Program: Marguerite Campbell - Up Close & Personal
Messages this week from our Club President, Tracey Curtis
My goodness ... a lot is happening at and through our Rotary Club and our members! Read the updates here and also scroll new stories on our club website.
Click on the O Canada symbol above to hear this week's video recording by the Ottawa Bach Choir. Look closely - do you recognize a famous face amongst the singers? (Thanks again, Rick!)
And please stay in touch with each other. A quick outreach and kind connection really means a lot!
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Board Meeting Feedback
Our club's monthly board meeting was held this past week on Tuesday, November 17. Highlights included:
Disbursement of funds raised through Lobsterfest, with thanks once again to Rosemary Clark, Luisa Del Rosario and the wonderful Lobsterfest committee. We are so grateful to you! Read our website article here on how HOPE House and Shelldale will use our donations, and also about the special connection we have found with an awesome Shelldale volunteer who is related to one of our club members!
10% of our fundraising is going to The Rotary International Foundation to support Global Grants.
$3,500 is going to HOPE House for their community support in mental health.
$5,000 is going to Shelldale Family Gateway for their breakfast program.
$2,000 is going to our Indigenous Awareness Committee for their projects.
Trevor Lee has finalized our club's financial statement for 2019-2020 and will present it to our members at an AGM during a weekly club meeting in December.
Nanita Mohan and Sean Yo have kindly agreed to Co-Chair our Electoral Committee. 4 director positions will be opening effective July 2021. Members are kindly invited to volunteer or nominate potential directors.
2 new proposals for Honourary Paul Harris Fellowships were approved by the board and will be presented at a club meeting soon.
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The webinar series FINDING THE BALANCE IN COVID-19 has really taken off with a huge online attendance. The last session, on Thursday, Novemer 19, guest-featured our Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Nicola Mercer. Read more about it on our website here where you can also find the link to the recording, and register here for the next webinar on December 14th, for guidance on having a safe Christmas.
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PLEASE RESERVE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4 IN YOUR CALENDARS! Our weekly club meeting that day aims to have 100% attendance of all our members with a very special agenda!
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Our new fundraiser Rotary Has Christmas In The Bag is progressing well with 170 bags pre-ordered so far! Sales are to support local businesses and charities that have been hard-hit by COVID-19. Please help this campaign by:
Urgently telling your favourite businesses about the opportunity to have free advertising in the accompanying coupon book. Contact Eleni Bakopoulos with leads for the coupon book. November 30 is the coupon deadline.
Telling family, friends and business associates about these bags that make wonderful gifts. To order, go to our club website RotaryGuelph.ca and click on the banner highlighting these bags, or go straight to Canada Helps here. December 5 is the deadline for ordering bags.
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Thinking about Christmas, remember that our Name A Star Program is still available, for a unique gift for special people in your life. Here's the link for details and ordering.
Hospice Wellington has its 40th anniversary this year and took time to recognize Rotary's support. Read more on our website here.
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Matt Webster invites club members to start pondering ideas for Canada Day 2021. He aims to hold a virtual Think Tank with interested parties on Sunday, December 13, from 1-3pm (to be confirmed). Please put your thinking caps on. All ideas are needed and welcome.
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Member News
Domingo Bernal is deeply concerned about the devastation in his birthland of Guatemala, hard-hit by Hurricanes Eta and Iota that caused widespread flooding, landslides and damage. He is travelling to Guatemala next week, leaving Friday, November 27, to render whatever assistance he can and especially focus on restoration of water systems in four particular communities. Domingo is now supporting a local bottle drive fundraiser and also welcomes donations to this special project. Travel safely, Domingo! We will keep you in our thoughts.
Firstly, she is honoured to be one of 14 contributing authors in a new book called Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love. The book is available here and is a collection of stories documenting racism and survival by Black fundraisers working in charities across North America - five from the US and nine from Canada. We are so proud of you, Marva!
Secondly, Marva is especially delighted for her son, Justin, owner of Wisdom Jewellery in Toronto. He recently learned that one of his custom pieces made for the Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyes was worn by her at the GRAMMYs in Los Angeles in January 2020, and during her filmed interview on the Red Carpet she mentioned that she was wearing "jewellery by Wisdom of Toronto"!(Editor's note: we found that particular interview on YouTube. The jewellery mention comes at around the 2:16 mark.) Your pride in Justin is well deserved, Marva! Please send Justin our congratulations.
Helmuth Slisarenko had a Happy Buck with curling news. The annual reunion of the 2006 "Canada to Scotland Curling Tour Team" was originally scheduled for September but was finally held as a 'virtual' reunion last week, at which Helmuth was privileged to pay tribute to our late Rotarian, Larry Kelly. Larry had been president of our Rotary Club in 1988-1989, had made extensive contributions to the Guelph Curling Club and participated in Rotary's curling exchange between Canada and Scotland every other year. Larry passed away just before Christmas in 2009, at the age of 69. Larry was affectionately known as “Red Maple” for his role as our initial on-the-ground leader of the “Rotary Club of Guelph’s Forest Project.” (Editor's note: this heartfelt tribute made me realize, once again, how deep and everlasting Rotary bonds are, and it truly warmed my heart! TJ)
Mahmud Hassain had a general comment about chess. He mentioned that the popular new drama series on Netflix, The Queen's Gambit, has caused a 300% surge in chess set sales on Amazon and has also created high demand for online chess classes. Paul Taylor noted that some scenes had actually been filmed at his aunt's home in Cambridge.
Jim MacKenzie reported his surprise and delight about homemade blueberry jam and other goodies that were delivered to his doorstep by our former Sergeant-At-Arms, Bev Trist-Stewart, when she visited Guelph recently. Another warm example of Rotary friendships that endure.
Marguerite joined our Rotary Club of Guelph in January 2020. Getting to know our newer members is a lot harder while we are not meeting in person each week, so today's self-introduction was highly anticipated.
Marguerite, we totally agree with Marva that we are absolutely delighted you "retired" to Guelph and joined our Rotary Club!
Marguerite doesn't much like talking about herself but walked us through some of her history. She was actually born in Trinidad but left there at a young age. She is a recent transplant to Guelph from Toronto where she worked with the Toronto District School Board for 31 years, retiring as a school superintendent. The important people in her life today are her three grown children and adorable twin grandsons.
Not at all ready for true "retirement", Marguerite now teach part-time at the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her list of "other interests" is quite breathtaking and mesmerising. She is actively involved with Guelph's Black Heritage Society, the Writer's Festival of Eden Mills (her home is FULL of books, she says), the Upper Grand District School Board's SEISSC (Safe, Equitable and Inclusive Schools Steering Committee), Wellington Water Watchers with a focus on water education, the East York-Scarborough Reading Association helping educators to spread the love of reading. Having joined Rotary, she is now an active member of our Lobsterfest Committee as well as our Children & Youth Committee where she has recently helped Liz Sandals with our Adopt-A-Family program. And this list of Marguerite's many activities is probably incomplete!
Marguerite ended by sharing one of her favourite books with us, written to encourage conversations with children about the value of generosity. It clearly represents Marguerite's own sentiments, too.
Anne MacKay thanked Marguerite for sharing herself with us, commenting on the power of "living with passion" as Marguerite does. We agree we are better for having you in our midst, Marguerite!
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Program next week:
Fri, Nov 27 at 12:30pm
Our club member, David Van Veen, will speak about The Rotary Foundation.
Thinking about Christmas, remember that our 
Also a reminder that our 
Hospice Wellington has its 40th anniversary this year and took time to recognize Rotary's support. Read more on our website 
Matt Webster
Larry had been president of our Rotary Club in 1988-1989, had made extensive contributions to the Guelph Curling Club and participated in Rotary's curling exchange between Canada and Scotland every other year. Larry passed away just before Christmas in 2009, at the age of 69. 
Marguerite ended by sharing one of her favourite books with us, written to encourage conversations with children about the value of generosity. It clearly represents Marguerite's own sentiments, too.
