Please join us at Odd Fellows Hall, 218 Concession Street, Kingston ON.
The Rotary Four Way Test
Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned
Rotary Reflection
For food in a world where many walk in hunger
For peace in a world where many walk in fear
For friends in a world where many walk alone
And for the opportunity to serve others through Rotary,
May we be truly thankful!
The Loyal Toast
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Queen of Canada!
Acknowledgement of Territory
We are gathered on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory. we are grateful to be able to join together in Rotary Fellowship on these lands.
The meeting opened with the singing of the National Anthem
Ed Thompson read the Acknowledgement of Territory
Guests:Zoe MacKenzie, guest of the club, who has applied as a Friend of Rotary; Onagottay, guest of Robert Reid
Friends of Rotary: Heather Nogrady, Glen Roberts
Visiting Rotarians:Birket Foster, Chesterville Rotary Club (speaker)
Service Commitments (Makeups):Rick Fiedorec & Greta du Bois: Kingston 2020 Committee
Member Sharing
Fun Master - Rick Fiedorec
Rick Frasso 'donated' $35 last week to the draw fund
Ana was fined for mis-spelling Rick’s surname (it's Feeadoorick)
Pay $1 if you:
didn’t introduce yourself to the guest speaker
have never been treasurer
have a cottage
Happy/Sad Bucks
Ana: lunch with Elizabeth, auction talk; and then a surprise retirement party with Sunlife colleagues!
Bill Egnatoff: 23-day family visit to Ecuador (visiting 20-month-old grandson and family); one-week flute masterclass in Italy
Greta du Bois: last week’s meeting was a perfect example of what Friendship Exchange can achieve, twin visit and collaborative projects
Murray Cotton: golfed yesterday, I'm back!
Greg Mumford: commercial buck, if you are looking for a summer destination Canada Science and Technology Museum's da Vinci exhibit is world class
Michelle Chatten-Fiedorec: Greg said “Good morning, sunshine!”
John Farrow: fixed Google search to bring up all four clubs in Kingston, fixing RI search; inaugural PRIDE festival in Gananoque; since he was wearing his Rotary shirt, he ran into Maggie MacLaren, CEO of Dawn House; she will be speaker September 3
Robert Reid: Got up at 5 am lost computer adaptor and breakfast card, thanks to John for rescuing him
Birket Foster: note from friend re Muskee fishing, plane cancelled, now arriving earlier
Zoe MacKenzie: Very happy to be back amongst us; wedding anniversary yesterday
Other Communication
Bill Egnatoff:
Adventures in History is running from September 25th to 28th. We have 12 high quality applicants and are sure to have more. John Farrow is arranging billets, and there are many other roles members can take on - billeting a student, transport, mentoring, publicity and more. Stay tuned.
Greg Mumford:
Auction needs gifts in, let's get going, more next week and we unveil something special. More bingo volunteers needed for August 1st
Elizabeth Cohoe:
It's not too late to volunteer for the Nut Drive - let Elizabeth know.
President's Announcement
President, Ana Sutherland:
Michael Laverty is looking for a new District Chair of Adventures Programs and Scholarships. Speak to Ana if you are interested.
Presidents Council July 25—please pass on any thoughts to President Ana
Next week: forms will be available for members to choose committees; invited chairs to woo members (Foundation Committee meetings at Kingston Dodge will be with cookies!)
Next week: Auction Committee update and Foundation Awards; bring guests
Our club is very, very active; goal during year to have regular updates
Chase the Ace!
In a stunning display of the 4 way test, Heather got her misplaced tickets back and won the draw but didn't draw the one :)
Robert Reid and National Committee had an update for us on their recent activities;
Teaching Circle at Loughborough Public School (Heather Nogrady reporting)
This project has been in the works for a couple of years, the brainchild of Janza Giangrosso. It is an Outdoor teaching circle at Loughborough Public School. Cataraqui Rotary has contributed trees around the circle; will become wonderful shade trees, and has facilitated the putting together of this project. Stones, portraying seven Indigenous values, labelled in Ojibway and English have been placed around the circle. The kids were very, very enthusiastic about the inauguration of the circle. They listened to an elder discuss Indigenous culture and teachings, who got kids to share their thoughts on the meaning of the seven values. This helps develop pride in land and encourages learning of their cultural heritage and language, and to understand more of the history of the land and the territory. Each child was encouraged to bring his or her own stone, to be placed in the circle, giving them a connection to this particular place. It is a beautiful and meaningful space, will be loved and honoured. Our club also has it’s name on a stone because of our sponsorship. The event was covered by local papers including Whig Standard and in the Kingstonist, and was front-page news in Kingston the week. President Ana was presented with a spirit catcher, made of Sweetgrass strands woven to be strong, symbolizing our being stronger together than individually.
New Hope Bikes in Pikangikum.
We learned about this community again through Janza. Norfolk Sunrise Rotary Club has been doing regular work there. Our International Committee contributed $200 for food for a canoe trip, but it ended up being used for food for the evacuation centre after a forest fire. Once people returned, we contributed $2,000 to employ youth in bike repair workshop, housed in a cleverly repurposed shipping container. Also part of the project was the construction of a BMX track, trails, and employing youth to fix bikes for the kids. An inspiring video was shown about the project, which can be seen at;
Robert Reid introduced speaker Birket Foster from Chesterville Rotary to speak about the EOT (Emergency Operation Things) Project. Birket spoke at the District Conference last year and President Ana felt it was important for him to connect with us, because of our involvement in Indigenous projects through our National Committee.
EOT really started from Birket organizing his high school reunions for Beaconsfield High School. A legacy idea emerged that might change people’s lives. Chesterville Rotary Club was already involved with Ryan’s Wells, helping dig wells in Africa, and someone said "why not do the same work here in Canada?"
The problem in Northern communities isn’t just getting clean water - the need is also for enough pumpable water to put out fires. Last summer, two fire-fighting schools were set up, at two levels. This was the initiative of Connie Delisle, a person with indigenous background and experience with the Privy Council, as well as a public safety background. Jennifer Franssen from Kemptville Rotary got involved, as well as a couple of members from DART (disaster assistance recovery team) with their technology that provides potable water at the site of any disaster as soon as they get there.and a modified Shelter Box with stoves and water kits was created. All of these Rotary connections are bringing all the assets needed together - water, sewage treatment, power, and communications.
The talk was full of examples of key aspects of the project being facilitated by making connections with people with specific expertise and experience; e.g., need for sewage, power, communications. Whenever he talks about the work to Rotarians, some speaks up with expertise and ideas to share.
So the Four Avenues of Service of this project are: water, waste water, power, communications
Key features that will guide the project are;
community discussion on the project - finding communities that want to do this. Birket intends to connect with HIP (Honouring Indigenous Peoples) to help find communities that are interested because this is a collaboration between Rotary and the community. The community will get Federal Government funds.
examine deployment model, ensuring community involvement, to ensure sustainability; needs to start with proper assessment. This opens the Infrastructure Bank to get funds. Joseph Redhead from the West Ottawa Rotary, a retired water engineer got involved at this point to help guide the assessment.
look at level of implementation, connecting with existing infrastructure, use a 'lego block' strategy to make things scalable.
define the “topup” including integration with existing infrastructure to open up the funds
decide on deployment (materials, training—who and what). Eight people will be trained in the four categories and will need to be paid a stipend for their work. Training is critical - a $26 million water project now sits idle in a Northern community because training was not addressed properly.
time for delivering, installing, training, then commissioning, operating, and monitoring are all keys aspects
the goal is to find a community with a problem, not the worst water problem, to test the concept and tweak things that can be done better
add to list of resilient communities
This is summarized in the flowchart below (apologies for any problems viewing the chart)
36 of our District 7040 clubs have said they want to help
The overall philosophy is: accuracy first, then momentum. We need to understand community needs to get the ball rolling. The target is next year to launch.
Q: What about provision of (electrical) power?
A: Varies according to equipment. Need enough to run whatever equipment you have. In B.C., Jennifer stashed generators throughout province to ensure earthquake readiness.
Example of new company using banks of small generators, serviceable locally, with heat recovery, heat battery, and energy server, etc. This resulted in huge change in Fort Providence, B.C., actually taking the town off the grid. The system stabilizes the community electrical system. A greenhouse is producing fresh vegetables year-round.
The model looks like this;
see ssie.ca for details (Innovative Energy Solutions for Remote Communities)
Questions and Comments
Greg Mumford: An observation. Started with a discussion with the community. So much hinges on their wanting it, wanting to drive it. What are the criteria for working with communities?
A: Yes. This is for the north.
Onagotay: Nothing for the people without the people. If you don’t gather the people, what they want and need, it won’t work.
Ed Thompson: Through my experience working in the 1980's, the big problem is in sustainability. Where does funding for that come?
A: There are funds available for training.
John Richards: Cost of assessment
A: $80,000 approximately
John Farrow thanked Birket with the traditional loaf of bread.