The Members Bulletin
 
Chartered 1920
June 17, 2024
IN THIS BULLETIN... 
 
For 39 years, our Rotary Club has supported the annual Waterloo-Wellington Science and Engineering Fair (WWSEF) giving students from Grade 7 to 12 the chance to research and report on both actual and potential developments. Science Fairs encourage new generations to consider careers in STEM. At our club meeting on Friday, June 14, 2024, four Grade 11 award winners from GCVI shared their experience and projects from WWSEF 2024 and thanked Rotary for sponsoring the Science Fair. 
 
Bonnie Evans explained our club's long history with the Waterloo-Wellington Science and Engineering Fair, and how Rotarians from our club had helped get it started fifty years ago in 1974.  There is more information about the WWSEF on our club website here. At WWSEF 2024, Bonnie, Liz Sandals and Chelsey Mathieu assisted.
 
Bonnie introduced each of the students and afterwards thanked each one with a certificate of appreciation showing that our club will inoculate 100 people against polio in the name of each student as well as their teacher, Ms. Lisa Stewart - inoculating 500 people in all and further helping to eradicate polio in the world. 
 
Roocha Shukla - Gr. 11 student from GCVI 
Science Fair Project:  Green Armour: A Novel Plant Biostimulant
As one of the top award winners at WWSEF, Roocha went on to win three gold medals at the National Science Fair in Ottawa, a cash prize, and $38,000 in scholarships. She is planning to continue her research and development of her discovery that she has named "Green Armour" and may even try to patent it. She hypothesized and proved that extracts from sea buckthorn berry, already well known as a supplement in human health, could benefit the growth of plants as well. Her testing of plants fed with various dilutions of Green Armour evaluated overall growth impact, protection from cold stress plus abiotic and biotic stress, and also its performance as a bio-insecticide against aphids. She plans to reach out to greenhouses and farmers to test the practical application of Green Armour, and of course, to pursue a career in biology! Read more about Roocha's project in this Guelph Today story here.
 
Remy Wang - Gr. 11 student from GCVI
Science Fair Project: Biomimicking slime molds to find the path of least resistance
Remy explained the experimental use of slime mold to design efficient highway networks, citing its ability to adapt to existing infrastructure and minimize human costs. What sounded like a science fiction idea has actually been used in practice when scientists in Japan placed slime mold over a map of Tokyo to find optimal paths for placing a new railway system.  Watch this short video that explains it. 
 
Arjun Mahes - Gr. 11 student from GCVI
Science Fair Project:  Using ML to predict the progressions of heart complications
Arjun's project looked at using AI to analyze heart sounds and provide recommendations for improving health.
 
Aditya Mahes - Gr. 11 student from GCVI (and identical twin to Arjun)
Science Fair Project:  Predicting Palmitoylation Sites To Advance Neurological Research
Aditya's project looked at using AI to predict protein modifications which can cause diseases like Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
 
Notes taken by Matt Webster, story by Terrie Jarvis. 
 
Stories
Food4Kids Guelph is changing its name
IMPORTANT NEWS FOR OUR FRIENDS & SUPPORTERS
 
On July 1, 2024 the Rotary-inspired Food4Kids Guelph weekend food bag program will change its name to KEEP KIDS FED AT HOME.
 
Under its new name, our exact same program will continue supporting over 500 severely food insecure children in our community with weekend food bags to take home from school on Fridays, and with grocery gift cards for their families during school holidays.
 
Why the name change? It’s for a wonderful reason. Food4Kids Guelph is merging with the Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington to bring two complementary food  programs under one roof, making them stronger together and streamlining operations.
 
 
For over fifteen years, the Children’s Foundation has coordinated the local “Food & Friends” programs providing kids with breakfast, snack and lunch at school, whereas “Food4Kids Guelph” was formed six years ago to close the weekend and holiday food gap at home for the highest-need kids. The startup of Food4Kids Guelph was thanks to the joint efforts and seed-funding from the four Rotary Clubs of Guelph, and many Rotarians still volunteer in this program.
 
By coming together under one umbrella, these two existing programs will collectively provide better food access to children, year-round.  Moving forward, both programs will operate under the new shared name “KEEP KIDS FED”.
 
  • KEEP KIDS FED AT SCHOOL (the former “Food & Friends” program of the Children’s Foundation) will continue supporting breakfast, snack and lunch programs on school days, while
  • KEEP KIDS FED AT HOME (the former “Food4Kids Guelph” program) will continue supporting kids with food outside of school days, on school weekends and during school holidays.
The sole employee of Food4Kids Guelph, Brittany Skelton, will join the staff of the Children's Foundation and continue as the Program Manager for KEEP KIDS FED AT HOME.
 
The ten key volunteers who help run the Food4Kids Program will continue volunteering with KEEP KIDS FED AT HOME, including the program's School Liaison, Liz Sandals, who will also join the board of the Children's Foundation in support of this transition as well as contributing her exceptional community knowledge and experience for the greater good of children and youth. 
 
Donations can still be directed specifically towards our continuing program for Bridging the Weekend & Holiday Gap:
 
Former Food4Kids Guelph donors can continue to support the weekend food bag program under its new name, KEEP KIDS FED AT HOME, by switching to this new online link https://donate.childrensfoundation.org/KeepKidsFedAtHome
or mailing cheques to
KEEP KIDS FED AT HOME, 5068 Whitelaw Road, Unit 2, Guelph ON N1H 6J3
 
As Rotarians, we can be very proud of making a difference in the lives of local children and families experiencing severe food insecurity. This merger of Food4Kids Guelph with the Children's Foundation is a strategic and logical step towards helping the weekend and holiday food program keep going and growing.
 
For more information, contact either Terrie Jarvis terriejarvis39@gmail.com or Liz Sandals ejsandals@gmail.com
 
You can also view a more detailed presentation here
 
Bulletin Editor
Aidan Harris
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Jun 21, 2024
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June 16
 
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June 24
 
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June 30
 
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July 11
 
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July 21
 
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July 22
 
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July 26
 
Join Date
Robert Eilers
June 9, 2002
22 years
 
Ben McCarl
June 10, 2011
13 years
 
Noma Vales
June 16, 2006
18 years
 
Lynne McCurdy
June 20, 2014
10 years
 
Dave Latreille
June 22, 2007
17 years
 
Domingo Bernal
June 29, 2018
6 years
 
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June 30, 2000
24 years
 
Charlotte Yates
July 1, 2020
4 years
 
Felix Arndt
July 3, 2020
4 years
 
Lucy Mutharia
July 17, 2020
4 years
 
Luisa Del Rosario
July 31, 1998
26 years
 
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