Sunrise bulletin for the week of October 24, 2012

Guess Who's Coming for Dinner was held last weekend and was, from all reports, a big success again. Altogether, 17 members and guests gathered at two member homes for an evening of fellowship, food and wine. Thanks to Lori Pobuta and Ann-Shirley Goodell for hosting this year's edition. It was good to see Bev Bicknell out and about after her surgery, even though Lawrence was off chasing girls somewhere. Bill Sheddy's mystery date kept everyone laughing through the charades and beyond. Too bad the neighbours called the police or the party might have gone on all night.

Nine members attended last Wednesday's lunch meeting with the Chinatown club and gave a pitch for nearby clubs to participate in our Strathcona youth project next spring. They heard an interesting program explaining the planned removal of the Dunsmuir and Georgia Street viaducts.

At this morning's Sunrise meeting, President Julie Mantle welcomed 13 members and two guests, both invited by Cleopatra Perez. They are Susan Neale, who works in the mining industry (I think) and is a volunteer mentor for the YWCA, and Steven McGrandle, who is planning a career change after some years of evaluating hotels and restaurants for the American Auto Association. Nice to have you with us, Susan and Steven, and we hope to see you again at future meetings.

Club and district events

The Vancouver club is planning a Novemberfest on November 2. Check their website for more info.

The district's annual dinner to honour and assist The Rotary Foundation will be at the New Westminister Quay on November 24. Tickets are $60 and are available at www.rotary5040.org.

Our club's Christmas party will again be hostd by Bev and Lawrence on Saturday, December 1 (the night before our Seniors' event, see below).

Today's program -- busines meeting

Our Youth Exchange Committee has selected Georgina Hargreaves, a Grade 10 student at King George Secondary, as our outbound student who will go abroad next August. Diana Theman and Abigail Turner will be helping her prepare the paperwork required before her interview with the district YE committee, which will finalize her selection. In the spring, we'll invite Georgina to come to a meeting or two so we can all get to know her before she goes.

Julie has emailed the latest version of the club's operational  plan for the year to everyone and today gave a brief summary of key items. The Christmas lunch with the West End Seniors will be December 2 at the Westin Bayshore and we will need members and King George students to help at the event. Planning is starting for the spring fundraiser to benefit the Strathcona Community Centre and its athletic and other programs for the youth of the downtown east side. This community youth project will be featured in our club's portion of an upcoming video on Rotary in Vancouver.

Banu Tulumen asked for club input on the question of whether and how to prepare the book of photos from our photo contest in late 2011. Costs and photo quality are concerns, as we try to fulfill our commitment to publish this book. After discussion, it was agreed that Banu would prepare one copy of the book for the club's review before proceeding further.

Julie asked club members to submit ideas for an international service project before the December board meeting, when the board will make its decision on this subject. So far, the ideas are buying sheep to help poor families in Mexico, working with Rotary clubs in Colombia to assist schools there, and an unspecified project in Mexico.

Alfredo Carrete briefly summarized the latest financial statements, which have been emailed to members. We have a surplus of $3,100 over club expenses for the Rotary year to date. Our club foundation has about $85,000 in its investment and current accounts. A few members are late in paying dues and meal costs, so the Treasurer is hiring some heavily-armed tough guys as enforcers. Pay up or else!

Next week

No Hallowe'en costumes are required at the October 31 meeting, but trick or treating will definitely be going on.  And, Ann-Shirley will talk about her recent volunteer consulting experience in Colombia, South America. While there, she met with two local Rotary clubs who have an interesting service project that could use our help. See you there.

Rob