The Rotary Club Of Festival City

President:  Dianne Yundt

Minutes of the meeting of August 28, 2012

Club email:  festivalcityrotary@gmail.com

Club website: www.festivalcityrotary.ca

Guests:  Harry Brightwell and Norm Bird are from Stratford Rotary. Steve Stacey is a potential new member. Jason and Donna West are guests of Jack West

Draw Prize: John McNeil won the prize donated by Louise Spandler.

Announcements:

  1. Bingo: The bingo for Sept 14 has been given to the Tavistock Rotary Club because conflicts with preparations for the pancake breakfast on Sept 15
  2. Splash Pad: Jack West presented a cheque for $1000 from the L.I.N.C. Family Festival for deposit into the Splash Pad account.  Jack indicated that a website to promote the splash pad project will be going live shortly. He and other members of the splash pad committee will be visiting the Strathroy splash pad to see how it was built for half of what the Stratford pad is expected to cost
  3. Hosts Required: Carol Rock made the following request:

There are 19 Rotary Exchange Students from 16 countries in District 6330 this year. On October 12 they will be in Stratford to attend a play. Our club is responsible for hosting the students over night. We need 5 more homes to host 2 students each. They arrive at approximately 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon. Hosts are asked to take them home or out for dinner and see that they get to the theatre by 7:30 p.m. They need to be picked up at 11 p.m. and taken home to sleep. The following morning at 8:30 a.m. students will leave for Toronto from the Canadian Tire parking lot. This is a chance for you to experience youth exchange for 1 night. The students are new to our country having arrived here 6 weeks ago, at this point. Not a huge commitment on our part but a delightful one where you can talk one-on-one with the students and learn about their culture while showing them some Stratford hospitality.Please consider this request and call me at 519-271-0737 if you have any questions or are willing to host students.

  1. Area 3 Meeting: In Mitchell at Deck Dentistry on August 30 at 7 PM. Featured speaker will be Linda Bradley past District Governor (7040), member of the Rotary Peace Centre Committee, and much more. It will be of interest to those who wish to learn about opportunities for service and a closer look at the Foundation.
  2. Future Vision Seminars: The dates are Sept 15 in Listowel at Kin Station, September 22 in Imlay City, and Sept 29 in London at Fanshawe College.  Let President Dianne know ASAP if you can attend. President Dianne or Carolyn Dingman can forward you the link to register online.  The course runs from 9 to 3 at a cost of $40, which can be paid on the day of the event.
  3. Pancake Breakfast: Saturday Sept 15 from 6 AM to 6 PM. Parking will not be available at the site so park on a street in the neighbourhood. Parking is also being set aside for volunteers at the River Garden Retirement Residence.
  4. Dinner of the Month Tickets: Tickets for the 2013 draws are available for sale. Get your tickets from Tyler Canal.  The price is the same as this year. $20 each or 6 for $100.

 

Guest Speaker: Jack West introduced his son Jason who spent a year in the Netherlands as a Rotary Exchange Student.  Jason stayed with three great host families in the city of Meppel. The city is about the same size as Stratford. It once had many canals but only one remains. Jason’s schooling was quite different from what he experienced in Stratford. He attended the AOC Terra school which is an agricultural school.  In his first three months Jason was in the gardening class. At the end of the gardening term he had a work placement in a garden nursery. His second term was in forestry where he learned to use a chain saw and cut grass. It was during this term that the famous Christmas tree incident took place. In his final term Jason learned about animals including rabbits, chickens and other farm animals. Jason participated in athletics and played on the soccer team. On Monday nights he attended Rotary meetings.

On an average day Jason would be up by 7:30 with a breakfast of bread covered in chocolate sprinkles or cheese. He bicycled to school. At the beginning of his stay Jason attended Dutch orientation classes to improve his language skills. Although he learned to speak Dutch the nuances of the language to express emotions proved more difficult.  It was during these classes that he met the 35 other Exchange Students from North and South America. During student trips Jason visited 11 countries and cities such as Prague, Berlin, Vienna, Barcelona, Venice and Rome. He spent a week with students skiing in the French Alps.

Jason, now 19, plans on attending university next year. Jason was thanked by Carol Rock.