Festival City Rotary Newsletter January 22, 2013

Posted by Vincent Hill 
on Jan 23, 2013
 

The Rotary Club Of Festival City

President:  Dianne Yundt

Minutes of the meeting of January 22, 2013

Club email:  festivalcityrotary@gmail.com

Club website: www.festivalcityrotary.ca

Guests: From Stratford Rotary we welcomed Ellen Balmain and her son Calum Balmain-Matthews. Calum recently returned from France as a Rotary Exchange Student. Leticia Figueiredo is our exchange student. Sue Storey is from the London Hyde Park Rotary Club and our guest speaker.

Draw Prize: Barbara Young donated the prize won by Kent Chisholm.

Announcements:

  1. ClubRunner: Rotarians are reminded to check the club roster for weekly assignments.  You can also visit the “District Site” to register for conferences and other events.  Coming February 23 will be a link to “E-club Canada” where you will be able to attend an online meeting. Eclub meetings can serve as makeups.
  2. House of Blessing: Remember that next week we are accepting donations for the food bank.  There is a great need for food and toiletries.
  3. The “King Tut” Edition of Bingo: Sign up to volunteer for this bingo on Saturday February 16. It was on this date in 1923 that Howard Carter opened the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen to reveal riches never seen before. Volunteers will be able to watch bingo players win riches some have never seen before.

Guest Speaker: President Dianne introduced Sue Storey from the Rotary Club of Hyde Park London. Sue is past president of the club and chair of their literacy committee. Sue was here to talk about literacy. She reminded us that our club has been very active with literacy projects and has won several awards. We are eligible to win more awards. Applications for awards must be completed by the end of March as the awards are presented in April. Our club’s literacy projects include Rotary Reads and the El Salvador project.

Literacy is traditionally defined as the ability to understand and use printed words and numbers. Today the definition is expanded to include digital literacy. “Digital Natives” are young people who were born after the start of the digital age and are able to make use of digital technology. Older people, those born before the introduction of digital devices are termed “Digital Immigrants”. These people use digital devices but are not as proficient as the Digital Natives and are referred to as possessing a “digital accent”.

Literacy can be encouraged not just through the reading of books but also through the use of board and card games. Class visits to book stores could also encourage children to read. Sue’s club gives children $10 gift cards to spend during a book store tour. Some teachers of grade 3 students hold reading competitions. One class read over 1000 books in three weeks. A Rotary Club in Owen Sound donates books to the local library in lieu of gifts to their speakers. Other clubs such as one in Sarnia raises funds for Smart Boards for schools. Other clubs contact publishers for donations.

Barbara Young informed us that Frontier College is dedicated to bringing literacy to Canadians. The Rotary Club of Toronto is a supporter of Frontier College.

Sue encourages us to think of projects which cost little but could do a lot to improve literacy at home and around the world.

Sue was thanked by Kent Chisholm.