Our Meeting at the PEI Brewing Company

Rotary Club of Charlottetown

Meeting Minutes of October 6, 2014

Chairperson: Edna Reid called the meeting to order with the Island Hymn, Rotary grace and toast to the Queen.

 Sergeant at Arms: Dale Turner collected Happy Dollars.

 Chairperson Edna Reid introduced the head table.

Relieving Secretary (Phil Floyd) report: 30 members present with 0 scooters and 0 make ups to be credited. There was no visiting Rotarian, 2 guests of Rotarians Brian Scales guest of David Scales and Ben Nissen guest of Paul Jenkins and 0 guests of Rotary.  Nelson Hagerman won the 50/50 for the week in the amount of $18.00 and Nelson did not draw the Queen of Hearts. The jack pot prize now stands at $615.00 with 19 cards left in the deck.

President Rick thanked Jeff Squires for hosting the Rotary Club today at the PEI Brewing co.

President Rick reminded that the club assembly is Wednesday night October 8, 2014 at 7:00 PM at Camp Gencheff. The agenda was sent around with the weekly bulletin by email.

President Rick reminded the club of the Charter evening to be held on November 17, 2014 and more volunteers are required so please let him know right away if you can assist as the time is counting down.  

President Rick called on Chair Edna Reid and she confirmed that Moe Rodgerson has agreed to be the co-chair for the 2015 Easter Seals Campaign.

Milestones: Peter Boswall 13 years of Rotary service on Oct 15^th.

Birthdays Gary Scales Oct 4^th, Lorne Moase Oct 9^th, Harry O’Connell Oct 12^th, Corrine Hendericken-Eldershaw Oct 13^th,  Karen Moffatt Oct 10^th and Craig Bradley Oct 15^th.

Wedding Anniversaries: Allison and Gail Swan 44 years on Oct 10^th, Jane and Raye Brewster 52 years on Oct. 11^th, David and Doris Scales 58 years on Oct 12^th, and John and Barbara Scales 34 years on Oct 18^th.

Chairperson Edna Reid introduced Jeff Squires President and CEO of the PEI Brewing Co.

Jeff Squires thanked the Charlottetown Rotary Club for coming out to their brewery and thanked every one for supporting the PEI Brewing Co.

Jeff mentioned he was just back from Halifax NS where their Horse Brown beer won a gold award in the first Atlantic Brewing Awards held over the past weekend.

He mentioned they had 5 employees in 2009 and are now up to 42 employees.

PEI Brewing Co. had it first beer listing in the province of Ontario this past year and they have all their products listed now in BC.

Three years ago they moved to 96 Kensington Road, Charlottetown and renovated the old building which used to house the Coca Cola plant. The renovations included a full kitchen, the event place that can hold 250 people for a sit down and a complete brewery. They hosted 600 visitors with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce over the past weekend at the brewery advertising their great beers.

Jeff went on to say the DME a local business made all their brewing equipment and is one of the top 3 providers of brewing equipment in the world. This goes a long way to say that businesses here on PEI can compete internationally.

Jeff stated that there are 370 breweries now in Canada and a lot of them are in smaller cities and town providing good employment in the communities.

Jeff noted that they use as many local ingredients in their beers as they can acquire and this has been good for them as well as the local business community.

Their brew master is from BC.

Peter MacDougall co-chair for the day thanked Jeff for in invitation to come to the brewery for lunch and the great story about their businesses.

Chair Edna Reid adjourned the meeting with the singing of O Canada.