Rotary Club of Sackville Bulletin March 10, 2016

Posted by Wayne Harper

on Mar 11, 2016

Joyce was in the Chair today. She was born in Glasgow Scotland and is still young enough to remember having to go to the bomb shelters during WW II. A graduate of Edinburg University (with a double major) she eventually met Laing Ferguson. They were married and moved to Canada. The rest of the story will be told the next time she is Chair.

There were no visiting Rotarians today, however Pat Samuelsen and Reg Beal paid us a visit. In the make up department, The Club Admin Committee, the Breakfast Committee and the Rotaract Committees all met during the week. The Chairs will give the names of those who attended to Edna. Sue P. tried to do a makeup in Costa Rica, but the Club did not meet the day it was supposed to. John had occasion to meet former Rotarian Rob Christie's wife. Rob was from the Yellowknife Club and most recently the Pictou Rotary Club and is the father of Sackvillian, Adam Christie, who headed the Massie Program for years at Mount Allison and has been a speaker at our Club in the past.

There were two birthdays this week - Frank's on he 12th and Sandy on the 14th. The 50-50 draw saw Prez Dianne's ticket drawn. In search of the elusive Jack of Clubs, and the associated $67, she drew the four of Diamonds and settled for the consolation prize.

A few Rotarians were happy this week. Louise was happy that daughter Mariah is residing with the grandparents. Louise says she must be comfortable with this as there were no phone calls wanting to come home............Chairperson Joyce was happy as she will be leaving for St Lucia tomorrow............David alluded to having a good time in Quebec, skiing and just hanging out..........

Ove was happy as he and Pat were leaving for their cottage in the Laurentians and he intends to get some skiing in before it all melts..........Bill was happy that Ove let him use his parking lot for the visitors Bill had to his home last week.............Gayle was happy and sad - happy there is no snow and sad because she forgot to call Joyce this morning to remind her she was the Chair.

Next Week's Duty Roster is as follows:

Chairperson Dianne Greeter Sue F.

Introduces Sue F. Thanker Charlie (David volunteered)

Gold Mine Counters Dake, Tim, David and John

Speaker Gilles Volpe - Energy Policy in NB.

John reminded members that the March 24th morning meeting has been canceled in favor of a March 23rd event partnering with the Rotaract Club. We will be bowling and the cost will be $10. Spouses are most welcome...........We want to update the pictures on our web site. If anyone has some special picture(s), send them to Wayne.............John reviewed the social events for the year.

Sue F.reported that the Rotaract Club has had their last meeting for the year and have collected 160-170 books and have $350 that will be used for nap sacs to be donated to under privilidged children. Sue P. asked members if they cannot make the breakfast to please let her know.

President Dianne reminded members that the Pre Sets is set for April 2, while the Pets & Sets will be held on April 23rd in Moncton. The next RLI will be April 9th, in Presque Isle. Registration will be paid for by the District. Enroll by March 15th to Terry MacDonald, District Secretary. Next Thursday is Saint Patrick's Day and Dianne asked members to wear green.

The winner and the charity-of-the-week attended the this weeks meeting and picked up their cheques.

In the left picture, Rotarian Louise MacKinnon is shown presenting a cheque for $1,011 to Reg Beal. Reg was the big winner in the Draw of March 7th. In the second picture, the Sackville Swim Club representative is shown picking up their cheque for $505. The Sackville Swim Club was the charity-of-the-week for the March 7th draw.

Sue P. introduced our speaker - Kim Reade, Vice President - International and Student Affairs for Mount Alison University. Her talk today centered on how MTA welcomes the World to Sackville. The current enrollment at MTA is 2325 students, that includes 709 new students. 42% are male and 58% are female, with 67% coming from the Atlantic provinces. 10% or approximately 200 students are here from 40 countries around the world. The top three countries are the US, India and Korea. Lately there has been a focus on recruiting students from China and Vietnam. Mount Allison also sends students abroad which become great ambassadors for the school. So-called "exchange" programs greatly benefit the institutions because of the goodwill generated between the schools. The Massie Program has over the years accepted 1,000 student and sent the same to Japan.

Kim alluded that studenst like to attend MTA because: it is small, it has a #1 reputation, its a safe campus, there is flexibility in the programs and there is a favorable monetary exchange rate, particularly between Canada and the US. Students faced many obstacles - the cooler weather, language and culture, but programs have been developed to assist students when they first arrive on campus. International students are important to the University as they pay more to attend and they help diversify the campus. Over the years the international students have insured that there are alumni all over the world. Domestic students have the possibility of making friends who live around the globe.

Kim was thanked by Bill who presented her with a certificate and a Rotary pen and indicated that a book will be donated, in her name, to a local library.