The Rotary Club of
Ridgetown

Membership Newsletter
 May 17, 2021

 
2020-21
President: Ben van Heeswijk
President-Elect: Jeff Geddes
Past President: Henny Boeters
Treasurer: Reinout von Martels
Secretary: Paul Brown
Sergeant at Arms: Warren Jansen
Directors: Kees Boeters
      Ron Bolohan
                Brian Pasmore
                Bob Wilson
 
Attendance:
Members: 11
 
Guests:
 
 
Birthdays:
Reinout Von Martels May 22nd.
 
 
 Anniversaries:
 
 
 

Meeting Date: Zoom on May 17, 2021.
 
President Ben opened the meeting at 7:10 pm. Program:
1. Ben introduced our guest Gloria Pena Cutierrez, from Mexico, who provided some musical entertainment. She played the piano and sang 5 songs in Spanish including Hallelujah, The Girls from Ipanema, and Don’t Cry for me Argentina. Unfortunately, the connection was not always good, but she did well.
2. Henny: Birthdays and Anniversaries. Reinout von Martels, on May 22nd
3. Ben: Report on the virtual 6380 District Conference.
• Unfortunately, Ben was never able to connect to the conference.
• Kees and Henny did attend.
• The District Governor Karen Gabrys spent much of her time on a PowerPoint presentation on the Points of Pride sent in by various clubs.
• The list Ben sent in, with 18 points, was third on her list and she was very impressed by how much our small club was able to do during the pandemic.
• The list is attached at the end of these minutes.
• Henny mentioned that everyone was surprised by what we did.
• She also mentioned several other good things said about our club.
4. Kees: Update "Crocuses for Polio".
• The crocus providers made stickers for us to use on each bag that shows that it is a fundraiser for Polio Plus. We must attach one on each one on the bags of bulbs ourselves.
• Kees has ordered 3000 bulbs.
• 2000 are for us, 1000 for the Ridgetown Hort. Society.
• The Hort. Society will pay us $12 for their 50 bags, and sell them for $20.
• We will package our bulbs and sell them for $20.
• We receive them on Oct. 1st, 2020.
• There was a discussion about taking orders before Oct. 1st, at the Saturday Farmer's Market, etc.
• Paul will contact Steve Pinsonneault about making a large sign for us to display wherever we are taking pre-orders.
5. Ben: Reminder, fellow Rotarians "Get a shot-Give a Drop" fundraiser.
• Once you get your vaccine shot, you can donate money to this cause.
• Donations can be given to the treasurer who will forward them to Rotary International.
Committees/Other Business:
1. Kees: Update scrap metal.
• Kees and John Schippers spent 3 hours recently working on organizing the scrap in the bin.
2. Paul: No road cleanup on May 31st, based on current COVID 19 lockdown restrictions.
3. Henny: The trees we planted last September along the Memorial Trail are doing well.
4. Jeff: Scholarship Presentations at RDHS Graduation.
• Paul agreed to take Jeff’s place, since the graduation is at 7:00 pm on June 28th, the same night as our meeting when the new Exec. is sworn in.
President Ben asked if there was “Anything for the good of Rotary?” Ben closed the meeting at 8:00 pm The next Zoom meeting is on May 31st, 2021.
 
 Points of Pride that Ben sent to the District Governor.
1 Decorating Main Street Ridgetown in the fall with Cornstalks.
2 Donated $500 to a school in Tanzania.
3 Donated money to a water project in Guatemala.
4 Bought a Shelter Box.
5 Donated $10,000.00 to our local Adult Centre.
6 Planted 90 Trees as part of our 90th anniversary.
7 Had a Polio fundraiser “Donuts for Polio” $1200.00 was raised.
8 Also another fundraiser, Candy Popcorn, for Polio was done.
9 Took part in “The Gift” here in Ridgetown collecting gifts and food items to the less fortunate within Ridgetown /Chatham Kent.
10 A motorized scooter was donated by our fellow Rotarian Bob Wilson to the club's medical equipment department.
11 We continue to provide a loan of medical equipment for home use for residents who need it, especially after their stay in the Hospital.
!2 Our Scrap metal team is doing very well in the fundraising. This is an ongoing project.
13 At Easter we gave out Easter bags of candy at the arena (COVID 19 safe) instead of the yearly Easter egg hunt. The main prize of a children's bike.
14 Donated money for the Ridgetown Christmas decoration contest instead of the Santa Claus Parade which was canceled by COVID 19.
15 Donated towards the CK fundraiser for mental health. 16 Our club is 100%, Paul Harris.
17 At Halloween we handed out candy with a drive-by at the arena. COVID 19 safe.
18 Did our final payment of $2500 for the Children’s Centre in CK
Russell Hampton
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