Welcome
Meeting Notes
REGULAR MEETING: June 9, 2025
Meeting Chair: Kim Boyco
Our meeting opened with a welcome to the members present and our guests:
- Jan Nestler, RYE
We continued with the singing of O Canada and the Rotary Grace, followed by a break for lunch and visiting.
The meeting re-convened at 12:15 with the Treaty 6 recognition and a welcome to the members joining by Zoom.
Announcements/Updates:
- The Magic of Rotary fundraiser is coming up on Saturday, June 14 at the Bailey Theatre. This is an evening of magic and illusion. There will be a Free afternoon matinee for families as well as an evening ticketed event. Please plan to attend and bring friends! Get tickets through the Bailey Theatre box office. If you wish to purchase a ticket to be donated to someone else to attend please contact Lou. Ticket sales very poor for the evening show. Please promote the event as best you can.
- September meetings will be held at the Rotary Youth Centre. The Board recommends that we continue to have a Morning, a Noon, an Evening and a Happy Hour meeting. The Board asks members to consider holding all the regular meetings on Tuesdays with Happy Hour staying as a Thursday gathering. This would be a change for the Noon meetings which have historically been on Mondays. Please let Lou know if you are opposed to changing the Noon meetings to Tuesdays. The Board is looking for a few volunteers to research catering options for lunch and dinner meals and report back with suggestions and pricing.
- Summer meetings will be social gatherings as we did last summer. The first one will be a Welcome Home to Olivia/Farewell to Jan at the home of Larry and Patrice Johnson on July 2. We will have one social in July and August at the Rotary Pavilion. Dates and locations will be announced by email and in the Rotary Calendar.
- Upcoming Service Opportunities
- Martha’s Table – Wednesdays in July to prepare and serve lunch.
- Camrose Air Show – July 26 and 27. Volunteers needed to ensure that attendees stay in the approved viewing area. Shift from 12:20 to 4pm both days. Contact Shirley Bergsma (Bergsma.ts@gmail.com) to volunteer for either or both.
- Rotary Youth Exchange update from Jan
Jan has been a busy boy for the past few weeks. He visited a local farm (Weyga Farms) and got to see all their big machinery and learned about how computers play a huge role in their processes. He was impressed with the big sprayer and the self-driving tractor. Dan and Vicki took Jan to Vancouver for 4 days. They visited Stanley Park, Granville Island and did some hiking and kayaking on the ocean. Sadly, Jan’s phone took a dive and did not survive. He is now experiencing life with no cell phone 24/7 until the replacement arrives. Last weekend there was a workshop for the District Youth Exchange students in Grande Prairie. Some of it was boring to Jan, but he did enjoy playing mini-golf, an Escape room and hanging out with other exchange students.
2025 2026 Budget Presentation: Lou
The proposed budget is a break-even budget. Two items of particular note: Member dues remain the same as the current year: $115 + $35 Foundation Donation = $150. Members will be asked to make additional donations if they have the means and desire to do so. District dues have increased and while we are maintaining Club dues at $150 this year there will likely need to be an increase in the following year.
- The Board is suggesting a pause in Rotary Youth Exchange to allow us to develop a sustainable plan for funding this and other programs in future. We have not been raising nearly the same amount of funds in the past few years as we used to which may lead to difficult decisions.
- Motion by Lou Henderson, Second by Shirley Bergsma: that the 2025 2026 Joint Operating Budget for Rotary Camrose be approved as presented. Carried. Invoices for next year’s Rotary dues will be emailed to each member in the next couple of weeks.
2025 2026 Board
- Current Presidents Odell Olson and Jenn Stone will hand their duties off to Incoming Presidents Destiny Reay and Kevin Smook
- President-Elect for next year: Tim Parker (Daybreak) no one as yet for Noon Club
- Secretaries for next year: Odell Olson and Kim Boyco
- Treasurers for next year: Lou and Morris Henderson
- Foundation Chairs for next year: Rob Rolf and Ted Gillespie
- Directors: Shirley Bergsma (Community Service), Tina Myles (Youth Service), Jenn Stone and Tim Parker (PR and Communications), John Stoddart (Administration)
We do not currently have a Membership Director, as Chris Rebus will be retiring from this role. As this is an area of priority for our Club it is critical that we have someone willing to step into this position. Responsibilities will consist of engaging current members and recruitment of new members &/or organizing new members orientation. Please contact Destiny or Kevin if you are at all interested.
Jenn Stone gave a brief farewell speech, showing off her Unicorn socks. She wore them to demonstrate that even though she was not always present in her President role, the rest of the Club just got things done. She is grateful for all the support and encourages anyone to be President, as there is much support for that position. Moving to a new location for meetings will bring some challenges and opportunities to adapt and grow.
Kevin Smook is looking forward to his new role as President. He and Destiny will be talking soon about how to best work together. He sees Rotary’s greatest strengths are the members and the projects we do. He believes we should be making more effort to invite people to join at every project we do. Perhaps we can do a promotional mailout to parents of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library subscribers. Kevin sees himself to be a “glass half full” rather than “glass half empty” person. Things that can be seen as problems, such as lack of members and the need to fundraise can be viewed positively as opportunities for growth and development.
Happy Bucks –
- Daughter who is living her dream of professional dancing with Moon Coin Productions (Kevin)
- Spruce trees have been cut down at the lake cabin and Sheila is loving it!
- Rotary gardens looking good, lots of help so far (Shirley). New trees have been purchased for Olivia and Jan to plant as well as replacement for one tree that died.
- Jenn’s daughter and wife have moved into their new home in Viking after living with Jenn and Paul for 7 weeks. Happy to have their house back but it does feel pretty quiet.
- Rob lamented the tent caterpillar devastation at their cabin at Battle Lake
- Jim stayed at Dawn Anderson’s hotel in Canmore recently. Dawn invited him to watch a hockey game in her suite. She is very busy booking entertainment for the hotel. Also, Jim has 2 grandkids who are award-winning runners.
- Lou is reflecting on a successful Rotary year and loves working with all the members.
Next meeting: next Tuesday, June 17 at the Rotary Pavilion. Gather at 5:30 at the Rotary Peace Path to plant Jan’s tree, then back to the Pavilion for burgers and salads and a short program. No Zoom will be available.
Meeting Closed with the 4-Way Test.
Sincere thanks to Florence Blanchette for looking after registrations, Kim Boyco for chairing this meeting, Tina Myles for looking after Zoom and Lou Henderson for taking notes at the meeting.
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