Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, February 23, 2023
President Jackie chaired the meeting.
Club Business
Fundraising Meeting February 21st
Jackie reviewed decisions from the meeting.
- The possible date for the on-line auction is the first weekend in June which will be Thursday, June 1st – June 4th. If that date is not possible the auction would be the previous weekend.
Leslie has volunteered to look after data entry into the Hand Bid format.
Lorraine and Elaine will review the donor lists from Auction 2021 and will be contacting Rotarians when this is done.
- Linda will contact Donna Luther regarding hosting collaborative fundraising projects.
- Elaine will talk with David Smallwood concerning a fundraiser evening at the Rotary Arts Centre.
Executive for 2023 -24
District 7815 has contacted Jackie for the executive members names for next year.
The present executive, headed by Jackie is willing to serve for another year.
Corporate Members of the Club
Jackie has contacted several businesses who have shown interest in Rotary corporate membership.
Guest Speaker
Program – Chair Lorraine introduced the guest speaker Sophie Buchholz who is a Rotary Global Grant Scholarship recipient. The Rotary Club of Corner Brook is the local host club sponsor of the Rotary Global Grant Scholarship for recipient Sophie and Lorraine is her primary club contact person
Sophie presented a power point presentation about herself giving us an idea of where she was from, her interests and hobbies, her education, and experiences and how she applied for the Rotary grant which after receiving it she was able to attend Grenfell Campus.
Twenty-two-year-old Sophie began by speaking of growing up in De Pere, Wisconsin with her parents and three siblings. De Pere is a suburb of Green Bay and through spending time at their cottage in Northwood her interest in environmental concerns and sustainability was begun.
She attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts from which last May she earned a BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science with a concentration in Peace and Conflict Studies. She talked about her time in Washington DC as an intern in spring 2021.
Sophie has always been interested in living, studying, or working abroad.
Her local Rotary Club and the Holy Cross office of Distinguished Fellowships and Graduate Studies encouraged, supported, and helped her apply for a Rotary Global Grant which after interviews and detailed application process, she was awarded.
Since September she has attended Grenfell Campus to read for her Master of Arts in Environmental Policy. This program is a 2-year thesis stream program, and her research project will be looking at sea ice and the adaptions being made in Cartwright, Labrador. This will involve her working with the NuntuKavut Community Council.
Sophie finished her presentation by speaking of the financial value of receiving the Global Grant of $30,000US from Rotary which will help finance her living expenses, tuition, and travel expenses for her research and to conferences for the two years of her program. She talked of her responsibilities such as a bi-weekly blog, participation in a humanitarian project with a local Rotary Club, reports and how she plans to be involved with Rotary in the future.
Elaine thanked her for her enthusiastic talk which was extremely interesting.
The meeting was adjourned at 1.30pm.