Festival City Rotary Newsletter July 10, 2012
The Rotary Club Of Festival City
President: Dianne Yundt
Minutes of the meeting of July 10, 2012
Club email: festivalcityrotary@gmail.com
Club web blog: www.festivalcityrotary.blogspot.com
ClubRunner site: www.festivalcityrotary.ca
Guests: Norm Bird, Marcia Matsui and Geza Wordofa from Stratford Rotary. Cheryl-Ann Webster is our guest speaker.
Draw Prize: Carolyn Dingman donated a mystery prize won by Brian Rivers who will receive it next week.
Announcements:
1. Rotary Leadership Institute: Seminars begin in Listowel on Sept 8. Other sessions will be held in Stratford on November 17, Lapeer Michigan on January 20, 2013 and on May 5 in London. Sign up for parts I, II, or III. This is an opportunity to improve your leadership skills and learn more about Rotary beyond the club level. See Dianne Yundt if interested. Further details can be found on the RI website.
2. Stratford Summer Music: Between Aug 14 and 19 the Culture Kids with steel pan drums from St Xavier’s Private Catholic School in Trinidad will be in Stratford. Five families are required to host groups of 3-4 children with a chaperone. Children are aged 7-11 and can sleep together to minimize bed requirements. If you can billet a group please contact Lana Mau, Administrative Assistant at SSM at 519-271-2101 or email her at lmau@stratfordsummermusic.ca. For more information about the school visit their website at www.stxavierstt.com
Guest Speaker:
Cheryl-Ann Webster from the Rotary Club of Waterloo spoke to us as a representative of FIDA-pcH or the Foundation for International Development Assistance – productive cooperatives Haiti. FIDA is a private non-governmental agency started in 1980 by a Mennonite couple from Waterloo to provide literacy and agricultural training to the farmers of Haiti. Cheryl-Ann became involved with FIDA three years ago after the Haitian earthquake. To date FIDA has formed 27 cooperatives. The cooperatives pool the resources of the local farmers to improve productivity to the point where excess food production can be sold to markets. Previously farmers working alone on their own small plot of land with one or two animals were barely surviving. By combining resources productivity has increased. Since 85% of Haitians are illiterate one of the goals of FIDA has been to teach farmers how to read and write. Agricultural education has taught farmers better practices such as composting, crop rotation, dealing with insect pests, and planting trees to improve shade and reduce erosion. Cooperatives elect their president from the members and all members share in the profits. Recently some Haitian communities on their own initiative have formed their own cooperatives without FIDA’s assistance. This shows that real progress has started in Haiti.
Cheryl-Ann was thanked by Deb Stacey-Rivers.