16 at the Dundas Driving Park the club had the pleasure of inducting Heather McLean as its newest member. Heather is the new Executive Director of Hamilton Jewish Family Services. As is the club practice, Heather then met all members in attendance who like Ken Beel welcomed her into the club.

Artisan Market

http://www.artisanmarketdundas.com

Dundas 175 Puzzles

Help celebrate the 175 anniversary of the Town of Dundas. Purchase the puzzles, Our Town Now and Our Town Then. $20 each or two for $35 during the Cactus Festival. See the booth in front of the firehall on August 20 & 21. At other times puzzles are available from club members, at the Dundas Museum or Carnegie Gallery.

Mary Burnett Alzheimer's Society of Hamilton

Mary Burnett, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Brant, Haldimand, Norfolk, Hamilton and Halton spoke of the number of people who have dementia and specifically about Alzheimer disease. The society's website is a useful tool for those who think they might be moving into dementia or for those who are living with a family member who has the disease. The link is https://alzda.ca.

Here is the program she followed:

David Silvestro Inducted as Newest Member

David Silvestro is now a member of the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise. David is the Community Engagement officer for the St. Joseph's Villa Foundation in Dundas. He brings skills in social media, website design and public relations to the club. His classification is Long Term Care: Community Engagement.

Recently inducted member Charlie Purich welcomes David into the club as members Harold Gruneberg and Wayne Massey look on.

John Merrill and Charlie Purich New Members

John Merrill is a recently inducted club member. John is a real estate agent who lives in Dundas.

Charlie Purich is a recent inductee into the club. Charlie is a retired elementary school principal who lives in Dundas.

As is the club custom during an induction the new member is greeted by all club members present. Charlie is welcomed by David Carson and Jason Sheper.

John is welcomed by Derek Dix.

Club Honours Award Winners

Julia Sharp Dundas Valley Secondary School and Ciara Kinsella St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School are the club's Ken Turner Memorial Bursary winners. The Ken Turner Memorial Bursary is an annual bursary available to a graduating secondary student who attends Dundas Valley Secondary School, St. Mary Catholic Secondary School or is a permanent resident of Dundas who attends another public, catholic, French or private school in the Greater Hamilton Area.
The bursary of $1,500/student/school will be awarded to a maximum of 3 recipients annually.

Other graduating student award winners are:

Seraphina Churchill flanked by Denise Martins and DVSS principal Gail Cipriani

Matthew Gilbreath flanked by SMCSS principal Anthony Macaluso and Denise Martins.

At Sir William Osler Public School grade eight valedictorian Jesse Sharpe received her graduation award.

Fraser Forrest Vocational Service

Charles Fraser Forrest was born in 1943 on a farm in southern Manitoba, only 8 miles from the North Dakota border and the location of some Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s). Theirs was a mixed farm of crop and livestock; later his Dad would acquire more land and convert to wheat and canola exclusively. Electricity came to the farm in 1949; prior to this Fraser and his family lived the ‘pioneer life’ – wells, pumps, no indoor plumbing, and outdoor loos. He attended a one room schoolhouse for his elementary education, and Manitou H.S. for his secondary before going to the University of Manitoba where he took a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Small scale rural agriculture requires people to be resilient, creative and resolute – especially in the 40’s. As Fraser told his story we could see that these qualities, shaped by his childhood, permeate his entire life.
In 1966, jobs were plentiful for mechanical engineers and Fraser had his choice of opportunities. He declined work in the oil fields but accepted the offer from Hawker Siddley. And for a brief time he enjoyed working in aerospace. But as we know that industry in Canada has had a bumpy ride, so it wasn’t long before he left and joined AECL in Chalk River.

After several years there, Fraser decided to return to university and he pursued his Masters of Engineering at Waterloo. This led to a job offer from Frank Stern who then was leading the transformer division at Westinghouse. Over time this division became an independent, employee owned company, STERN Laboratories Inc. They test safety systems for nuclear power plants. Fraser loved this work: the challenge, the creativity, and the importance of getting it right.
He is a published author of numerous books, articles and reports. He has presented at conferences and universities worldwide. He shared with us a photo of an ‘experiment’ where they tested a “what if” scenario for a potential leak at a nuclear reactor. The reactor reminded Fraser of a farm silo. They filled the silo with steam and cesium – and in his words made lots of noise!

Mike Palme Vocational Service

Mike Palme was a scientific glass blower for McMaster University. This job required attention to detail and specificity. Unlike artistic glassblowing, the scientific glassblower is creating instruments that will be used in a number of departments, Some of these objects were quite small, others not. It was an exacting profession. Changes within the university led to Mike’s retirement from McMaster in 2014. And while this turned out to be a good move, it was initially a bit challenging. After 30 years of one job, what would be next?

Mike is happy to say that his switch to the financial services industry has given him great pleasure and satisfaction. In 2015, he applied for a position with Freedom 55 and was immediately part of a training programme that led to LLQP (life) and CIFC (mutual) licensing. After becoming a certified Financial Security Advisor, Mike took a position with Nelson Melo and Associates Co-operators in Dundas.

Jason Sheper Vocational Presentation

Jason’s Sheper's work life spanned 5 continents in a range of computer, financial and business experiences, a musical life as a jazz artist and choral master, a stint as an international development consultant with USAID and an MBA student at Oxford University. He has also owned a 4 star hotel and currently supports an elementary school. Jason and his wife Susan have collaborated on a number of projects, most importantly raising two children in Kinshasa DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo).

Jason’s life is worthy of cinema. He began as a teenager in the mailroom of a large American corporation. And to this day is grateful for the invaluable knowledge of people that he gained from the job. During the 1980’s he worked in sunny California for Computerland – and he relished the enthusiasm and “can do” attitude of the times and people. While at a meeting in Richmond Hill, he met Susan and to hear Jason tell, he decided right then that he wanted to marry her. They went on a date (to a Blue Jays game) and so it goes! She was only here for a brief visit as she was then living full time in the Congo.

Jason decided he’d visit the Congo with her (he had vacation time) and again, so it goes. They married. They returned to California but this version of “paradise” did not appeal to Susan whose life had been filled with much less gloss and more substance in Africa. Jason transferred to Europe and while in Luxembourg they meet a Belgian couple who overheard Jason and Susan talking about the Congo. And so it goes. They move to Kinshasa.
For those of us who know some of the history of the Congo, we know that violence, cruelty and corruption have scourged the land since Belgian colonialism. (Read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness; a template for Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” film about Vietnam.)

Shredding Day May 7

Shredding Day is May 7. Now is the time to start cleaning out those files that you want to safely destroy.

Short Term Exchange

Julia Kollek:HATS

Julia Kollek has had an extensive career as a journalist and researcher. Most recently, she has felt compelled to do something about the issue of homelessness in Hamilton and in March she founded HATS, Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters as way to address the problem. Julia began by relating a personal observation. One day as she was walking, she spied a blue tarp, a cart, and a body – and then she had a moment of recognition. This was a place where someone was living. The problem of homelessness and encampments has been in the media throughout the pandemic; Hamilton is no exception. The reasons for homelessness are multiple and layered. And the solutions are equally complex.

But, Julia has focused on one specific measure designed to help people transition from street life to life in interior dwellings. Kitchener was the first city in the area to try a programme of Tiny Cabins. This project has been deemed successful by a wide variety of people; from the clients, to the urban support workers to the Police Chief. With this success as an example, Julia began her mission of bringing tiny cabins to Hamilton. The thinking is that a small, constructed dwelling provides a safe, secure environment that will be conducive to the physical and emotional healing of the clients that will in turn lead to developing the skills and mindset needed for prolonged living in larger interior spaces. The cabin concept is endorsed in Hamilton by the SPRC (Social Planning and Research Council), the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, numerous social justice advocates and Indigenous groups.

The units are 8x10 and contain a bed, shelf, microwave, fridge, and fire extinguisher. They are insulated and fire proofed. There is no plumbing (therefore no building permit is required). And they are easily movable.
One such shelter was available for public viewing at St. James Cathedral on James St. N. This attracted a number of visitors and many favorable reviews. To date, HATS has a commitment for 10 tiny cabins. The planning committee has located a site, near electricity, sewage, transit and there is an additional plan to include a community garden.

If you would like more information or would like to make a donation please go to

http://hamiltontinyshelters.ca

Fraser Forrest: A new club member

We welcomed Fraser Forrest into the club as our newest member. Fraser's classification is Project Engineer: Nuclear. Fraser worked in Manitoba as an aerospace engineer, then to Chalk River and on to Westinghouse before he bought into STERN Laboratories. Fraser lives in Dundas and is keen on improving the Spencer Creek Trail

Aaron Lam: Movies and Stories

Aaron Lam is an accomplished author, director, and producer. His passion is storytelling and his guilty pleasure is all things connected to movies about Superman. He has written three books, numerous articles, and television and documentary scripts. He also works as the Marketing and Communication Officer for Hamilton Health Sciences.
Aaron began by sharing that he always wanted to be a writer, and since the age of six he has been enthralled by the Christopher Reeves’ Superman movies. The remarkable thing is that Aaron found a way to marry his two loves.

After studying radio and television at Ryerson and film production at Sheridan, Aaron was able to get a variety of freelance jobs in writing, editing and directing for TVO, PBS, and other local organizations. Ten years ago, Aaron directed “Behind the Curtain” a documentary about two plays at the Shaw Festival beginning with the first directorial vision and working all the way through to final production. The documentary presents a thoughtful consideration of life in the theatre.

Aaron began by sharing that he always wanted to be a writer, and since the age of six he has been enthralled by the Christopher Reeves’ Superman movies. The remarkable thing is that Aaron found a way to marry his two loves.

Awards and Bursaries

The Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise offers a number of awards and bursaries for students. Here is the Ken Turner Memorial Bursary Information. Please examine to see if you should apply.

Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club
Ken Turner Memorial Bursary

Preamble
Ken Turner joined the Rotary Club of Niagara Falls in 1958. Subsequently, he was a member of the Dundas Rotary Club and a charter member of the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club which was formed in 1999. Ken was also a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation and a Rotary Benefactor. Ken was meticulous about the club’s involvement and work with other charities. He had perfect attendance for his 42 years as a member.
The Ken Turner Memorial Bursary is an annual bursary available to a graduating secondary student who attends Dundas Valley Secondary School, St. Mary Catholic Secondary School or is a permanent resident of Dundas who attends another public, catholic, French or private school in the Greater Hamilton Area.
The bursary of $1,500/student/school will be awarded to a maximum of 3 recipients annually.
Bursary Criteria
1.   Graduating secondary school student in the identified schools who has completed all the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) requirements.
2.   Have a minimum average of 70%.
3.   Have outstanding moral character, diverse participation in co-curricular activities, and exemplary community involvement.
4.   Indicate financial need to pursue post-secondary education where applicable.
Application Requirements
1.   Ontario Student Transcript confirming OSSD requirements met. (May require April report card)
2.   Completed application including:
a.   An outline of co-curricular activities and community involvement/volunteer experiences in the past five (5) years that have enriched or engaged you. (500 words)
b.   A short (500 word or less) essay that describes the impact the diverse co-curricular activities and exemplary community involvement has had on the students’ moral character and future career and community aspirations.
c.   A signed letter of support for the students character and community involvement from any of the following individuals:
i.   An educator
ii.   A community member
iii.  A community organization
iv.  An employer
Application Deadline/Process

Graduation Award: Elementary and Secondary Students

Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club Graduation Award
Preamble
This is an annual award available to a graduating Dundas student who attends one of the:
Elementary Schools – Dundas Central Public School, Sir William Osler Elementary School, St. Augustine Catholic Elementary School, or St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School.
Secondary Schools - Dundas Valley Secondary School, or St. Mary Catholic Secondary School.
It will consist of $100/student/elementary school and $500/student/secondary school.
Award Criteria
1.   Graduating student in the identified schools who has completed all the Elementary OR Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) requirements.
2.   Have integrity, participation in co-curricular activities, and community involvement/volunteerism.
Award Process
School staff or Commencement committees select the award winner based upon the criteria provided. An identified individual from each school notifies the DVSRC representative in early to mid June of the recipient and date of the awards event for a Youth Services Committee representative to attend.
Note:
1.   The recipient by way of a successful selection provides permission to the DVSRC to use the recipient’s name, photo (where applicable) and information as part of the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club communication strategy.
2.   The award recipient will provide a written acknowledgement to the DVSRC for the funding received.

Shredding Day May 7

The spring Shredding Day is fast approaching on May 7. A great time to safely destroy those old paper files, especially old income tax documents. Rotarians Scott Sincerbox and Bob Morrow empty a trunk load of boxes on the way to the shredding trucks during last fall’s Shredding Day. Be at Eccles Auto Service in Dundas from 9 AM to 1 PM with $10 cash for each small bank box.

Dr. Jean Chamberlain-Froese: Save The Mothers

Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese – Co-founder of Save The Mothers is an internationally respected leader in the field of maternal health, and has been appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her commitment to saving the lives of women and babies in the developing world. An obstetrician and director of the International Women’s Health Program at McMaster University, she has dedicated her life to making pregnancy and childbirth safer in the developing world.

Below are some notes from her presentation and links to two videos she wished members to see.
Steps to Deliver Change for Mothers - Saving the lives of mothers and newborns in East Africa
Dr. Chamberlain introduced her presentation by showing the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yLzt054A2g
The context for her talk is illustrated in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-rhtXZfddU
287,000 mothers die every year from pregnancy complications - equivalent to 800 mothers per day.
6,000 mothers die in Uganda every year from pregnancy complications = 2 mini vans of mothers crashing and dying every day! These are preventable deaths. There are 3 delays that kill mothers: Home, Transportation and Health Care Facilities. At least 50% of deaths can be attributed to the first 2 delays.

Vision of Save the Mothers:

Melanie Barlow: Providing a lifeline during the pandemic

Melanie Barlow is the Executive Director of Dundas Community Services (DCS). She has worked in the not-for-profit, social services sector for the past 17 years and has advocated for resource-challenged individuals, families, seniors and for youth in the community of Hamilton. She is thrilled to be working with Dundas Community Services which has been an integral part of the Dundas community since 1972. In the beautiful valley town of Dundas, Melanie hopes to build strong relationships with other local organizations, businesses and residents who call Dundas home and who truly care about their neighbours, especially those who are facing challenges.

Dundas Community Services (DCS) is a registered charity established in 1972 by the Dundas Ministerial Association. It will be celebrating 50 years in 2022!

It supports seniors, individuals, families and persons with disabilities through a wide range of programs and services. Funded in part by the HNHB LHIN, United Way (Halton & Hamilton) and the City of Hamilton.

DCS relies on donors, local service clubs and churches to ensure our programs are available to our community and is powered by over 170+ dedicated volunteers!

DCS Services:

Services for seniors, and adults with disabilities
Counselling & referral
Coordinated Services

Dine to Donate

This is the month for Dine To Donate. Click here: https://rotary-club-of-dundas-valley-sunrise.square.site/

Alexis Buttgen: Disability and Employment in the Green Economy

Alexis Buttgen is an experienced community-engaged researcher with an interdisciplinary academic background in community psychology and critical disability studies. She has over 15 years of experience working at several community-based research organizations and organizations of people with disabilities (OPDs). Dr. Buettgen holds academic appointments in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, the Social Justice and Community Engagement Program at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Critical Disability Studies program at York University. The title of Alexis’s talk was: “Disability and Employment in the Green Economy”.

Alexis began her presentation with a brief quiz.

What percentage of the global population are people with disabilities? The reported number is 15%. However, this number is likely much higher. In Canada, at least one in five (or 6.2 million) people aged 15 years and over have a disability.

What percentage of people with disabilities live in poor countries? Estimated to be 80%. This means that the majority of people with disabilities are living in poverty… including Canadians.

In terms of the Green Economy, estimates suggest that the transition to low-carbon economies worldwide will be a net generator of jobs, with as many as 18 million new jobs appearing by 2030.

According to the International Labour Organization taking action in the energy sector to limit global warming to 2 degrees centigrade by the end of the century can create around 24 million jobs, largely offsetting the expected job losses estimated at 6 million and resulting in a net gain of 18 million jobs.

How can we achieve an inclusive green economy?

Olivia Fernandes: Modern Day Mines

Olivia R. Fernandes is a humanitarian practitioner with 8 years of experience managing emergency projects globally. Her work spans the areas of humanitarian mine action, emergency health, post-conflict rehabilitation, and is focused on the Rights of Migrants and Refugees, Rights of the Child, Rights of Indigenous People, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She has lived and worked in Grand Council Treaty 3, Nishanawbe Aski Nation, Siksika Nation, Viet Nam, Somalia, Nepal, India, and most recently, Afghanistan. She is on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Landmine Foundation. Olivia believes in the importance of recognizing and addressing humanity and human behaviour in all development and humanitarian endeavours. She will be heading to Afghanistan next week to continue her important work. Her talk today was “Modern Day Mines”

Landmines are a forgotten legacy of war.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine Ban Treaty, aims at eliminating anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines) around the world. To date, there are 164 state parties to the treaty while 32 UN states, including China, Russia, and the United States have not; making a total of 33 United Nations states not party. The Canadian Landmine Foundation is actively engaged in eliminating these AP-mines.

The 5 pillars of mine action are:

Denise Martins: Vocational Service

Denise was born in Georgetown Guyana and lived there until she was 7 years old. Guyana is a country in the northeastern corner of South America, just east of Venezuela. Here family moved to Canada – first to North York, then St. Catharines and finally to Scarborough. It was there that she attended Norman Bethune Secondary School. Being a brand new school, Denise felt that she was part of establishing the culture of the school and from this base she started her long career in secondary school education.

Denise studied Physical Education (now Kinesiology) at McMaster and then earned her B. Ed. At Queen’s University. She started teaching in the Bahamas but returned to Canada. Her first position was at York-Humber High School where she taught Phys. Ed. and Math. Over the next several years Denise taught at and was Vice Principal and then Principal at several high schools in the Toronto District School Board. She was principal at four different high schools.

Her first was Scarlett Heights which was very multicultural. It was there that she learned about different cultures and how to interact with families. She was the lead principal as the TDSB implemented a student success program and this was where she developed her skills with working with other principals. Then she was back to York-Humber where she continued to develop her leadership and professional growth and finished at Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute. She was there for five years and all of her experiences were conflated in one as the school was a composite one combining tech., special education and a typical secondary school. The school suffered a significant fire in 2012 and Denise and her team had to operationalize a plan for students to continue their education and then get back to Danforth.

Brian Baetz: Reimagining Spencer Creek Trail

Brian Baetz grew up in Walkerton Ontario. In the Summer of 1976, the Walkerton Rotary Club sent him to Camp Copneconic just south of Flint, Michigan. That opportunity (and the Ontario Athletic Leadership Camp) gave him the confidence to apply for engineering programs that Fall in his Grade 13 year, and he was at U of T in the Fall of '77. He is still very grateful for the growth afforded by the Rotary leadership camp.

Brian went on to earn his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Civil Engineering at the U of T and his PhD in environmental engineering at Duke University. He started his teaching career at McMaster University in 1988 and was Chair of Civil Engineering amongst many other administrative positions. He retired in 2018 but returned to the university as the Director of the School of Engineering Practice and Technology. Brian’s research interests are in the areas of sustainable and resilient communities and green infrastructure.

He opened his presentation by talking about all of the wonderful trails that we have in Dundas, the area nearby, within the province and even within Canada. Probably everyone on the call is familiar with the Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail. Many DVSRC members use the trail for both hiking, bike riding and, these days, cross-country skiing. The trail is wide and quite accessible.

Brian talked about getting back to nature as a source of Vitamin “N” and also the importance of trails and outdoor spaces in terms of “Aging in Place”. The Town of Dundas and the Spencer Creek Trail are the connectors between the Dundas Valley Trails and the Cootes to Escarpment Park System.

Satellite Clubs: Frank Adamson Past District Governor

Frank Adamson, the fun, fearless, fantastic District Governor in 2020-2021 has had a remarkable career from paramedic to entrepreneur and as DG he initiated the Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup, an innovative, collaborative environmental project that captured the imagination and interests of Rotary clubs internationally.

Today Frank spoke about creating new Rotary clubs – a goal of both our Youth Services and Membership committees as we look to growing overall membership in Rotary.

However, before Frank began his talk, he presented the club with two awards: the “Lighthouse Award” for our work in 2020-21 (a District award based on successful accomplishment of a number of R.I. goals and District Goals; only 15 clubs in our district of 66 received this); and the “Polio Plus Donor Recognition Award” (for our club donation of $1750USD). Thanks to all members for their contributions.

Frank began his presentation by sharing information from D7080—a wonderfully concise description of the range of Rotary clubs that exist. In D7090 we have traditional clubs (these meet regularly, usually 1/wk.; have a formal structure; share a variety of goals). We also have 2 E-clubs, SOWNY (Southern Ontario Western New York) and RESI (Rotary E club of Social Innovators) that were chartered before COVID. And we have 8 Rotaract clubs (members under 35, often university based, but not exclusively).

There are other types of clubs in the world: these include passport clubs; corporate clubs; alumni clubs (Rotary participants - Rotary Youth Leadership Award,Youth Exchange, Global Scholars, Rotary Peace Fellows, etc.); cause based clubs and satellite clubs.

The reason for exploring the formation of another type of club is to capture a new membership demographic (25-50 yrs.) We can see from our experience that the success and survival of Rotary, like many other community-based volunteer organizations depends on its ability to renew and diversify.

The key difference between Rotaract and Satellite models appears to be in the age category, as both types of clubs can be community based and follow formats that are self-directed rather than prescribed. They are often a smaller group whereas a traditional club must have 20 members in order to qualify for a charter.

SPCA in COVID Times: Marion Emo

Marion Emo from the Hamilton Burlington SPCA is the interim CEO, having retired from the organization in 2020. After 20 years in human health, Marion has spent the last decade in animal welfare. There are similarities in the issues facing each sector: accessibility, affordability, and safety. Marion has a Rotary connection too! She was a member of the D7090 GSE team to Japan.

Marion spoke to us about the challenges of sustaining service to the community in times of COVID.

The history of animal welfare in Canada is a long one—the SPCA will be 135 years old this April. The primary goals of the agency now are to provide preventative care and wellness clinics for animals. Shelter is a last resort, and although they still work on socialization of pets for adoption, that has become a less important part of the business. Spaying and neutering is, however, important as these operations allow for better lives for pets at home.

Marion’s professional experience and personal foresight has come in handy during COVID. In January 2020, she was returning from a trip to Iceland when she was counselled by an airline pilot that things were “a changing’”. And, of course, as we now know by mid-March 2020 our lives were upended. However, in February 2020 at the HBSPCA, Marion completed an inventory of supplies that included securing a 3 month supply of PPE for all staff. A career in healthcare had taught her to always have long term plans.

Marion understood that lesson#1 is “Anticipate, anticipate, anticipate”. She had worked during Ebola and SARS outbreaks and understood that viruses know no boundaries. She knew that we must make no assumptions and that creative, lateral thinking would be needed to deal with the challenge of COVID.

Claire Loughheed Dundas Valley School of Art

Today’s speaker was Claire Loughheed, Executive Director of the Dundas Valley School of Art. She joined the School of Art in 2014, after serving a number of years in various cultural organizations including being the Senior Manager of Culture for Oakville and Mississauga. She is also a professor at Centennial College.

Claire’s vision is to use art as a springboard to change the way we think about the world. As the first Executive Director of the DVSA who is not an artist, she brings a different viewpoint and skill set to the role. She runs the school using business principles and works with other professional advisory groups and senior cultural executives to share their business knowledge across all art organizations and schools in Canada.

Claire’s business background leads her to use LERN business models and Environics as well as students evaluations in her decision making. The school has a 1.8 million dollar budget; has an economic impact of 2.5 million on the local economy and is the largest employer in Dundas.

The school offers programmes in children’s art, drawing and painting, botanical art, sculpture, pottery, printmaking, jewelry, art history, glass blowing, stained glass, textiles, and professional development for artists. Classes were originally in school, but during COVID, they have been made available on line.

Claire sees the DVSA as a place that does more than teach art. She sees it as a place to build community and create well-being. She points to studies by the Canadian Index of Well-Being from Waterloo University which indicate that engagement in leisure and cultural activities contributes to our overall well-being by enhancing our sense of belonging, by increasing our empathy and by altering our perspectives.

Margaret’s Place Hospice 50/50 Winner

We have a winner in the January 11 2022 Margaret’s Place Hospice 50/50 Draw!

Congratulations to Kim Boretsky who will receive a cheque for $11 400 from the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise. The other half of the funds collected through ticket sales, that is another $11 400, will go to help support Margaret’s Place Hospice at St. Joseph’s Villa in Dundas. Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets to support the hospice.

$7385 Raised For St. Matthew's House

The annual St. Matthew's House auction held during a morning meeting of the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise raised $7385 from the members in attendance. President Tom McLeod presented the cheque to David Savage Chair of the St. Matthew's House board. Since the club focused a December meeting on the auction it has raised more than $50 000 for the charity.

50/50 Early Bird Draw Margaret's Place Hospice

The club raised over $7000 during its annual in-house auction for St. Matthew's House. During the meeting the early bird draw for the Margaret's Place Hospice was made and the $500 winner was Kari Warren.

There are still tickets available for the 50/50 draw which takes place January 11 2022. Contact any club member for tickets.

Dee Muszynski: Healthy Living

Dee Muszynski is a registered dietitian who works both at McMaster Children’s Hospital and in her own clinic providing a personalized approach to a healthy relationship with food. Dee’s overall topic was Nutrition and Exercise and how these together prevent disease and add quality to one’s life. As we age lots of things change in the body: muscle mass decreases; body fat increases; estrogen and testosterone decrease; abdominal fat increases; bone mass decreases; chronic disease increases; and in general our immune system slows.
However, Dee offered us hope and a way to stay healthy. Nutrition and exercise together can help prevent chronic disease. And even if we have had a “misspent youth “, it is never too late to build habits that keep us healthy. Small changes can help us reduce the incidence of diabetes, cancer, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.

Dee emphasized the importance of healthy nutrition. She advised that one should, in general, consume around 1600 calories/day (healthy calories). And she cautioned that the cumulative effect of even 100 extra calories a day will net 10 lbs. in one year. Being overweight can lead to hypertension, diabetes, and CVD, but being underweight can contribute to osteoporosis and fall fractures. She suggested that we learn to recognize nutritionally dense foods. Eat leaner cuts of meat, have two servings of fish/week, aim for 7 servings of fruits and vegetables/day (1/2 c. of cooked veg or 1 c. of leafy greens counts as one serving; a protein serving is the size of one’s palm). Try to have a protein serving at each meal. Be mindful of eating healthy fats, replace butter with olive oil and limit this to 1 Tbsp. when cooking. Decrease our intake of red meat. And for carbohydrates, limit these to 130 grams/day for older adults.

Arlene VanderBeek

Arlene VanderBeek is a friend and advocate for St Joseph’s Villa and Margaret’s Place and Councillor for Ward 13. Today Arlene gave her yearly “state of the ward” report to the club. Arlene began by thanking the club for the invitation and congratulated us for our great work in the community. She also acknowledged her pleasure in having Russ Powers rejoin Hamilton City council. She certainly appreciates the breadth of knowledge, skills, and experience that Russ brings to the chamber.

Arlene focused her report mostly on traffic in Dundas. She re-iterated that the reconstruction of the King St. hill was continuing to be “on schedule” but that means the hill is closed until Dec. 2022.
As for the bike lanes on Hatt St., these are here to stay. What is “pilot” in the project is the street car parking. If you have suggestions regarding the traffic flow on Hatt St. please sends these to Arlene now as Hatt St. is also scheduled for reconstruction.
The bike lanes will be extended to eventually run from Sydenham hill to Hatt to Baldwin, past the gas station and link to the multi-purpose path on Cootes, thereby enabling biking from rural Dundas to the west end of Hamilton.
She remarked that constituents have complained about speeding and running stop signs, and in general about more aggressive driving. To date a number of traffic calming devices have been deployed such as raised crosswalks and raised intersections, and PXO crossovers. She reminded both drivers and pedestrians to use these flashing cross walks and stop until the pedestrian is off the asphalt.

Arlene was pleased to support the urban boundary freeze by City Council and hopes the provincial government will accept this decision. However, she stated that Dundas and the entire city will now need to look at zoning reform in order to accommodate the population growth that is expected for this region over the next 30 years. She spoke of inclusionary zoning that complements existing zoning; small multiplexes that fit the neighbourhoods and provide what planners and architects call the “Missing Middle”. Freezing the urban boundary is good for saving farmland and food security, but we must be willing and ready to face the challenges created by this decision.

Beverley Yates: Margaret's Place Hospice

Beverley Yates is the manager of Margaret's Place Hospice at St. Joseph's Villa in Dundas. The doors opened to patients September 7 and the vision of hospice care became a reality. When they began, everyone was excited and honoured to be entrusted with end of life care.
The hospice is now fully staffed and everyone is committed to hospice life. Over 60 volunteers have gone through training and provide volunteer support 12 hours a day (8am-8pm) 7 days a week. Beverley also announced that the 4 respite beds for caregivers were opened on November 1. The purpose of these beds is to provide up to 14 days of rest and relief to individuals who are caregivers to palliative patients.

Beverley then shared a series of oral snapshots of life at Margaret’s Place.

SNAPSHOT#1 “SERVICE”
Keeping to the principle of “we fulfill a patient’s needs” Beverly gave the example of her sourcing sushi in a local grocery store because that was the request of the family on behalf of the patient. Although Beverley herself was not a sushi aficionado, she was successful and the next day she learned that the patient was most grateful to have had “the best sushi ever”. Clearly the staff wants to go that extra mile.

SNAPSHOT#2 “HONOUR”
Margaret’s Place aspires to be a home rooted in love and care in accordance with the philosophy and teachings of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s.
Patients may stay for a number of weeks, but sometimes they have only a few days remaining in life. When a patient dies the hospice has a “Going Away Ceremony” that involves an honour guard, a special quilt and a solemn procession that celebrates the end of life journey.

Several other stories.

Lisa Anderson: Dundas BIA

Lisa Anderson has been the coordinator of the Dundas B.I.A. for 9 years; previously she was the manager of the Dundas Farmers’ Market. She attended school in Dundas and Hamilton and graduated from Mohawk College.

The Downtown Dundas B.I.A. covers the businesses on King St. between Cross and John St. (north side) and Albert St. (South side).Created in 1978, the purpose of all B.I.A.’s is the revitalization of businesses on the main street. There are 310 B.I.A.’s in Ontario. Each B.I.A. is run by a Board of Management elected from the businesses and includes the local Councillor. The businesses are assessed a levy; public buildings, residential buildings, churches and not for profits are not assessed this levy. The goal of every B.I.A. is to “make business better”.
There are ongoing beautification projects directed by the Dundas Downtown B.I.A.: in spring and summer 40 hanging baskets and 18 sidewalk planter; in fall cornstalks are erected; and in winter 57 wreaths and garlands are placed.
There is also a series of event based marketing: the “Easter Eggstravaganza”; the” Dundas International Buskerfest”; “Scarecrow Saturday and Pumpkin Walk”; and finally the “Dickens of a Christmas”.

Remembrance Day by Dr. Paul Clifford

In honour of Remembrance Day our resident historian, Dr. Paul Clifford, shared some thoughts and memories. Paul was born in Britain in 1932 so he was a young lad for WWII. But, he was old enough to have vivid remembrances of that time. Paul survived the Blitz; many of his country did not. His comments, today, encouraged us to reflect upon not only those who served in uniform but also those who lived day by day and night by night as civilians.

Early Dundas by Russ Powers

Russ Powers has an extensive collection of over 450 post cards depicting Dundas and environs from 1841 until the current day. The pictures are fascinating and Russ has a wealth of knowledge about the history of our area. Some interesting tidbits: Dundas was the first municipality in the Dominion to erect a cenotaph to commemorate W.W.I (Dec. 1921, in Market Square). Dundas is also thought to be the first municipality to feature a town Christmas tree (1914).

Glen Christensen: The Rotary Foundation

Glen Christiansen is Past President of the Rotary Club of Brantford Sunrise, Chair of the Rotary Leadership Institute and co-chair of the Foundation Committee (both D7090). The Rotary Fund (TRF) is the charitable arm of Rotary International. It belongs to each Rotarian around the world. It is the heart of Rotary, the engine that powers so many Rotary projects because it transforms your gifts into tangible actions.

David Carson: Climate Emergency and COP26

Dave Carson is a member of the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club. He has given tirelessly to the club on a number of committees, and this year he is devoting his energy in part to our Community Service and Environment Committee. Today he spoke on COP26 and the Climate Emergency.
Since 1988, nations of the world have been meeting to discuss and explore the problem of climate change. By 1992, a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was created, and by 1997 the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s first greenhouse gas emission reduction treaty was adopted. The Kyoto Protocol was put in force for 2005.

There have been two other significant “Conference of the Parties” (COP), Copenhagen 2009 and Paris 2015 where the Paris Agreement on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) was signed. However, in the words of Greta Thunberg, these agreements can be seen as “blah, blah, blah” since so many nations have not made their NDC targets; Canada is one of these nations. This brings everyone to Glasgow, COP 26, and the last best chance to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 in order to keep the average temperature of the planet from rising more than 1.5degrees C. The NDC’s will be steep and the time from now to 2030 is considered crucial.

We have seen the weather and climate change effects of the current temperature rise, which is less than 1 degree C. – Extreme storms, extreme drought, rising oceans. Climate Change is an emergency that poses immediate risk to health, life, property and our environment and it requires urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation. If we stay with current policies, by 2050 the planet’s average temperature will rise between 2.8-3.2 degrees C. We are currently expelling 50 Gigatons of GHG into the atmosphere; we are currently seeing the summer temperatures in dry areas of B.C. reach 49 degrees; the permafrost in the high Artic is melting; drought is scorching the prairies. What an almost tripling of temperature rise would mean is horrible to imagine.

4 Key Goals for Glasgow COP 26
1.   Secure global net zero GHG emissions by 2050 to keep the temperature rise of 1.5 degrees within reach
2.   Adapt in order to protect communities and Natural habitats by enabling countries affected by climate change to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and lives.
3.   Mobilize the Global Financial community to raise at least $100bn in climate finance per year. This will require monies from international financial institutions in both the private and public sectors.
4.   Finalize the Paris Rulebook in order to turn ambitions into actions and accelerate the collaboration between businesses, governments, and civil society. We must all work together.

There is no doubt this will be HARD. But humans have the capacity to intentionally take action toward something that will not be easy so that the end result will far exceed the effort and pain endured. We must find the will.

Sean Botham: Affordable Housing in Hamilton

Sean Botham leads the development file for City Housing Hamilton. CHH is the first certified passive house consultant in Canada for community housing corporations. Sean spoke about the need in Hamilton for below market affordable housing for the vulnerable. Currently Hamilton has a massive wait list of over 5000 households. There are 7000 unit of community housing available currently serving 12,000 dwellers. The wait list is centralized He and his team combined with resources from private citizens are determined to rebuild, retrofit and build new using principles of cutting edge design. The passive house approach has been proven to yield high performance and cost effectiveness. In essence they have reset the CHH development strategy.

There are 9 projects underway in the city; 4 are new the other 5 are rebuilds. One example of the rebuild was 500 MacNab the oldest public housing high rise in the city. One hundred and forty seven units have been retrofitted to high performance standards following universal design principles. The building that has been modified to provide thermal comfort throughout, has a simplified mechanical system and is ready for occupancy. Federal and provincial funding was used for this rebuild. One of the challenges for the city is how to take existing spaces and upgrade them – and 500 MacNab is an excellent example of how to do this.

Anita Spier: Myles Travel

Anita Spier is a graduate of Mohawk College’s Travel and Tourism program. She purchased Myles Travel in Dundas in 2000 and has also acquired a sister agency in Beamsville. Anita spoke about COVID 19 and its impact on her business. Pre-pandemic, Anita and her team were having an excellent year and were the recipients in 2019 of the travel industry’s Bravo award for exemplary sales (over $7 million). Then COVID brought the industry to a screeching halt. From March 2020 on, there were hundreds of cancellations of trips. Her sales plummeted and she had to lay off all her staff. And in the beginning of the lockdown there were still many people to get back to Canada. It was a spring of challenge, despair and fear.

The federal government assistance programmes allowed Anita to hire back her staff, working from home. Her agents were grateful. She too was grateful for the support and the support of her loyal clients who have returned to book travel for this year and for 2022. While her business is at about 30% of what it was in 2019, Anita feels positive about next year. Her story is one of many: an example of the swings in fortune and a testament to determination and resiliency.

Truth & Reconciliation A School Board's Curriculum

Scott Sincerbox welcomed Denise Martins as today’s speaker. Over the last five years Scott and Denise have been colleagues as Superintendents of Education with the Grand Erie District School Board. He praised her skills as a communicator and a collaborator. Denise’s ability to build relationships and her tenacity to see a change through from inception to implementation made her an outstanding leader in their school board. Her work with the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities was exemplary. Today Denis shared some of the accomplishments.

The GEDSB, like many other organizations recognized the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe people as the traditional peoples of this territory. They acknowledge and give gratitude to the Indigenous peoples for sharing these lands.
The school board represents 26,000 students in 58 elementary and 14 secondary schools within the City of Brantford, and the Counties of Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk as well as secondary students from Six nations of the Grand River and the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation.
As leaders and educators in the community the school board knew that it must respond to the finding of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was formed as a result of recognition of the cultural genocide and assimilation inflicted upon Indigenous people in Canada for generations and in concluding its work, created 94 Calls to Action including numbers 62 and 63 specifically focused on education.

The Grand Erie District School Board focused on #63 ii, iii, iv as expectations for the system. #63. We call upon the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada to maintain an annual commitment to Aboriginal education issues, including: ii. Sharing information and best practices on teaching curriculum related to residential schools and Aboriginal history. iii. Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect. iv. Identifying teacher-training needs relating to the above.

In response to this, effective the 2020-21 school year, the English course that Grand Erie students in all Grade 11 pathways are required to take a focused course on Indigenous content and Indigenous authors. Understanding Contemporary First Nations, Métis and Inuit Voices included updated curriculum from the Ministry of Education. The focus on Indigenous content and Indigenous authors aligned with Grand Erie’s Multi-Year Plan 2016-21, Success for Every Student, through the Equity Indicator and worked to promote practices that help students, families and staff feel safe, welcomed and included.

District Governor Anne Bermingham Addresses the Club

Tom welcomed Anne Bermingham, DG 7090 for 2021-2022 to our club. Anne is currently a Past President of RC of Hamilton A.M. She has been a Rotarian for 25 years. In this time she has contributed to and led many activities, auctions, and events in her club and in our district. As the Volunteer Coordinator for Telling Tales, she worked with clubs in both 7090 and 7080. In her professional life, Anne is President of 2WA Consulting Inc. where she assists corporations and individuals with leadership development, change implementation and communication strategies. Among her other activities she is also past Chair of the Board of Directors of Hamilton Burlington United Way. Anne is dedicated to service, both in Rotary and in our community.

And so, Anne presented the Rotary International vision for 2021-2022, aptly titled “Service to Change Lives”. Specifically, she focused on the theme of Rotarians as People of Action who “unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.” Rotary, as a worldwide organization of over 35,000 clubs in over 200 countries acts as a connector. Alone, the organization has some strength; united with others we have the capacity to effect extraordinary change. Look at the End Polio project as just one example of action and impact.The ROTARY INTERNATIONAL ACTION PLAN for 2021-2022 is: Increase our impact, Expand our reach, Enhance participant engagement, and, Increase our ability to adapt.

Denise Martins Inducted into the Club

It was with great pleasure we were able to have DG Anne Bermingham and AG Ryan Bridge assist President Tom McLeod and Scott Sincerbox in the induction ceremony for Denise Martins.

We are delighted to welcome Denise into the family of the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club. She brings a wealth of experience as an educator and wide perspective on the community.

Margaret's Place Opens

This week, led by Don Davidson and Mieke Ewen, fifteen of us toured the new Margaret's Place Hospice at St Joseph’s Villa. The vision had been to bring quality hospice care to Dundas and area. Quality means many things to different people; in this case, the hospice is a ten bed beautiful facility. Six beds are for palliative patients and four are dedicated to respite care for palliative patients and caregivers. The building nestled at the back of the SJV property bordering on the ravine is an example of remarkable, cutting edge architecture and design by McCallum Sather and construction by Ira Macdonald.

Don and his team worked tirelessly to raise the funds for construction. His passionate persuasion led to many donors, large and small, individuals, organizations and service clubs, and yielded over 13 million dollars. Margaret’s Place is a reality because the vision was backed by steadfast perseverance. And now Dundas hosts an outstanding hospice. MP aims to provide a tranquil, caring environment to support families and patients on their end of life journey. The physical setting contributes much to the overall effect. So too, the interior features of Douglas fir columns, stone fireplaces, panoramic windows, gardens and waterfalls unite to reinforce the beauty of nature and to remind us of the continuum in the natural world. The water fountain below is a tribute from Paul Clifford to his wife Barbara.

The spiritual aspects are also present. The Villa, founded by the Sisters of St Joseph, values all faiths and belief systems. Throughout the building there has been careful attention to details in all the rooms and gathering areas. Almost every area has a view to the outside. It is a truly calm place of reflection and contemplation.

Bob Morrow and The Canadian Space Agency

Bob Morrow shared an update on the work of the Canadian Space Agency. He began with an overview of the CSA and their work. First he shared some inspiring images of the International Space Station, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Earth. All the photos were amazing. That we are able to “see” close up the Moon which is 384,000 km away from Earth, or Mars which ranges from 54,000,000 to 400,000,000 km depending on its orbit or the Sun which is 146,000,000,km away is mind blowing.

The Canadian Space Agency does not build rocket ships—that enormously expensive business is done by others, but it does delve deeply into issues that affect the human body in space, the robotics required to do experimentation and data collection while in space, and the effects closed environment systems have on humans, plants, seeds and other life forms. Every project undertaken by the CSA must have relevance to life on the surface of Earth as well as life in space. Perhaps the best known Canadian Space Agency contribution to space exploration is the robotic Canada Arm. There are now three iterations of this incredible machine. Canada Arm2 remains permanently on the International Space Station. Bob showed us a photo of Canadian astronaut Dave Williams tethered to the arm—a feat of courage and engineering!

Of course space exploration in the most recent days has become the billionaire’s amusement. Bob had pictures of SpaceX Dragon coming in to dock at the I.S.S.. Certainly, both Elon Musk and Jim Bezos bring a celebrity cache to all things space. But whether they will trump the space programmes of nation states remains to be seen. The desire to explore space is probably an innate human one—from star gazing in the BCE, to the travels to outer limits today. Many of us have grown up watching television shows like Star Trek, Lost in Space, and ST The Next Generation and watching as many launches in the 60’s and 70’s as possible from Mercury to Apollo, to the Shuttles. So much progress has been made in 60 years. The age old saying, “Life imitates art” may not yet be true but we are much closer to space as the final frontier than we have ever been.

Jackie Van Lankveld Uganda School

Jackie Van Lankveld is a member of the R.C. of St Catharines and incoming Chair of the International Service Committee for D 7090. She brought us an update on their integrated school project for orphaned children in Uganda. In 2015, Jackie who is the Manager of Early Years Services at Niagara Children’s Treatment Centre and a part-time clinical instructor at Brock University began fundraising for a school for orphaned children. She partnered with the R.C. of Nkumba Uganda and an NGO Environmental Women in Action also in Uganda. Historically, Rotary International does not fund bricks and mortar projects, but in 2016 there was a one-time The Rotary Foundation grant called “Simple School Build” that helped make Jackie’s vision possible.

She canvassed D7090 and 14 clubs including DVSRC pledged support for the project. The Ugandan NGO had been able to purchase a 4 acre property on Lak Victoria and the dream of the school that integrated orphans with community children was on its way to realization.
This project had a number of hurdles. First, there was a lot of delay as a result of government environmental testing, retesting, and paperwork. The Rotary Club of Nkumba kept in good communication with R.C. of St. Catharine’s and the project continued. The final payment from R.I. was made Feb 28, 2020. And the school opened.

Gordon Crann and Peace

Gordon Crann is a member of R.C. of Hamilton After Five and Team Lead of the R.C. Botswana Satellite Club. Gord has an extensive resume of involvement in Rotary, nationally and internationally, especially with Rotary Action Groups in Microfinance, Community Development and Peace. He has given presentation at the R.I. conventions in Sydney Australia on how to do Global Grant Application for Microfinance projects. Today he spoke about Peace programmes supported the Rotary Foundation.

Rotary International’s involvement with peace began as early as 1914, when the R.C. of Hamilton proposed at the 1914 international convention in Texas that Rotary use its influence to advance peace and goodwill. This commitment was reaffirmed in 1921 at the R.I. convention in Edinburgh.
After WWII, The Rotary Foundation funded U.N. interns and created the Ambassadorial Scholars program. Did you know that five Rotarians have served as Secretary General of the United Nations? There are currently a variety of peace initiatives funded by The Rotary Foundation: Rotary Action Groups for Peace, Rotary Peace Builder Districts, the Institute for Economics and Peace and Rotary Centres for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Gord then focused his talk on these centres for peace.

Emma Cubitt: Affordable Housing in Hamilton

Emma Cubitt is a principal from Invizij Architects Inc. Emma, a graduate of the University of Illinois and Waterloo has practiced architecture for the past 15 years. She is passionate about social justice and inclusion and has specialized in livable small spaces. Her personal interests include biking, supporting co-operatives (The Mustard Seed) and laneway housing. Emma began her talk by reviewing some statistics regarding the cost of housing in Hamilton today. The average price of a single family house is over $800k and a condominium is $475k. These prices also put pressure on the cost of rental units. A one bedroom apartment on Kijiji is averaging $1500; a two bedroom is $1700. If one uses 30% of income as the money dedicated to housing (a CMHC guideline) then in order to purchase a condo one requires an annual income of $100,000 and a down payment of $25,000 ( bare minimum). The average income in Hamilton is slightly more than $75,000/year. They are barely able to afford owning a condo. However, many people make much less than that amount of money. How do they find housing security?

Compounding the challenge of price is the further problem of the high number of vacant buildings, and empty lots in the city. Emma suggested that the owners of these properties may have chosen to keep them underused hoping to ride the wild real estate market and sell them for higher prices rather than invest in them. In addition, it is easier for large developers to obtain financing for new large buildings than it is for smaller independent groups to get financing for retrofitting and renovation. Lastly, although there are large new condo buildings in downtown Hamilton, it appears that a number of units are not occupied. The units have been bought as speculative investments, not as potential rental housing.
Vacant property is not a problem unique to Hamilton. Other cities like Vancouver and Toronto also face a housing shortage. Their city politicians passed a Vacant Home Tax with a view to deter vacancy. In Hamilton, Councillor Nann has proposed such a tax. Another possible solution to the housing shortage is to revisit ideas about urban development. Rather than expanding the urban boundaries to build more single family houses, Emma (and others) propose greater densification and infilling of existing housing stock. This would entail the development of smaller scale projects in existing neighbourhoods, from duplexes to small multiplexes—a concept architects refer to as “the missing middle”.

Emma then presented several slides of projects that reflect the successful execution of these values and ideas.

Hilary McLeod: Change and Transitions in the Workplace

Hilary McLeod, a human resources specialist shared her experience and insights on Change and Transition in the Workplace as a result of COVID.
For the past 14 years she has been an expert in career transition first with LHH Knightsbridge personnel and now with her own consultant company. Hilary was impacted by corporate restructuring 15 years ago and decided to return to school and change careers. She knows whereof she speaks.

She highlighted 5 topics: the Change Model; Managing a Career Transition; Job Trends and Changes to the Workplace after COVID; Transitions to Active retirement; and Life Transitions.
The Change Model is a U shaped curve that has 5 stages of behaviour. The first stage is the anticipation and anxiety one feels knowing that a change will occur. One may also feel shock. Facing the facts of being “let go” and no longer anchored bring the second stage: fear and anger. When things are in flux a strong sense of disorientation characterizes the third stage. As the change is better understood the fourth stage involves a feeling of reappraisal and acceptance. The fifth stage involves a recommitment to moving forward and one may actual feel a renewal of energy and interest as the new reality comes into focus.

Managing a Career transition is stressful but after the initial shock it can be a time of exploration and change and may lead to a complete career shift. Scary but possibly very rewarding!
In order to make the transition happen, Hilary emphasized the need for one to develop a compelling resume that highlights the relevant transferable skills required in the current job market. For some, this may mean getting professional advice from someone like her to help sort out one’s key accomplishments and talents and craft a unique personal brand. The key question is “Why hire me?”

Tom McLeod 2021-2022 Club President

Today marked the installation of Tom McLeod as President 2021-2022. Assistant Governor Ryan Bridge read the oath of office reminding Tom of the confidence the club members have in him and his responsibilities to the club as President. Tom, in turn, pledged to do his best. Then Tom installed his Board for 2021-2022. He reviewed the exceptional work from the previous year—Dine to Donate, the draw for Margaret’s Place, Socks and Skivvies, equipment to Six Nations Polytechnic, the project with the Rotary Club of Nairobi Maderaka.

Rotary International’s President for 2021-2022, Shekhar Mehta has selected “Serve to Change Lives” as the theme for the year. Tom reflected that we in DVSRC are at our best when we engage with our community to serve others. He invoked the R.I. vision statement: “Together we see a World where People unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.”

Tom stated that this year we will work to expand our footprint in the life of Dundas. Everyone is encouraged to join a committee. The plan for club meetings in the short term will be to continue with Zoom and supplement with in person where possible. And when possible the meetings will return to Dundas Valley Golf and Curling Club. In the longer term, we will explore the possibility of hybrid meetings using technology supported by our District 7090.

Scott Sincerbox Inducted Into Club

Scott Sincerbox has returned to the club after 14 years. Scott will soon retire as Superintendent of Human Resources from the Grand Erie District School Board. He had previously joined our club in 2006 but had to leave in 2007 as a result of his work obligations but he promised to return when he was able. Today was the day. Welcome back!
Scott is a resident of Dundas; he brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm and he has already volunteered to serve on the Youth Services committee.

Nancy Harness: Vocational Service

Bob Morrow introduced our speaker today, our own Nancy Baker. He noted that if we were to compare Nancy’s joining us to a hockey trade, she would a blockbuster. We would be receiving a Wayne Gretsky, a superstar. Thank goodness we in DVSRC didn’t have to actually “trade” anyone. We just “received” a fabulous person, a committed Rotarian, and a member of the Dundas community.

Nancy Jo Baker (nee Wild) was born in Hamilton but raised in Tillisonburg by her parents Ed and Jo. Ed was a fine, funny hardworking man who rose through the ranks of the O.P.P .After his retirement from the force, he joined the Bench as a Justice of the Peace for Oxford County. He was so well regarded that he was asked to remain past the recommended retirement, twice.

Her Mom was a homemaker extraordinaire – a baker, a chef, a sewer, a crafter, a volunteer, a friend to all, and a Citizen of the Year. We can see that Nancy has followed the role models set by her parents. She was raised to care, to strive, to give back. As a young person, she played sports, involved herself in leadership activities and even volunteered as a candy striper at the local hospital.

Over 40 years ago, Nancy began her professional journey as an occupational therapist. Her first job was at Owen Sound General and Marin Hospital and so began her unwavering love of the Saugeen Peninsula.

Her hospital work continued in Toronto and in Hamilton, but she wondered if this was enough. Then, one day a representative from a wheelchair manufacturer gave a professional development presentation that changed the course of Nancy’s career.

Margaret's Place Hospice: Deborah Fernandes

Deborah Fernandez is Manager Volunteer and Community Services for St. Joseph’s Villa. Deborah also has the responsibility of recruiting and training new volunteers for Margaret’s Place.

Deborah began by thanking the community, individuals, groups and service clubs for their generous support in the construction of Margaret’s Place. The hospice will provide end of life care for everyone and continue the tradition of care established long ago in this community by the Sisters of St. Joseph.

She shared several photos for the building’s exterior, interior and grounds. The outstanding setting is matched by the gorgeous architecture. The hospice team is hoping to have 80 volunteers supplement their work. And Deborah still has 40 spots to fill— perhaps you, a friend, or family member would be the right fit.

There are a variety of roles from 1:1 friendly visitor, to receptionist, cook, baker, housekeeper, grief and bereavement support, fundraising and music therapist. The hope is for volunteers to build rapport with the families, facilitate communication, and provide practical and emotional support during this end of life time. In return, volunteers may gain increased self-awareness and fulfillment from making a difference in the lives of others.

If you would like to volunteer please apply on line—http://www.sjv.on.ca

There will be an interview, police check, TB test, positive reference check and a training and orientation session. The hospice will provide 6 beds for end of life and 4 beds for respite when it opens. The expected opening ceremonies will occur mid to late August with the plan being to receive patients after Labour Day.

Alexis Wenzowski

Alexis Wenzowski is the club's energetic Director of International Services, Public Image social media contributor, and “go to” member, but today she shared her story focusing on her classification talk.
Alexis, daughter of Steve and Allyson Wenzowski, grew up in the University Gardens neighbourhood of Dundas. She attended Pleasant Valley, Dundana, District and Highland. As a young person she was involved in soccer, swimming, and Guiding. Her Dad, Steve was a police officer in town and involved in the community. Allyson, her Mom, was also very involved (a former member of RC of Dundas, DVSRC and now a member of Rotary After Five in Hamilton). Alexis thanked her parents for providing her with a strong foundation of core values that highlighted giving back to others.

After graduating from McMaster in 2004 with a B.A. in Political Science and History, her first job was in the constituency office of John Bryden, M.P. From there, she moved to Waterloo to study Peace and Conflict at Conrad Grebel College (affiliated with Waterloo). After completing this programme she began work for Waterloo Region first as a Freedom of Information Officer and then as assistant to the City clerk.

Emmy Iheme

Emmy Iheme, a fellow Rotarian from RC of Oshawa is a retired Staff Sergeant from Durham Regional Police Services. After 29 years on the force, he is now able to devote his time to his family and his volunteer life. But before we get to that, a few bits from his life’s story. Emmy was born in Lagos Nigeria into a loving, supportive and well educated family who shaped his values and life’s arc. As a promising young soccer player, Emmy was awarded a scholarship into the farm system of a European soccer club. So began his teenage years in Europe. After several transfers, he landed in Italy, released from the soccer obligations and able to attend university, which he did at the Vatican! His slides of home, Italy and Pope John Paul II were a great opportunity for us to travel vicariously this morning.

His friendship with a Canadian family whom he met while at the Vatican Museum led him to Canada in the early 80”s. And in 1985, he accepted a position with Durham Regional P.S. While at university Emmy had specialized in conflict resolution thus he was well prepared for some of the challenges he would encounter during his next 29 years. He worked across Durham region from Whitby and Oshawa to Clarington, beginning as a foot patrol and rising first to C.I.D., then homicide detective, then Executive Officer and finally Staff Sergeant, platoon leader. He retired in 2019.

His professional life was the catalyst for his community involvement especially in his desire to make a positive influence on youth. To that end, an example of his volunteerism is his 2019 co-chairing of the Ontario Parasport Games where over 450 athletes from around the province came to Durham to compete. His photos of some of the athletes and games illustrated how gifted and talented these athletes are.
In addition to coaching, Emmy is involved with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports. This organization works with Canadian athletes of all ages to educate them on the dangers of drug use (both recreationally and as athletic enhancements). This work has taken him to many schools from elementary to university, to the Para Olympic Games in Vancouver and Turin, and this summer to the Games in Tokyo.

Sarah Lampson Tells Her Story

Sarah Lampson's professional designation is Research Administration. Positions in RA range from managing research projects, managing research sponsors, applying for grants, managing clinical trials, and research ethics. The role is found in universities, colleges, academic hospitals, government and non-profit organizations.

From 1997-2005, Sarah was a Research Contracts Officer and Grants Officer at McMaster. From 2005-2013 she managed clinical trials for both Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University specializing in oncology research contracts from 2009-2013. During this time she also volunteered in her field. She authored dozens of articles, presented at conferences, moderated and created webinars, started two national mentoring programmes and co-authored two books that are used at over 500 institutions globally. From 2013 until now, Sarah has been the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Research Administrators.

Some of her achievements in this role have been to turn the group’s operating deficit into a surplus within the first year and then increase the revenue for the association by 43% over the next four years. Capitalizing on her volunteer work, she continued to create mentorship programmes, and webinars and she established an awards programme for the group. Under her leadership, CARA has entered into a partnership with Mohawk College to offer Canada’s first Research Administration Certificate. CARA now has a bursary programme for students who are enrolled in this course and to date has awarded over $100,000 to worthy recipients. Since 2017, Sarah has been a part-time instructor of contracts, reporting, and research finance at Mohawk College’s McKeil School of Business.

Dr.Ravi Bansal Solo Flight Around The World

Dr. Bansal is a fellow Rotarian from the RC of Buffalo. After a successful career as an entrepreneur Ravi had a dream to “fly around the world” And while he didn’t have a lot of experience flying solo in his state of the art single engine Cessna, and his family thought this idea was very risky, he found a purpose to drive his passion and the rest of the story came together.

A native of Ambala India, Ravi visited family in 2005, and realized the local Charity Hospital which had treated his ailing sister-in-law, did not have the resources needed to successfully diagnose cancer. Furthermore, he learned that no one from India had ever completed RTW flight. The challenge was set! And Ravi chose to rise to that challenge. He would dedicate his flight to raising funds for a MRI machine for the Ambala Charity Hospital, raise awareness in the Ambala region of the importance of early cancer detection and treatment and finally by being the first Indian to complete a RTW solo flight in a single engine plane acquire recognition and publicity for the causes.

World Immunization Week

Check out the videos on End Polio and how the infrastructure for polio vaccinations is being used for COVID-19.

https://www.endpolio.org/resource-center#video

Scott Vance Tells His Story

Scott Vance is member of the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise. He is also the most recent cook of the lobsters at our annual Lobster Rib Fest. Scott is a long time resident of Dundas, growing up and going to school here. At age 13, he no longer was interested in hockey as he once was. He watched his sister at her figure skating lessons and thought “that was easy”. His Dad, in turn, challenged him to try and the rest as they say is history. As a hockey player, Scott had skating basics, but figures were a completely different thing. Undaunted, Scott took the challenge.

For the next decade, Scott devoted himself to figure skating, practicing at least 4 hours per day, every day. He sought out instruction from Kerry Leitch, of the Preston Skating Club, a renowned Canadian coach. At Preston, Scott was exposed to world class competitors and this served to motivate him further. As a pair’s skater, Scott thrust his partners high above his head while balancing on a thin blade of steel. Strength, energy, fearlessness, hard work, trust – these are the attributes Scott honed during those years. When he retired from competition in 1990 at 24 years of age, he and his partner were ranked 5th at Nationals.

Russ Powers Tells His Story

Classification Talks are an important part of Rotary's Vocational Service. Today Russ Powers gave his “Re-Classification Talk”. Russ is a charter member of the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise and his classification at the time was Medical Laboratory Technology. He left the club in 2012 because he could not attend any Tuesday meetings because of his new job. He has recently returned with the new classification “Municipal Consultation”.

Russ is probably the only member of the DVSRC with his own page on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Powers. Russ has lived in Dundas for 55 years and for most residents he would be known as Mr. Dundas. He was born in Toronto and moved with his family to Dundas in 1966. He was educated at Dundas District High School, Mohawk College and the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene. He worked at McMaster University in laboratory medicine from 1979 until his retirement in 2007. Russ also has military experience, having served as a Logistics Officer in the Canadian Army & Air Reserves.

‘Finding Francis’ - A 12th Century Saint in 21st Century Dundas.

Mike Deed is Rector of Saint James Anglican Church, Dundas. His topic is entitled: ‘Finding Francis’ - A 12th Century Saint in 21st Century Dundas.
Mike Deed was born in Chatham, Kent (pronounced “Cham” there) and from an early age became passionate about Doctor Who, eating, reading and religion. After studying theology at university, Mike’s first job was as a youth worker, primarily engaged with supporting young people on the street in Hounslow. Mike was ordained as a priest at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK and served two parishes in West London before moving to Canada in 2007 where he served churches in Burlington and Hamilton Mountain before being appointed as Rector of Saint James Church, Dundas in July 2019. Mike and his husband live in Hamilton and are owned by three cats. Mike is an associate of the Society of Saint Francis (Province of the Americas), a founder of the Doctor Who Society of Canada, Diocesan Liturgical Officer for the Diocese of Niagara and an honourary Canon of Christ’s Church Cathedral.

The theme of Mike’s talk was how we could use the teachings and experiences of St. Francis of Assissi here in Dundas. A good write-up on St. Francis is available in this Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi.

Alan Hansell: The Stewards of Cootes

According to Alan Hansell the Executive Director of the Stewards of Cootes Watershed, we “do the obvious” – clean up the watershed and keep it clean. They’ve changed advocacy from pointing fingers to doing something about the pollution found in Cootes watershed. The group supervises over 40 clean-ups per year in Cootes and another 40 in the Red Hill Creek watershed.
Since the program began five and a half years ago in the Cootes watershed we have put a lot of volunteer hours in and pulled a lot of garbage out. Check out our statistics for Cootes Watershed cleanups below:

Great Lakes Watershed Clean Up

Our first speaker was District 7090 Governor Frank Adamson who was on-line to talk about mobilizing the troops for the District’s Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup, https://rotary7090.org/stories/great-lakes-watershed-cleanup.
The Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup initiative is an effort that has grown from a District 7090 service project covering a small portion of Lake Ontario and Erie to a multi-district plan to focus Rotarians’ attention to all 5 of the Great Lakes and streams and waterways feeding them.
The Great Lakes Watershed events will be held between Saturday, April 17th, and Saturday, April 24th to coincide with the celebration of Earth Day, which falls on April 22nd.

Clubs from District 7090 (and many other districts) will be involving Club Members, Rotaractor, students, Scouts and many others to clean up the waterways that feed the Great Lakes.

Captain William Knox

Captain William Knox gave a brief history of his days as a pilot. William retired last year from his job as a pilot with Ethiopian Airlines. He has always been interested in flying and wasn’t as interested in school so he went to flight school and became a pilot. His first position was in Wiarton where he was also an instructor for 11 years. He flew all over Ontario and several times to Newfoundland. He noted that it was always extremely windy in St. John’s – one time it as so windy that his small plane was being blown all over the place and had to be welded in place by freezing the wheels to the tarmac using water.

He graduated from the small 14 seat plane to the DC4 – a plane that he really loved to fly even though it was old and leaked oil. He graduated from the DC4 to a Convair and was, for the first time, a Captain (the head pilot). Over his career he worked for several airlines given the ups and downs of the airline industry. He worked in Guyana for 5 years. He was working for ICC Canada and flying often to Mexico when he met his wife Carlotta. Carlotta herself was once a member of DVSRC.

Trouble Underground - the pipes are calling

Sheldon Thomas is proprietor of Clear Water Legacy. Clear Water Legacy Inc. is a water distribution operator training service, created by Sheldon, retired Manager of Water Distribution for the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Thomas devoted more than a quarter century to operating and then managing Hamilton’s aged, unique, and complex water infrastructure.

Sheldon spoke on: “Trouble Underground: the Pipes are Calling” a story of the decaying water main infrastructure in Hamilton. To set the tone for his talk, Sheldon’s first slide showed a fire hydrant with dirty, rusty water gushing out of it. Most of the water pipes in Hamilton are made from cast iron. Although they are initially pristine, after about 15 years or so they begin to corrode.

Engineering Day With Tony Cupido

Tony Cupido is Research Chair, Sustainability IDEAWORKS, at Mohawk College. Tony’s research initiatives include the development of an operational performance database for Canada’s award-winning, largest institutional, net-zero energy and zero carbon building – The Joyce Centre for Partnership and Innovation – and the creation of an industry model for sustainable operational practices. He was recently appointed to the Board of The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC).
In his presentation, Tony discussed the following topics in Mohawk’s “Plan to Achieve Net Zero and Challenges”:
•Energy Targets & Model
•Building Envelope Design
•Mechanical Systems
•Solar PV and Solar Thermal Systems
•Measurement & Verification
•Change in Culture

Some of the slides from his talk are re-produced below.

Joanne McCallum Architect

Twenty-five years ago, Joanne McCallum and her business partner, Greg Sather, founded their own architectural firm, inspired by the pursuit of sustainable design. Under Joanne’s leadership as Executive Officer, McCallumSather has grown into a firm of 40 multi-disciplinary designers all united behind a mission – to create a more resilient world through the advancement of sustainable design intelligence. She has a deep love for Hamilton and continues to take a hands-on role in the design of meaningful projects with lasting impact. Margaret’s Place Hospice in Dundas and Valley Park Library in Stoney Creek both currently in construction, are impactful, community-based designs. In addition, her award-winning work on The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation, a Net Zero Certified project, made headlines internationally and highlighted Hamilton as a leader in sustainable design. Joanne was an active Rotarian for over twenty years, first at the Rotary Club of Downtown Hamilton and later at Hamilton Sunrise Club. She is also a Paul Harris Fellow.

Project With The Rotary Club of Nairobi Madaraka

Sammy Malaki is the President of the Rotary Club of Nairobi Madaraka. The Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise is planning a literacy project with Sammy's club. Sammy introduced his team: Past President Njoki Maingi, VP Wanja Muguongo, PE Wilson Kamau, Project Director Joel Mwangi, and Treasurer Keshi Mukuria.

Six Nations Polytechnic: Linda Parker

Linda Parker gave us an overview of Six Nations Polytechnic. Founded in 1993 by order of Band Council, SNP was initially chartered to bring post-secondary education and training to the people of Six Nations of the Grand. These six Iroquois nations, Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Tuscarora, and Seneca comprise the largest First Nation community in the country. SNP’s mission now is to provide lifelong learning from youth to seniors with such strands as basic literacy, STEAM, college and university preparation, apprenticeship and skilled trades training, continuing education, and professional development for Ontario certified teachers. In particular, SNP is an institution where First Nation’s culture and language thrive. If thirty or more years ago, language training was exclusively English, it is now required that the SNP students take at least one credit in NSL (Native as First Language).Furthermore, one is now able to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in two First Nation languages, Mohawk and Cayuga. And as many of us know, the ability to reclaim one’s language is an integral step in identity building and healing of colonial trauma.

50/50 Draw for Margaret's Place Hospice Has a Winner

The 50/50 ticket for Margaret's Place Hospice was drawn at noon on January 12 in front of the Margaret's Place Hospice construction site at St. Joseph's Villa. All 2000 tickets were sold and the $10 000 was won by W. Knox. The other half of the funds raised, $10 000, was increased to $15 000 by an anonymous club donor.

Watch the draw if you wish at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D97g5wTYGpg.

Labour Employment and COVID19

Elizabeth McLeod is a lawyer with O’Neill Associates, a leading labour and employment firm in Thunder Bay. Liz is a member of the Charter Class of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University. She has advocated for clients in front of the Ontario Court of Justice, the Superior Court of Justice, the OLRB and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. She sits on several not for profit Boards, teaches a law course at Lakehead and volunteers in the community. While the content of her presentation is not legal advice, it is pertinent to a great many of us.

First, the pandemic has impacted the workplace in a number of ways: federal law; work environment; provincial law.

St. Matthew's House Auction

The club holds an auction within its membership and invited guests each December for St. Matthew's House. Of course the auctions happen in person during the breakfast meeting. Well, not during COVID-19 times!

We risked using a new format, Zoom, and we were rewarded; and, we were able to demonstrate once again to ourselves and others that we care, about Dundas (where many of us purchased auction items in support of local businesses and about those in the community who are vulnerable. Barb Busing and her team did a fantastic job of organizing -- and without her, Norm and Jody the mechanics of listing, recording and collecting would not happen. And of course our auctioneer, Bruce Eccles pictured above, was once again, awesome.

We raised the most money ever in the history of this event – over $9000.

Renee Wetselaar the executive director of St. Matthew's House and David Savage the board chair who both attended were very grateful and thanked us heartily. The generosity of DVSRC was a Christmas gift to so many.

Allison Kingston and Shelter Box

Allison Kingston is Community Fundraising Coordinator for ShelterBox Canada and a member of the Rotaract Club of Toronto. ShelterBox is an organization that is Rotary International’s first Project Partner and supplies emergency shelter for people in need around the world. Begun in 2000, by a U.K. Rotary club, it has expanded worldwide and has helped to house over 1.6 million people in 97 countries over the pasts 20 years. Currently, they estimate that over 104 million people are in need of emergency shelter, driven from their homes by conflict (e.g. Tigray in Ethiopia) or natural disaster (e.g. Super Typhoon Goni in the Philippines). For many who have landed in hugely overcrowded refugee camps (e.g. Nigeria) the coronavirus pandemic exacerbates the hardships.

Remembrance Day

Lynda Lukasik Environment Hamilton

Dr. Lynda Lukasik, has dedicated her life’s work to making Hamilton a better place to live. There is a climate crisis and we all have a part to play in moving us towards a post carbon world. Although the City of Hamilton has declared a climate emergency and has issued a statement in support of the need for change, the pandemic has slowed this impetus. She urges us not to lose sight of the bigger picture.

Deirdre Pike

Our guest speaker today was Deirdre Pike, a Senior Social Planner for the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton (SPRC), the Justice and Outreach Consultant for the Anglican Diocese of Niagara, and a columnist for The Hamilton Spectator. She outlined many of the projects that she is engaged in. She also recognized the work that DVSRC are already doing and suggested new possibilities for the club.

Ride For Polio

Harold Gruneberg thanks everyone who donated to his District 7090 Ride For Polio which was held on World Polio Day, October 24. All donations went directly to the Rotary Foundation Polio Fund. With matching grants and other donations, Governor Frank Adamson estimates that District 7090 raised about $500,000 US for polio eradication.

Harold was part of Governor Frank's team “Pedal for Polio Plus”. The ride originally was planned to be from the Peace Bridge in Niagara Falls to Niagara-on-the-Lake which would have been about 90 km. The American ride was planned to do about 70 miles, which together translated symbolically to 7090.

Scott Eccles and Eccles Automotive Service

Eccles Auto Service has been a premier business in Dundas since 1984. Now in its 5th decade, the leadership reins have been assumed by Scott Eccles, son of Bruce and Claire.
Their 121 King St location is now the main office for customer service. Here the clients are greeted by service advisors Anne, Krisia or Jim. The automotive service work may occur at King St. or the second location at 123 Hatt Street. In total, EAS has 9 bays with 4 licensed technicians and 2 apprentices. All under the direction of Jim Lawton GM and Scott Eccles. Bruce is a consultant for the business and Claire still does the bookkeeping.

Phil Kriszenfeld:Transitions Mediation and Consulting Group

Phil Kriszenfeld of Transitions Mediation and Consulting Group specializes in alternative dispute resolution focusing on family businesses. Having a personal background in family manufacturing and retail business, Phil knows firsthand the challenges of going from son, to shareholder, to former owner. He supplemented this experiential learning with additional training at the University of Waterloo and at the faculty of law at Windsor University.

His role as mediator is unlike that of the accountant, lawyer, or wealth advisor in the family business. As he put it, his job is to make the family business operate better in the boardroom and the living room.

Shredding Day - A Full Truck

Local magician John Henley watches as Russ King and Derek Price unload his documents to be shredded. And magically the material disappears into the shredding truck to be joined by almost 4880 kilograms of other shredded material only to reappear somewhere in the world as recycled material put to a new life. Thank you to Scott and Bruce Eccles of Eccles Automotive Service for the use of their property.

Dealing With Harassment in the Workplace

April Terreau of Navigating Integrity Associates is dedicated to creating healthy workplaces by dealing effectively with harassment. She trained with the legal firm Rubin Thomlinson, LLP, one of the top workplace investigative firms.

An Instrument For Every Child

Janice Shearer is a marketing and fundraising specialist for a number of local charities including the Hamilton Music Collective which sponsors An Instrument For Every Child (AIFEC). That program was established out of concern for the erosion of music training in the schools and is supported by the Hamilton Community Foundation, a significant private donor and other local businesses and service clubs.

Best Minds Design Mechanical Ventilator

Dr. Alexandra Pedersen and Dr. Tony Noble of the Arthur B McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute at Queen’s University outlined the Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM) that a team of hundreds of physicists and engineers came together to build in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

District Governor Frank Adamson

Frank Adamson, Governor for District 7090 for 2020 - 2021 presented his vision for this Rotary year.

Dr. Ellen Ryan

Dr. Ellen Ryan is Professor Emeritus from McMaster University’s Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences and Department of Health, Aging and Society.

Jessica Brennan Past President 2012-13

Jessica Brennan President, 2017 – 2018

Jessica was born and raised in Montreal. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Concordia, a Masters in Sociology, and a post-graduate degree from the University of Western Ontario in Library Science.

Meet Our Members - Stacy Bennett

Stacy Bennett

After 35 years with RBC, Stacy Bennett was ready for a change! Having returned to Dundas in 2017, the town where she grew up, she was keen to get involved in this great community.

Health and Wellness Initiative

Past District Governor Kevin Crosby gave a detailed presentation on the D7090 new Health and Wellness Initiative. The vision of this initiative is to have our District be a leader in Rotary by taking an active role in supporting and promoting the total health and well-being of our communities.

Club Members Visit Margaret's Place Hospice Construction

Club members visit the ongoing construction site of Margaret's Place Hospice at St. Joseph's Villa. Dundas and surrounding community looks forward to the grand opening in about a year from now.

Meet Our Member - Mieke Ewen

This week’s featured member is Mieke Ewen. A Dundas native, she is a graduate of Parkside High and the Mohawk/McMaster Nursing programme. As the Administrator of St Joseph’s Villa, Mieke is responsible for oversight of the campus operations including those of the Villa Long Term Care, Margaret’s Place Hospice and St. Joseph’s Estates.

Kurt Schlange Past President 2000-2001

Our second President was Kurt Schlange. He was born in Dundas and attended Yorkview Public School before moving to West Hamilton where he finished his education. He returned to Dundas as a loans manager for the CIBC and after a stint in Ancaster he became the branch manager of Canada Trust in Dundas. During his year as president, the club was just getting started. He recalls a group of energetic individuals working to raise community awareness and expand membership.

Charter President Ralph Montesanto

Born and raised in Dundas, Ralph may be the best investment Rotary ever made. He attended Parkside High School and at graduation received a Rotary bursary. Ralph has been paying this back many, many times over the course of twenty years with his leadership, enthusiasm and boundless energy for all things Rotary.

Cleaning Up the Community Garden

Zucchini, peas, marigolds and woodchips? As every gardener knows, things grow better when there are no weeds. So this team of Rotarians gathered at the Sunrise Rotary Garden at St. Mark’s to help the gardeners by tamping down those pesky weeds.

Celebrating 20 Years

The Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club was conceived at a meeting of the Dundas Rotary Club with the District Governor, Roger Allan on August 5th, 1997. DG Roger asked whether the community of Dundas needed a morning club. Vice-President Robert Morrow responded positively and, with the assistance of President-Elect John Stevenson, the concept grew … albeit slowly … until 1999 when seven members of the Dundas Rotary Club started meeting on a regular basis with the intent of initiating a “breakfast” Rotary Club in the Town of Dundas. The seven included Carl Fraser, Carl Lehman, Sharon Lacey, Vlad Veckie, Ken Turner, Fred Amalfi and Robert Morrow. This group contacted former Rotarians who had had difficulty attending noon meetings (Russ Powers, Ralph Montesanto, Paul Clifford, Bud Fisher, Dave Matchett) and added some new faces before starting a provisional club on July 1, 1999 with Ralph Montesanto as charter president. The club reached the “magic number” of 25 and was chartered on the first day of the new millennium – January 1, 2000.

Presently because of COVID-19 the Tuesday morning meetings are by Zoom. You are welcome to join a meeting.

Shredding Day A Great Success

What a fantastic day! The community came out in full force and we were ready for them. We put together and implemented a traffic flow plan so that we could follow COVID-19 physical distancing rules. We also used face shields, masks, gloves and sanitizers.

We had fewer volunteers to keep physical contact with clients to a minimum.

Thank you to Jennifer Pavao the Shred-It Transportation Manager who worked the entire time and ordered a second truck because so many boxes arrived on site.

A special thanks to Dundas lawyer Mark Castle who brought 108 boxes (more than paid for the truck rental) and then stayed to load his truck 8 times with flattened boxes and took them to the transfer station.

The club provided a service that the community wants, raised funds doing it, saved over 107 trees and recycled over 12 000 pounds of paper.

A fabulous service project.

Meet Rotary International President Mark Maloney

Rotary District 7090 holds an Open Mic Zoom meeting June 9 at 7PM and special guest Rotary International President Mark Maloney will be speaking and interacting with the audience. This does not happen very often; so, be sure to sign on and see and hear your RI president.

Shredding Day June 20 9 AM-1 PM

Virtual Fireworks

The Show WILL Go On

While 12 000 - 14 000 people won't be celebrating Victoria Day Fireworks at the Dundas Driving Park this year due to COVID-19, we are doing it virtually.

Watch any time at your convenience. https://youtu.be/-GMmKWjdrbM

You can also go to our Facebook page to access the link there. Enjoy!!

Corporate Members Inducted

OUR NEWEST CORPORATE AND ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Corporate member Lori King, associate members Russell King and Nicole Turner from AED4life; and, Corporate member Dr. Laura Thomas, associate members Dr. Betty Johnson and Dr. Katie Mann from Dundas Optometry Clinic.

Salty Animal Rescue

Salty Animal Rescue officially opened in Greensville, Ontario on January 1, 2020.
The founders are Karly and Katelyn Saltarski. They operate as a non for profit and the rescue depends solely on fundraising events and donations.
The rescue is 100% volunteer based, taking in, caring for and placing abandoned and unwanted pets in foster homes to find the right permanent home.

Contact them if you are interested in adopting or know of animals that need rescuing.

Salty Animal Rescue
Kate Saltarski: 905-541-3636 kate@saltyanimalrescue.com

Karly Saltarski: 289-237-6037 karly@saltyanimalrescue.com

Presidential Profile - Ralph Montesanto

The first in a series of Presidential Profiles - Charter President, Ralph Montesanto

A Look at 2020

At our first meeting from the year, we heard from a panel of prognosticators, who shared their thoughts about 2020 has in store for us in the areas of politics, sports and investing. From left to right are Ernie Romain (sports), Carl Fraser (investing) and former Dundas Mayor John Addison. Kathy Starodaub moderated. Big takeaway for the year came from Ernie Romain -- Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup this season. Anyone want to take that bet? :)

A Look at 2020

At our first meeting from the year, we heard from a panel of prognosticators who shared their thoughts about what 2020 has in store for us in the areas of politics, sports and investing. From left to right are Eddie Romain (sports), Carl Fraser (investing) and former Dundas Mayor John Addison. Big takeaway for the year came from Eddie Romain -- Maple Leafes will win the Stanley Cup this season. Anyone want to take that bet? :)

Margaret's Place Hospice

The Rotary Club of Dundas and the Rotary Club of Dundas Sunrise presented a cheque for $30,000 to Margaret's Place Hospice at St Joseph's Villa. The Villa plans to break ground in the next few weeks.

Sara Bird Program Consultant Children Youth & Family Services

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Nov 19, 2019

Sara Bird is the program consultant children youth & family ministry for the Anglican Diocese of Niagara. Sara walked us through her early life as a PK -priest's kid, through her Highland dance career, her managerial jobs at Boston Pizza and Roots clothing to her undergraduate work in Sociology. She started as a volunteer at HARRRP, got hired, became a program director to run after school programs for grade 6 to 8 youth. She is now working for the diocese and has 50 staff and volunteers that service 500 youth.

She told us youth are more educated, diverse, connected and engaged than ever before. However, they take longer to transition to adulthood, live at home longer, carry heavy school debt, marry later, have fewer children and are a click away from just about anything.

Mental health issues are common with youth and young adults. Gender inclusion is not an issue for them.

She closed by saying she finds the interests of youth and develops programs for that interest.

Meeting of October 24 2019

Posted by Jody Beck on Oct 27, 2019

The Oct 22 2019 meeting was vocational services at Dundas Arena. Thanks to director of vocational service Derek Price for arranging the location and bringing in the breakfast. Also, thank you to Ken Beel for supplying the dishes and cups to reduce trash.
Guest of the club, Liz Whitton was invited by Gina; and Bob who is a friend of Carl.
The purpose of today's vocational service meeting was to get a tour of the remodelled addition to the arena and to see the community room in case our club is interested in helping to finish it.

Announcements – St James Dundas House Tour is Dec 7. Kathy Starodub – Rotary Stars reminder – we need wine, bring next week. Over $8,500 in sponsorships so far. If you have tickets to sell, please do so and bring money October 29. If you have no tickets p[lease consider getting them and invite your friends to attend.

Happy Dollars

Palermo Opera was a good visit
Grant – Good dinner at DVGCC – Social members give it a try
Phil Wood - McMaster Live Lab was a good place to hear music
Jan Southall – Amazing trip to Belgium, Austria and Amsterdam
Bob Morrow – This house move will be his last – too much work!

Grant – Thanks to Carl and Derek for putting Arena tour together; the Paul Harris Dinner was a great success. Dec 10 – Christmas Auction for St Matthews House – bring donations or cash or debit card
Ryan Turner – Routes Dinner $25 Friday. - tickets still available

Tour – opening remarks by Ken Beel – history of Arena and how renovation happened and was taken over by City

Change rooms reflect the future – modern, more of them, some accessible, same sex rooms to accommodate mixed gender teams

Kitchen – available for Rent

Community Room – still being finished – can be rented for events

Track for running / walking is up and running.

Tour led by Joe Kennedy – everything looks refreshed and clean.

Rotary in the Community for Shredding Day

The rain stayed away, for the most part, as the Club held its Annual Fall Shredding Day on Saturday, September 28 at Eccles Auto Service in downtown Dundas.

The morning started off slowly but eventually picked up and Ralph and the crew of volunteers were kept busy. There were new faces, some familar faces and many friends of Rotary who donated boxes of paper to the shredder.

A big shout out to all the volunteers and to the Dundas community for their participation. Money raised goes to help eradicate polio in the world. Save your paper for the Spring Shredding Day in May, 2020!

Greg Freije - Volunteer Fire Fighter

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Sep 24, 2019

Peter Dendekker introduced Greg Freije who is a volunteer firefighter with the City of Hamilton. Greg is also a long time employee of Peter’s window company, Aerloc Industries, starting there when he was 15 years old.

Greg Freije is a volunteer firefighter with the Lynden Fire Department, Station 26. There are between 20 – 25 volunteers working out of that station. The Hamilton Fire Department consists of 280 volunteers and 440 full time firefighters and is one of the largest composite departments in Ontario making over 35 000 calls annually that include 65% medical in nature, 3% actual structure fires and 32% alarm conditions like Hazmat, CO, MVC or rescue.

Preventable education is a big part of the department’s work with 20 000 home visits, many to replace smoke detectors or batteries. As well, the department has an educational van that travels to various fairs to promote fire safety, especially with children and youth.

Greg took a number of questions that dealt with the mental health of firefighters who see some very horrendous things while fighting fires or giving assistance.

Derek Dix thanked Greg for his presentation and for his service to the community

Vocational Training Team to Brazil

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Sep 17, 2019

The Vocational Training Team to Brazil was medical in nature. It was lead by Jennifer Schoenhals (pharmacist) with team members Claire Harkness (nurse), Tommy Gerbasi (doctor), and Anna Marie Wysynski (doctor). The team visited Rotary district 4480 in the Sao Paulo area of Brazil. Their key medical areas were ophthalmology, oncology and cardiology.

Claire Harkness, a 2012 club Youth Exchange student to Australia, a SLAPSHOT and RYLA presenter, a Rotaract student and a present day nurse was guest speaker.

Claire had visions of bringing all the great things we do in the US and Canada but was very surprised that the hospitals in Brazil did some procedures and patient contacts better than here at home. Doctors there are very patient oriented using what she called humanized care. Sometimes older equipment (dialysis machines) are used to get better life expectancy results. Some equipment like 3D printers are very modern and used to create parts to rebuild a face. Mobile trucks also go into more remote areas to bring health care there.

The team was very busy, often putting in 12h days at hospitals and then delving into Brazilian culture: food, animals, activities and people. Portuguese is the language of Brazil and although the team had taken some language lessons before leaving, they found that they played lots of charades and used Google Translate to get their points across. They also had to get used to eating dinner at 11 pm.

Claire noted that D4480 is sending its VTT here in March of 2020. Its focus will be on education.

Claire was pleased that her mother Nancy and VTT team members Anna Marie and Tommy were able to join her at today’s meeting.

Kathy Starodub thanked Claire who immediately changed and headed off to finish her 12h nursing shift.

Ben Wark Page Ontario Legislature

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Sep 10, 2019

Ben Wark, Page, Ontario Legislature
Bob Morrow along with Art Samson were instrumental in getting Ben Wark, a grade 8 student to speak about his experience as a Page at the Ontario Parliament.

Bob also invited Sandy Shaw MPP and Ted McMeekin past MPP who saw Ben in action and were recipients of Ben’s waiter service as he delivered water to them.

Bob asked Ben a series of questions. Here are Ben’s answers.
He was chosen when in grade 7 through an application process that involved writing an essay. There are 24 Pages – 12 boys and 12 girls. He wore a 3-piece suit when on duty and his term was 5 weeks from 8 am to 4:30 or 6 pm. Ben stayed with friends of his parents in Toronto and took the subway. One of his first jobs was to look at all the photos of the MPPs and clerks and memorize their names, seating position and ministerial duties. His most memorable task was to help deliver the provincial budget package that he said the Pages did in less than one minute.

Ben missed 5 weeks of school but on the days when he finished at 4:30 took math classes. Ben really enjoyed being a Page even though he was to always keep a straight face and not laugh even when something funny was said. Each day the Pages would parade into the House from the Speaker’s office to the chamber, assume their positions in the chamber (some would go to the east and west lobbies or press gallery), always keep their back to the Speaker and stand when the Speaker stood.

Part of Ben’s presentation included slides of his 5-weeks as a Page at the Ontario Legislature.

Kathy Starodub thanked Ben for his presentation and had him sign a children’s book that will be donated to the First Nations library.

Indigenous Initiatives at Mohawk College

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Aug 20, 2019

Amy Kelaidis, from Mohawk College, is the Director and Special Advisor of Indigenous Initiatives. Tom McLeod introduced Amy who is a member of the Eagle Clan Mississauga of the First Nation.

Using the background of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and Mohawk College’s involvement with the Indigenous Education Protocol Amy outlined what the college is doing for indigenous communities.

There are 27 000 members of Six Nations with half living on the reserve and the other half in Hamilton and Brantford. The graduation rate for indigenous students is 63%, the same as the general population. There are now around 1000 indigenous grads in the alumni database.

The college has a strategic plan that includes the TRC recommendations and focuses on five areas: access and learner success, pathways for success for education and employment, partnerships and opportunities, engagement and capacity building, and awareness and reconcili-ACTION.

She ended her presentation with a review of the Awards and Bursaries Program. The Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club is considering working with the college to contribute to an endowment fund where the club donates $25 000 and the college matches the amount to build a fund of $50 000 that will work in perpetuity to provide awards each year for indigenous students.

Derek Dix thanked Amy in our club’s usual way – the signing of a children’s book that will be donated to the library at Six Nations.

For more information on the extent of the effort Mohawk College is putting into this area and the work of the college’s Indigenous Education Council please see https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/indigenous-students/indigenous-education-council-of-mohawk-college

Ryan Turner and The Turner Family Funeral Home

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Aug 13, 2019

The speaker this morning was our very own Ryan Turner doing his classification talk. Ryan was introduced by Bob Morrow, his sponsor. Bob told us Ryan is the grandson of charter member Ken Turner, is a partner and director of The Turner Family Funeral Home and is married to Bob’s granddaughter. Ryan is also the club’s most recent inductee and at the age of 24 brought the average age of the club way down.

Ryan was born in Copetown, moved to Dundas and attended Highland Secondary School (played on the football team) before heading off to Humber College to earn his funeral director certificate. Ryan received his funeral director licence in 2015 after completing the in-class, internship, board exam and inspected embalming.

The job can be stressful, being always on call and dealing with people who are vulnerable. He plays hockey, curls and enjoys video games and playing his guitar. He enjoys the family summer cottage on Beaver Lake and this along with his hobbies gives him a break from the rigors of the funeral business. Talking with co-workers and sometimes a counselor helps too.

He loves his job, mainly because he is able to help individuals at one of their lowest points in life. He appreciates the simple thank you he receives from families.

Club members had plenty of questions. Here are some of his answers. Funerals are becoming less religious with only about 35% of funerals at a church or religious site. About 65% of services are cremations and 35% burials. Hamilton now has a green cemetery where bodies are buried without embalming or a casket. Many family owned funeral homes are being bought out by conglomerates. He expects Turner Family Funeral Home to be in business a long time and his long-term goal is to own the business.

Barb Busing thanked Ryan for his talk and as is the club custom, had him sign a children’s book that will be delivered to the First Nations library.

UNDER THE ROTARY CLOCK

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Jul 30, 2019

Leo Johnson Empowerment Squared

Posted by Phil Wood on Jul 16, 2019

Our speaker this morning was Leo Johnson, Executive Director of Empowerment Squared. To learn more about Leo and the project that he talked about, check out this web page: https://empowermentsquared.org/liberian-learning-centre/.

Empowerment Squared has found that children of immigrants typically lead their parents by making friends and learning the language. If the kids do well in school, the family does well in adjusting. However, if the kids struggle with school, the family typically struggles as well. For this reason E2 has created a mentoring program for children of new Canadians: https://empowermentsquared.org/programs/academic-mentoring/. This is coupled with a sports program to encourage the youth to attend.

The main theme of Leo’s talk was the creation of the Liberian Learning Centre. Although initially intent on building a library, Leo’s team has learned that there is a greater need for a multi-purpose centre that is sustainable. This centre will have a recreation centre plus a co-working space for budding entrepreneurs.

Phase I of the project will cost $500,000 with $200,000 coming from Rotary contributions. The Rotary Club of Monrovia is the host club. The goal for E2 is to raise $40,000 which can be leveraged up to $200,000 through matching grants and a Rotary International Grant.

How You Challenge Yourself to Succeed

Posted by Kathy Starodub on Jun 25, 2019

Jeremiah Brown was born in Hamilton, has family from Ancaster and attended McMaster University. He currently lives in Peterborough. He and his wife had their first child while they were attending McMaster. He might have followed a predictable path to a settled life. But what kind of story would that be?

Jeremiah was inspired by the Canadian Men’s Rowing team success in the 2008 Olympics to try and become an Olympic rower himself – in 4 years.

His entertaining and motivational talk centered around three life lessons:

In order to challenge yourself to achieve a really hard goal, get an excellent coach
Make a timeline to achieve the goal
Remain resilient in order to survive

Jeremiah was candid about the stress and challenge of training for such a high level goal – the conflicting desires and fears, the suffering and determination.

He concluded with a breathtaking description of the final hour before the Final race. He had us all in the palm of his hand as he showed a video of the last 100 metres of that race. And we were all happy with the Silver medal that the crew achieved in London in 2012 – Mission accomplished!

His message : Never under estimate your power to mentor someone!

Successful Shredding Day

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on May 14, 2019

A great service project for the Dundas Community! Over 400 boxes of documents were safely destroyed and diverted from landfill. Each spring and fall the Rotary Club of Dundas Valley Sunrise holds a shredding day and the community appreciates it. The price was $8 a bank box but many individuals refused change because they knew the good work of Rotary as it serves both the local and international communities. Funds raised help support the world wide elimination of polio, youth programs and bursaries, local tree planting, and literacy programs to name just a few of the

things supported by the club.

Club members Kathy Starodub, Ross Bannatyne and Jody Beck load a bin for shredding while Bob Morrow collects payment.

Peter Dendekker waits to load the next bin into the shredder as a client watches the TV camera to ensure his documents are destroyed.

A special thank you to Bruce and Scott Eccles for the use of the Eccles Auto Service lot and their signs.

Shredding Day May 11

Posted by Ralph Montesanto

The Spring Shredding Day is here May 11.

Karen Cumming: Suicide Prevention

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Nov 20, 2018

Visual Literacy: How to build a better painting

On September 18th our guest speaker was Marla Panko from the Carnegie Gallery. Ms. Panko told us that the fundamentals of visual language are like an alphabet or like musical notes. Even if we are not artists ourselves, we can learn to recognize this language. She said that we are desensitized by so much that we see, and that galleries are sanctuaries for our senses, safe houses for our visual legacy.

Examples of aspects of the visual language include color, shape, line, texture, etc. “Point and Line to Plane” by Kandinsky is a book that breaks down the elements of the visual language. Today Ms. Panko focused on composition, including balance, line, depth, unity, and focal points.

The most basic type of balance is symmetry, left/right or radial. Asymmetrical is when the balance is related to what is dissimilar in the image. Orientation and use of line is another aspect of the visual language. When a line is horizontal, for example to indicate the horizon, the image is at rest, calming, and implies an expanse of space. When a line is vertical, the image is active, shows a sense of power and thrusting up. Diagonal lines are dynamic. A diagonal line creates movement and sends your eye through the picture. Multiple diagonals create more movement and emotion. Lines also can divide or connect two halves of a composition.

Depth in pictures is an illusion; artists use linear perspective, scale, and modelling of form to create depth in images. Unity is how artists get everything to work together or hold together in an image: techniques for this include spatial tension and pyramidal structure. When a focal point is a zone, a central zone quiets the picture. Focal points at the edges or no focal point makes a meditative image.

District Conference October 20

If you have not already done so, register for the District Conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake, October 20. It is a one day event and the Rotary International President is flying in to be part of the opening of the day's events. District Governor Melisa and her daughter Erin made this great video to help promote the day. She wants to get 500 Rotarians and guests to attend. Have a look.

10 Reasons Why You Should Come To The District Conference - Part 1 from Melisa schrock on Vimeo.

Shredding Day October 27

Playocracy and the importance of physical literacy

Rotarian Harold Gruneberg introduced our guest speaker on August 28th, Lynn Campanella. Lynn is the CEO of “Playocracy”: https://www.playocracy.ca/about-1/who-we-are/ and is a “play advocate” The theme of her presentation was “physical literacy”. As Lynn said, “we learn best by doing” so she began her presentation with an activity that we all participated in.

There are 42 different health care conditions related to physical inactivity and so, as we age it’s important to keep active. The term physical literacy was first used in the late 1800s but it wasn’t until Margaret Whitehead re-invented the term in 2001 that it came into popular usage. The physical literacy movement really took off in 2010.

Here is a definition of physical literacy: “Physical Literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities” (Whitehead, 2016).

Physically literate individuals consistently develop the motivation and ability to understand, communicate, apply, and analyze different forms of movement. They are able to demonstrate a variety of movements confidently, competently, creatively and strategically across a wide range of health-related physical activities. These skills enable individuals to make healthy, active choices that are both beneficial to and respectful of their whole self, others, and their environment.

The development of physical literacy is now a reality for educators and recreational leaders within programming requirements and many physical education curricula identifying the development of physically literate students as the major outcome of physical education programs.

Further information about physical literacy is available from Sport for Life here: http://sportforlife.ca/physical-literacy/

Here is an interview with Margaret Whitehead on Physical Literacy – “The term that she invented”: https://activeforlife.com/margaret-whitehead-interview/

Postscript

Club members might remember a presentation by Sara Beck from the Hamilton Police Services on the topic of human trafficking. Well, Sara plays a starring role in this video put together by HPS: https://www.thespec.com/news-story/8864898-whatever-it-takes-hamilton-police-release-a-music-video/ (Sara is front and centre in the picture in the article and appears at about 1:45 in the video).

CPR International

On May 15 our guest speaker was Dr. Tapas Mondal, McMaster University talked about the International Project on CPR – McMaster Global CPR Project

Dr. Mondal visits India and does community presentations on CPR; heart disease is the leading killer world wide. The demonstrations for lay people to show hem how to do CPR. He has some mannequins’ but needs many more. He mentioned some of the challenges’ in India and other countries around cultural sensitivities - i.e. women are at a great disadvantage because people may not want to give them CPR. Dr. Mondal has a cross appointment with McMaster Engineering. They have modified mannequins equipping them with sensors and have been able to supply some to medical schools in India.

He is looking for funding to send over hundreds of demonstrational mannequins to India and potentially Africa. He has also made training videos on CPR in English, Bengali, Mandarin, Nigerian and Arabic. Heart disease is becoming rampant in India and China due to the change in diet to include a lot of junk/snack food.

Visit to Circle of Life

On Halloween, the Club met at the home of CIRCLE OF LIFE, a funeral services business. Our hostess was Karin Schuett, owner of the business. Karin told us about her experiences as part of a large, conventional undertaker business in Toronto. She then described how Circle of Life operates. Its premises are in an old warehouse, now very nicely converted into a modern decorated space, with rooms for receptions, and for grief counseling as needed. There is no chapel. The atmosphere for funerals that she and the premises conveyed to us was one of sympathy but without gloominess. Looking around at the assembled members, maybe this was a timely visit. Our thanks to Karin Schuett, a member of our parent Club, for an informative talk.

Then came Andy Coburn, a past member, now returned to club. He was to give a classification talk "for the benefit of newer members" who did not know the earlier Andy. What we had was a comedic dentist who told us about his pioneering dentist father, who invented or suggested new pieces of equipment for dentistry. We were then offered small green thingies to clean out the gaps between teeth. Turned out that they also could help check whether we had bad breath! In passing we learnt also that Andy went to work in his pyjamas, and with sundry "tattoos", as part of his Halloween costume. Welcome back, Andy, Your humour is always enjoyable.

Stewards of Cootes Paradise

On October 10, 2017 Alan Hansell from Stewards of Cootes Paradise joined the club to update us on the group's community and environmental involvement; he was last here in January of 2016. He also shared his personal connection to Rotary, which includes his own exchange to Japan as a teen and having received a Paul Harris award.

The Cootes watershed is the Dundas Valley. Each of our homes is a watershed for one of our creeks; Alan suggested this is something to think about, for example, if you’re washing your car in the driveway, as storm sewers generally go straight to a creek.

The volunteers for the Stewards are out to clean up the creeks. For example, they have removed in the past few months 5700 bags of garbage from the creeks and their banks. There is a display at the Dundas museum of older treasures they’ve found. They now also are working in the Red Hill watershed.

Their goal is to get the creeks clean and to keep them clean. When something is clean people care more about keeping it clean; a main focus of their work is community engagement. There are cleanup opportunities for everyone, including easy, moderate, and rugged. Cleanups are every Sunday 1-4; in the heat of the summer they shift to the morning. There also are monthly stewardship opportunities once an area is clean.

Cleaning up this garbage in our environment eliminates hazards to wildlife and reduces leachate from polymers and microplastics. There is a salmon run this time of year; clean up has doubled the size of their spawning ground.

Alan and his volunteers also get involved to solve recurring problems at their source, for example, how the paint from the ice surface at our local arenas gets disposed.

Visit from District Governor Reg Madison

One September 12, 2017 the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club was joined by District Governor Reg Madison. Assistant Governor Allyson Wenzowski introduced District Governor Reg Madison who brought his message to Make a Difference. After congratulating the club for its service to the community he reviewed the Rotary Citation and Lighthouse Awards and the Governor’s Trophy. He spoke of Rotary International’s goals to support and strengthen clubs, focus and increase humanitarian service and enhance public image.

He asked us to attend the District Conference at White Oaks Resort and Conference Centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, October 27-29 and to register for the Rotary International Convention in Toronto, June 23 – 27.

President Jessica thanked Reg and Loretta for visiting the club and she and Foundation Director Ross presented Reg with a club donation to The Rotary Foundation for $4000.

Paul General, Six Nations of the Grand

On September 5, Nic Schulz introduced Paul General. Paul is the General Manager of the Six Nations Eco-Centre. Information about the centre is available from its website. Paul is a Seneca and lives on the Six Nations Reserve.

He gave a slide presentation that was similar to this one.

He discussed the various treaties that have been signed over the years and give an excellent presentation of the origin of the Haudenosaunee flag which is based on the “Two Row Wampum”. When the Haudenosaunee first came into contact with the European nations, treaties of peace and friendship were made. Each was symbolized by the Gus-Wen-Tah or Two Row Wampum. There is a bed of white wampum which symbolizes the purity of the agreement. There are two rows of purple, and those two rows have the spirit of your ancestors and mine. There are three beads of wampum separating the tow rows and they symbolized peace, friendship and respect. These two rows will symbolize two paths or two vessels, travelling down the same river together. One, a birch bark canoe, will be for the Indian people, their laws, their customs and their ways. The other, a ship, will be for the white people and their laws, their customs and their ways. We shall each travel the river together, side by side, but in our own boat. Neither of us will try to steer the other’s vessel.

Fireworks in Dundas

George Gould introduced our speaker Paul Iacoviello. Paul is a photographer (among other things such as an instructor at Mohawk College and a correctional officer). Interestingly one of Paul’s most recent photographs was of George’s son James who graces the cover of a recent (August 17-24 ) issue of View Magazine.

Paul showed us a number of his excellent photographs – including several from this year’s fireworks display. A number of the same photographs can be viewed on Paul’s excellent website here: http://www.pauliacoviello.com/ (Note that you may need to download the “flash player”).

Paul gets most of his business via word of mouth and, in answer to a question, said that when shooting models he tries to capture something of their personality in his pictures.

Cooking up a storm with Nick Scime

Our speaker on August 22nd was Nick Scime (aka Chef Nicholas). Here’s a link to a Spectator story about Nick from a couple of years ago: https://www.thespec.com/news-story/6230586-chef-nicholas-serving-up-popular-classes/

After working for the city for 35 years, Nick retired and took a culinary course. He now hosts a TV show about cooking on channel 14 and runs his own business The five Cs of cooking. Check the website to learn more about the business.

The theme of Nick’s talk was “6 steps for a second life”. That is, what should you do post retirement? The six steps are:

Identify the desire
Eliminate your fears
Plan how
Create an energy
See the signs
Act without hesitation.

Nick has followed the six steps to not only create his own business but also to become a travel agent (as a consequence of his many trips) and a wedding officiant!

Optimization in the Modern World

Our speaker on Tuesday, August 15th was Dr. Chris Swartz. Chris is a colleague of Phil Wood in the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University. Chris holds the Dofasco Chair in Process Automation and Information Technology and is the Director of the McMaster Advanced Control Consortium (MACC). He lives in Dundas with his wife Jacquie and children Philippa and Helen.

The theme of Chris’s presentation was optimization or “determining the best amongst alternatives” He gave several simple examples of optimization from daily life – for example: planning our optimum shopping route, planning our investment strategy or even for children planning their trick our treat route.

The MACC is a consortium of several member companies (e.g. Corning, Dofasco), 5 faculty members and 20 or so graduate students.

Chris gave some real examples of the type of work they do. One project is sponsored by Praxair a company that separates air into its components (mainly nitrogen and oxygen) by cooling it and then boiling it. The process is a huge user of electricity which is extremely expensive these days so they need to optimize their process in response to the demand for the products and the cost of electricity. Ideally you would like to do all of the separation when the cost is lowest but that isn’t always when the demand is highest.

Another project is one he is working on with Dofasco. It involves an electric arc furnace which is used to melt scrap metal down. Again, electricity is a major expense as is oxygen. Chris’s group is preparing a mathematical model of the process to guide the process engineers at Dofasco who are working with the actual process.

Learning about Interval House

Our speaker today was Nancy Smith, Executive Director of Interval House. Nancy was accompanied by Sadie Wolfe and was introduced by Mary Lou Emmett.

Interval House provides a shelter for abused women and focusses their programs on gender based violence. Last year they celebrated their 30th year in operation and is the only non faith-based shelter in Hamilton. Additional information about Interval House can be viewed on their website: https://intervalhousehamilton.org/

Services offered by Interval House:

24 hour Crisis Line : 905-387-8881
Emergency shelter: available 24 hours a day, seven days a week that includes all meals, emergency clothing and personal needs all at no cost to the client
Safety Planning & Threat Assessment / Risk Management
How to find Housing
How to gain Financial Support & Employment
Outreach Transitional Services: An outreach counsellor can work with women living in the community who are thinking of leaving, needing support, have left and are living in the community
Counselling Programs: (individual and / or group)
Women Centre of Hamilton
Flamborough Women's Resource Centre
Jared's Place Legal Advocacy Services: Our legal support counsellor can assist with criminal, family and immigration, civil issues affecting abused women
Heroes Group Resliency Program for youth
Education, Awareness, Research and Advocacy
Community Referrals. In a new program called Mentor Action: http://mentoraction.org/who-we-are/, Interval House is working with the Hamilton Bulldogs and McMaster athletics on a program of videos of men talking to men about gendered violence

Nancy left us with their 2016/17 Annual Report. Copies can be downloaded from this web page: https://intervalhousehamilton.org/history-of-interval-house

Nancy was thanked by Ross Longbottom and given a cheque for $500 from our club by Jessica to support the work of Interval House.

Grant Linney and the Climate Reality Project

The speaker on July 18th was Grant Linney who was introduced by Dave Carson. Grant was an outdoor educator at Upper Canada College and spoke to us about climate change. Grant has his own web page on the Climate Reality Project page. It contains numerous resources for those interested in climate change (all of us?) and how to reduce our carbon foot print. We were also given a brochure on climate change that was prepared by Environment Hamilton http://www.environmenthamilton.org/ . In his presentation, Grant talked about the new documentary by Al Gore: “An Inconvenient Sequel” which is a follow-up to the original “An Inconvenient Truth”. Here is the trailer that Grant showed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huX1bmfdkyA.

Grant also spoke about the importance of science. Here is a brief video that he showed by Neil deGrasse Tyson, one of America’s great scientists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MqTOEospfo.

The final topic that Grant discussed was the “greenhouse effect” which is created by (among other things) man-made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This leads to global warming and the many problems associated with it. Some countries, like Germany and Denmark are reducing their reliance on fossil fuels by, for example, increasing wind power generation. China is leading the world in solar power. His advice regarding fossil fuels? “keep it in the ground.

Protecting Our Privacy At the Border

Our speaker on July 11th was Armin Ghazi, President and Lead Consultant of SSG Managed Technology Services (https://www.ssgmanaged.com/#home-section). He spoke to us about protecting our privacy at the border. He left a little pocket guide behind which can be found here.

Armin grew up in Louisville Kentucky and went to university in Spain. He is and Iranian/U.S. citizen and his wife is an Iranian/Canadian citizen and due to recent aggressive questioning at the border by Homeland Security, he has become interested in persons personal devices being searched at the border. He cited a story of a U.S. citizen (a space industry employee) returning from Chile. The issue was that he head sensitive, confidential documents on his phone that he did not want to give up to the border guards. These guards can use a device developed by the Israeli government to break into a phone and then create a mirror image of the phone’s contents and copy them to a USB stick. The data is then assessed and the guards will decide if you can enter the U.S. or not. An issue occurs when your device contains data that belongs to clients.

Armin gave us several options

Refuse to surrender your device (not an option)
Rent or ship your devices (very inconvenient).
Wipe and restore – i.e. backup all data to i-cloud and then delete from your devices. Restore at a hotspot in the U.S.
Use “burners”. These are dedicated travel devices used only for travel.

In terms of regular safety regarding our data and passwords, Armin had the following suggestions:

Use a password manager. This will create an unique password for every account that you have (and more importantly, remember it!).
Enable two factor authorization (2FA)
Use cloud services and then remote access – very little is stored on the actual device
Always encrypt, sign out and power off

Introducing our new President, Jessica Brennan

On Tuesday, July 4th outgoing President Ross Bannatyne thanked the Board and Club members of Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club for a great year. The Club was extremely thankful to Ross for a wonderful year of service and pledged its support to the new President Jessica Brennan and the Board.

Assistant District Governor Allyson Wenzowski swore in new president Jessica Brennan using the same speech that DVSRC member Bob Morrow used to swear her in as President on the noon club last year.

Members of the Board pledged to support Jessica during her year as President and Jessica pledged to support the ideals of Rotary. Jessica thanked her sponsor George Gould and the Club for supporting her during year as President Elect.

Jessica noted that as President she wants our Club to continue to provide service in the Dundas community and to identify all the places that we serve. She wants to improve the gender and ethnic balance in the club membership if possible. Jessica announced the 2017-18 Board as follows:

Position	Name
President	Brennan, Jessica
President Elect	Busing, Barbara
Secretary	Carson, Dave
Treasurer	Massey, Wayne
Past President	Bannatyne, Ross
Vice President	Armstrong, Grant
Community Service	Davidson, Don
Vocational Service	Price, Derek
International Service	Armstrong, Bill
Membership	Montesanto, Ralph
Public Relations	Schulz, Nic
Club Administration	Davidson, Don
Youth Services	Roblin, Steve

In addition, at the District Level Ralph Montesanto and Bob Morrow are involved in different forms of training and Wayne Massey is providing his expertise to the grant selection process.

Rotary pins for President, Past President and President Elect were presented to Jessica, Ross and Grant.

Finally, Ross passed on the gavel to Jessica and a new Rotary year has started.

Stories out of RYLA

Our speaker on Tuesday, June 20 was Shaunaugh Whelan. Shaunaugh shared with us her experience at the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). Shaunaugh has been engaged in Rotary for many years, since she was on a Rotary Exchange to France at age 19.

Shaunaugh was a fantastic cheerleader for the RYLA program and the club was very pleased to have sent such an impressive young leader to the program. She described the impact attending RYLA had for her and thanked the Club for our sponsorship.

As a program RYLA connects with leaders in the community and around the world to:

Build communication and problem-solving skills
Discover strategies for becoming a dynamic leader in your school or community
Learn from community leaders, inspirational speakers and peer mentors
Unlock your potential to turn motivation into action
Have fun and form lasting friendships

There were many team building and leadership activities Shaunaugh participated in as well as workshops which helped attendees gain perspectives on how they see themselves and how others view them. For more information on the RYLA program and how to nominate young Dundas leaders contact

Shaunaugh is a member of the Hamilton Rotaract Club and is engaged in many activities to help the community.

A New Chapter for the Westdale Theatre

On May 30, 2017 the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club was joined by distinguished Dundas citizens Bob Rockford and Fred Fuchs. Bob and Fred are principals in the non-profit Westdale Cinema Group. Their group was put together to save the Westdale Theatre from being torn down.

Several article have appeared in the local press which explains the story more fully: http://www.thespec.com/news-story/7157198-dundasians-driving-effort-to-restore-protect-westdale-theatre/ and this article which has some nice pictures: http://www.thespec.com/news-story/7160694-mahoney-hurray-for-hollyw-uh-hamilton-and-the-westdale-theatre/.

One questioner asked “would the façade be maintained?” to which Fred replied “which one?”. This opened a really interesting discussion about the changes the theatre has already seen over the years. In this article: http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/7172976-dreschel-hamilton-embraces-urban-barn-raising-for-westdale-theatre-renos/ you will see a picture at the top showing the original façade from about 1937. Quite a bit different than today!

Fred and Bob noted that Westdale was one of Canada’s first planned communities. It was built with streets like spokes on a wheel and at the hub was the theatre. Over time the theatre has deteriorated though and was about to be sold. The Westdale Cinema Group came together to restore the theatre and restore it to its original lustre. It will be reduced in size to 400 seats and will become the new home of the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s film festival. The theatre will also be used for musical events and speakers.

The sale was to close on June 1^st and the group has applied for charitable status. Renovations will take roughly 9 months to complete. An Open House and party will take place on June 25^th where members can learn more about the plans. A Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=westdale%20cinema%20group has already attracted more than 1800 members.

Thijmen Van Loenen and work in Motherwell Township

Our speaker on May 23, 2017 was Thijmen Van Loenen who spoke to use about his work in Motherwell Township near Port Elizabeth South Africa. The project's primary mission is to protect children in high risk areas and sending orphans in the area to school.

The club was pleased to present Thijmen with a cheque for $1500 to support their good work.

DVSRC Paul Harris Breakfast

Recently, the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club used one of its morning meetings to honour several people in the club and the community for their contributions to make the world a better place for all.

Suzanne Crago and Cam Whiffey, both non-members of the club, have contributed to the development of “The Stars of Dundas” a mid-winter event featuring local talent. Members Wayne Massey, Ralph Montesanto, Randy Abel and Shirley Molloy were presented with awards for continued contributions to the development of the club and to Rotary in general.

The recipients in order of presentation, are:

CAM WIFFING: Cam was born in Hamilton , is Married and has 2 children.

He is an athlete and an avid motorcyclist and has taken part in a 6 Day Endure Ride.

Cam owns Eagle Press Printing Company and for the past 5 years he has worked with our club to design the program for the "Stars of Dundas" fundraiser

Through his work Cam has helped raise awareness about Rotary and helped us with sponsorship through advertising.

SUSANNE CRAGO: Suzanne grew up in Flamboro and went to Parkside High school

She was a former Figure Skater and went on to perform with the Ice Capades from 1970-1973.

Susanne taught Figure Skating in British Columbia and Edmonton, Alberta.

Her company "Community Graphics" has been the "Go To" company for advertising and Show programs for all the local Skating Clubs!

Susanne and Cam worked together on the "Stars of Dundas" programs which have helped our Club raise over $50,000 over the past 5 years!

WAYNE MASSEY: As a young man Wayne was an avid athlete, playing Football and running in Track.

Wayne is a great Entrepreneur , he has operated several successful business in our community and has recently retired from his Accounting Firm!

He has been a longtime member of our club, he was President in 2006 and is our current Club Treasurer .

Wayne is always there to help out at Club events, he is always giving back to our community and he is Always making a difference!

RALPH MONTESANTO: Ralph IS ROTARY!!! He never stops! He was District Governor in 2008-2009. He is the advocate for the" Continuum of Rotary", he is always attending the Rotary Leadership conferences where he is the Training Director for the Leadership Initiative.

Ralph is always helping out at all Rotary events and has ben key in making the "shredding day "fundraiser a great success!

Ralph wild be taking on a new role as Vice Governor.

Marlee awarded Ralph with the Paul Harris Ruby Pin!

CHRIS GRABIEC and JOHN JANISSE

"A HOUSE IS A HOME WHEN IT GIVES BACK TO THE COMMUNITY"

Which is exactly what these to great people do!

For many years they have opened their doors and offered their home as the venue for countless community fundraising events.

They have helped to bring awareness and raise funds for AIDS and The Bob Kemp Hospice to name a few!

Their home is also part St. James House tour and the Carnegie Gallery Garden Tour!

These two are all about giving back and have opened their doors to hundreds of people to better the community!

RANDY ABLE: Randy lives in Rockton , is an Electrician and is currently teaching an Electrical course at College!

Randy is a long time member of our club and is always there to help at all events and give back to the community!

He is the Hardworking , behind the scene Guy who gets things done!

He has a great sense of humor and is our resident Bar tender!

SHIRLY MALOY: Shirley was born in New Foundland where she worked at a community Newspaper as well as the Salvation Army.

She came to Ontario in 1990 to work with the Salvation Army in Family Services and is the manager of the local Food Bank.

Shirley is long time member of our club, she's always involved in our Rotary events and is our past Club President!

She works tirelessly to make a difference and give back to the people of our community!

Save the Mothers - Small Acts with Big Impact

Our speaker Tuesday, May 9, 2017 was Diane Reader Jones. Diane’s story was reported in the Hamilton Spectator in this article from last November: http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/6959258-how-a-small-act-of-caring-changed-lives/. Back in 2003 Diane sponsored a young girl named Sharon in Uganda. Over time Diane sent Sharon money and on one occasion a laptop so that she could complete her studies. Sharon is now Dr. Sharon Mutesasira and Diane has just returned from a visit to Sharon in Uganda.

Japan via Skype

Our speaker on May 2, 2017 was Dundas resident and Rotary Exchange Student Joe Morgan. After 256 days in Japan Joe called into our meeting via Skype to fill us in on his time there.

He reports that he's getting more and more confident with the language and that he's been enjoying a lot of the culture and was surprised to find out that Christmas isn't a very big deal in Japan. At first he found himself experiencing a bit of culture shock but as someone who like rice and fish he has been able to settle in nicely.

The experience has been a fun one and has really given Joe the travel bug. He expects to teach overseas once his exchange program ends.

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about the Rotary exchange program please reach out!

Exploring Rotary's Council of Legislation

On Tuesday, April 18 Ralph Montesanto lead the club in a review of Rotary's changes to the Council of Legislation. Ralph started by sharing two video presentations regarding Rotary International Legislation. Club's have been provided with a basic template to follow when implementing and complying with Rotary International bylaws.

Understanding Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Committee

On April 4th the Dundas Sunrise Rotary Club welcomed Barb Carpio as our speaker. Barb is a McMaster Nursing professor who grew up in the Northwest Territories adjacent to a native colony. Her interest and work with native communities led to her being asked to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) on behalf of the Hamilton Conference of the United Church of Canada.

March 28, 2017: Fighting Juvenile Diabetes with Bill Gregory

On March 28th, 2017 Bill Gregory, our speaker for the day, was introduced by Carl Fraser. Bill told the story of his involvement with juvenile diabetes and the Frances Rose Foundation.

Niagara Escarpment Through the Lens of Mark Zelinski

Our speaker on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 was photographer Mark Zelinski. Mark has written several books that contain his excellent photographs along with additional text. He spent most of his presentation talking about his newest book “Heart of Turtle Island: The Great Escarpment”.

Acting Locally to Fight Climate Change

March 7, 2017 - Dave Carson, club member and Treasurer of Environment Hamilton, presented the club with an update on the Ontario Green Gas Progress Report. Dave's talk built off of a topic that he wrote about recently for the Hamilton Spectator Article. Dave spoke to the progress that has been made so far against the province's plan to reduce Green House Gases by 30% by the end of 2030. Dave noted that this is a low target and even still we are producing 815mega tones of Carbon Dioxide which puts us 55% behind the prediction.

First Light: Suicide Prevention Community Council of Hamilton

On Tuesday, February 28th our guest speaker was Dr. Sid Stacey. Sid is the current Chair of the Suicide Prevention Community Council of Hamilton (SPCCH) and facilitated the launch of the city-wide Hamilton Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2010 and also Co-Chairs the LHIN 4 Regional Suicide Prevention Committee. He told us the very tragic story of his own daughter’s suicide which started him advocating for suicide awareness.

2017 Dundas Valley Winter Carnival

On Monday, February 20th the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club hosted its annual Winter Carnival at the Dundas Driving Park. This awesome event includes horse and buggy rides, cider, free skate rentals, music and more! This year we were blessed to have beautiful weather, warm enough to skate without a toque but cold enough that the ice held together.

Classification talk from Hugh Boyd

On Tuesday, February 21 our speaker was the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club's own Hugh Boyd who gave his classification talk.

Hugh’s mother was a nurse and his father a rural planner and was a Rotarian for a short time. He is the Medical Director at St. Joseph’s Villa.Growing up Hugh played most sports but his real love was music. In particular, he loved to play the fiddle.

Presentation from Mission of Hope

On Tuesday, February 14th we had the pleasure of inviting speakers Russ and Karen Beaurivage . Russ is an OPP officer (and also a pilot) and Karen is a legal assistant in Hagersville. For the last several years they have been involved in various Haiti missions starting with short term missions from 2009-2012. In 2013, Russ became head of the vehicle and ground maintenance at the Mission of Hope in Haiti. During that stint they were asked to take on the interim Directorship of Tytoo Gardens which was nearby. Tytoo gardens has a very interesting history which can be read about here: http://www.tytoogardens.com/history/. Tytoo Gardens is an orphanage the operates a transitions program which tries to re-connect children with families. Many of the residents are not true orphans but their families simply cannot support them. It also has a medical clinic which is the only one in the community. It is Haitian run with Haitian doctors. Tytoo also provides an elder care program which provides food twice per month for older community members.

Russ is rebuilding an aircraft that he uses for his working with Aviation Ministries in Haiti. He says that the cheque the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club presented to him with just about cover the cost of the flight to Haiti (where plane fuel is extremely expensive).

Rotary visit to Graham & Brooks

On February 7 the club had the pleasure of visiting Graham & Brooks store on Main St. Dundas.

Mary Lou introduced Lorna and John, owners of Graham and Brooks since 2015. Both spoke about the development of their business with chalk painting lessons on Sundays to architectural salvaging at its heart. An incredible variety of old and new in 3 rooms, The Rough House, at the back, having just opened. John loves to salvage and scavenge, from old barns to churches and schools being torn down (All Saints, Parkside). Lorna is the paint expert, leading classes as well as painting for others who bring pieces into the store and she demonstrated chalk painting chairs for us in a matter of minutes. Their most recent project is increasing their social media presence. Look for on-line shopping in the spring!

Don thanked our hosts and we left to brave the elements!

Classification Talk from Derek Dix

On January 31, 2017 a small group of Rotarians had the pleasure of hearing from new member Derek Dix.

Derek told us about his adventures heading to New Zealand as a young man with nothing more than the pack on his back...and no place to stay. Everything worked out well for him though and he landed himself work at a security firm...while he spent the days working he spent every weekend skiing.

Derek also shared his experiences as a competitive curler where he would play 5 - 7 games a week. Derek met his wife Leah through curling and together they have 2 fantastic kids, Marjorie and Graham. These days Derek spends more time in the wood shop than on the ice. His current hobby is woodturning and he enjoys being a member of the Golden Horseshoe Woodturner's Guild.

As owner of Dundas Lock and Key Derek also shared with us some of the work being done in the locksmith industry to ensure all of our safety. Most interestingly there is work being done to "certify" locksmiths to ensure that the people you are trusting with your homes security are trustworthy. We all sat up and took notice when Derek mentioned that the number one college course in Ontario prisons is the locksmithing programme!!

January 24: Dundas and the Cootes to Escarpment Eco Park

On Tuesday, January 24th Dr Galbraith, Head of Science at the Royal Botanical Gardens, spoke to us about the Cootes to Escarpment Eco Park project. Dr Galbraith described the rare and wonderful asset that we have right here in Dundas.

The Dundas Valley is a glacial re-entrant valley; in places over 600 feet of sediment is present.

Uniquely, the Niagara Escarpment faces south in this area, creating a special ecosystem
It is the only remaining Great Lakes coastal wetland connected to the escarpment
It is biologically rich area of 10 square kilometres with over 1600 of all species
Though rich diversity several of the species are “at risk” because of human activity.
It has a rich history too; stone points of 8-1000 years ago and Woodland people’s pottery of 3000 years ago gives evidence of the long presence of humans in this area.

The area was celebrated for its natural beauty by early settlers but it was the actions of community leaders in the 1920’s (Thomas McQuestern, McMaster University, Hamilton Naturalists) that paved the way for its preservation from airports, roads and other development. More recently, the idea of the Eco Park came from collaboration of many agencies in Hamilton and Burlington, eventually resulting in a 2009 Strategic Plan proposal to create the Eco Park. You can learn more about the project at their website http://www.cootestoescarpmentpark.ca.

10 organizational partners continue to work together to develop 4,700 acres, acquire more land and protect the natural spaces in the Eco Park. The arrival of bald eagles in the park 3 years ago celebrates the areas ecology and proves that recovery of a damaged environment can be done.

Jan 17: Club Assembly

The program on January 17th, 2017 was a club assembly addressing both Local and International service projects. The discussion included:

A project being planned by the Dundas Museum to install a historic Bertram Steam Hammer at the Museum. A Club project is proposed to prepare the concrete foundation with an application for a $2,000 matching District Grant made to assist with the cost. The Hamilton Spectator had a great article in 2013 that shows the steam hammer
Bill Armstrong, Director of International Services, gave an overview of his committee's budget and listed a number of projects already funded this year. Three new projects were voted on including support for:
- Empowerment Squared – Liberian Learning Centre
- Hope from Above Ministry - Mission Aviation Fellowship Haiti
- Family Restoration Services – Port Elizabeth South Africa
The International Services Committee will be providing $500 to the Welland Rotary Club to support their major project in Candelaria, Philippines.
The committee will also give $500 for medical supplies for Kurdistan. The supplies will go to Mosul, Iraq to support programs similar to this work by Doctors Without Borders as well as work by UNPO.

Announcements

Jessica Brennan talked about her upcoming year as President and the team that will be joining her. She is still looking for volunteers if anyone is interested.

Jan 10: Innovating for Social Good

On Tuesday, Jan 10 Art Sampson introduced the speaker Randy Hendriks (but not before he apologized for being late).

Randy has had an interesting career. He is presently Executive Director, Social Impact Enterprises at Innovation Factory where he provides “oversight and guidance to Social Impact Enterprises ongoing projects, organization team members, impactstore.ca, non-profits and social enterprise consulting clients, and grass-roots community groups seeking mentoring and guidance.”

Randy's path to this position has been interesting. He did Civil Engineering at Mohawk College before getting a Bachelor of Theology degree at the University of Ottawa and then a Doctorate in Theology at Acadia University. Along the way he was a campus chaplain and a pastor before working with Wells of Hope in Niagara. At Wells of Hope he often dealt with the Rotary Club of Niagara on the Lake.

Randy spoke to us about business models for Social Innovation where common good is a key component of a company's operations . Examples include the Gameen bank which makes micro loans to women and the local 541 Eatery & Exchange which uses a button system to allow customers to pay meals forward.

He spoke about new funding options for social enterprises including crowd funding and the SVX stock exchange. In the new models for successful innovation, enterprises need to be sustainable, have measureable goals, have partners and be fiscally prudent.

The 2016 Dundas Valley Sunrise Auction

Bright and early Tuesday morning the club gathered at the Dundas Valley Golf and Curling Club for our annual holiday auction. With the incomparable auctioneering skills of Bruce Eccles and the Price is Right Display skills of Roger Stewart a very fun time was had by all.

The highlight of the day was the heated bidding war between Carl Fraser and Jessica Brennan over a beautiful picture of two girls playing piano. In the end Carl won the prize...but turned right around to make it a gift for Jessica.

The auction (which is composed of donations made by club members) collected nearly $4,000 with an additional $565 donated by members to St. Matthews House. Between the auction and personal donations our club is able to contribute $2,547.50 to St. Matthews House this year.

Another $1,982.50 will be donated to The Rotary Foundation of Canada for Polio Plus. These funds will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation…making our total contribution $5,947.50!

Visit from Dan Miller, Salvation Army

On Tuesday, November 29th Dan Millar, Area Director of Public Relations joined us for breakfast.

Dan provided an interesting talk and presentation about the very very very many good things that the Salvation Army does locally and across Canada. Dan shared a video called "One Day of Hope" that showed just a few of the things that happen each and every day thanks to the Salvation Army. The video is very inspiring and can be found here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEwpECtctGI). Through this day by day commitment the Salvation Army helps 1.5Million people every year!

Just a few of the things that the Salvation Army undertake locally are:

Booth centre downtown Hamilton
Community and Family Services
Mountsberg and Meadowlands Adult Day Services
Emergency Disaster Services
Men's emergency shelter
Case management
Computer lab
Transitional housing
HOST Program
Financial management
Chaplaincy
Health clinic
Food bank
Day programs
Baby song
Adult day program

Tour of Harry Howell Arena

After a presentation from Shirley Molloy on fundraising for the Rotary Foundation the club had the opportunity of touring the Harry Howell Arena, which due to construction at Grightmire Arena, will be the venue for our Lobster & Ribfest in 2017.

The tour highlighted a much bigger space and a great setting for a very fun evening. Following this tour the club left excited for this change!

A SPACEMAN VISITS SUNRISE ROTARY

Posted by Dave Carson

Our Club had the honour of a visit and presentation from Canadian Astronaut Dr. Robert (Bob) Thirsk on November 15th.

A record turnout of Rotary members and guests at Dundas Valley Golf and Curling Club was accompanied with 24 students with their teachers from eight local schools.

Dr Thirsk was introduced by Club member Bob Morrow, who had met Dr Thirsk though work on the Tomatosphere project.

Dr Thirsk is a much honoured Canadian Space Agency Astronaut. He was selected in 1983 for the Canadian Astronaut program and trained for, and participated in, many parts of the Shuttle and International Space Station programs over the next 26 years. He retired from the Agency in 2012 and is currently the Chancellor of the University of Calgary.

In 1996 Bob flew as a payload specialist aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-78 and during the 17 day mission he and his six crewmates performed 43 international experiments devoted to life and materials sciences.

We heard about experiments that could only be performed due to zero gravity – making pure semi-conductor crystals – and others that had important impacts on long term space travel. Bones can “demineralize” during space travel, essentially causing osteoporosis, and the astronauts took part in experiments to minimize this. In part, they had to exercise two hours a day to avoid potential bone loss which had potential to cause bone fractures during the rough ride of re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.

That was just a short trip.

In 2009 Bob flew a long duration mission in the International Space station. For 3000 Orbits, over six months, Bob and his five crewmates ate freeze dried food, drank recycled water and slept in a sleeping bag in order to perform an unprecedented amount of multi-disciplinary research and complex robotic operations.

We were all impressed with the fantastic amount of continuous learning that Dr Thirsk undertook through this intense period. He must have inspired the students who were present. They were given the opportunity to question him on his education, his ambition, his emotions, and his appreciation of Star Trek.

Dr Thirsk was thanked by our own Dr Phil Wood (not an astronaut) and presented with a gear wheel from the Canadarm as a memory of his visit to our Club.

October 25: Neighbour 2 Neighbour Hamilton Mountain

On October 25, 2016 Rachel O’Reilly, who is responsible for communications and development, joined us to share her perspective on Neighbour 2 Neighbour. N2N started as a food bank but has become more of a multi service social agency. For a statement from N2N’s Executive Director, Denise Arkell, click on this link: http://www.n2ncentre.com/about/.

There is much more information about N2N on their website: http://www.n2ncentre.com/. The 3 main pillars of N2N are Food Access (including a food bank, community garden, community kitchen, Christmas program and home delivery), Family Services (including settlement, for women, health services, financial advice and community counselling) and Education Services (which includes a parent tutoring program and math success program). So far this year the education program has helped 228 kids.

Oct 18: Guest Speaker Dr. Malcolm Sears

Our October 18th guest speaker was Dr. Malcolm Sears who spoke on “Allergy and Asthma Research”. Dr. Sears is the Director of the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health. He is a native of New Zealand and has been a professor at McMaster since 1990. His bio and research interests can be viewed here: http://www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/medicine/respirology/faculty_member_sears.htm

He is director of the CIHR/AllerGen funded Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study following over 3000 infants from pregnancy to age 5 years. He spoke to us about the CHILD program. A brief description of the CHILD program can be found here.

Oct 11: Dave Carson speaks about his (small) roll in the evolution of telecommunications

Speaker

President Ross Bannatyne started the Tuesday, October 11 meeting reminding the club of the “Object of Rotary” (in particular #2):

Object of Rotary

The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

FIRST: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
SECOND: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
THIRD: The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life;
FOURTH: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

Vocational Services Presentation: Dave Carson

Director of Vocational Services, Derek Price, talked about the role of his portfolio. This includes off-site visits (like our most recent visit to the SHED brewery) and speakers on ethics (such as former Dean of Business at McMaster Paul Bates who spoke a couple of years ago). Derek’s idea is to use the “Reclassification” talks to inform new members about the career arcs of older members. These presentations will be in the range of 7-10 minutes and will typically arise during scheduled times for classification talks or spontaneously if a scheduled speaker is unable attend.

The speaker this morning was Dave Carson. Dave titled his talk: “My Information/Telecommunications journey – a tooth on the smallest cog of technology change”. He graduated in 1969 and started his first job at the British Motor Company the same year. That is also where he began working with computer systems.

From 1969-1976 he worked with three different companies developing and implementing computer systems. He came to Canada in 1976 (along with more than 20 other Brits) to work with Bell Canada and Northern Telecom. His project was the first all-digital telephone switch.

He left for Saudi Arabia in November of 1980 and spent three and a half years there building a new telephone system with Bell Canada International. He was back in Saudi in 1987-88 working for Saudi Telecom. Bell spun off their computer systems department to form a separate company.

In 1996 Bell sold the company to CGI. At CGI outsourcing consulting became his business. Setting up help desks for companies became a core business. He travelled overseas again in 2000-2001 to spend 15 months working in Portugal – again setting up help desks.

He continued working with CGI working on outsourcing and setting up help desks until his retirement in 2010.

Oct 4: 7090 District Conference

Due to a death in her family, our speaker, Melissa Schrock, was unable to attend the October 4 rotary meeting. Bob Morrow introduced our own Ralph Montesanto to talk about Rotary and the upcoming conference in Batavia, NY. Ralph was the Charter President of our club in 2000 and is presently the Vice Governor in District 7090.

Ralph had just attended the Zone Institute in Winnipeg where the topic was human rights. He had the opportunity to hear Desmond tutu’s daughter speak on the topic of girl’s education in Africa. It’s typical for boys to go to school but not girls. There is a girls’ high school in Malawi that is supported by Rotary.

Ralph spoke about the District Conference in Batavia New York which takes place from October 21-23. More information is available here: http://www.districtconference7090.org/. There are 69 clubs in District 7090. We are in Area 3 where Allyson Wenzowski (from the noon club) is the Area Governor for the four local clubs. Both Bob Morrow and Ralph talked about how enjoyable they have found previous conferences. Bob will be doing a wine tasting seminar on the Friday evening. There are various sessions on the Saturday and on Sunday there will be a memorial service for Rotarians who have passed away in the last year.

Rotary Morning at the Shawn & Ed Brewery

Posted by Mieke Ewen

On Tuesday, September 13th the Dundas Sunrise Rotary Club had the pleasure of visiting the Shawn and Ed Brewery on Hatt St. Ed Madronich was kind enough to give us a history lesson on the brewery...which has had previous lives as a foundry, bus depot and curling rink. Ed spoke lovingly of the restoration of the building, making efforts wherever possible to keep the original structure or to recreate in a way more consistent with what would be historically accurate.

It was a great morning and fun field-trip. Thanks to Shirley Molley and Bob Morrow for arranging the early morning breakfast!

Shredding Day October 15

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Sep 10, 2016

Start putting all your old files and documents together for the fall Shredding Day. Watch them be safely destroyed! Eccles Auto 200 King St. W. Dundas on October 15 from 9 AM to 1 PM. $7 for a small bank box. Funds raised go to support the many local and international Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club causes including the world wide eradication of polio.

Visit from Marlee Diehl, District Governor

On Tuesday, Sept 6 we were visited by District Governor Marlee Diehl. Marlee asked us to look at ourselves, ask who are we and what are our goals as Rotarians. As Rotarians we have the ability to change destiny! She asked us to think outside the box when it comes to new members and suggested starting a spark by trying a Satellite Club evening.

This year marks the 100th Anniversary of Rotary and Marlee encouraged us to come up with a Centennial fund raiser. She also stated that Rotary is ranked #5 in the top 10 foundations.

Marlee spoke about our battle against Polio. Noting that we are almost there! Last year there were just 3 cases in Afghanistan, 16 in Pakistan and 2 cases in Nigeria. With a final push we can see polio a thing of the past!

Lastly Marlee spoke about the International Conference in Batavia. Details include a Friday night Tailgate Party, Haunted tour and Wine tasting. Saturday is all about Rotary with seminars, and a bike-a-thon. We will also be assembling 50,000 dry meal packages to donate to the community and local food banks.

At the end of Marlee's presentation Club President Ross Banatyne and Past President Shirley Molley presented he with a check to the Rotary Foundation for $5000.00.

Ed Madronich: Introduction to Micro-Brewing in Dundas

Posted by Don Davidson on Aug 29, 2016

Ed Madronich, Hamilton native and owner of Flatrock Cellars winery in Jordan shared the pains and pleasures of opening the Shawn & Ed Brewing Co. on Hatt street in the heart of Dundas.

Ed has a background as a manager at Inniskillin vinyards in Niagara on the Lake and the experience gained there led him to open Flatrock Cellars which has had a successful history since opening in 1999. Ed loves what he does at Flatrock however this didn’t stop him from pursuing another passion to open a micro-brewery with his friend Shawn. The two came up with the idea 5 years ago. After a plan was in place, the next step was to find a location for the brewery. This came to light when Ed and his wife drove by the Crockford building on Hat Street and thought “what a great place for a brewery.” All Ed had to do was sell his idea to Bob Crockford which he did and the building of Shawn & Ed Brewing Company had begun. Rob Creighton was hired as the brewmaster and the best equipment was purchased to begin the brewing of some of the areas best beer.

The Shawn & Ed focus is within the Dundas community and Ed says the community support has been tremendous…not to mention a hottest summer on record that has created a great thirst! One of the greatest challenges to the opening of Shaun & Ed Brewing Co. was the city of Hamilton, which likes to make most things difficult. J

If you are a wine drinker, don’t expect to find Flatrock Cellars wines being served at the Shawn & Ed location. The LCBO has a monopoly on alcohol sales and unfortunately controls all aspects of wine sales. Therefore, wine cannot be served without a special events license.

Filomena Tassi: The Life of a New MP

Posted by Derek Price

One August 23, 2016 Filomena gave the Dundas Sunrise Rotary Club a presentation offering insight into who she is, what motivates her, how she got into Politics and a little of what it is like to be a new Member of Parliament. It was an interesting and captivating presentation that involved telling us many stories of events in her life from five year’s old up to the present. If you were absent today go Listen to Filomena when you get the opportunity.

Filomena is a proud Hamiltonian, the daughter of a Steelworker raised in a family that knew the meaning of hard work. She grew up in Hamilton and only left the City when she went to University. Filomena obtained her undergraduate degree in Philosophy from The University of Waterloo and then studied at Western University where she obtained her Law Degree.

Judy Rickey, Clutter Relief Services

Posted by Phil Wood

Guest speaker Judy Rickey, owner of Clutter Relief Services offered the club tips and tricks for keeping the clutter at bay.

Judy, who identifies as a “professional organizer", pointed out that many people hang on to too many things for far too long. Often the items belong to their children (who have long ago moved away) and may hold sentimental value. They feel that items may be worth something someday but aren’t aware of modern ways if selling things online (e.g. Kijiji, Craigslist).

Unfortunately, excess clutter can become a fire or mould hazard. It’s attractive to rodents and insects. It can strain relationships within families and, in extreme cases, can become overwhelming and lead to anxiety and depression.

Judy gave several hints for reducing clutter: for example, one in one out; keep a donation box handy; ask yourself – do you love it, do you use it? Do you need it? If all else fails she offers her services at the website above. Her company provides free assessments.

Club Assembly - Members

On August 9, 2016 the club held an assembly on membership.

Ralph Montesanto and Jan Southall shared the results of an informal club survey and new Rotary membership rules. It was noted that as a way of encouraging buys professionals to participate Rotary has become more relaxed on the traditional rules about attendance.

The club survey found that:

Rotarians find they get the greatest benefit from the club’s Community Service with the opportunity to build friendships and community relationships at a close second and third.
Almost all club members participate in the annual Lobsterfest and Fireworks events with the Shredding Day and Stars of Dundas also being major activities
Members enjoy the social activities and would like to see more BBQs and pub nights as opportunities to get to know one another

Ralph Montesanto and the Membership Committee (Steve Roblin, Marnee Maroes, Grant Armstrong and Jan Southall) then lead the club through a brainstorming of ways to engage new leaders to join Rotary. Through this the club identified a desire for more social activities that break the traditional meeting mold, the importance of having interesting speakers and inviting non-members to join, and the importance of not overwhelming members.

The Membership Committee will take this feedback and consider a plan forward.

Next week: Reclaim your space by clearing the clutter with Judy Rickey

Presentation from Russ King - President of AED4LIFE and BERRN Consulting

Posted by Shirley Molloy

On August 2, 2016 the Dundas Rotary Sunrise Club received a presentation from Russ King, President of AED4LIFE and BERRN Consulting. Russ was introduced by Rotarian, and Russ' Father-in-Law, Robert Morrow.

Russ’s business is Automated External Defibrillators. Russ is also Deputy Chief of EMS for Brant County.

July 26: Presentation from Brent Bentham

On Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Assistant Crown Attorney, Brent Bentham joined us as guest speaker. Brent prosecutes all manner of offenses, not just drug related ones. Most of his work is done outside of the courtroom. Later this morning he was off to Bail Court where the cases come fast and furious.

Brent spoke at length about the “plea bargaining” process. (In a plea bargain, the defendant pleads guilty hoping to achieve a reduced sentence). He works with defence counsel and witnesses to attempt to work out a resolution to a case to save court time and money. He noted that there are many fewer jury trials these days. He also spoke very highly of the Victim Assistance Program with is a fairly new but very valuable service.

Rotarian Phil Wood worked closely with Brent and his office after a deliberately set fire at McMaster's Brandon Hall Residence in October 2008.

July 19: The One About Rotary Youth Leadership Award

Posted by Phil Wood

On Tuesday, July 19 Rebecca Hicks joined us to tell us about her experiences at the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) program in Fredonia NY. Rebecca is a graduate of McMaster University in history and is presently piecing together a career that consists of working with Westfield Heritage Village, the City of Hamilton and the Dundas Museum. Her work is in historical interpretation.

Rebecca gave an invigorating presentation expressing her gratitude for the opportunity to attend RYLA and for the financial support of the Dundas Sunrise Rotary Club. At RYLA there were several workshops in learning styles, trust building, public speaking, personal values and ethics and career development. Her main takeaway was a way to improve her adaptability during negotiations or interactions with other people or groups.

She shared a humorous story about the pitfalls of poor communication (check it out for yourself here). While at RYLA Rebecca made contact with several “inspiring individuals” that she will remain in contact with. We look forward to hearing more from Rebecca in the future!

July 12: Happy Dollars & Announcements

Stewards of Cootes clean Up

Posted by Mieke Ewen on Jun 26, 2016

Mieke Ewen, director of service projects for the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club, presents a cheque to Alan Hansell, executive director of Stewards of Cootes Watershed, during its recent shoreline clean up. Here is Alan's reply:

Hi Mieke,
Thanks so much for joining us on Sunday and mucking right in. I have to say that you really seem to be one of us and you would be most welcome to join us anytime and yes please bring your boys.
I would particularly like to extend our thanks through you to the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club for its generous donation. Please know that these funds will serve an important aid in allowing us to continue our work in cleaning the Cootes Watershed in Dundas.
With great thanks,
Alan

Meeting of June 21, 2016

Posted by Phil Wood on Jun 22, 2016

Ross was on desk, Shirley the greeter, Phil the recorder and Ernie the sergeant-at-arms. Joe Morgan the club's youth exchange student was the guest speaker.

Happy Dollars:

Ernie went to the closet for a sporty, purple sport coat. It drew comments from George (who claimed that his mother made him a jacket once that may have looked worse) and Carl.

Bill and Marilyn and Joe and Anne are both celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary today (June 21st). Grant also announced that it will be Marilyn’s birthday on Friday.

Mieke’s 16th anniversary is also this week (Friday).
Harold is heading out to Punta Cana for a destination wedding. Looking for even more heat.
Joe is just back from a three week tour around the Great Lakes.

Wayne got together with his three brothers over the weekend and caught an 8 pound pike.
Marie-Louise was very happy about her husband’s recovery from his cancer treatment as well as her own successful surgery.
Carlotta is happy to have her mother and sisters visiting from Mexico
Bob is finishing his 3 year term as assistant governor.
Steve announced the birth of his daughter Victoria – born on Victoria Day on Victoria Street
Shirley is happy to finishing her role as President of our club. Her husband is about to assume the Presidency of his Rotary club.

Announcement

Bob Morrow put forth a motion for the club to spend up to $1500 for a monitoring system to accompany tomato seeds to the International Space Station. The apparatus will have the Rotary logo on it. If all goes according to plan this will be a far out international service experience!
The noon club has invited us to a social that they are hosting at the SHED Brewery Thursday, June 23.
Next Tuesday, June 28th will be our annual BBQ. It will be at Joe Guedes’s house – 15 Fleming Ave, Dundas, beginning at 6:00 p.m. If you were absent from today's meeting please email Jessica and tell her if you will be attending and if steak or salmon is your dinner choice. There is no cost to attend as your weekly happy dollars are covering any expenses.

Bob Morrow took us through a brief history of the Rotary Foundation – started by Arch Klumpf in 1917 – and Paul Harris as a prelude to presenting two Paul Harris awards to former history teachers, Ernie Romain and Art Sampson

Steve introduced Joe Morgan our youth exchange student who is going to Japan. Following his presentation Shirley thanked Joe and presented him with a club banner.

Joe Morgan Rotary Youth Exchange Student

Posted by Phil Wood on Jun 22, 2016

Joe Morgan, a 16 year old student at St. Mary’s high school is our club’s outgoing Youth Exchange student. He will be heading to Japan in August and is busily learning some Japanese as everything he does in Japan will be in Japanese. Joe first heard about about RYE when a club representative made a presentation at his grade school graduation. He is from a large Dundas family (7th of 9 kids) and his family has had some exposure to Japan through the Kids For Kaga Program. (Kaga is a Japanese city that has been twinned with Dundas and is a short distance from his exchange city of Kanazawa).

Joe took us through some of his training experiences. The first was in Algonquin Park in the middle of winter. Approximately 20 students slept in a one room cabin on a single long bed. Their outdoor training involved them developing their leadership and communication skills as well as several trust building activities – all at -20 degrees. The second training was a day long event at Niagara College and the third was in Jamestown New York. The last training involved both outbound students like Joe as well as exchange students presently here. He said that it was his first taste of what “exchange” would be like.

Eco Park Benches Installed

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Jun 15, 2016

From workshop construction to installation at the Eco Park, Ken Beel, Derek Price and Bill Stewart have been driving forces behind the work. Ken and Derek build the forms for the new benches.

Ken, Bill, Ralph Montesanto and Ross Bannatyne pour concrete into the forms.

The Eco Park work is a joint project by the two Dundas Rotary clubs.

McMaster Engineering Honours Phil Wood

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Jun 15, 2016

Check this out for full details.

http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/engineering-celebrates-outstanding-faculty-alumni/

Meeting of June 14, 2016

Posted by Phil Wood on Jun 15, 2016

Ernie went to his granddaughter’s track and field meet where she was quite successful. He advised all of the kids to become “Highland Hawks”.

Dave Carson has a new dog, and Irish Red/White Setter that he has named Bristol.

Grant’s son and Bill’s grandson (often our mascot Robear) won the junior football championship representing the Dundas Valley Secondary School Gryphons (aka the Highland Hawks). Jessica was quick to correct Ernie (and other former “Highlanders” of the new name).

Ralph talked about the $250 donation that we made to the sea cadets (also $250 from the noon club) for their help at the Lobsterfest. Wayne just bought a new car and apparently walked all the way to Kensington market in spite of that purchase.

Alycia (visiting for the meeting) has her baby due at the end of August. Her husband Matt is about to step down as president of his Rotary Club.

Shirley is also happy to be stepping down as our President as her husband will become the President of the Waterdown club.

Phil has just returned from a two week trip to England where he attended his niece’s wedding in Wiltshire. He was also honoured by the McMaster Engineering Department.

Mieke and her family visited Able Sail on the weekend and made a presentation on the club's behalf.

Our own Bill Armstrong was then introduced to give his classification talk once again. Scott Vance, who was sponsored by Bill, thanked him for a most interesting review of his life and career.

Bill Armstrong Reminisces

Posted by Phil Wood on Jun 15, 2016

Bill talked about his rewarding career with the RCMP. He was born in Saskatchewan in 1944. His father was in the Air Force and his mother’s family were farmers. Bill grew up on bases all over the country and joined the RCMP in 1964. He joined Rotary in 2001 courtesy of sponsor Ralph Montesanto. He first met his wife Marilyn as child. They won first prize as a bride and groom in a Halloween costume contest when they were about 5 years old. Their families moved apart soon after though.
His family moved to Camp Borden and as a teenager he met Bobby Curtola. Bill was active in Cubs and youth groups and then trained in Ottawa for the Mounties in 1964 and had a 32 year career with the RCMP. He was initially stationed on Vancouver Island and very soon after his arrival played an instrumental role in solving a murder. It was on vacation in Belleville that he re-met Marilyn and they were soon married. At the time he was stationed in Prince Rupert. Their first child, Theresa, was born in BC and was followed by Grant and Lynne.
During his time with the RCMP he spent some time in England working on a large car theft case. In the early 80s he was working in Windsor and collaborated with the FBI on a case that was related to the Air India case. As a reward for the work that they did on another case with international implications he and his family were given a trip to the White House. After retiring from the RCMP Bill worked in Security Services at McMaster.

Able Sail

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Jun 15, 2016

Mieke Ewen, community services director for the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club connected with Able Sail, and asked if she could come to see their program and present a cheque.....they said sure! They invited Mieke and her family to their open house – which turned out to be a large Hamilton Yacht Club event, including the mayor of Hamilton and Burlington racing. Mike was then asked to speak about why Able Sail fits with the Rotary mission....so a short speech, cheque presentation and a couple hours later.....

Dundas SeaHawks Special Olympics Swim Team

Posted by Miele Ewen on Jun 09, 2016

Sharing a 'big thank you' from the Dundas Seahawks Special Olympics swim team. Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club, Community Service, recently supported 4 local swimmers for their Provincial Spring Games. The 4 competitors were awarded 2 gold medals, 1 silver, and one a personal best time.

Jan South Classification Talk

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Jun 09, 2016

Almost exactly 14 years ago (June 4, 2002), Jan became a Rotarian. Since then, she has taken on many leadership position in our club, including President. Jan began by illustrating her family’s very deep roots in Dundas and their strong commitment its community life. Jan grew up downtown Dundas, one of five children (1 boy and 4 girls). Both parents were involved in town politics and community life and encouraged Jan and her siblings to do the same. Jan’s father held many elected positions, including Regional Councillor. After he retired, her mother became Councillor for Dundas. The family was always involved in election campaigns and canvassed probably every single house in town many times. Jan’s brother became a member of Flamborough Council.
Although Jan herself has not (yet?) gone into politics, her political background has served Jan well with all her work in School Board Administration and in volunteer organizations.
Despite becoming a well-respected educator and Administrator, Jan by her own account was not a good student and did not become so until she got to university. But first she got her “basic” training and started teaching at Dundas Central when she was 19 years old. After a number of years there, she resigned to attend university.
With degree in hand, Jan started a long successful career, first as a guidance counsellor at Ancaster Senior, then teaching at Ancaster High and eventually working for the Board in curriculum development, interacting with Ministry staff.
Somewhere along the way, Jan had a lovely daughter, got a Master’s Degree and was a Principal for 16 years. After retirement, she’s been mentoring and coaching new Principals and involved in teacher education.
Jan outlined some of the challenges she faced, often being the first female in a position. She frequently received feedback that it was too soon or she was too young to take on the new responsibility. Jan said that they may have been right but she did it anyway and learned along the way. Jan described the circumstance of being part of Wentworth County which surrounded the Hamilton Board. And how very different the two Boards were. Things got really interesting when the two school boards amalgamated. Jan felt that staff from both Boards worked diligently in blending the two organizations together.
Jan passed along four lessons: (1) listen (2) empathize and understand (3) know that everyone has at least a few second chances and (4) keep on learning.
In the question and answer period, Jan was asked if she prefers the way Dundas is now to the way it was when she was growing up. Jan said that she doesn’t think that way. Each period has its own energy and character. She does notice that when she grew up there were over 50 kids living in her neighbourhood. There is nowhere near that many now.
Ralph thanked Jan for her presentation, recognizing her accomplishments and appreciating her leadership. Her talk reminded him that he was the one who had filled in for Jan when she was on leave with her daughter Jenn.

Meeting of June 7, 2016

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Jun 09, 2016

Derek Dix joined 23 of our members for our breakfast meeting. Shirley Molloy was the Greeter and Wayne Massey took attendance. The meeting recorder was Jessica Brennan. Ernie Romain was Sergeant-at-Arms. Happy Dollars: Ernie regaled us with colourful stories of his recent trip up north. Scott proudly reported how well his daughters did at a recent dance recital. And how thankful he was that his bike was found after falling off the roof of his car.

Art enjoyed his recent trip to eastern Canada but found the maps inadequate. He appealed to New Brunswick-born Carl for an explanation. Carl simply replied that he himself didn’t need a map because he knew where he was going.

Mieke’s daughter was also in the dance recital. Her family enjoyed the recent Buskerfest especially as one of her sons busked by hip-hop dancing and doing “the worm”.

Wayne reported that at the annual Massey Family Golf Tournament held in memory of Wayne’s father went well. Wayne and his son won.

Dave had a Big Thank You for all those who gave a hand, time, tools and machinery over three days last week to dig the posts and put up the fence around the community garden. After the meeting Ralph drove past the garden and the children from the day care where planting their garden.

Bruce was pleased that the Stag and Doe for his daughter was fun and successful. Shirley was simply happy to be sitting at the Happy Table.

Meeting of May 31, 2016

Posted by Barbara Busing on Jun 01, 2016

Mary Lou Emmet was greeter, Grant Armstrong was on desk and Barb Busing was recorder.

Today 21 Rotarians and 3 guests were present. We welcomed Josh Campbell from Scotia Bank,

Derek Dix from Dundas Lock and Key, and our guest speaker Gillian Chan.

There were many Happy Dollars today as we celebrated another successful Lobsterfest: in summary thanks to all who sold tickets, got and/or were sponsors, brought items in for the Silent Auction, bought raffle tickets, sat on the committee or volunteered time at the event. It was a well organized and well attended happening! Other Happy Dollars were in celebration of Glen's 78th Birthday!

Welcome back to Mary Lou, and congratulations to Jessica's husband who retired from McMaster and was celebrated last Friday after a distinguished career in Economics. Ralph also thanked Josh Campbell from Scotia Bank a Platinum sponsors for the Lobsterfest, Wayne for installing a new Rotary sign on Governors Road, and reminded us of a memorial golf Tournament on June 15th for which he has more information. Grant was thankful that his son is learning the value of community service,

with a shout out to Grandpa Bill's role modelling too. Dave Carson thanked Roger for the use of his post digger later this morning, to dig 44 holes to fence in the Community Garden.

Shirley thanked Ralph and Glen in particular for their efforts to make the Lobsterfest so successful. Wayne was happy his brother also had a birthday yesterday and that he is closing today on the sale of his former mother-in-law's house.

Derek enjoyed the sound of "Ernest" versus "Ernie" which he considered worthy of a Happy Dollar.

Mieke asked us to vote to support sending a donation of $1000.00 to the Bob Kemp Hospice. All were in favour.

Jessica then introduced our guest speaker, Gillian Chan.

After an interesting discussion on what a writer of novels does, Bob Morrow thanked Gillian.

Gillian Chan Dundas Author of Young Adult Novels

Posted by Barbara Busing on Jun 01, 2016

Gillian Chan is a Dundas resident and author of many short stories and books for young adults. Gillian was an engaging speaker who clearly loves words and can both write and speak with eloquence. She gave us insight into how she became a writer. Her experience was that first she loved reading (no TV) and made use of the local libraries. She loved making up stories from a young age and listening to those of her father with his WW2 experiences, as well as her mother's South African/Irish life events. Like an athlete she noted that writing takes discipline and practice. Mornings are spent asking questions, and writing, while afternoons are for research on the questions, and many times, tearing up previous work and starting over. Gillian noted that stories are an innate part of being human and that we all create stories in our conversations. Stories help us make sense of the world as we may see the world in different time frames or settings, but always from the shared human perspective. Gillian's works include books set in historical contexts as varied as France, Cootes Paradise, L'anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland, and Vancouver - each with a different focus of time, place and history but always with a focus on the story of the lives of her characters. Check out her website www.gillianchan.com

Victoria Day Fireworks

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on May 28, 2016

The biggest crowd ever (The Hamilton Spectator estimated close to 19 000) enjoyed a beautiful evening of explosive delight as the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club and The City of Hamilton put on a spectacular 25 minute fireworks display at the Dundas Driving Park.

Bands, food trucks, mascots and a stilt walker gave visitors plenty of diversion until the fireworks went off at 9:35 p.m.

Thank you to all those visitors who made contributions to the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club as they entered the park. The funds will help support the many local and international service projects the club plans each year.

Meeting of May 24, 2016

Posted by David Carson on May 24, 2016

Greeter: Marie-Louise Kelday; Desk: Derek Price; Sergeant-At-Arms; Ernie Romain.There were 26 members in attendance.

HAPPY DOLLARS

Ernie celebrated 2 wins by the Raptors and the fact that it was 41 years to the day he was hired to work at Highland School. On the subject of basketball, Jessica noted she was on the high school basket ball team and Bob Morrow reminisced he had once coached a Kenyan team to great defensive game, giving up only 10 points…unfortunately loosing 10-8. Phil and Barb Wood are off to a wedding in the UK.

Several members celebrated the successful fireworks event; Bill Armstrong had no security issues;

George thanked all for the work done to close off by midnight and then clean up the park in one hour on Monday morning. Mieke had a weekend fishing (or threading worms for the kids) and arrived back to join the gate collection crew; Ralph showed her boys how to be a great salesman.

Ralph has a new Rotary sign to put up on the Service Club Board on Governors Road (Wayne and he put it up after the meeting).

Bob Morrow showed a picture the club is presenting to Kevin Crouse on Tuesday during the Brantford Sunrise Rotary Club meeting in thanks for his contribution to the Club as he heads off to a new home in Nova Scotia.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Lobsterfest Saturday night! Everyone reminded to check their work assignments. Next Tuesday morning a few helpers are needed to install fence posts at the Community Garden. Roger Stewart will be using his machinery to drill the post holes. The Year End BBQ is June 28th at the Guedes.

PROGRAM - Guest Speaker: Bob Morrow
Topic: Times they are a changing’. Bob gave an amusing slide show of pictures and cartoons to show what life was like in 60’s 70’s 80’s and how life is changing today.

You had to be there. No other commentary would do it justice.

Meeting of May 17, 2016

Posted by Marnee Maroes on May 17, 2016

This morning Vlad was the greeter and Harold collected at the desk. Dr. Shankardass from the noon club was a visiting Rotarian.

Sergeant-At-Arms Ernie continued to challenge the members with weekly sports and music trivia; he continued to be impressed with how much we know, especially Art and Bob.

Couldn’t tell if Ernie was happy; he had a pipe burst at his cottage, which sounds not great; but he is getting a new kitchen, which does sound great!

Joe was looking forward to a trip with Anne to Indiana in their RV. He also has an upcoming 70th birthday, and made a Rotary International donation to commemorate this. He also encouraged us all to donate to this worthwhile charity.

Bruce was advertising this morning: he has Stag and Doe tickets for his daughter and her fiancé. He also was selling his dad's minivan, which he says his dad is annoyed about!

Jessica and Shirley are Raptors fans who are looking forward to the game in Cleveland tonight. Go Raptors!
Jessica has done Club Admin for 3 years and has 6 more weeks left. She feels the post is in good hands with the like of Harold, who kept track of her this morning so that all fees were paid.

Incoming president Ross announced that help is needed this weekend in the Rotary garden; there is weeding and clean up to do. He also announced an event Thursday June 23 for both Dundas Rotary clubs at SHED Brewing.

Phil was celebrating several things: his 44th anniversary is on Friday, he is getting a teaching award in engineering tomorrow, and he has a press conference today to introduce the new/old Marauders football coach.

George reminded us all that volunteers are needed for this weekend’s fireworks as well as Lobsterfest on May 28.

Ralph had taken planters on behalf of the club to members who have experienced losses this year, and read their thank you messages to us.

The remainder of the meeting was a club assembly. President Shirley thanked us all for a smooth year. She reminded that our membership goal is off by one as we have gained 3 but lost 1 member; we are encouraged to think of potential members we might invite. Treasurer Ken reported on our finances and our budget; we are in good shape.

A motion was made and carried for the club to contribute $2500 to Fort McMurray disaster relief through the Canadian Red Cross. We all were encouraged to donate individually as well, as donations are matched by the Red Cross.

Mieke reported for Steve (who is at home awaiting an overdue family arrival) about youth services: We are sponsoring a 17 year old male exchange student from France. He is arriving in August, and we are looking for host families.

Mieke reported regarding community service: all donations either completed or underway. She presented a cheque for Ellen Osler Home this morning, which Shirley accepted on their behalf.

Bob reported on international service: An example of one of our projects this year was shipping containers of children's books to Antigua. We also continue to accrue funds for a bigger, furture project.

Ralph reported regarding membership: He encouraged us to look for new members using classifications as a cue. He also reported on PR: He has appreciated the meeting recorder's efforts for First Light, and he sends releases to the Dundas Star.

Jessica deferred a club admin report related to concerns about time.

Shirley reported regarding vocational services: We are continuing vocational meetings quarterly, a recent example being our meeting at St. Joe’s Villa.

Fireworks this weekend: Jan is looking for collections volunteers; please be in touch if you can come out or if you have any leads on volunteers. Please sign in with Derek or in the Zamboni room on the day of; there will be specialty coffee for volunteers at the end of the evening. Bill is overseeing security. There will be food vendors and 25 min of fireworks.

There is a board meeting tonight at Bob's.

Meeting of May 10, 2016

Posted by Bob Morrow on May 09, 2016

It was a wonderful morning …. VERY spring-like and welcoming. We greeted the “family” of Mieke Ewen – her father and her uncle, Thijmen, who was our guest speaker. It was just a lovely morning to celebrate life.

Happy Dollars included:

Bruce- who shot an 81 at Copetown Woods, a score never to be repeated….well done, Bruce.

Mary Lou is back! Looking good, feeling healthy, and welcomed joyously. Derek Price is just back from Europe, visiting his sister. Ken Beel is back from a car ride across much of the US southwest with a focus on Baton Rouge (architecture), San Antonio (engineering) and New Mexico (horseback riding).

Steve Roblin injured his back playing golf on Mothers' Day. His wife says that's why!
It was nice to see five club members attending the Club Leadership Training (aka District Assembly) on the week-end….from all reports it was a huge success.

Kevin Davis from the Brantford AM club brought happiness in that he felt our potatoes were better than those at the Brantford Golf and Country Club. Kevin noted that his namesake – Kevin Crouse – will be moving to Nova Scotia at the end of the month. He also wanted to share with us their new fundraiser and encouraged us to visit the website for their mud run … which they hope to market across Canada [mud run in a box – you had to be there!]
Glen and Bill and Shirley - still looking for volunteers in the kitchen for Lobster Dinner and for serving at the buffet table.

Harold hobbled back after visiting five baseball stadiums in five days
Scott Vance is happy that the skating season is over
Jessica - thanked people for filling in for people this morning on various duties – Bill Armstrong, George Gould, and others
Ken Beel - needs a leader to take over the gate to collect money
Waterdown Rotary Club is sponsoring a golf tournament on June 1 – Carlisle Golf Course – so, all you golf aficionados….please consider joining them for this event. Further details from the lovely Wendy Hickey at 905 – 689 – 3739 or wendyscove@cogeco.ca

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Next week will be a club assembly to focus on the administrivia associated with the Fireworks and the Lobster Dinner.

Next week, on Tuesday evening, is a board meeting at 100 Pleasant Avenue, Dundas, beginning at 6.30 p.m.

Thansanqa Tinker Tots Project Motherwell Township South Africa

Posted by Bob Morrow on May 09, 2016

Our speaker today was Thijmen Van Loenen who chatted about the Thansanqa Tinker Tots Project in Motherwell Township near Port Elizabeth South Africa. The project has two areas of focus – safe guest houses for about 50 children who have been left orphaned and a new school which at the moment has about 50 students.

Thijmen and other friends have been working since 2009 on this “NGO” in the area with the assistance of Tia Wessels, a retired educator; there are many volunteers, both from the Netherlands and in the local area, but funds are needed for the project to continue to grow. The organization also has a Rotary connection in that one of the directors is a past-president of the Rotary Club of Port Elizabeth West. For more information check out this website: http://www.udenwereldwijd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Newsletter-January-2016-.pdf

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Thank You

Posted by Jessica Brennan on May 07, 2016

Art McCabe from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum thanked our club for the contribution we made to their recent project that allowed students to visit the Museum. The project raised $48,000 with nearly half of that coming from 18 service clubs; ours being one of them. In all, 1300 students from 30 schools were able to participate. Art brought some thank you cards from the students for us to see.

Meeting of May 2, 2016

Posted by Jessica Brennan on May 07, 2016

Along with 24 of our members, we had two visitors: Art McCabe, from The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum; and Bob Knuckle, our Guest Speaker, from the Dundas Little Theatre.
Shirley Molloy was the Greeter and Don Davidson took attendance. The meeting recorder was Jessica Brennan. Ernie Romain was Sergeant-at-Arms.

Tracking our snow birds: Bruce is back and Barb is heading out. Happy Dollars: As usual Ernie started off the Happy Dollars, this time giving us grim details of a recent root canal. He was however pleased to see our Guest Speaker Bob Knuckle and recounted a story of four errant students who were pleased to be at Ernie’s school after having been disciplined by Bob.

Bob M. reminded us of the opportunity of donating at least $30 to the Foundation to choose one of his prints.

Art wondered why Ernie hadn’t started his Happy Dollars as he usually does with a story about the Maple Leafs, especially given that for the first time in decades the team was granted the number one pick in the hockey lottery. Dave pointed out that for those who have lost hope in their team to look to the incredible journey of Leicester City to the Premier League title.

Carl is happy to be alive. He lost two friends who were good clients last week and was reflecting on the sadness of that. As a special presentation assistant governor Bob Morrow honoured Carl with his next level of Rotary Foundation support, presenting him with a ruby Paul Harris pin.

After several months in Florida, Bruce was pleased to be home and given the political tone in the United States wanted very much to declare God Bless Canada. Wayne was whining about wine…reminding us to bring in our bottle donations for the Lobsterfest. Barb was pleased that Bruce was back from Florida as she is heading there for three weeks.

Ralph reported on a fox barking in his street early in the morning, perhaps announcing Ralph’s birthday this Thursday. Ralph was also happy about the recent Shredding Project which collected 8000 lbs in paper and raised $3000. Jessica was happy that the Raptors had made it to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs even though they seem to give us heartaches in 4th quarters.

Art McCabe from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum thanked our club for the contribution we made to their recent project that allowed students to visit the Museum.

Announcements: We were reminded to sign up for volunteer duty at Lobsterfest and Fireworks.

Dundas Little Theatre

Posted by Jessica Brennan on May 07, 2016

Bill Armstrong introduced our Guest Speaker, Bob Knuckle. In addition to being the current Chair of the Dundas Little Theatre, Bob has authored 11 books of true crime stories. It was in this capacity that Bill as an RCMP officer and Bob had met. Bob has also written and produced 15 plays. For today’s talk Bob gave us an outline of the history of the Dundas Little Theatre and described an upcoming special event. Dundas Little Theatre first began showing its productions at a local high school in 1960. Eventually an opportunity presented itself in using the old swimming pool site for a theatre. Along with raising over $350,000 in 1978 and having the architect Trevor Garwood-Jones volunteer design, Dundas Little Theatre opened in its new setting in 1980 with a play from Somerset Maugham.

The upcoming special event will be on Saturday June 11th. Called Scenes and Songs there will be snippets of great plays and showtunes. Gary Smith, The Hamilton Spectator’s theatre critic will be the emceeing the show, taking everyone through the history of theatre. In the question and answer period following Bob’s presentation, Bruce essentially gave a testimonial to Bob’s crime writing, saying that he had read one of his books and simply could not put it down. Bob revealed that he loved the research and interviewing for the books, finding the actual writing a bit lonely.

Bill thanked Bob for his presentation. Bill noted that although the Scenes and Songs show is almost completely sold out, if anyone wants a ticket please contact Bill and he will try to make it happen.

Shredding Day Success

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Apr 30, 2016

Over 8000 lbs of documents were shredded and diverted from landfill to recycling. $2967.55 was collected at $7 per box or $6 per box if 5 boxes or more. Many community members gave well in excess of the allotted amount as a donation to Rotary for the work the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club does in the local and international communities. When the $565 rental for the truck is paid, the club will net $2402.55. Community members are already planning for the fall shredding day that will take place in late October or early November.

Thank you to Scott Eccles of Eccles Uptown for the use of his lot and the promotion of the event through his sign. Also thank you to Bruce Eccles for the use of his sign at Eccles Auto Service.

Notice the photos of all the child labour!

Thank you to all the club members who volunteered – Jan, Marie-Louise, Art, Shirley, Bob Neibert, Mieke, Bill, and Ross. Thank you to Bob Morrow and Joe for their efforts and trips to the recycling centre for the many empty boxes that were not shredded. Special thank you to Liam and Elysia, Bill’s grandchildren; to Tim, Ross’ grandson; and to Ethan, Ralph’s grandson.

Another Successful Shredding Day

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Apr 29, 2016

Club president Shirley Molloy and Marie-Louise Kelday ran the desk and collected the fee as community members brought their documents to be safely destroyed.

Mieke Ewen and Liam Armstrong unload vehicles and prepare to transport to the shredding truck.

Ethan Stoltz and Joe Guedes prepare boxes to take to the waste transfer station recycling bin.

Dundas resident Carol looks with interest at the live camera of her documents going through the shredder.

Integra Document Destruction operator Shawn shows young Tim how the system works. Over 8000 pounds of documents were safely destroyed and diverted from landfill to recycling. It was amazing how many residents did not ask for change from the shredding cost of $7 per small bank box. They said, "It's the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club and it does good service work in the community. Please keep the change."

The club will hold its second shredding day of the year in late October or early November. A special thank you to Scott Eccles and Bruce Eccles for the use of their property and advertising signs at Eccles Uptown and Eccles Auto Service in Dundas.

Shredding Day April 30

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Apr 26, 2016

Meeting of April 26, 2016

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Apr 25, 2016

Greeter Jessica and desk manager Ross helped welcome 22 members and guests Dorothy Gaffney and Coralee Hecker. Sergeant-at-Arms Ernie started happy dollars with his first Blue Jay game in two years and his $36 for two beer and two hotdogs. David thanked all the volunteers from the club who helped replace the wooden sides on the community garden with concrete blocks - a big job made easier by the over 24 volunteers from the club, the church and the community ( from the club I saw George, Ross, Nic, Phil, David, Wayne, Scott, Grant and his son Liam when I stopped by to take some photos. Might have been others at a different time).

Art Waxed philosophically about Highland Secondary School's upcoming 50th anniversary that will not likely happen now that the school has been renamed. Barbara offered to be guest speaker at a future meeting to talk about and show the wonderful photos she took while visiting the Galapagos Islands. Joe finally completed the renovations to a house he purchased on the mountain. Steve was glad to see the books for Antigua picked up - 4 barrels full which the club paid to ship at a cost of around $600. And Wayne was pleased his mother-in-law's house was sold in just 5 days with 5 offers.

Ralph read an email from Mary-Lou explaining her recent surgeries, her continued recovery and her desire to return to the club as soon as she was strong enough. Jessica told us Harold was on a five baseball stadium trip. Jessica was also looking for possible volunteers to be on the board of CHOICES, an organization that works with developmentally handicapped individuals. Glen was looking for volunteers for fireworks on May 22 and lobster rib fest on May 28. He also asked for ticket money to come in soon. George reinforced the request for volunteers for fireworks and asked us to approach our friends, neighbours and relatives to help out that evening. Wayne asked for donations of wine for the raffle at lobster rib fest.

Ralph reminded everyone of shredding day this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Eccles Uptown. Please notify your email list of those in the area that this service is available. It is also a club fundraiser.

Another piece of news: Our condolences to the Neibert family over the passing of Sharon's father last week.

Schizophrenic Outpatient Clinic St. Joseph's Health Care

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Apr 25, 2016

Dorothy Gaffney and Coralee Hecker from the Schizophrenic Outpatient Clinic at St. Joseph's Healthcare located on West 5th in Hamilton spoke of the 600 patients who use the service. They are referred by family physicians, correctional agencies and psychiatrists. Some are self referrals. One percent of the population experiences schizophrenic behaviour, anything from hallucinations to memory and judgment issues to low motivation. Schizophrenia usually presents itself in late adolescence and there are such things as first episode clinics. Causes are not well understood but range from genetic to environmental. For more information go to https://www.stjoes.ca/health-services/mental-health-addiction-services/mental-health-services/schizophrenia-community-integration-service-scis-

Last Christmas the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club donated to the clinic to support a Christmas party for 100 patients.

Rotary Sunrise Community Garden Face-Lift

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Apr 23, 2016

On a sunny Saturday morning a work crew of over 25 descended on the Rotary Sunrise Community Garden at St. Mark's Church on Governor's Road in Dundas. After four years of use the wooden sides of each plot were beginning to rot. The Rotary club, along with a Rotary District 7090 grant is replacing the wood with cement blocks and installing a more permanent fence to keep the deer out. Scott Vance, Wayne Massey, Grant Armstrong Nic Schulz and Ross Bannatyne joined over 20 other volunteers from the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club, St. Mark's Church, Dundas in Transition, garden users and several Syrian refugees to tear out the wood and lay the block walls.

David Carson, club member and Dundas in Transition member is the driving force behind the garden.

Meeting of April 19, 2016

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Apr 21, 2016

A happy crowd this morning as SAA Ernie took us through happy dollars and announcements.

Bill reminded all about the lobster rib fest and the need for auction items. Good idea to sell those tickets too!

Ralph announced that Shredding Day is Saturday April 30 from 9 to 1. Marie-Louise, Joe, Bob Morrow, Bo Neibert, Art, Bill, and Shirley have volunteered to help.

William was so proud of his son's accomplishments and his interest in flight mechanics and RCMP.

Steve Roblin introduced Andrea Buttars from Wesley Urban Ministries who was later thanked by Phil.

There were lots more happy dollars and announcements but no recorder for the day so this is just from memory two days later!

Wesley Urban Ministries

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Apr 21, 2016

Andrea Buttars from Wesley Urban Ministries brought a message of service. This organization based in Hamilton has multiple locations throughout the city providing services for child, youth and families, housing and homelessness, neighbourhood development and newcomers. As well, Wesley is the major city player regarding Syrian refugees. Andrea spoke with passion about the work of the ministry and welcomed support either as a volunteer or through financial donations. For more information go to http://wesley.ca/

Dundas Community Services

Posted by Derek Price on Apr 12, 2016

Jane Allen, acting executive director, Dundas Community Services told us first of all that we would be seeing some changes as the organisation moves forward. The funding for all programs comes from the LHIN, the United Way, The City of Hamilton, Service Clubs, Individual Donors and through a Theatre Program. The organisation has twelve Board Members and a staff of four. They have recently been going through Strategic Planning sessions to review all of their programs.

Jane outlined many of their current programs Food Donation/Food Box/Legal Aid/Snow Shovelling/Caregiver Support/Friendly Calling/Senior Visiting. Jane went into more detail on some programs like Meals on wheels. This program runs Monday to Friday and delivers meals made at Wentworth Lodge to seniors using volunteer drivers. A similar program takes people shopping to Metro for groceries,while another takes people to their appointments. Another is to help seniors that are confined to their home by having volunteers visit once a week. And still another is the Friendly Calling program which involves calling seniors once a week. There are currently fifty two people using this service.

The Office is also a centre where people go for advice on almost any topic. Many things we do in our daily lives can be a challenge and very stressful for many members in our community and often this is their first stop when looking for help.

This office also has a Tourism Outlet and carries information on all kinds of activities for all of Ontario.

Whether you are looking for information on Trips, Health Care, Long Term Care, Group Homes, it seems that you can find it here. As if this were not enough Jane outlined further needs for expansion of existing programs and the demands for additional programs for youth and other counselling services.

There were many questions at the end of the presentation relating to the programs and the organisation.

One of our members remembered when this initiative first started at St James Church and congratulated all concerned that the acorn was now a strong tree.

Meeting of April 12, 2016

Posted by Derek Price on Apr 12, 2016

There were 21 members and 1 guest in attendance. Joe Guedes was greeter, Harold Grunenberg on desk and Ernie Romain as Sergeant-At-Arms.

Happy Dollars: Ernie was happy to be back and well after being sick last week. He must have spent all of his time last week reading up on sports trivia. We were challenged with many different trivia questions between the happy dollars and I think it surprised Ernie that between the twenty or so members present we were able to answer all of his challenges.

Art’s dollar was to remind us all of the Routes Scrap and Electronics Collection is this Saturday16th. Bring your Scrap to the Ice Rink on Olympic Drive or if you have a large amount contact Art and he will arrange for pick up. Art also drew our attention to the Jackie Robinson Story that was on T.V. last night with part two tonight. Watch it if you get chance it is an “eye opener.”

Scott was happy to be celebrating his one year anniversary as a Rotarian today. Meike was happy that Hockey Season was over if only for a few months. Everybody with children or grandchildren can relate to that. To Meike and all others involved in kid’s activities enjoy the few weeks of rest before you get right back to it again.

Wayne was happy now that his Mother in Law was finally settled in her new home. He also reminded us to bring in bottles of wine for the Lobsterfest. He will have boxes ready all Tuesday Meetings.

Steve announced that at last week’s fundraiser that he held for St Josephs raised over $3000. Well done Steve. Steve had a really happy second dollar as he was fortunate enough to have been at the Masters Golf Tournament last week. Course more beautiful than it shows on T.V. and he witnessed some fantastic golf including a hole in one and one of the most dramatic finishes to the tournament.

Glen reminded us that the sign-up sheets for both the Fireworks and the Lobsterfest were on the tables. Please sign up if you are available we still have lots of spots to be filled.

Carl gave us a story of how Lobster is prepared on the East Coast. Expecting a typical Carl story I listened intently waiting for the punch line. Unfortunately I did not write at the same time so I forgot how it is prepared. We are continuing at Lobsterfest with our traditional method.

Bill asked us to start thinking about silent auction items for the Lobsterfest. He is collecting now and has lots of space so bring in your items so that Bill can get everything organised.

Bob Morrow following Ernie on the sport scene finished the happy dollars with a little bit of fun trivia about Joe Garagiola Joe DiMaggio.

Bob also reminded all members about the Club Leadership Seminar on May 7th. He also noted that everyone had received a wooden nickel at their table today. This is part of a promotion for the Rotary District Conference on October 22/23rd in Batavia New York.

Bob then introduced our speaker today, Jane Allen who has been with Dundas Community Services since 2007 most recently as the Coordinator Senior Services and is currently the Acting Executive Director.

After hearing Jane's talk I look at everything going on at Dundas Community Services I can see the need for a strategic review and hope that the end result will be positive for all concerned.

Donations Salvation Army

Posted by Derek Price on Apr 06, 2016

Mieke Ewen, chair of community services brought us up to date with Community Services donations. We have reviewed 12 donation requests. To date 6 have been approved and 6 are pending. Mieke presented a cheque for $2000.00 to Shirley Molloy for the Salvation Army. We received thank you letters from Routes for our $1500.00 donation and also from St. Joseph’s Schizophrenia Group for our donation

Meeting of April 5, 2016

Posted by Derek Price on Apr 05, 2016

Attendance 22, Greeter - Grant Armstrong, Desk - Art Sampson, Sergeant-At-Arms - George Gould

Happy Dollars. Marie- Louise had an “Interesting and Different” evening last Friday at the Steve Roblin Fundraiser for St Joseph’s held at the Air Force Club. She managed to win the draw for a $100.00 Lottery ticket and also won one of the raffle prizes. Carl reported that Mary -Lou is recovering well from her recent surgery, this good news being met with a big round of applause. Glen reminded us that the Lobsterfest signup sheets were at each table and there are still some spots to be filled.

Scott’s sixteen year old daughter now has her G1 licence. Scott could become super fit walking to Rotary every Tuesday.

Glen reported that Geoff Taylor who works at Eccles Garage and is Glen’s son in law is a grandfather again. This of course makes Glen’s wife Irene really happy as they now have five great grandchildren. Glen just feels he is getting old. (And happy) Shirley’s happy dollar was for her daughter whose baby is due next week.

Mieke enjoyed the drive here with the bright sunshine and seeing the deer along road to the golf course.

Jessica was happy that she went to the Exhibition of Photographic Art by our own Bob Morrow at St James Church where she selected a perfect piece of Bob’s art for her home.

Bill Armstrong’s dollar was in recognition of the artistic trio of Randy Abel, George Gould and Fred Amalfi who are appearing in a Theatre production in Rockton. Bill saw the play and says they should get an A.C.T.R.A. award. (You can decide yourself what the acronym stands for.)

Announcements: Ken Beel back from Florida for a week had three announcements: 1. Ken outlined a project that we have been asked to look at by the noon club .The project involves obtaining a machine made by The Bertram Co, Blasting, cleaning, painting and preserving the machine then installing the machine on a concrete pad as a centre piece at the Rotary Park on Hatt Street. Ken will report back to the Club for a decision on this once all the information is available.

2. Ecopark. This was our last major project and it is now nearing completion. Ken reported that the words and pictures for the descriptive panels have been completed by the Dundas Museum and will be mounted on pedestals ready for installation in the next few weeks. Once that is done and the benches are installed that will complete the Project. Ken asked that we consider a donation of $750.00 to the Museum for the work they did. 3. Fireworks. Meeting Wednesday 6th April at the Driving Park Office at 9.00am. with City Officials. All welcome to attend.

Dave Carson reported on the changes at the Rotary Community Garden at St Marks Church. Plan to refurbish the garden is almost complete. It will involve removing the wooden bed framing and replacing it with concrete blocks. Dave will be looking for help in the next few weeks once the date is confirmed. The concrete blocks are being donated.

Mieke brought us up to date with Community Services. We have reviewed 12 donation requests to date 6 have been approved and 6 are pending. Mieke presented a cheque for $2000.00 to Shirley for the Salvation Army. We received thank you letters from Routes for our $1500.00 donation and also from St Joseph’s Schizophrenia Group for our donation.

Shredding Day is April 30th. Please inform all of your contacts. Ralph texted George from Florida looking for volunteers to work a shift between 9 AM and 1 PM. Email him with you availability rmontesanto@cogeco.ca. Routes Group Scrap and Electronics Collection is 16th April. Drop off items behind the arena on Olympic Drive. See Art if you need further details.

Today was scheduled to be a Club Assembly but time was short so President Shirley gave us something new to think about with one simple question. "Of all the people in the World past or present who would you invite to your table” Discuss it among yourselves and come up with one person and why. Being D.V.S.R. Club this was our reply in no particular order. Einstein/ Desmond Tutu/Marilyn Monroe/Justin and Sophie Trudeau/John Candy/ Malala Yousafzai/John Lennon/Winston Churchill/Warren Buffet/J.F.Keneddy/Joni Mitchell/Tom Thompson/President Obama/Jesse Owens/Jimmy Page/Mother Theresa/Peter Ustinov/Mrs. Donald Trump/Bill Gates/Alexander MacDougal/Pamela Anderson/Pope Francis/Jackie Robinson/Jimmy Buffet/Peter Drucker/Maureen Forrester/Roy Welensky/Nelson Mandela/Steve Jobs/Mick Jagger.

You can interpret this selection any way you wish though it might be better to leave it to Marnee who is a psychologist

Here is my take. We had 22 members present on 7 tables so we should have had 7 guests but we had over 30.mGuests come from every section of society and represented a very diverse group.

Typical D.V.S.R. we break minor bureaucratic rules, we start from very different positions but as with all projects we take on or all issues we face we end up with the best possible solution.

Have a good week, see you next Tuesday

St. Joseph's Villa

Posted by Marnee Maroes on Mar 29, 2016

Maureen Ellis CEO of the St. Joseph's Villa Foundation and our own Don Davidson from the Villa Foundation hosted the club at the morning meeting in St. Joseph's Villa. Maureen let us know that Rotary has always been a huge part of the foundation. For example, she said that the Dundas Rotary club was the pioneer and engineer of the Respite program. St. Joseph’s relies on the foundation and donations for all capital expenses. Examples include rebuilding, the 2 new wings, and any renovations. Most recently, Rotary has been involved in the building of Orchid Garden, the new wing that we toured. They are now looking for partners for possible new projects related to available space. There will be retired priests living on one floor in new residences. Always, future programs must be balanced with care of residents.

Don talked about the foundation’s Enhancing Care Program. This is related to other kinds of capital costs, such as new beds, bathtubs, furnishings, tvs, etc. These are all capital needs that the government doesn't fund. The focus of this program is on the quality of life of residents. When an individual or a group wants to make a donation, they can specify what they are going to fund (e.g., a bed) or they can donate generally into this ongoing program.

Mieke Ewen director of nursing at the Villa and also a member of the club took us on a tour of Orchid Garden. This is a new and smaller unit, with 12 beds. They have modern equipment; Mieke demonstrated one of the lifts that are installed in each room. Our club is one of the major donors to the renovations that made this unit possible.

Meeting of March 29, 2016

Posted by Marnee Maroes on Mar 29, 2016

Twenty members met at St. Joseph's Villa for this morning's vocational services meeting. Bill was greeter, Scott worked the desk and Ernie was sergeant at arms.

Scott and Ernie " MacGyered" a basket for Happy Dollars and collected $31. Ernie: happy for a nice weekend, though bad weather followed him to Collingwood where there was flooding. Bob: There is club leadership training May 7 in Niagara that he recommends. There is a carpool for this event. He also promoted his photography show, which is opening April 3 at St. James. Jessica: enjoyed playing music on the weekend with her family band which does not have a name yet; the group liked “brennanunplugged” as a suggestion. Grant: was happy about Easter dinner - his wife's great cooking, having his family together, and most of all, the leftovers. Harold: was skiing last week in Whistler, and explained all is well with his foot (it didn’t get in the way of his skiing!). Dave: due to lost power in the storm, and him turning off his generator, his basement flooded; he was happy that his wife helped him clean up the mess. Shirley: happy for a beautiful morning and that she is visiting St. Joseph’s instead of residing there; Carl: updated us all that Mary-Lou is having surgery today. Don: turned 50 in Paris, France this past week and enjoyed all of the things to see, eat, and drink there. Phil: 38 years ago today, gave his first ever lecture at Michigan State.

Living Wage: The Hamilton Experience

Posted by Barbara Busing on Mar 23, 2016

Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Round Table for Poverty Reduction and coordinator of the Ontario Living Wage Network shared the history of the Living Wage (LW) concept and its beginnings in Baltimore in the 1990's. Here in Hamilton there are 30,000 families experiencing poverty despite working. 1 out of 2 children in poverty today in Hamilton have a parent who is working, but yet remain in poverty. The concept is that by raising the wages to a "living" wage individuals can more easily pay for housing, food, child care, transportation etc. It is a win/win situation as individuals win by earning a higher wage, they spend the money in the local economy so it grows, and the company retains its employees longer, as evidenced by research done on Costco (a LW employer) versus Walmart (not a LW employer) in the States. Here in Hamilton the LW is $14.95 and ranges across the Province due to housing costs, from $14.10 in Windsor to $18.52 in Toronto. The concept of paying a living wage is spreading and Tom noted that the HWDSB, under Jessica's leadership , was the first LW employer in Hamilton! There are now 30 others in Hamilton (e.g. Diocese of Niagara and St Matthew's House, Mustard Seed Company) and about 100 across the province. For more information you can visit the website at www.livingwagehamilton.ca . And remember a phrase Tom shared with us that he had heard. "If I couldn't live on minimum wage, why do I think my employees could?"

Meeting of March 22, 2016

Posted by Barbara Busing on Mar 23, 2016

On Tuesday we welcomed 25 Rotarians and 2 guests, Alan Spence and Tom Cooper, to our meeting. Bob Morrow acted as greeter, Bill Armstrong manned the desk and Barb Busing was the recording member. Ernie managed the duties of Sergeant at Arms with many a political and other side remark!

Happy Dollars came from Ernie himself, happy to be back from soggy Hawaii. Jessica was glad to have Tom as our guest speaker and to have met many wonderful young people through the mountain by-election held yesterday. Phil was all dressed up to give the welcoming introduction at the inaugural Don Woods Lecture at McMaster. Don Woods was Phil's mentor and a renowned engineer. Steve, celebrating in Irish spirit, ran into Mary-Lou at a bar and together enjoyed some drinks in honour of Ireland's patron saint. Grant had a great March Break with family and pandas, and "Irish Car Bombs"...but not together we believe. Scott too enjoyed the March Break! Dave Carson was happy that fellow Rotarians like Joe Geddes put his connections to good use to find storage space for the furniture being collected for the Syrian families who are coming to our communities. Ernie offered Dave's services to snow shovel next year and Bob Morrow offered great house guests, Wayne and Helen Massey, in keeping with a theme of offering other people's services! Bob also announced his art show coming in April to St James' Anglican Church ( FYI Fred Amalfi is the March artist who's work is being shown). See the grand opening of Morrow's Photography on April 3! Shirley was glad to be at the meeting, Wayne was happy to have a meeting of the Rotary Stars committee after breakfast, and Bill was happy to have babysat his grandkids.....even if he could not remember how old they are!

Announcements included Glen reminding us to get tickets for the Lobsterfest and to sign up to help. Shirley reminded us of the District conference May 7 and suggested it was especially good for new Board members to attend. As today was world water day a sponsorship form was circulated in aid of the Water for Haiti walk that Roy Sheldrick was yet again undertaking. Jessica reminded us to go to St Joseph's Villa (main entry, lower level Board Room) for next week's meeting.

Jessica introduced our speaker today, Tom Cooper, Director of the Hamilton Round Table for Poverty Reduction and Coordinator of the Ontario Living Wage Network. Tom's topic was Living Wage: The Hamilton Experience.

Family Day, Space, Bring the Kids

Posted by Jan Southall on Mar 18, 2016

Our speaker this morning was Bob Morrow, back from his extended holiday and eager to share his knowledge of space, NASA, astronauts, tomato seeds from space and his outstanding power point presentation with truly amazing pictures and views of space. Bob talked about the deceiving distances – between planets and earth, depending on the position of the sun – we are talking about thousands of kms and hundreds of thousands. We were able to view the International Space Station and astronauts at work, eating, playing and sleeping. We saw the Canadarms 1 and 2 functioning and the robot “Dexter” for “fine work”.

Bob talked about the projected Mars trip (7 months there and 7 months back) and the need to solve problems which include food, water and space debris before we can take next steps in order to be able to bring people back from Mars.

Most exciting is the continuation of the Tomatosphere project with greater involvement in the US (it has been primarily Canadian classrooms) and the intent to grow seeds in space as well as have young people grow seeds that have been to space and brought back for distribution.

Thank you, Bob, for enlightening and exciting the young and old kids in your audience this am!

Dylan Ewen asked for any further announcements and closed the meeting.

Family Day Meeting March 15, 2016

Posted by Jan Southall on Mar 15, 2016

NOTE: Last week, friend and past District Governor, Bob Bruce, joined us for breakfast and to present to our President, the matching grant from the Rotary Foundation. Club money and the matching grant were used to support the orphanage in Manzilla, Mexico. Thanks, Bob!

It was a lively, energetic group that gathered this am to share breakfast and learn more about space. Dylan Ewen proved to be a great assistant to George Gould and rang the bell and asked for Happy Dollars. Dave Carson introduced our guests: Lynne Morrow, Helen Massey, Tracey, Alison and Julia Vance, Marilynn, Julie, Shaun, Elyssa, Liam (Robear made an appearance too!)Armstrong and Kaden Leysk (Armstrong grandson), Barb Wood, Dave Kelday, Dylan, Daniel and Audrey Ewen and Jenn Evans.

Happy Dollars: Daniel is looking forward to going to camp this weekend while brother Dylan will be playing in his hockey team finals, Elyssa is sooooo excited she is going with her family to the TO Zoo to meet the baby pandas, Lynne is thankful to live in Canada and not be part of the political scene south of us, Shirleyenjoyed her Caribbean Cruise, Jessica celebrated the great turnout this morning and Derek clarified that tall buildings are intended to sway slightly!

Dave Carson put out a call for assistance with our local group who are supporting the Syrian refugees (government sponsored). Lamps, pictures, kitchen pots and pans, glasses, plate sets, baking supplies are all needed. These items need to be clean and in good condition. We are also in need of a storage space for furniture held until the families move from local hotels to an apartment. Wayne offered the Montesanto garage (!) but we are still in need of real space.

Thank you, Bob, for enlightening and exciting the young and old kids in your audience this am!

Dylan Ewen asked for any further announcements and closed the meeting.

Meeting of March 8, 2016

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Mar 11, 2016

Along with 22 of our members, we had two visitors: Lynn Gates from Little Hats and Paul Bruce, a visiting Rotarian,from the Waterdown club.

Ross Bannatyne was the Greeter and Steve Roblin took attendance. The meeting recorder was Jessica Brennan. Ernie Romain was Sergeant-at-Arms.

We had a bit of a scramble since the breakfast wasn’t ready as usual at 7:30. The Golf and Country Club had had a problem unlocking the refrigerator, so that breakfast making was delayed.

So…in true Rotary fashion we improvised and re-arranged the meeting order: did the Grace before we had food in front of us; sang the anthem; did Happy Dollars; and then, we were served our Breakfast. While still eating we completed our program.

Happy Dollars: As usual Ernie started off the Happy Dollars, letting us know that he soon would be heading off to Hawaii. A good time to warn anyone you know to expect that hurricanes, tornadoes and locust swarms are heading that way. It seems weather follows Ernie on each of his trips.

Grant was proud that his Staples store was acknowledged as one of the top 10 Staples stores in Canada.

Derek was happy to have been in Australia and New Zealand and reported that he had met up with fellow Rotarian, Fergus Cumming and his wife, Barbara.

Jan was delighted to announce that Alycia, one of our former members who is also a Paul Harris award recipient, and her husband are expecting a baby in August.

Barb was happy to be able to sing the Canadian anthem, something she very much missed while in Florida.

Marie-Louise was pleased to demonstrate that several months after her wrist injuries she is now able to use a fork. Ernie thought though that he could still take Marie-Louise on in arm-wrestling.

Wayne on his recent trip to Florida had returned to Disney World for the first time in 38 years. Still, he received a first time ever attendee award. Although it was cold, Wayne still loved his visit there, especially Space Mountain.

Paul Bruce was happy to be at the “best Rotary Club”. He also wanted us to know about the future opening of Waterdown Rotary Club Skating Rink, noting that it would also be a rollerblade rink in the summer.

Announcements: Mieke Ewen, our Community Services Director, presented a cheque to Lynn Gates to support Little Hats, a group busy knitting up hats and items for those needing extra warmth through winter.

Wayne thanked everyone who made February’s Rotary Stars possible, bringing in over $10,000. He also noted that within the next few weeks we’ll have a meeting to review Rotary Stars and discuss how to make it even better.

Ross reported that he had recently attended a President-elect training session. Three districts were represented and approximately 190 President-elects were in attendance. It was a wonderful learning experience and a great opportunity to network with other clubs and find out what they’re doing.

Ross also announced the upcoming leadership training session, being held on May 7, 2016 in Niagara Falls, N.Y. He encouraged the members of the incoming Board to attend but also welcomed those interested in expanding their knowledge about Rotary to sign up as well.

Three announcements were made about the upcoming Saturday, May 28th Lobster Rib Fest (so we know we are getting close): Nic pointed out the opportunity for event sponsorships; Glen sent around sign-up sheets for volunteering; and, Bill reminded everyone about bringing in items for the silent auction.

Mieke Ewen introduced and then thanked Don Davidson for his energized presentation and noted that as a colleague of Don’s at St. Joseph’s Villa in Dundas and his sponsor to our club, there were many wonderful new things that she learned about his life and career.

Meeting of March 1, 2016

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Mar 03, 2016

We were 18 members strong. In attendance were Barb Busing who had been away in Florida for a few months and Bob Neibert who had been locked in his office at work for the same period of time. We were delighted to welcome them both back. Harold Gruneberg was the Greeter and Bob Neibert – the very same – took attendance. The meeting recorder was Jessica Brennan. Ernie Romain was at his post as Sergeant-at-Arms

Happy Dollars: Ernie started off the Happy Dollars, regaling us with how tornedoes had chased him across Florida during his recent vacation. Steve Roblin and his wife had a week in the Turks and Caicos before their third child is due. The week started off like a Gong show but somehow the beaches, the view, time together and the people turned the week into a glorious holiday. Bill Armstrong was back from holiday where he won nearly $300 at the casino. Everyone there urged him to bet again but he held steady and just took his winnings. Some of us suspected that money went towards the bar bill. Carl was happy that it was his wife’s birthday and that it would be his later this week. He donated $10 to Rotary for each year he has been alive. He started this tradition when he became a Rotarian years ago but joked that now it was getting rather costly. Dave had been on vacation and reported that he was going to be a grandfather again this year. Bob Neibert was happy to be at the meeting and described his recent promotion at Hillfield-Strathallan. Barb put in her happy dollars for a wonderful time in Florida. While there she had attended a Rotary meeting at Bob Morrow’s place (Wayne was also there) and wondered if that qualified as a make-up.

Program: Club President Shirley Molloy guided us through a review of the Club’s strategic goals for the years 2012 to 2017. The document she referred to “Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives” has a link (under Site Pages) on the home page of our website. She pointed out that this exercise would be the first step in designing the next strategic plan. The 2012-2017 Strategic Plan is divided into three Board categories: The Club; The Local Community; and, The Global Community. We had time to only to review the first three goals under The Club category. The meeting attendees offered comments about whether a goal had been achieved or whether it was still achievable. Goal One is about membership. While we are not yet at 60 members, we certainly have gone a long way to recruiting eight new members under 45. For Goal Two, we felt that with annual fundraising including Foundation that we were close to the $1200 per member for our operating budget. A scratch lottery has not been implemented and didn’t seem to be on the radar any more. One objective had been to turn the fireworks into an all-day event. This had not been realized and was probably no longer workable. Parking challenges and noise issues were noted. We are continuing to support the Rotary Stars and Lobsterfest. We do want to avoid having the Rotary Stars on the same day as the Winter Carnival. We felt that a discussion about Rotary Stars’ placement in the year’s event schedule was needed. We suggested that for Goal Three (membership engagement) we are a very active club. We are also doing well in some areas for succession planning. We noted that we haven’t yet prepared role descriptions for each committee and/or event. Having reviewed the first three goals, we would use an upcoming Club Assembly to continue the review of 2012-2017 Strategic Plan and to craft the next one.

Hamilton Literacy Council

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Feb 25, 2016

Involved in the field of adult literacy for over 25 years, Helen McLeod was recognized in 2013 with the YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Award for her contribution in this field.

Helen reviewed various kinds of skills or competencies that have been called: literacy. Financial literacy. Media literacy. But perhaps as some new things are being framed as literacy, such as physical literacy, perhaps the word itself is getting watered down.

Literacy still is a gradation. It is not, as once thought, activated by an on/off switch. That is, one can read or one cannot. Instead there is a continuum of understanding. Also, with new evolving technologies even people who identify as educated may have low literacy in new devices and processes.

Helen then presented a number of myths about literacy and dispelled them. Helen’s presentation was followed by a lively Question and Answer section, leaving a number of members arguing for and against cursive writing as a skill to be taught in school.

Meeting of February 23, 2016

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Feb 25, 2016

We had 17 members attend and two guests: our Guest Speaker, Helen McLeod from the Hamilton Literacy Council and Agnes Samson, a volunteer tutor with the Council (or as George introduced her, Art Samson’s better half).

Marie-Louise Kelday greeted everyone while Glen Mumberson took attendance. The meeting recorder was Jessica Brennan.

George Gould stepped up to the plate to pinch hit for Ernie Romain as Sergeant-at-Arms. George also filled in as tech guru helping Helen to set up her presentation. Quite the utility player (enough baseball references?), George is.

Happy Dollars: Jessica was happy that Marie-Louise had volunteered to be Greeter for the second week in a row. Jessica was doubly pleased that she was able to tag (voluntold) Harold as Greeter for next week.

Art was happy about the upcoming Routes Gala on Friday, February 26. Indeed, he was delirious: the event has been sold-out for a week and people are still eager to attend. Some of the organizers may have to use paper plates or not eat at all.

Art was also delighted that 7 members from our Rotary Club would be attending the Routes Gala. Lovely support!

Shirley was happy that her husband is back from his trip and can see to their grandchild getting off to school in the morning.

Jessica Brennan introduced our Guest Speaker, Helen McLeod, whose topic was “Literacy”. After the presentation Jessica thanked Helen and wished her a “See you in September” when hopefully our Rotary Club will be volunteering once again at the Hamilton Literacy Council’s book swap for Telling Tales.

Meeting of February 16, 2016

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Feb 18, 2016

We were a small (17 members) but courageous group, braving a bit of winter weather. We had one guest, our Guest Speaker, Bev Greenwood.

Marie-Louise Kelday greeted everyone while Jan Southall took attendance. The meeting recorder was Jessica Brennan.

Bruce Eccles filled in for George Gould who originally was going to fill in for Ernie Romain. What deep bench strength we have at the Sergeant-at-Arms position!

Happy Dollars: Bruce was reminded by the recent weather of a time he raced motorcycles at Quebec City’s Winter Carnival where it was so cold (how cold was it? -40 below) that the spectators set the hay bales surrounding the track on fire. He gave $10 for Happy Dollars to thank everyone for a successful Rotary Stars and to mark his last Rotary meeting until he is back in May.

Grant was happy too about Rotary Stars. Not only did he get to hear his daughter, Elyssa, perform at Rotary Stars but he got a fabulous door prize he could give his wife for Valentine’s Day.

Jessica was happy that her voice student (Grant’s daughter) did so well at Rotary Stars and that her piano student got an extremely high mark on a music exam.

Shirley was happy that she managed to get to the meeting without going in the ditch as others had on her way in from Burlington. And we were all happy that she made it.

Mieke Ewen introduced our Guest Speaker, Bev Greenwood, whose topic was “Ethics”.

Vocational Service: Ethics

Posted by Jessica Brennan on Feb 15, 2016

Bev Greenwood, a chaplain at St. Joseph’s Villa for over 20 years, and a lead staff on their Ethics Committee, started her presentation by suggesting a new verse in the Bible. Given that she had to now give her talk without her PowerPoint due to technical incompatibilities, she offered a new Beatitude: Blessed are the flexible because they do not get bent out of shape. And then she carried on with ease.

Outlining Ethics as a moral philosophy, a code of conduct and a standard of human behaviour, Bev pointed out that we are surrounded by ethical issues all the time. Each of us given our moral compass, cultural background and personal values may have a different approach to resolving an ethical dilemma.

Bev presented several scenarios that various professionals might face and asked us rhetorically how we would handle them. Bev emphasized that each profession has guiding principles by which they might assess an ethical issue, underlining The Four-Way Test for our work in Rotary.

Our President, Shirley Molloy, who has known Bev Greenwood for some time, thanked her for her work in the community and her insightful presentation here.

Vocational Service: Nic Schulz Classification

Posted by Scott Vance on Feb 09, 2016

Nic Schulz was born in Brampton. He was born with heart issues and had surgery at the age of three. He grew up with his family Camping, hiking and canoeing. They moved to St Catharines and he went to University of Guelph for English and Political Science; then on to Seneca College for communications. He travelled too Australia, came back through Thailand, Malaysia and Borneo where he spent a week in Malaysia living with a local family .

On a 9 day hike on the” Overland Track “ in Tasmania he found his love for hiking.

Nic worked in Public Relations for various health care industries and Ontario craft breweries.

While working for the Toronto conservation authority he meet his wife Erin and lived in Caledon.

They met Steve Roblin and his wife and were introduced to Dundas and they fell in love with the town.

Presently Nic is working for Corner Stone bringing awareness about aggregate sites and the impact on the environment. His main focus is encouraging businesses and communities to strive for a higher bar through purchasing aggregates from approved sites.

Meeting of February 9, 2016

Posted by Scott Vance on Feb 09, 2016

Recorder: Scott Vance, Greeter: Joe Geddes, Desk: Derek Price, Sergeant at Arms: Ernie Romain, Guests: Pam Millroy from District Gift of Life Board. noon club, Visiting Rotarian: Dr. Shankardass, noon club, Attendace: 28.

HAPPY DOLLARS and ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Ernie: leaving for Vacation in Florida hoping the weather is better than last vacation. Steve: Feeling well rested and Happy that all his children are finally sleeping through the night and heading off to Grand Turks to have a real rest! Vlad: Thankful for Carl Fraser giving him a ride to Rotary this morning, after surgery on his arm. Dr. Shankardass: Back front Kenya, excited about a potential Rotary project. Bill Armstrong: Happy to be going on another cruise. Paul Clifford: Happy that his grandson accepted at Sir Sanford Fleming for demolition training. Paul also Recalling Dr. Shankardass' first Rotary meeting in the basement of the Collins Hotel many years ago.

Shirley Molloy: Pleased to see the deer outside on the golf course and generally Happy !

Pam Millroy: Gift of life began in 1975 as a Rotary Project in Long Island, New York.

It Started when the Rotary Club brought a 5year old Ugandan girl to the U.S for open Heart Surgery. Since then have treated over 15,000 children from 64 countries. They are looking for support to continue this great project!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Phil Woods, Pancake breakfast @ St Mark. Paul Clifford: Harrrp's 5th Annual Sunshine Gala fund raiser February 26th, tickets $100.00. Meike: Rotary Stars reminder Saturday February 13th @ St.James at 6pm. Sell those tickets!

Carl Fraser: Rotary Family Skate and Winter Carnival February 13th in the Driving Park, 12-4pm

Jan Southall, St James holding a Pancake Supper for the local Syrian refugees. Jan also updating us on the needs of new Syrian refugees. They still need dishes, clothing, proper shoes and basic household supplies.

Antigua Book Collection

Posted by Scott Vance on Feb 02, 2016

Paul and Jennifer Powell-Fralick from Antigua Book Collection are both educators who live in Dundas. They first went to Antigua in the 1980's. Paul, an ECE Professor at Mohawk College was there conducting trainee support workshops in conjunction with The University of the West Indies.

They soon took an interest in a student-initiated project where they worked as volunteers in Island preschools.

In 2014 the Fralick family went back to Antigua and connected with two of their colleagues who work as educators at Sir Luther Wynter preschool and Vila Primary School.

During their visits they discovered a lack of good quality literacy material. Many of the book were tattered and missing pages. They saw children who were keen to learn and interested in reading but realized there were few books in the classrooms. At that moment they realized the need for better literacy material, and the Antigua Book Collection was born.

Their goal, is to collect kindergarten to grade 8 books and send them to Villa Primary School and send books and educational play material to Sir Luther Wynter, in St. Johns Antigua.

With help from Steve Roblin from the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary and other members of our community they plan to send 4 barrels of books and school supplies to these schools.

Sir William Osler School in Dundas is also on board. Principal Tim Illman kicked of family literacy week by holding a book drive which will continue until Valentine day.

More info go to Paul Fralick: pgf146 @cogeco.ca

Meeting of February 2 , 2016

Posted by Scott Vance on Feb 02, 2016

Recorder: Scott Vance, Greeter: Mieke Ewan, Desk: Grant Armstrong, Sergeant-at-Arms: Ernie Romain, Guests: Paul Fralick and Jennifer Powell-Fralick

Attendance:24, Happy Dollars:$43.00

Happy Dollars:

Ernie - recalling his cold Cuba Trip, and golfing in the rain; and, recalling this day in Maple Leaf history - Ian Turnbull scoring 5 goals against Detroit Redwings; also recalling falling on the ice at another Hockey game and being lifted over the boards by Turk, one of the players.

Phil Woods -happy that he was too young to remember that Hockey game! Lol

Bruce Eccles - Being romantic again and having a tear this weekend when his daughter came down wearing his wife's wedding dress and also reflecting on the highlights of the All Star Hockey game.

Bill Armstrong - happy to take his grandson on a cub scout tour of the Hamilton Police Station

Mary Louise - Happy for her two Daughters. Grant Armstrong - happy for his wife’s surgery; and, Shirley just because she's happy!

Announcements:

Art Samson - Routes Gala Feb 26th tickets $50.00. Dave Carson asking for more bottles of wine or the Stars of Dundas. Phil Woods - reminding us about Pancake Sunday at St Marks Church $6.00 per person. Mieke announced her permanent position at St Josephs Villa. Michael Neibert named male athlete of the year at Hillfeild Strathallan. George reminding us about the Stars of Dundas event. Steve reported on a former Rotary exchange student from Hungary looking for position in Canada. Shirley presented Award to Grant Armstrong for bringing in a new member and helping our club to grow.

Family Day Weekend Winter Carnival

Posted by Ralph Montesanto on Jan 26, 2016

February 13 noon to 4 PM. The photo says it all!

Meeting of January 26, 2016

Posted by Don Davidson on Jan 25, 2016

Recorder: Don Davidson, Greeter: Ross Bannatyne, Desk: Bill Armstrong, Sergeant-At-Arms: George Gould

Happy Dollars: Bruce’s daughter is getting married September 9th. Bruce was happy to announce that his daughter bought a dress this past weekend and he says it was a bargain at $1500…Says Bruce, “what a deal!” Derek recently visited a local factory that manufactures dampers for high-rise buildings throughout the world. Derek was impressed to find this Canadian technology being built in Ontario.

Ralph is off to sunny Florida and this marked his last meeting for 10 weeks….he reminded Rotarians not to have too much fun without him!

Just before Christmas Ralph got a call from a farmer he knew saying he had 3 tractor trailer loads of potatoes that he wanted to give to a good cause. Ralph contacted Shirley and in the end the Salvation Army ended up taking 10, 000 ten pound bags of potatoes with another 5, 000 bags going to Food Share Hamilton. All this happened because the farmer knew Ralph was a Rotarian.

Wayne celebrated his grandson’s 19th birthday at the Winchester Arms in Dundas. Turning the legal age of 19, Wayne sent him back to the U of Guelph campus with a 6-pack of beer!
Also, Rotary Stars is fast approaching and more ticket sales are required...150-200 tickets need to be sold. So, please sell to your friends, relatives and neighbours. Sponsorship is also going well and there is room for one or two more ads in the program. Shirley enjoyed her drive into Dundas while it’s raining instead of snowing.

Jessica is very happy that Carlotta was in attendance to introduce Marie-Louise. Carlotta is Marie-Louise’s sponsor. Jessica says that Marie–Louise is first of several new Rotary members lined up to do classification talks. Also Jessica is sad that Ralph will be in Florida for 10 weeks as he is her go-to person to answer all of her Rotary questions…a Rotarian mentioned that she does have his email address!

Nice purse Carl! He reminded Rotarians that the Winter Carnival is taking place the afternoon of February 13th…same day as the Rotary Stars of Dundas. Most of it is organized however he can use some help with advertising in addition to helping out the day of the event for various tasks including handing out apple cider. Four to 5 Rotarians are required as volunteers. There will be music, skating demonstrations and horse drawn wagon rides. And best of all, no charge to the community. So, send an email to all your contacts in the area and invite them to attend. Remember, bring their skates!

Marie-Louise Kelday Classification Talk

Posted by Don Davidson on Jan 25, 2016

Marie-Louise began her talk by welcoming Rotarians in 5 different languages! She is a true Canadian as her history goes back a few hundred years to 1660 when her ancestors first arrived in Canada. Mary-Louise’s French-Canadian personal history began when she was born in Blind River in 1950. Her father came from a family of 13 children and her mother a family of 10 which translates into her having over 100 first cousins. Growing up in a large family provided Marie-Louise with strong family bonds and this is why family is a very important part of her life.

Marie-Louise’s adult life began when she attended Laurentian University to major in languages which up until that point was a big part of her life having grown up in a town that was a blend of both English and French. It was at Laurentian where she met her husband David. Marie-Louise began teaching in Toronto which was really too big a city at that time for someone from Blind River. From this teaching position, an opportunity opened up in Ottawa where she enjoyed a slower pace than she experienced in Toronto. From there, her path finally found her building a life in Hamilton. For many years, Marie-Louise taught at Académie catholique Mère-Teresa (French language school). She was quite taken by the school. It was not a very affluent school but she loved it. The school served a refugee population that included those from Africa. Marie-Louise found this teaching position a very enriching experience. Upon retirement, she recalls being affectionately called “Mama Africa” by the African parents….this was very emotional for her and she describes it as the best part of her career.

Jumping forward to 2015, Marie-Louise was skeptical about joining Rotary but after several months of being part of the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club, she now feels privileged to be here. Says Marie-Louise, “My father in-law would be tickled to see me here today as he was also a Rotarian in Dundas!” Marie-Louise ended her presentation with a thank you in multiple languages. She was formally thanked by Jessica Brennan.

Meeting of January 19, 2016

Posted by Don Davidson on Jan 19, 2016

Recorder: Don Davidson, Greeter: Grant Armstrong, Desk: Bill Armstrong, Sergeant-At-Arms: Ernie Romain
Guest of the club Mike Kehoe and guest speaker Alan Hansell.

Happy Dollars:

1)   Ernie Romain is heading to Cuba for his first trip to that island nation.
2)   Art Sampson gave Ernie some advice while in Cuba…try to cash the “tourist currency” in for “local currency” as it has bigger purchasing power! Also advised Ernie to meet up with some locals. Art had a wonderful trip to Cuba via GAP. Art says he was able to experience the “real” Cuba instead of what most of us see as typical tourists.
3)   Art also reminded Rotarians of the Routes Annual Gala coming up on February 26th.
4)   Bill Armstrong gave his Happy Dollars…just because someone left $5 and didn’t want change.
5)   Wayne Massey was happy to have breakfast this past week with the Eccles Clan!
6)   Randy Abel advised Rotarians of the Rockton Dinner Theater being held on March 31st – April 2nd and April 7th, 8th and 9th. Show is called “That’s a Wrap…a murder mystery”with George in a starring role. Tickets are available.
7)   Shirley attended “Guess who’s coming to dinner” in Burlington and had a great time! Shirley also acknowledged the deaths of a few prominent artists this past week including David Bowie and Glen Frey…Shirley is happy to have grown up in an era that included these great performers.
8)   Dave Carson reflected on 25 years ago as the Allies bombed Baghdad. Dave was then on assignment in Saudi Arabia. Dave remembers the urgency of getting out of the Middle East and back to Canada during a time when that part of the world was very fragile and unpredictable.
9)   Ralph went to Baci Restaurant with his children and grandchildren to celebrate Barb's birthday…they all had a wonderful evening. He also reminded us of Friday Night Wing Night at the Dundas Airforce Club! Tickets are available $12 in advance and $15 at the door. And, he and Barb visited the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum to see our club's donation to help the children of Queen Victoria School in Hamilton make a field trip there. Our club name and logo were clearly visible as the instructors worked through an aerodynamics lesson with the class.

Announcements:

Mieke announced that the Rotary Stars sponsorships are still available. Volunteers are required to approach local businesses for sponsorship. Please contact Wayne to be assigned a list of businesses that still required approach. If you require tickets, please contact Glen. He can also be contacted for advertising opportunities.

Guest Speaker Alan Hansell was introduced by Joe Guedes and thanked by David Carson.

Stewards of Cootes Watershed

Posted by Don Davidson on Jan 19, 2016

Alan Hansell gave an eye opening presentation on the Cootes Watershed. What is it? Why is it important? Why should we all have an interested in ensuring its future?

Stewards of Cootes Watershed is a neighborhood-based team of stewards, each responsible for ensuring the health and biodiversity of a section of Cootes Paradise and the creeks that flow into it. The Stewards goal is to educate local residents about the Cootes Watershed and inspire them to take steps to improve our watershed’s health. It is also to bring the Cootes Marsh back to the condition that it once was.
Cootes Marsh has been a nature sanctuary since 1927 and it is a bird migratory route. The marsh has garnered international recognition for its variety of amphibians and reptiles. In fact, the entire west end of Lake Ontario is dependent on Cootes Paradise.
Over 100 years of neglect to the Cootes Watershed are being reversed by the Stewards of Cootes Watershed. In the past 4 years, Project Paradise has resulted in over 4000 bags of garbage being collected. That’s not all…additionally 546 automobile tires, 37 000 lbs of metal, 50 shopping carts, and even a ladies makeup bag containing an old gun were recovered. This rubbish posed a significant health risk to all animals that depend on the Watershed for survival and unfortunately many creatures died over the years as a result.
Project Paradise has resulted in significant improvements to Cootes Paradise including the first nesting pair of Bald Eagles this end of Lake Ontario, Chinook salmon spawning in Spencer’s Creek has doubled in size, and 250,000 Spottail shiner minnows have also been found spawning.

Stewards of Cootes are always looking for volunteers from March to December. The organization plans 137 separate cleanup events. Alan says that they are close to being able to say that Spencer Creek is the cleanest it’s been in 150 years.
Says Alan, “We will remove every piece of garbage no matter how large…how small…or how complicated!"

Meeting of January 12, 2016

Posted by Nic Schulz on Jan 11, 2016

Our snowy Tuesday morning meeting saw a good turnout for Brainstorming – How to become Fearlessly Creative and have Better Ideas more Often with Dundas residents (and guests) Brandon Love and Joel Hilchey.

Jessica Brennan greeted all members with a smile and hello, Art Samson was at the door and Ernie Romain was our entertaining Sergeant-at-Arms.

Happy Dollars:
- Grant Armstrong is happy he survived his oldest son’s 15th birthday party…the only casualty appears to be the pizza fund.
- George Gould announced that he’s excited his son will be playing at the Winchester on Saturday, where George and his wife met. Members are invited to come out on Saturday for good music and some beers.
- Jessica Brennan is happy her partner Lonnie Macgee will be retiring from McMaster University while her son will keep the tradition alive. He’s in first year at Mac and doing well.
- Art Samson shared an image of the proposed condo across from the Dundas Town Hall and noted that today is the last day for an OMB appeal to the change in zoning.
- Mieke Ewen made no bones about her love of the snow and was willing to put up the happy dollars to prove it.
- Dave Carson is happy to be dog sitting his daughter's anthropomorphic standard poodle who likes to sit at the kitchen table like the rest of the family.

Club News
- Dave Carson provided an update on the community garden at St. Mark’s Church. St. Mark’s has confirmed that Dundas in Transition and Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary can continue to use the community gardens indefinitely and that there are no plans to sell this land for other uses.

Given this new development Dave proposed upgrades to the community garden which were supported unanimously by the club. These upgrades include replacing temporary wooden beds with permanent concrete blocks and building permanent deer fencing. The total cost to Dundas Valley Sunrise is anticipated at $2,500.

- Ralph Montesanto announced that the lobster committee would be meeting January 12 at 5PM at the Dundas Museum and reporting back at future meetings.
- Ralph also noted that there is a big push on membership from the district and he would like to rejuvenate the membership committee. A call was put out asking if anyone wants to join this committee…if so please let Ralph know.
- Wayne Massey made an announcement that Rotary Stars is coming up on February 13th and noted that help is needed for a number of jobs. A listing of these jobs has been sent out and members are encouraged to reply with their ability to help out. Tickets are also on sale…so get them now from Glen.
- Shirley Molloy announced that there is a Board meeting scheduled for tonight, Jan 12 at Jessica's home.

The formal program began with Bill Armstrong's introduction of Joel Hilchey and Brandon Love.