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PEI Rotary Mini-Conference April 8th 
 
                                   
                                                  
 
This learning is should be attended by all Club members interested in making the Club irresistible, and those interested in taking a future Leadership role. Also, the learning & training is excellent for existing Executive, Directors, Committee Chairs. If you came last year, please come again! The learning will be different!
 
Rotary Club of Charlottetown is looking at Succession Planning in Club Leadership. Please let us know if you would like to help make a real difference in your Community by being a Rotary Leader. It would be great if more female Club members came forward since 33% of the Club is female and the percentage is growing! This Mini-Conference is good way to learn more about Rotary.
 
Mini-Conference:  Saturday, April 8 in PEI 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
 
What will happen at this interactive TLC day of learning?
 
  • Professional development and leadership training that will useful in clubs and at work!
  • Separate Breakouts about the roles and responsibilities for Secretaries & Treasurers – learn about the most important tasks of your role, and review best practices and calendars of key dates; Advanced Treasurer session for those interested in establishing a foundation.
  • Effective Meetings for Presidents, Directors and Committee Chairs – learn how to chair a great meeting that is fun and productive … and that members won’t want to miss!  Simply irresistible!
  • Annual Club Planning for All Leaders – you will learn about Effective Planning and actually work on your club’s plan in this working session – this will get you started on the necessary planning for July 1.
  • Foundation, Youth and Membership – critical information that all club leaders need to know.
The “working session” parts of the day will be most beneficial if your club is well represented – the day is open to all members and we strongly encourage your Executive, Directors and Committee Chairs to attend.  If you have members who might be considering leadership roles “down the road”, they are most welcome to participate too. 
 
A laptop or tablet could be helpful, but not necessary. Please let us know you would like to attend.
 
 
 
2 New Members 
On Jan. 30th, we Inducted 2 new members into our Club. Jo-Ann Thomsen, Development Officer at UPEI - sponsored by Paul Crant, and Melanie MacDonald of DVA - sponsored by Krystine Richards. Great to have you as members of our Club! Club member Flory Sanderson seen below placing the Rotary Pin on the new members.
 
 
 
 
 
Rotary Council of Legislation April, 2016
Rotary is governed by a Board of Directors lead by a President. Every three years, Rotary meets in a forum called the Council on Legislation. The last Council of Legislation forum was April 11-15, 2016. There were many changes to Rotary policies and rules during this Council making the most progessive Council in Rotary's history. Two key Enactments are noted below:
 
16-21 Flexibility in Meetings/Attendance – Amended. Passed 392 to 82.
 
Current club constitution Article 6 provides clubs meet once a week. Article 9 regarding attendance provides members must attend unless they make up fourteen days before or after, attend a service project or a board meeting. Article 9 provides for termination if member doesn’t attend or make up fifty percent of meetings or attend thirty percent of meetings at their own club or misses four consecutive meetings. The above requirements will remain in the standard club constitution and can be followed by clubs if desired. The new enactment provides that club bylaws may alter these provisions. For example, to determine when and how often a club meets, except it must meet two times per month (there is no definition of “meeting”); Club's may set their own attendance requirements like volounteer time in lieu of meeting attendance; and the club may modify or eliminate termination policies for non-attendance.
 
The reason that this Enactment came forward was due to Rotary trying to be relevant in today's society. The world has changed over the last 50-60 years. Businesses are no longer as supportive as they used to be of employees taking almost 1.5-2 hours of their day for a Rotary meeting. The people that can, usually have to make up the time by working longer hours, which impacts family time. Our Club lost 10 of the new members inducted last year because of these reasons. Quoting from RI President, John Germ in the Rotarian Magazine July, 2016 edition: "Our Clubs have always been organized around a meal...that system served us well. But society has changed. How do we accommodate a 30 year old businessperson raising a family? Well, for one thing, we could pay less attention to attendance. My question isn't How many meetings did you make? It's How are you making a difference in the Community?".  
 
 
16-36 Kinds of Membership –Amended. Passed 386 to 75.
 
Currently there are two kinds of membership: active and honorary. That will remain in the standard club constitution and can be followed by clubs. Alternatively, this enactment provides that club bylaws may have provisions not in accordance with the constitutional documents. That is, clubs may have alternative forms of memberships such as corporate, associate, family, etc. They may amend or eliminate rules for transferring Rotarians, Honourary members, holders of public office, dual membership.
 
 
Clubs around the world are implementing the new forms of Membership and are attracting good quality members. Having alternative forms of Membership will allow for a more dynamic Club and help the Club grow. Also, flexibility in Attendance requirements is needed due to our changing Society. Do not want to be the last Club to make these changes? We need to innovate in order to build a Club for the next 100 years of Service.  
 
Please refer to the Club's website to view a Powerpoint presentation of the highlight of the Council of Legislation
 
 
 
STAR Program Feb.
About 15 New Rotarians attended the first STAR Program training session on Feb. 6th. Thank you to those who attended and thank you to Moe Rodgerson for doing the presentation on Rotary International History (Zones/Districts) Areas of Service within our Club including: Club Service, Community Service, Vocational Service, International Service and New Generation, Easter Seals, and Membership Development. The next STAR Program presentation will be Monday, March 6th at 11:15 AM. Club member and Club/District Youth Exchange Chair, Michelle Johnston-Lazaratos will be doing a presentation on New Generation: Youth Exchange/Interact/ Rotaract, Rotary Peace Scholars.
 
 
 
 
International Week of Service 

Rotary will be partnering with other service organizations in an International Week of Service, March 25-31 2017. All over the world, volunteers like you are working to improve their communities. In the spirit of Rotary Serving Humanity, I ask you to invite another local service group to volunteer with you. Information and resources for this event can be found at weekofservice.org. Visit the International Week of Service 2017 Facebook event page to RSVP and see what other clubs are planning.

Organizations participating in this event include: Lions Clubs International, Rotary International, Optimist International, Junior Chamber International, Kiwanis International, Moose International, Soroptimist, Y’s Men International, Pilot International, and Sertoma Inc.

To participate, your club can work with one or more other area service groups to do something together for your community. They can join you in a pre-planned event, or you can plan a new event together. Find a fellow service organization in your community here. Share your photos and videos at weekofservice.org, on the event page, and on social media using #weekofservice2017. To promote your activities locally, we’ve provided you with a customizable press release.

This event will help us to promote all of our organizations, highlight membership opportunities, and reinforce the importance of doing good in the world. It’s a chance for our volunteers to forge lasting relationships and creating the potential for future joint projects. Your participation will also achieve one of the service goals listed in my presidential citation.

I hope you’ll join me in what promises to be a unique, important opportunity to better your community.

Sincerely,

John F. Germ
President, Rotary International 2016-17

 

 

 

 

Annual General Meeting 2015-2016
On Feb. 6th, we had an Annual General Meeting for 2015-2016. 
 
Past President Bush set set a Plan to revitalize the Club by focusing on 3 main Goals. The Plan presented them to the Club under the name Phoenix Initiative in late November, 2015. The Plan included:
 
1) Increase the size of the Membership to 120 - Membership started at 61 at the beginning of the year and peaked at 119 on June 30, 2016 including 6 Honourary members. However, a total of 11 members did not renew. Still, an unparalleled growth in membership in only 7 months. There were many members that did not really believe that this Goal were achievable. 
 
2) Obtain 60% meeting Attendance - Meeting Attendance including Make Ups stood at 61.7% during the period Jan. 1, 2016 - June 30, 2016.
 
3) Reduce the average age of the Club to 55 - This goal is not measurable given that not all Dates of Birth were entered into Clubrunner. However, there was a significant reduction in the average age of the Club because of all the new members.
 
The complete Phoenix Initiative plans'  first step was to increase the size of the Membership so that we could undertake Step 2 of the Plan. The second step was to find a successful Fundraiser. Much time was spent by the Board investigating various types of fundraisers. The Fundraisers investigated included a Mud Run, 50/50 type Draw, Ribfest or Beef Fest, and Radio Bingo. Rotary Radio Bingo was selected by the Board for further consideration and then placed/discussed before the Club in April, 2016. We were lucky to have new member, Andy Richardson, come forward with this idea in April, 2016. The Bingo has been successfully launched under current President Wes MacAleer and is lead by new member, Lori Carver. Many thanks to Moe Rodgerson and Peter MacDougald who did a lot of work on the various Fundraisers that were under consideration at that time. Our Treasurer, Craig Bradley, filed a report on the Radio Bingo fundraiser during the meeting. The funds raised by the Bingo are to go back to the Communities where the fund were generated, as much as possible. We want the Rotary symbol on everything we do to promote the impact that we are making in the community and all over PEI. The third step in the Phoenix Initiative is the undertaking of new Club Projects which engages the membership and attracts new members. This still remains to be implemented and depended on a satisfactory Fundraiser. The Club should be in a position to consider the options in the near future.  
 
A large part of the Plan was to get Social Media working and our website updated, so that we can promote the Club and to make it more attractive to new prospects. Hannah Bell did a lot of work to get the Clubrunner website updated and got Facebook & Twitter going again. Paul Crant took over the Club's Twitter account increasing the Twitter Followers from 208 to 900 by the end of the fiscal year - now at 1420. Chelsey Rogerson started working the Club's Facebook page late in the fiscal year. The Club had 60 Facebook Likes in late Jan., 2016 and now has 263 Likes.   
 
Also, during Bush's year, part of the Plan was to update the Club's Bylaws since we felt were hindering the success of the Club. There was much discussion at the Board level, but only one change occurred during that year. More work is also required to update the Bylaws. Thank you to Peter Boswall for all his work in this regard.
 
Past President Bush thanks all those who volounteered their time to make it a successful year. 
 
At the meeting, there were presentations on 2015-2016 from the major Committee Chairs: Michelle Johnston-Lazaratos of Youth Exchange, Bob Moffatt of the Centennial Committee, Craig Bradley on our financial reports, Sandra MacKay on Attendance, Regan Lewis on Easter Seals, and Paul Crant on Membership.
 
Centennial - The Centennial Committee met many times and did a lot of work in 2015-2016 putting together Events for the Centennial year. These Events are taking place this year or have already taken place in some cases. A Commemorative Pin was designed last year which is has been distributed free of charge to Club members in Nov., 2016. A very successful New Year's Levee was accomplished already this year. Other Events to come this year include: 100 hundred trees to be planted May 17th at Government House & around Charlottetown, Youth Exchange Event during Old Home Week, Charter Night Dinner on Oct. 1, 2017 with Rotary International President. A ROTARY WHEEL in flowers will be located at the entrance PEI at the Confederation Bridge - thanks to the Provincial Highways Department. For this year as a result of the Club Centennial & Easter Seals PEI operating for 60 years, for Club member Donations to Easter Seals PEI of $100 will be matched by the Club. And finally, much work was done on the publication of a Book on the history and activities of all the Rotary Clubs on Prince Edward Island. There will be a Book launch at Jim's cottage later this year. We wish to thank the Committee Members which include: Jim Macnutt, Moe Rodgerson, Sandra MacKay, Lorne Moase, Ken Gillis, Larry Sider, Mary McMillan, & Teresa Wright.
 
Membership - Membership Growth was the driving factor behind this Committee. A prospect list of over 500 people were identified on Spreadsheet and was used to organize a Contact program. The "Membership Drive" was managed like a political nomination campaign - something that we knew about. 52 prospects were Inducted into the Club during the Dec.2015-June 30, 2016. 10 of the new members did not renew. Overall, 11 members did not renew at fiscal year end. Total Membership was 102 at end of the fiscal year not including Honourary members. Thank you to members of the Club that sponsored and referred many new members to our Club last year: Austin Bowman, Flory Sanderson, Bertha Jay, Paul Crant, Larry Sider, Scott MacEwen, and many others.
 
Attendance - In the 2015-16 Rotary Year, 6 members had 100% attendance – one of those members had 35 years of perfect attendance; one had 20 years and another had 15. In the second half of the 2015-16 Rotary Year, one half of the Regular Members of the Club had an attendance (including makeups) below 50%. We wish to thank the Attendance Committee members: Lorne Moase, Daphne Dumont, Dr. Mark Triantafillou, Sandra MacKay, Flory Sanderson, Donna McIver, Peggy Coady Compton, Mary MacMillan, Ivan Morrison, & Jeff Collins.       
 
Easter Seals -  $117,000 was raised by Easter Seals PEI in 2015-2016 for children with challenges. Last year's Easter Seals Ambassador was Tyra Mckeeman. Tyra was very friendly and outgoing. The Campaign, like every year, involves over a dozen events like the Tim Hortons Bus Tour, the Rotary Club Tour, Corporate Sponsors, Easter Beef Show & Sale, Islander Hockey Games, Storm Basketball Games, Mail In donations., etc. Club members on the Committee members included: Regan Lewis - Chair, Paul Crant - Co-Chair, Moe Rodgerson, Edna Reid, and Jim Travers. Rotary Club of Summerside representatives on the Committee were Scott Mollins & John Maynard. Rotary Club of Montague representatives on the Committee were Martha MacLean, and Maureen Hanley. Donations from the funds raised during last years Campaign were recently approved including: Camp Gencheff, Community Inclusions, Joy Riders, PEI Cerebral Palsy Association, PEI Council for People with Disabilities. As well, the disbursement of 50% of the net proceeds from the Easter Seals PEI Provincial Committee to the 3 Rotary Clubs was also recently approved. 
 
Youth Exchange - Inbounder for the year was Thomas Madessis from Belgium. Our Outbounder was Emma Clark, daughter of Ewan Clark, went to Switzerland. The Committee members in 2015-2016 were: Michelle Johnston-Lazaratos, Kim Nickerson, Daphne Dumont, Donna McIver, Jeff Collins, Carl Lafford, Scott Wilson, Mary MacMillan, and Michael Morrison. Thanks to the drivers, the committee members, and those from the club who spent time or did activities with Thomas. Thanks to Peter MacDougald for the use of his boardroom for committee meetings. And thanks to club overall for continued commitment to the program. We are happy to that we have 2 outbounders/inbounders in the coming year (2017-18).
 
Financials - Club Financials were presented during the meeting. Also, year to date financials of the Rotary Radio Bingo were presented. 
 
Pictured below at the AGM is our Treasurer for Life, Craig Bradley, and Past President, Bush Dumville.
 
 
 
 
 
2017 Easter Seals Campaign Kick Off
On Feb. 13, 2017, we had our Easter Seals 2017 Kick Off. Thank you to the 42 Club members who braved the storm!
 

Message from our Campaign Chair, Peter MacDougall:

It is with enthusiasm that we invite you to take part in this year’s campaign. Thanks to the commitment and support of many generous donors, we raised more than $115,000 last year. This funding was used to assist organizations such as the PEI Council of People with Disabilities, Joyriders, Cerebral Palsy Association, PEI Association for Community Living (O’Leary Local, in partnership with Community Inclusions), Village des Sources l’Étoile Filante and Camp Gencheff, as well as programs supported through Rotary.  

Easter Seals is a joint initiative of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown, with support from Summerside and Montague. We are proud of the fact all funds raised by the campaign stay right here on PEI. The team of volunteers has been hard at work since September putting together the 2017 Easter Seals Campaign and we are excited as we move towards this year’s Campaign.

We have a wide array of fundraising and awareness activities planned for the year, from community events to hockey and basketball games, a corporate campaign where businesses across the Island lend support, our annual Tim Horton’s Ambassador School Tour and our Paper Egg campaign in partnership with Lawtons Drugs.  We thank you for your past support and encourage you to continue to donate and attend Easter Seals events, to help Islanders with disabilities.

We would also like to thank our amazing Ambassador, Cameron Gordon. His enthusiasm, positive attitude and desire to help out will certainly contribute to our success in this year’s campaign.  Please help us support his efforts to raise funds for Easter Seals by visiting https://eastersealspei.org and thank you to the 20 Rotarians who have already contributed $100 to the 2017 Campaign!

 

Pictured below are Easter Seals 2017 Campaign Chair, Peter MacDougall; newly announced Easter Seals 2017 Ambassador, Cameron Gordon; and Rotary Club of Charlottetown President, Wes MacAleer.
 
 
 
Head Table from left to right includes: Stephen Cudmore, representing the Rotary Club of Summerside and 2013 Easter Seals Campaign Chair, Regan Lewis, Easter Seals Treasurer and 2016 Campaign Co- Chair, Mayor of Charlottetown Clifford Lee, Paul Crant, Acting Secretary and 2016 Campaign Co-Chair, Premier Wade MacLauchlan, Club President Wes MacAleer, 2017 Easter Seals Campaign, Peter MacDougall, Lieutenant Governor of PEI Frank Lewis, Past District Governor Bob Moffat, 2017 Easter Seals Ambassador Cameron Gordon, Cameron's mother Catherine MacInnis, MLA for Stratford-Kinlock James Aylward, and Larry Sider, Meeting Co-Chair.   
 
 
 
 
Medicinal Marijuana - Edwin Jewell

On Jan. 30th, our club had the opportunity to hear from Edwin Jewell. After years in the horticulture and agriculture business as owner of Jewell's Country Market, Edwin moved into medicinal marijuana. As the only medicinal marijuana growing facility on PEI, he shared some of the interesting hurdles in getting this business off the ground - Thanks for sharing with us, Edwin!

Photo Left to Right: Wes MacAleer, Della Parker, Edwin Jewell, Flory Sanderson

 

 

A Century of Service - PEI Rotary Centennial 1917 – 2017
 
The Rotary Club of Charlottetown was admitted into Rotary International on October 1, 1917 and received its Charter on November 8th of that year having been sponsored by the Rotary Club of Halifax.
 
Plans were developed with the Rotary Club of Charlottetown giving leadership in celebrating 100 years of Rotary in the Province which included all Island Rotarians and the six Rotary Clubs. The Charlottetown Club has been active in promoting the concept of Rotary throughout the Province, sponsoring four of the other five clubs currently on the Island: Summerside (1943), Hillsborough (1979), Montague (1985) and Charlottetown Royalty (1987). The Rotary Club of Stratford is the other Island club (2002).
 
The year commenced with a very successful Rotary Levee on January 1st, 2017 at the Rodd Charlottetown Hotel. Our Centennial Year was also highlighted at the Premier’s Dinner on January 16th, 2017 where we also sold our centennial pin.
 
Upcoming Events include:
 
May 19, 2017:   Our Special Centennial Projects will involve Rotarians planting trees provided by the City of Charlottetown and the Provincial Government at various locations on Prince Edward Island to mark “100 YEARS OF ROTARY ON PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND”.
 
August, 2017:  Rotary Youth Exchange Event during Old Home Week.
 
October 1, 2017:   Charter Night Dinner which will include a visit from RI President Ian Riseley and descendants of our Charter Members.
 
We will also celebrate the year with a publication including the history and activities of all the Rotary Clubs on Prince Edward Island. The publication will contain the history and projects both local and international of the six Island Rotary Clubs.
 
We also designed and produced a 100 year commemorative pin for distribution during 2017.The Pin and tickets to the Charter Dinner will be sold at the District Convention in June of this year.
 
We will also have the ROTARY WHEEL in flowers as you enter PEI at the Confederation Bridge - thanks to the Provincial Highways Department.
 
The Easter Seals Committee under the Chair of Peter MacDougall has challenged our Club Rotarians to donate $100.00 to Easter Seals to be matched by the Club. Their names will be displayed at the Charter Dinner on October 1st, 2017. So far, 20 Rotary Club of Charlottetown members have generously given $100 each.
 
Rotary on Prince Edward Island has a long and distinguished history as we celebrate our accomplishments at home and internationally. It is our hope that our Centennial  Events will bring forth many fond memories as we celebrate 100 Years of Rotary on Prince Edward Island and continue to work together to eradicate polio and help celebrate peace in the world.
 
Robert Moffatt,
Centennial Committee Chair          
Updated  February 9th, 2017.
Russell Hampton
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Speakers
Apr 02, 2018
Easter Monday
Apr 09, 2018
Camp Gencheff.................STAR 11:15 Rotary Foundation
Apr 16, 2018
Executive Director, Canadian Cancer Society
Apr 23, 2018
SHAD UPEI School of Sustainable Design Engineering
May 07, 2018
PEI Ground Search & Rescue.............STAR 11:15 Youth Exchange/Rotaract
May 14, 2018
Friends of UPEI -Calgary
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The Rotary Club of Charlottetown serving Islanders for 100 years!