Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, April 4, 2024

President Jackie chaired the meeting.  

 Guests at the meeting Patti Ricketts, and Gerard Duffney were welcomed.

Rotarian Jim spoke about his own health journey in the past year leading into talking about Green Shirt Day and the value of registering as an organ donor.  Green Shirt Day takes place each year on April 7. It is a day to raise awareness of organ donation and register organ donors across Canada. Championed by the parents of Logan Boulet, a young hockey player on the Humboldt Broncos who became an organ donor after the terrible bus crash in 2018 that took his and 15 other lives. Canadians recognize Green Shirt Day by wearing green and talking about the powerful impact of organ donation. April is also Organ Donation Awareness Month across Canada.  Thank you, Jim for reminding everyone of the value of registering as an organ donor and reminding everyone to tell close family of your decision.

The Toonie Quest West 50-50 draw had a winner this week. 

President Jackie introduced Rotarian Peggy Hanlon-Brown as guest speaker. Peggy who is the Operations Manager of Logistec. Logistec manages the loading and off-loading of containers at the Corner Brook Port.

 Peggy began her slide presentation by giving the motto behind Logistec which is ‘Always ready to go Beyond.’ 

She gave the company mission statement and vision statement before looking at the values held by the company. The company shares a clear vision and has strong values to be the provider of choice for safe, sustainable, and creative solutions in the marine and environmental sectors.

The employees of the company are recognized for their operational excellence and Logistec with its solid processes and continuous learning has established reliable supply chains for its customers and effective remediation solutions for the environment. The company is resilient having people with an uncanny ability to find solid solutions.  These people are imaginative thinkers who are ready and go beyond. and challenge the status quo. Sustainability is important to the company as is safety. 

The Logistec family has two main branches. In the marine services branch there are terminal operations, marine services, and marine transportation and in the environmental services division there are site remuneration and soil and material management, water technologies and hose solutions.

 The Logistec network is large with 80 terminals and 54 ports offering services such as marine services, environmental services, and water technology services.

 In Corner Brook an international container terminal service is offered in partnership with Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Ltd. This service is increasing annually. Something else done locally is ‘Break-Bulk’ which involves a big cargo that needs to be lifted as well as bulk cargo such as road salt which is unloaded at this dock and then distributed throughout the area.

 Cargo handling at the port is done with a Kone Gottwald mobile harbour cranes, a Liebherr fixed pedestal crane, 3 Hyster reach stackers and 3 Mafi shunt trucks.  Peggy went on to speak of the working environment when up to 400 containers could be serviced weekly of these 300 would be for Kruger and the remaining 100 for other products. Two cranes would work per vessel taking 12 – 16 hours per vessel. She spoke of the current employment status with a total of 31 unionized employees, 7 non-unionized/management employees.

 She concluded her talk by looking at the Logistec Environmental services in operation for 35 years and noted Corner Brook is Green Marine certified. 

Peggy answered several questions before being thanked by Jackie.

 The meeting adjourned at 1.30pm. 

 

Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, March 21, 2024

President Jackie chaired the meeting.  

 Rotarian guest, John Andrews from the St. John’s North-Western Rotary Club and Xavier House volunteer Gerard Duffney were welcomed.

The Toonie Quest West 50-50 draw had a winner who would take home around $3000.

Jackie mentioned that the executive for next year will need to be decided.

 Any Rotarians interested in serving on the executive for the coming year please let Jackie know.

Program-chair Lorraine introduced the guest speaker Danielle Brown from the Corner Brook Satellite Office of the Gander Military Family Resource Centre, MRFC. She is one of two employees with the other being Jenna Vautier. The Corner Brook MFRC is based at the Gallipoli Armoury, O’Connell Drive.

 Before Danielle spoke, she handed out an information sheet about the programs, and services offered by MFRC.  The purpose of the MFRC is to provide services, programs, and resources which will improve the quality of life for military families.  The resource centres support families in all aspects of military life. Their services are open to regular and reserve force members and their families.

The services offered include employment services such as resume and cover letter writing, job posting and interview techniques, assisting of members who are looking to complete a resume that is tailored to military and civilian jobs, and second language training.

MFRC can organise mental health referrals, offer help to veterans and their families and organize respite care while the military member is away on tasking training, deployment etc. In this case the spouse can use the service for self-care.

 Support is also given for family separation and reunion and deployment, help with medical travel and its costs as well as housing for Canadian military members and their families.

Danielle went through the various services and noted there are about 7 regular soldiers and about 100 reservists in the Corner Brook area.

Another service offered is to prepare and send overseas moral packages for Christmas, Easter, Canada Day (July 1).   Packages can be donated by groups to be sent overseas at these times. 

 

When she had finished her talk, many questions were asked of Danielle before she was thanked by Elaine on behalf of the club who noted how important the MFRC is for families.

 

The meeting finished with Jim spinning the Rotary Wheel and several Rotarians shared good news stories.

The meeting adjourned at 1.30pm.

 

 

Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, March 7, 2024

President Jackie chaired the meeting. 

There was no winner this week in the Toonie Quest West draw. 

Program-chair Kathleen introduced the three level 3 students from Corner Brook Regional High School who were speaking at the Rotary Adventures in Citizenship Speak-off. The winner would attend the Rotary Adventures in Citizenship program in Ottawa from May 26 – 29 2024. The three speakers were, Lucas Upward, Gordon Staples and Gavin Staples. They spoke on what it means to be a Canadian.

The winner’s travel expenses are covered by the Corner Brook Club as is the registration fee to the Rotary Club of Ottawa.  Ottawa club welcomes around 150 students to the program and covers expenses of transportation to events, meals, and accommodation in a University of Ottawa residence.  The aim of this annual event is to provide a unique opportunity for a select group of young Canadians to come together and gain a better understanding of our country. Through meetings with political leaders, senior officials, and others, they learn a great deal about the workings of our democratic institutions. Through meeting one another and having discussions among themselves, they learn to appreciate the diversity of Canada and privileges and responsibilities of citizenship.

 There were three Rotarian judges were Adam, Lorraine, and Olaf. Before the meeting, the judges interviewed each of the students.

Guests Paula Grudich, teacher sponsor for this speak-off, and two parents, Bernie Staples and Laenora Ryba and were welcomed to the meeting. Thanks go to Paula for her help in encouraging students to participate in this speak-off and the support she gives the students.

 The three students gave excellent talks, and each gave a different perspective on what being a Canadian means. The judges met after the speeches and made the decision that Gavin Staples was the winner and would go to Ottawa for the Adventures in Citizenship program.  Judge Adam noted that it had been a very difficult decision to make as all three speeches were extremely good.

While the judges were deciding the winner, Jackie shared her good news that she had been awarded the prestigious 2024 Cruise Vision Award in recognition of her exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to advancing the cruise industry in Newfoundland and Labrador, 

The meeting adjourned at 1.30pm.