Chair: Esther Bejarano

 

O Canada: sung by Walk Off The Earth

 

 

Visiting Rotarians:  Our guest speakers

 

 

 Dr. Ian Doyle,  Rotary Club of Sydney Sunrise, District Governor 2020-21 and Ron Wilson, Rotary Club of Amherst, Area Governor

 

Dr Ian Doyle was born in Halifax but his roots are in Inverness County, Nova Scotia.  Growing up he lived in various communities in Atlantic Canada before eventually settling in Mabou, Nova Scotia.  He attended Saint Francis Xavier University where he received his BA and BEd.  After three years of teaching, he returned to university to study Dentistry at Dalhousie.  Ian began practicing in Westmount outside of Sydney in 1978. Currently he is semi-retired but still practices when the need arises in his former clinic, does some hospital work and is a part time instructor at Dalhousie Dental School.

 

Ian has been involved as a volunteer in his community over the years.  Throughout his career he has also made a major commitment to organized Dentistry.  Ian has been President of the Nova Scotia Dental Association, Chair of the Provincial Dental Board, and Canadian President of the International College of Dentists(ICD) and is currently International Councillor  for ICD, representing Canada.  He has taken part  in 10 International Dental-Medical Missions, in South America, and the Caribbean, most of which have had some degree of local Rotary support.  Ian has taken part and supported many local free dental days over the years to help those who do not have easy access to care. Ian has received the highest award from the NSDA for his contributions to the dental profession and was chosen as Alumni Volunteer of the Year by both Dalhousie University and  the Dalhousie Dental  School, in separate years .

 

Ian initially joined Rotary in1981 and after a leave of absence for about 2 years because of work and family commitments he returned to Rotary in Sydney where he has been President of both the Sydney Rotary and the Sydney Sunrise Rotary clubs.

 

Ian and his wife Anne, have hosted 6 international exchange students, attended 3 RI Conventions and they belong to the Rotary International Travel and Hosting Fellowship.  Ian has done make up meetings all over the world especially during the 15 or so years that he achieved 100% attendance. He has been involved with many local  Rotary committees over the years with a special soft spot for International and Student exchange.  Ian is currently coordinator of the Paul Harris Society, a Paul Harris Fellow, A Major Donor, and soon to be member of the Bequest Society.

 

Ian has been married to his best friend Anne for 41years.  Anne, who is a recently retired French teacher and school counsellor, was recently awarded the Rotarian Partner of the Year Award by Rotary International for her contributions to Rotary over the years.

 

Ron Wilson was born in Saint John, NB and grew up in Yarmouth NS.  He graduated from Acadia University and the Nova Scotia Technical College (Dalhousie.  He worked as a civil engineer for over 40 years in road building/municipal services/heavy civil construction and manufacturing.  His first exposure to Rotary was as a player on a Rotary sponsored Little League team in Yarmouth in the early 1960s.  He joined the Rotary Club of Sydney in 1986 and was President there 1994-5.  He has been a member of the Rotary Club of Amherst since 1996 and briefly in the Rotary Club of Moncton 2002-2004.   He was President of the Rotary Club of Amherst 2016-2017.  A Paul Harris fellow, he has held most Club offices and served on many Club committees.  His interests have/are focused on community, refugee resettlement and youth exchange.   He is always supported by his wife Elspeth, three sons and three grandchildren.

 

Dr Doyle began his presentation by acknowledging what a difficult year it has been for Truro, with the untimely passing of Jim Goit, the mass shootings in the local area, and the challenges of COVID.  

 

He noted that he is using the colours of Germany in his presentation because the new Rotary International president, Holgar Knaack is from Germany.   The Rotary theme this year is “Rotary Opens Opportunity” and it is so fitting in a world which completely changed in March with the arrival of COVID.  In spite of this there are more clubs than last year and attendance is higher than it has ever been. He has the goal of creating new and innovate clubs and expanding Rotary’s reach.   Ian commended our club for the community initiative we are involved with in Portapique as an example of expanding our reach.   The vision is that each club will hold at least one strategic planning meeting per year, discuss what our club will look like in 5 years, and what value do we bring to our club and to our members.  He noted paying attention to membership is very important. In general we have inducted as many new members as have left.   Do new members fit and do they feel welcome.  We need to take good care of them.

 

He then introduced the Leadership Team:

 

International:

Jennifer Jones from Windsor Ontario will be the Rotary President in 3 years time.  Her friend Valerie Wafer is the International Director for Zone 28 (most of Canada) and 32 (North East US, Alaska and Northern US).  Valerie has monthly meetings with the District Governors.

 

District:

Ian Doyle, District Governor, Sydney Sunrise

Alex Twells, District Governor, Elect St John’s East

Roger Sevigny, DGIV, St Pierre and Miquelon

Lousia Horne, Immediate Past District Governor, Halifax Harbourside

   Ian congratulated Lousia on her efforts to keep us all connected when COVID hit, hosting breakfast meetings on Zoom and bringing in interesting speakers

Godfred Chongatera, District Secretary ,Halifax Harbourside

Wendy Scammell, District Treasurer, St John’s Northwest

Board of Directors:

Kevin Armstrong, District Executive Assistant, AG representative, Sydney Sunrise

Holly Thompson, Data Management, New Minas Sunrise

Wayne Thompson, Member at Large, Summerside

Kristina Ennis, Public Image, St John’s East

Alana Hirtle, District Trainer, Truro

Jillian Gibson, Foundation Chair, Halifax Harbourside

Kevin Connors, Membership, Dartmouth East

Michael Craig, Youth Services Chair, Halifax Harbourside

Lorraine Ennis, Conference Director, St John’s East

 

L = Listen and Learn

I = Impact and Inclusion

            Ian believes Rotary has a huge impact as the #1 service club in the world but we need to work on inclusion with our clubs representing our community

V = Vision and Value

            Vision – where are we going and why, where we will be in 5 years

            Value – eagerness, following the 4 way test etc

E = Environment and Enjoy Rotary

            Environment – new pillar for Rotary, promotes hand on work, as environment projects always need lots of volunteers

            Enjoy Rotary – fun and fellowship

 

1. Year 2 of Strategic Plan

2. Lead – increase our impact, engaged continuous improvement, adapt with flexibility, and diversity, inclusion relationships

3. Move the needle and help clubs thrive

District Initiatives

1. On July 2 2022 the districts 7820 and 7810 will amalgamate to form a new district 7815.  There will be 20 clubs added to 7820 from New Brunswick. There will be 3 francophone clubs.  The clubs in Maine that are near the border can decide which way they want to go – stay with 7815 or move to US based district.

2. Training for Leaders of Club (TLC) on September 12^th

3. A systemic racism task force

4. End Polio Tulip Campaign

5. Rotary Atlantic virtual Conference for District 7820- and 7810 on October 24^th.  The conference will be about 5 hours and will have breakout sessions on the topics of racism, inclusion, indigenous respect, and environment.  A French session will be on the topic of Foundation.

6. Building individual and community resilience through stronger volunteers

 

There will be a Rotary Citation program.  There will be 25 available goals and each club can select their 13 to accomplish.  Achievements are reported to Rotary Central.  Ian thinks Rotary Club of Truro will have no trouble meeting this goal.

 

1. DG visits with clubs, President’s Council, Board meetings, TLC, will be virtual into 2021

2. Budgeting in the new normal, helping clubs, passing on $$ not used in Governor’s budget along to clubs

3. Joint District Conference October 24^th – licensed for zoom for 500, but can be increased to 1000 if need

4. District Conference May 2021

5. Annual meeting May 2021

6. Rotary International Convention Taiwan June 2021, questionable, likely won’t be much uptake from N Amerca

 

Main goal: We want to help you to thrive.  There are lots of experts in our district to help you.

 

Ron Wilson is the Area Governor of the Northern area of our District – a resource person for the clubs of Amherst, Truro, Westville, New Glasgow and Pictou.  He said he can help navigate questions re issues that may arise in the clubs, directing to the appropriate resource.   He said the President’s Council is a leadership group composed of club Presidents and any other person who wants to attend.  Zoom allows people to get together without travel. 

 

 

Rotary Cares: Alana reported that there was a community BBQ in Portapique on Tuesday evening.  Andrew and Matt were there along with approximately 45 community members.  There was good feedback on the hall project, how to use the space inside and out, and to possibly revive the Portapique dance hall.  Working on the $$ numbers now.  The total cost may be close to $400,000 but there already have been significant donations in kind.  There is an application for government funds.   Alana is responding to the Rotary Clubs throughout the country who offered funds and will give them an update on the project.

 

Toastmasters: Rotary International has forged a partnership with Toastmaster and Rotary can benefit from their leadership.  Their resources are available on the Rotary Learning Centre.   Alana will be speaking about Rotary at the Truro Toastmaster Speakeasy Club on Wednesday evening. She is allowed 15 minutes, including introduction and Q & A.  Everyone in our club is welcome.  This is the invitation from Toastmasters:

 

Warm greetings to members of the Rotary Club of Truro!

 

In January Toastmasters and Rotary announced a new collaboration so that members of both clubs can enhance their skills, broaden their networks, and have a greater impact on their communities.

 

As a result, we at Truro Speakeasy Toastmasters are inviting members of the Rotary Club of Truro to take part in our regular meeting on Wednesday, August 19th at 6:00-7:30 pm on Zoom. The theme of the meeting will be “Rotary Club” and we are pleased to have Alana Hirtle on the agenda so we can learn more about your club and all you do! We will also have the regular components of a Toastmasters meeting, including impromptu speaking, prepared speeches, and evaluations. There will be opportunity for light participation on a voluntary basis.

 

Toastmasters provides a supportive environment in which to develop and regularly practice communication and leadership skills. There are 25 clubs in Nova Scotia and 16,800 clubs in 143 countries around the world! The Pathways educational program has choices to let you focus on the skills that are most beneficial to you in your professional and personal life.

 

Our meetings are structured and yet light-hearted, as we aim to create a safe and comfortable environment for our members to learn and grow. We hope you will join us next Wednesday, whether to support Alana, to network, or because you are just curious! Here is the link for the meeting:

 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88452765121?pwd=WVJ3TWhQYUV6Y3k0TmgyVk41UXNMUT09

 

Regards,

Jennifer McClare

 

Polio Swim:  Laurie said the Polio swim is a go for this coming Sunday.  Swimmers will gather at the Bowness home, take a boat over to Chester’s dock and then swim back to Bowness’ place.  .   There are 8 swimmers so far who all need sponsors. She has already forwarded pledge forms.  You can send a donation by e- transfer to our treasurer.  (etrct0940@gmail.com)

 

Happy Mug:

Alana: just had 2 weeks vacation, has goal this summer of 10 beaches and has done 6.  Last week she enjoyed a social distant social with the New Minas club

Laurie: suggest a socially distant social for our club, offered her farm.  She is happy to announce she is running for Councillor in District 2.

 

Meeting adjourned at 1:06 pm.  22 participants.