Quad Club Christmas Party

On December 7, 2007 several club members attended the Quad Club Christmas Party. The centre pieces organized. The party was a great success with a few hundred people in attendance.

A thank you goes out to all Rotary members, who helped make 2007 Christmas party a success.

November 27, 2007 Minutes

Members attending: Miranda, Jacqueline, Michelle, Dale, Bill, Jeff, Kathleen, Gabrielle, Darrell, Cheryl L., Kendra
Guests: Rob Borwiecki (GP-Club member), Cheryl Clark and her friend Nicole

Motion to adopt minutes of last meeting: Kendra, seconded Bill - passed
Motion to adopt agenda: Dale and Cheryl

Action Items:
1. Duck Race: Committee still working, Progress good, will report back.

2. District bonspiel: More club members joining project - Cedrick (transportation committee), Brock (financial), Michelle as President.

3. Christmas Party: Cheryl and Miranda do great job designing centrepieces - congrats all around. Gabrielle to volunteer with event Sergeant as Rotaract snitch, Bill to e-mail some pics for presentation. Michelle will be M/C of the entire event - congrats to Michelle. Event runs Friday, Dec. 7 6 p.m. cocktails, 7 dinner guests costs $40, club to be invoiced.

New Business

Food Bank scavenger hunt to run at next meeting. Event involves club members getting list of items needed by Food Bank then going to friend’s homes to get the items. Designed to be a fun competition that will occupy the next meeting.



Membership presentations: Members given certificates of membership, group photo. See photos to be posted on-line soon.

Small Parcel of Culture: Reminder to bring items for Nigerian exchange to next meeting.

November 13, 2007 Minutes

Rotaract General Meeting - Nov. 13, 2007

Attending members: Gabrielle Boulet, Dale Tiedemann, Kathleen Crouse, Jacqueline Hutton, Cheryl Luken, Darrell Winwood, Cory Tretiak, Brock Rogerson, Ashley McDonald, Kendra
Guests: Heather Dunsworth, Dave Dunsworth (Swan City), Rob Borowiecki (Grande Prairie), Han Yu

Motion: Approve agenda - motioned by Jacqueline, second Cory - passed
Motion: Approve minutes of Oct. 23 meeting - motioned by Kathleen, second Brock - passed

Review of past action items:

1. Visiting GPRC Business Students
Jacqueline has followed up and will remain in contact with the professor.

2. Social rock climbing event
Great turnout, more than a dozen of us, lots of fun. Rotary Christmas party on Friday, Dec. 7 will be December social event.

3. Northern Alberta Job Find
Good success, promoted club to hundreds of people, if not thousands.

4. Duck Race
Cedrick and Heather express interest in helping - Heather in the new year. Committee meeting Nov. 16 at Barcalona’s lounge, contact Gabrielle for information.
Gabrielle formally request $500 from Treasurer Kathleen for AGLC application.

5. Clothing and Rotaract Merchandise
Request for proposals sent out to several providers. Will wait for responces, gear will be sold on a cost recovery basis for club.

6. Rotary District Bonspiel
Event happening Feb. 23-24. Rotaract has never been involved before, Michelle on committee, seeking more help from the club to help her.
Bonspiel big event, hundreds of people expected. Two teams are reserved for Rotaract.

7. Membership induction
All members are asked to attend the meeting NOV. 27 for special fun night of inductions of new members. All current members will also recieve a certificate showing when they joined and new policy on membership promotion will be discussed.

8. Parcel of culture
Members are encouraged to think of small items that could be sent to Rotaract Club of Akure, Nigeria. Keep items SMALL, bring ideas or items to next meeting.

9. Card for Someh
Card congratulating Someh on new baby... a little behind the times, but signed and sent off.

New Business

Rotary Christmas
Sign up sheet passed around. Like before club will pay for members, guests cost extra, price still undetermined. Michelle and Cheryl will attend planning meetings and report back.

Meeting ends

October 23rd, 2007 Minutes

In attendance: Gabrielle Boulet, Kathleen Crouse, Michelle Dupont, Bill Given, Jacqueline Hutton, Cedrick LeBlanc, Cheryl Luken, Jeff Morgan, Cory Tretiak

Guests: Heather Dunsworth, Vern Boyd – Sunrise Rotary, Kendra Wilson, Ashley MacDonald, Miranda Leclerc, Patrick Klatt

Intro to guests & members

Last Meeting Minutes
Jeff Morgan – motion approval. Cedrick LeBlanc – second.

Agenda
Jacqueline Hutton – motion approval. Cheryl Luken – second.

Review Action Items

1. GPRC Presentation: Follow-up to Michelle’s presentation. There was no involvement from the class members at our previous social activity – glow ball golfing. Michelle has made further contact with the instructor.
Action Items: Jacqueline (as Membership) will follow-up. Provide a sign-up sheet for class members to sign up for our upcoming events and club information.

2.Social Evening: First Tuesday of the month we gather as a club with invitees & guests to take part in a fun social event.
Michelle will organize the November social night. GPRC Rock Climbing Wall. November 6th @ 7:30 PM. $17/person (includes all equipment & instruction). ALL participants must sign a waiver. Any guests under the age of 18 must have their legal guardian sign.
Action Item: Michelle will email & post information.

3. Job Find – Rotaract Booth: November 7th is the Northern Alberta Job Find at the Crystal Centre. Wave Media has kindly given Rotaract a booth at no charge in order to promote our club and put our name out there to the general public that will be walking through the Job Find.
Action Item: Sign up sheet for anyone who can give an hour of their day between 11:00 AM – 7:00PM. Michelle will email final list prior to the event.

4. Duck Race: Gabrielle to update. Darrell is to meet with Tracy Vavrek with the organizing committee for the Street Performers festival on October 31, 2007 to discuss further involvement of the Rotaract Club & Duck Race. We would essentially like to have the draw on the Sunday of the same weekend, as well as have the Duck Race vehicle on site during the weekend in order to have a final weekend blitz. Brock to discuss with Mazda regarding options for vehicles & prices. Committee members – we will need lots of help. Organizing and selling tickets.
Action Items: Further update at next meeting regarding Darrell’s meeting and the next step in organizing the race.

5. Rotaract Gear: Michelle passed around catalogues for club members to take a look at options for items which we could use for our Rotaract volunteer events and for other articles that will allow us to be recognized in public. Members will be responsible for the cost of their own clothing/items purchased.

New Business

6. Rotary District Bonspiel: A planning committee will meet on Thursday, October 25th. Members from each club have been asked to join, to ensure all clubs are involved. Michelle to help with media. Brock to help with finances. Colleen Tarrant –Sunrise Rotary would like for Rotaract to have a high profile at the event to really promote our club to our other clubs, as well as all the other visiting clubs from out of town. This is a good time for our club to shine. It has been suggested that Rotaract be in charge of registration. The event runs February 23rd – February 25th.
Action Item: Michelle to attend the committee meeting and bring back further information to the club for further discussion.

6. Nametags: All paying members (you have paid your registration / renewal fee) are issued nametags. You loose it, you pay for the replacement.

7. Membership – Jacqueline to update: Jacqueline has prepared certificates of membership for all members, which will be sealed & signed by the executive. This is something that can be displayed at your place of employment – have your involvement known to your coworkers and the public. Each member will be issued business cards, showing their name and it will be up to the member to choose either their own phone # or just the general email for contact information. These cards are meant to be passed out when a member comes across a potential new member they would like to invite to our of our events or just to gain more information about our club.

New members will be issued their certificate, nametag & pin upon officially joining. At that time, a mentor member will be assigned. The mentor will be the new members guide into the Rotary family as well as encourage the new member to take part in the 6 tasks assigned to be completed within the first 6 months of joining. The tasks are as follows: attend 1 (one) of each Sunrise, Swan City and Grande Prairie Rotary general meetings, take part in a Quad Club event (i.e.: Quad Club Christmas Party, Baseball tournament, etc.), Volunteer with the Rotaract Club, attend a Rotaract Social night.

8. Parcel of Culture: Bill received the parcel of culture sent by the Rotaract Club of Akure, Nigeria. There were several printed items, such as a quarterly newsletter, brochures, membership booklet, stickers, and a pennant. They also sent a disc with photographs, cultural beadwork & a locally made sponge.
Action Item: Bring an item that means Grande Prairie / Alberta to you – for us to send to them in return for their package.

9. Roundtable:
Patrick – shared his excitement of meeting the band members of Finger 11. Michelle was not too happy with his news, as her experience of the Finger 11 concert was not quite as favorable.
Vern – he purchased tickets to Hannah Montana for him and his daughter to go see in Toronto. Normally his daughter doesn’t get overly excited about things, however, she is ecstatic about this and Vern is a superstar in her eyes.
Vern also put in a plug for the upcoming Bonspiel and encouraged our involvement as a club & individually.

Gabrielle – has a card to congratulate Someh & her family on their newest addition – please sign & pass around. It will be at the Social night for further signatures, at which time it will be passed on to Cedrick to deliver to Someh.

Cheryl – Congratulations to Bill on winning a position as Alderman on City Council.

Michelle – reminder of her Halloween Party, October 27th and she enlightened the club on her not so favorable experience at the Finger 11 concert, which left her with two black eyes and a broken nose. Not quite and happy as Patrick’s story.

Meeting adjourned: 8:32 PM

Next Meeting: November 13th, 2007 @ 7:30 PM Stanford Inn.

Social Event Climbing Gym

When: Tuesday, November 6, 2007
When: 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Where: GPRC Climbing Wall


The cost to participate is $19 per person (even cheaper if we have more than 10 climbers confirmed!) This includes ALL equipment & basic training.

All participants must sign a waiver ... the form is available for download on the website (for minors whose parents must sign it in advance).

Bring Friends / Family / Co-workers - anyone you think would be interested in Climbing or interested in Rotaract!



How to Get There

October 9, 2007 Minutes

Attending: Michelle, Gabrielle, Cedrick, Jeff, Cheryl, Tim, Cory, Kathleen, Darrell, Jacqueline, Brock

Guests: Miranda, Dale Tiedman, Matt Walace, Kendra ??, Caroline Johnson, Jen and Rebecca Villevrun, Ashley MacDonald, Swan City Past Pres. Dave Dunsworth, Swan City Pres. Ken Laudin
(Such a big turnout we almost ran out of room in the BIG room)


Agenda:
Kathleen motion adoption, Gabrielle second - pass


Minutes of Sept. 25 meeting:
Cory motion acceptance, Jacqueline second - pass
(Jeff motions for acceptance of Words of Wisdom, he missed the comforting knowledge they bring)


1. Dues
Dues are due, pay up! Contact Treasurer Kathleen if you need a receipt. First year's dues are $60, second year and every year after dues are $30. Please bring money to next meeting if you haven't paid.


2. Summer Market
Michelle bring proposal back to club for discussion. Proposal was for Rotaract Club to try and partner with Curling Club to host a summer 'flea market at the club. Idea was a great potential money maker for club, but Pres. Michelle and the executive worried that club not yet ready for such a large project at the same time as the Duck Race, club doesn't have enough members to support both projects.
Cedrick - motion: Club should revisit proposal in Fall of 2008 to see if it is viable at that time - Kathleen second - motion passes.


3. GPRC Presentation
Pres. Michelle spoke to business admin. students at GPRC, telling them about Rotaract and what a swell bunch of guys and gals we all are. Despite tales of wonder and amazement none of the students were brave enough to come and join us for our social Glow-Ball golfing aka glofing event.
Event not a total loss, Michelle to follow up with Prof. who is a member of Swan City.


4. Media Survey
Final tally of money paid to club for running a media survey for Wave Media. Club paid $925 into general account - Yaaaa, we're a little less poor. Congrats to everyone who volunteered, good job.


5. Job Find
Wave Media, again, offer club donated space at upcoming Northern Alberta Job Find job fair for self promotion. Event is Nov. 5, all shifts are taken care of, but any one else who can/wants to help is welcome as it means more people at the booth, so far only a skeleton shift on duty.
Michelle, Jacqueline and Cheryl to follow up and prepare some promotional material for the event.


6. Duck Race
Not only is club incorporated, we now have press seal stamp unit, we can stamp things (club attempts to hide its glee at idea of stamping things).
Duck Race committee has met is starting to form ranks once again, soon our army of ducks will.... oops... sorry... wrong meeting... disregard past comments....
Committee will proceed soon with organization.


7. Coats for Kids
Program is looking for volunteers to help man the distribution station on Saturdays until early November. Contact Jacqueline at Volunteer Services Bureau if you can help.


8. New Member orientation
Jacqueline volunteered as new director of membership.
Will discuss idea of new membership packages with executive, including getting a better skills inventory from existing members.


9. Rotaract Edmonton Charter
New Rotaract Club chartering in Edmonton.
Michelle to draw up official congratulations note from our club to there and express post it to Edmonton in time for their charter meeting.


10. Social Event
Glofing, aka glow-ball golfing, seen as great fun. Rotaract club swarmed the Wee Links Pitchin' Putt evening of Oct. 2. In pitch black we whacked some balls around the course, made fun of ourselves, laughed at each other and we weren't even drinking.
Next social event Nov. 6. Information to come.


11. Merchandise
For the low, low sum of only 99-99-99 you too can own a snazzy piece of Rotaract gear. It comes in a wide range of fancy colours, shapes and sizes.
Merchandise, where the real money from the movies is made (who knows what movie that line is from?).
Michelle investigating options for the club and will bring some samples to the next meeting.


12. Signs at city entrances
City putting up new signs at three entrances to city promoting the various service clubs in Grande Prairie. Cost of signs is quite high for our club.
Michelle to discuss Rotary options at Quad-city president's meeting.


13. Box of Culture
We have our very own box of culture coming to use from a Rotaract club in Nigeria (we think, don't us where in Nigeria, we'll find out soon enough). Part of a Rotaract cultural exchange program. We will fill a box with Grande Prairie culture and ship to Nigeria. Club worried about the cost of freight for sending a F350 raised on a six-inch lift kit... (insert your own GP joke here).


14. Round Table
Michelle - more coats needed for Coats for Kids program, especially infant and toddler sizes. Deadline was Oct. 15 for donations.
Dale - Come dance your cowboys boots right off at the DeBolt Harvester Festival, Nov. 3 in support of STARS Air Ambulance. Call 830-7000 for information.
Cory - GPRC Business students pub crawl, Nov. 23, come get drunk with the co-eds, contact Cory for more information.
Kathleen - Fall Assembly kicked ass, congrats to club for great turnout.
Ken Laudin - Invites Rotaractors to come to Hammerheads (now The Shark Club) every Wednesday night for informal beers, ideas, discussion and some more beers (it's not just Rotaractors that drink it turns out). Starts at 5 p.m. and goes until whenever.

Social Event Glo-Ball Golf

When: Tuesday, October 2, 2007
When: 9:00pm - 11:30pm
Where: Wee Links Pitch & Putt (South Bear Creek Park, Just off 68th Avenue)



Hi everyone! Our next Rotaract social night is Tuesday Oct 2nd @ Wee Links Pitch & Putt.

We're going to be doing some glow ball golf!!! Cost is $10 and includes balls and clubs and all the stuff if you need. You must return you glow ball at the end of the game and they will accept CASH ONLY for this event.

Start time is 9pm so it will be nice and dark for us. Feel free to show up a bit early so we can get teams organized.

Anyone is welcome to come and join the club, bring friends or family!

Visit with DG Dave Taylor

On Sept. 28, 2007 several club members had a special Rotaract lunch with District Governor David Taylor and his spouse Elaine who were in Grande Prairie for Fall Assembly. DG Dave was very interested in hearing what could be done at the district level to help Rotaract clubs. He also mentioned that there will be two new Rotaract clubs chartering in the next couple of weeks - one in Lloydminster and the other in Edmonton.


Club members chat with Dave, Elaine and Assistant DG Allan.



After the meeting everyone posed for a quick group shot. Thanks again to Darrell for remembering to bring the camera!

A few club members attended training sessions Friday evening and Saturday morning. Word is all the sessions were very informative and provided many good strategies for member recruitment & retention among other things. President Michelle passed on a "Thank You Rotary!" for hosting these sessions here in Grande Prairie.

Rotary Food Bank Drive

On Sept. 22, 2007 several club members volunteered with the city-wide Rotary Food Drive, collecting food door-to-door for the Salvation Army Food Bank. Luckily Darrell remembered to bring along a camera and we snapped some pics of the action.


Member Darrell Winwood carefully crosses the street with his bootie of food for the Salvation Army


Member Bill Given and a young volunteer from St. Joes High School pack the bootie into Bill's campaign crui... er.. make that PT Cruiser.

September 25th, 2007 Minutes

Once upon a time, William Shakespeare helped create and define irony... enter 2007 and the Grande Prairie Rotaract Club makes its own contribution to the history of irony.
After several meetings with overflowing attendance, a lack of chairs and table space, club has decided to move into the larger meeting space at the Stanford Inn.

Attending: President Michelle Dupont, Vice-President Gabrielle Boulet, Treasurer Kathleen Crouse, Secretary Darrell Winwood, Cedrick LeBlanc and Cheryl Luken (yes a mighty turn out of six members and no guests for our last meeting in the smaller room). Irony - our name is Rotaract....

Agenda
It shall now forever be noted in the annals of Rotaract history that after several meetings of requesting it the Words of Wisdom have returned to the agenda... where are you Jeff.... - approval motion from Gabrielle

Minutes
Corrections needed for last meetings minutes. Where past minutes said club has donated $25,000 to Rotary House, actual amount was $5,000 and club also donated $20,000 to the Community Village project.
Also the date of the Quad-City dinner is Thursday night Sept. 27, not Friday night.
Cedrick motion for approval with changes

1. Signing Authority
It’s done! Michelle, Gabrielle and Kathleen officially have signing authority. Once again lowly secretary is only executive member left out...

2. Summer Market
Michelle express new concerns about viability of club running Summer Market. Getting volunteers out for September events was a challenge, worried about the same problem come summer time with vacations, social events, little project called Duck Race.
Action Item: Michelle to contact Cory to get update on status of proposal to curling club. Proposal to be brought back to club for next meeting and examination, possible vote on whether to proceed.

3. GPRC Presentation
Club set up table at GPRC Wednesday, Sept. 12 to promote itself as part of meet and greet college event. Mediocre response from college students pretending they were too cool to talk to us (except for Cory who stopped to say hi, you’re cool Cory, just as long as keep bringing plenty of guests).
Michelle, however, snags great connection with business department. Michelle will be making Rotaract presentation to Business Admin students Thursday, Sept. 27. So event was worth it just for that. Club gets ideas for how to improve our displays by looking at other community groups presenting there.
Action Item: Michelle will report on speech to Business Admin students at next meeting.

4. Media Survey
Club volunteers worked for Wave Media for two weekends conducting media surveys (which naturally pointed out the superior nature of newspapers, well maybe not, it’s possible club secretary is making that up).
Action Item: Michelle will compile invoice of club’s work and send it to Wave Media, report for next meeting.

5. Rotary Food Drive
Darrell, Bill Given, Michelle and prospective member Miranda LeClercq volunteered Saturday, Sept. 22 to canvas for the Rotary Food Drive. Event went well except for rogue church group that was out the night before.
Action Item: At next President’s meeting Michelle will suggest creating simple laminated ID badges for all volunteers for next year.

6. Fall Assembly - VERY TIMELY READ UP!!!
While some of you may be amazed by the pure blazing speed of the secretary in getting these meetings minutes out... there is an actual reason.
THIS WEEK THURSDAY, SEPT. 27 - SATURDAY, SEPT. 29 is Fall Assembly for our Rotary district. Thursday night - Quad City Dinner with the District Governor from Edmonton. Cost $30 Quality Inn 6 p.m. Friday SPECIAL ROTARACT ONLY LUNCH WITH THE DG - lunch provided by club, our chance to impress the DG, show we actually do stuff, all members encouraged to attend at our normal meeting spot over the lunch hour. Friday night dinner and two sessions (1. Membership training, development and retention. 2. The Rotary Foundation - what it is and does). Club will cover the cost of any member attending Friday night - 5 p.m. dinner at GPRC. Saturday - multiple sessions from 8 a.m. breakfast to 4 p.m. on multiple subjects including Rotary international projects, community work and formal Q&A with the DG. Club will cover the cost of any member attending, but must register at the door also at GPRC.
ANY QUESTIONS CALL OR E-MAIL MICHELLE ASA(FREAKIN’)P!

7. Social Event
Mark those calendars boys and girls because Cheryl is (maybe) planning a party. Next social event is Tuesday, Oct. 2. Investigating glo-ball golfing at the pitch ‘n’ putt Wee Links (where we had the Longest Drive event). Michelle will promote social event to Business Admin students in her speech Thursday.
Action Item: Cheryl to get information out also ASAP.

8. Northern Alberta Job Find
Club offered space for promotion at next job fair at Crystal Gardens, courtesy of Wave Media and Kevin Hilgers. Volunteers needed all day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7. Sign up sheet passed around.
Action Item: Keep it in mind for your schedules people and see if you can spare one hour at some point to do a shift at the event. Sign up sheet will be passed around at future meetings.

9. Duck Race
And so it was one fateful night, the clouds parted, the angels sang and Grande Prairie’s Rotaract Club became officially INCORPORATED. It only took about six months... but yes it’s done, final paperwork still coming, but incorporation is done (thanks Miranda and Glen - you rock).
Action Item: Duck Race committee (or what’s left of it) to meet soon and get ready to plan next year.

10. Round Table
Michelle - Coats for Kids program now underway, if you have warm winter clothing not being used anymore please drop it off at Crouse’s Cleaners beside the Canada Games Arena before Oct. 15.
Cedrick - nothing to share
Gabrielle - Our Vice-President officially has a bunch of letters beside her name as she has passed her exams and is now Gabrielle Boulet CAIB (Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker). Congrats all around, especially to those who remember in another month or two what CAIB stands for... (just joking Gab).
Cheryl - The North Wapiti Skate Club is running a bottle drive. If you can any to spare contact Cheryl.
Darrell - Chamber of Commerce now accepting nominations for Small Business Awards. Businesses can self nominate and don’t have to be Chamber members. Two categories of note for Rotaractors - Best New Business and Young Entrepreneur (owner aged 29 or younger). Contact the Chamber for more info. (Warning flagrant self-promotion alert) Darrell (taking full advantage of no Sergeant in this club) announces launch of his web site www.darrellwinwood.com to promote his freelance writing (think these minutes are funny, wait until I get warmed up).
Kathleen - Suggests any interested club members should show up at the civic election debate next Monday, Oct. 1 at the Douglas J. Cardinal Theatre 7 p.m. Possible gathering after the debate for drinks.

September 11th, 2007 Minutes

Attending: Cedric LeBlanc, Jeff Morgan, VP-Gabrielle Boulet, Pres.-Michelle Dupont, Sec.-Darrell Winwood and Tim “I paid my membership two weeks ago I’m a member” Lau

Guests: The clouds parted, the heavens sang and Cory Tretiak walked in with his poesy of guests - Katherine Halwa, Nicole Misener, Serena Anthony, (it was pretty impressive). Also attending as guests Cheryl Clark, Dave Dunsworth past president Swan City Rotary, Heather Dunsworth, club’s lawyer Miranda LeClercq and presenting guest Kelly Crouse with Rotary House.

Agenda:
Acceptance moved by Cedric - passed

Previous Minutes:
Acceptance moved by Cedric - passed

1. Signing Authority:
Summer made it difficult to co-ordinate schedules, change now happening. President, Vice-President and Treasurer to get signing authority, but not the lowly secretary, he doesn’t count...
Action Item: Executive members to update progress at next meeting

2. Summer Market
Cory continues to work on proposal that will be made to curling club and our club. Cory recently returned to GPRC, we’re cutting him some slack with the start of school (and he gets bonus points for bringing four guests).
Action Item: Cory will continue work and update the club at next meeting

3. GPRC Community Event
Club to set up a table and promote itself at GPRC Wednesday, Sept. 12 as part of an event devoted to community groups so they all compete for attention at the same time with a bunch of students.
Action Item: Will report on how event went at next meeting

4. Media Survey
Seven club members worked last Saturday at Ernies, Co-Op and Timbermart for Wave Media, asking people’s opinions on where they get their news and information
More volunteers sought for same duty Saturday, Sept. 15 for two other locations. Wave Media paying club $15/person/hour for work. Money will go into general revenue.
Action Item: Event report to be given next meeting.

5. Rotary Ball Tournament
Annual slow pitch tournament Sunday, Sept. 16. All members invited to make fools of themselves in front of other Rotary members equally making fools of themselves and then dinner and a certain liquid called al-co-hol to follow.
Action Item: Inventory of pulled muscles and hilarious moments to be shared with club.

6. Quad-City Food Drive
All four clubs helping to run annual Rotary Food Drive, Saturday, Sept. 22. Volunteers can show up at 9 a.m. at the D-Coy Armouries to walk the streets collecting food for the Salvation Army Food Bank. BBQ lunch to follow at noon at Food Bank.
Action Item: Report to made at next meeting on how it went.

7. Fall Assembly
Rotary Fall Assembly taking place party in Grande Prairie this year. Running Friday, Sept. 27-29. Rotaract to get discount price on entry, more information to be shared on sessions at next meeting. District Governor David Taylor will be visiting and there will be a Quad-City dinner with the DG that Friday night. More information to come from Michelle.
Action Item: President Michelle to offer more information at next general meeting.

8. Rotary House
Rotary House is the affordable housing project designed to replace the decrepit Wapiti Dorm. The project was first pitched several years ago and has been tied up chasing grants, different locations and has been caught in the inflation boom.
Will be located behind Aberdeen Centre, not far from existing Dorm. Cost was originally $4.5 million now risen to $12.5 million. Facility will include emergency housing, transitional housing and affordable housing for the disabled on three levels. Will dramatically expand capacity for emergency shelter in this city. Three main Rotary Clubs have contributed $500,000, with Rotaract putting in $5,000 of that.
Project now awaiting word on provincial grant in early October. If news is good, could potentially break ground still this fall, but that’s best case scenario. Rotaract Club could potentially still help in final construction stages (painting, labour, etc.)
Action Item: Club will be updated on project as it moves along.

Meeting Ends

Next general meeting: (same bat-time, same bat-channel) aka. Tues. Sept. 25 - Stanford Inn 7:30 p.m.

September 4th, 2007 Social Event

The social event for this Tuesday was supposed to be a visit to the corn maze just north of the city. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with Cory's plans and the ground was too wet so the maze was closed.

Luckily Cory had a back up plan! He booked us in for a little mini-golf and was good enough to bring along some watermelon and other snacks. There was a really good turn out with a number of members and guests meeting at Muskoseepi park. Unfortunately the gates to the course were locked even though the "club house" phone message said it would be open.


So, we ate some watermelon....


... did a little dancing....


... and went to the back up, back up plan of playing pool and having a few drinks at Better than Fred's.




All in all, it turned out to be a great night! Many thanks to everyone who came and to Cory for planning everything and "rolling with the punches".

Rotaract Cup 2007

Today President Michelle presented the Rotaract Cup to the Grande Prairie Rotary Club in recognition of the club's support of the Rotaract club through out the past year.

President Michelle Speaking to the Rotary Club


President Michelle presents the Cup to Past President Harry Sandhu


Rotaractor Cory sits with a table of Rotarians at the meeting. All together, five Rotaract members were in attendance to support President Michelle and say thank you to the Rotary club.

August 28th, 2007 Minutes

In Attendance: Gabrielle Boulet, Kathleen Crouse, Michelle Dupont, Bill Given, Jacqueline Hutton, Tim Lau, Cedrick Leblanc, Cheryl Luken, Jeff Morgan, Cory Tretiak

Guests: Dale Tiedemann, Cheryl Clarke, Sabrina Lindquist

Meeting Called to Order: 7:30 PM

Last Meeting Action Items

Website
Bill and Cedrick to coordinate a website – blog site.
Domain name: gprotaract.org
There will be links to the general email address for contact.
Meeting minutes will be posted on the blog, once distributed.
Bill and Cedrick to be Website chairs, as opposed to an actual committee – as our club is already limited in size.

Signing Authority on Bank Account
Meeting minutes to change over – positions are not specific in the minutes.
Melissa Pool is our contact at CIBC in order to change over names.
We will amend the meeting minutes to indicate last names & positions.

Action Items: Kathleen, as Treasurer to book an appointment for Michelle, Kathleen and Gabrielle to gain signing authority on account.

Club Service Director Nominations
The focus for Club Service is:
Membership
Retention
Follow-up with guests & potential members
Monitor 60% attendance

Glen had originally taken on this role, however, has since moved on to a Rotary Club. Jacqueline has shown an interest, no other nominees – Michelle passes to have Jacqueline as Club Service Director, Bill motions to accept.
Jacqueline Hutton is the 2007 term Club Service Director.

Summer Market Fundraiser
Proposal to organize Summer Market. Cory is creating the proposal to present to the curling rink as the location. The proposal will include our needs & what we will provide. Nothing is to be presented at this time – as a club we will review the proposal, making a firm decision whether to proceed or not.
Concerns have been brought up regarding our resources. This is a Saturday event, which will consume some of our necessary volunteers, which we, as a club will require next summer to sell Duck Race Tickets.
The money gained from holding the Summer Market will be general use.

Action Items: Cory to present proposal at next meeting, September 11, 2007.

Upcoming Events

Rotary Cup Presentation - Grande Prairie Rotary Club
Friday, August 31st, Michelle is the guest speaker at the Friday Club’s general meeting. She will be speaking about our club, the new term, our goals, as well as presenting the 2006-2007 term Rotary Cup to the past president Harry Sandhu. We will be showcasing our new brochures. Please come and show your support.

Social Night – Corn Maze
Tuesday, September 4th marks our second Social night – Cory to organize the event. Although Cory had originally planned to hold a rock climbing night at the GPRC climbing wall, as a club we have decided to go the local Corn Maze as it is only open until the end of September.

Action Items: Cory to organize final details & email club.

Wave Media – Media Survey
Next Saturday, September 8th, we need enough volunteers for 5 different locations, at least 3 people per location. The survey will ask questions regarding what radio stations people listen to, which newspaper they read, etc. Our club will earn $15/hr. for volunteering. 2 shifts have been assigned; please sign up if you can make it. We accept non-Rotaract/Rotary members to volunteer. Bring friends or family who may be interested.
A sign up sheet is being passed around.

GPRC Orientation – Booth
Wednesday, September 12th @ GPRC. 2 volunteers are needed to run the booth. Please sign up on sheet being passed around if you are able to attend. We have a booth with power, which will allow us to showcase a PowerPoint presentation.

Action Items: Bill has PowerPoint presentation. Kathleen to issue cheque in the amount of $15.00, payable to GPRC.

Quad Club Ball Tournament
September 16th is the annual Family Ball Tournament, held at South Bear Creek ball diamonds.
Children’s game starting at 11:00. Adult game to follow. Dinner at 5:00 – 5:30
Please sign up on sheet being passed around.

Round Table

International Project: Bill received an email from a Rotaract Club in Nigeria, the same club who had contacted our club last year to do a Culture Box exchange.
They would send us a box with items specific to their culture; in return we would send them the same.
As a club we agree this is a fun idea to pursue.

Action Items: Bill to confirm with the club & proceed.

Street Performers: Jacqueline brought box of goodies for those who volunteered at the Street Performers Festival in July.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:08 PM (that had to be a record for a meeting)

September Club Social Night

Tuesday September 4th - Corn Maze

This months social event will be taking place at The Country Roads Corn Maze at 7:30pm. Cost is $5/person and will depend on the weather. Be sure to bring your friends and some comfy shoes! Snacks Provided.

Directions:
Head north out of town and take your first left after the overpass. Take that road West and look for it on your left hand side. You can't miss it.

Cory

Red Cross Rocks

August 12th, 2007 Red Cross Rocks was an event to support the Red Cross Summer Youth Program in Grande Prairie. There were a number of bands who put on a great concert inspite of the down pour and cold weather.

Rotaract manned and operated the "Red Mile", with the goal of filling a Red Cross symbol with a mile worth of loonies and twoonies. In the end we raised about $326 total for Red Cross and they donated 20% of that to the Rotaract Club. Congrats to Cory Tretiak for organizing the event and all club members who braved the cold and wet weather to volunteer.

August 14th, 2007 Minutes

Attending:
Michelle, Jacqueline, Glen, Cory, Jeff, Cedrick, Cheryl, Brock, Darrell
Guests - Heather Dunsworth, Sara McIntaggart, Sarah Nightingale

Motion - Approval of meeting minutes 
Motion - Jeff - seconded Jacqueline
Pass

Motion - Approval of last meetings minutes
Motion - Jacqueline - seconded Cedrick
Pass

Rotaract Web site
Work underway on new site for the club as old one is very outdated
Bill set up template on Blogspot, feedback positive

Web site to be left in the hands of Bill and Cedrick to co-ordinate

Duck Race
Incorporation process still underway, all other work on back burner until incorporation done. Glen to co-ordinate lawyer with Gabrielle.

Club Service
Need a director of Club Service for this year. Job involves co-ordinating public exposure for the club, helping to run events that promote the club, recruiting new members and keeping in touch with prospective new members who come as guests.
Any one interested in the position is encouraged to say so at the next meeting.

Rotaract Cup
Michelle as President to speak at the Friday Grande Prairie Rotary Club during their meeting Aug. 31 (that’s this Friday). Michelle will present that club with the Rotaract Cup, given to the club that helps our club the most. Will also speak to that club about our activities and our constant membership drive. Any club members who can are encouraged to attend that meeting to show support. Meeting is noon, Grande Prairie Inn in the club’s room. Ask at the front desk if you don’t know. Lunch is free for visiting Rotaract members. 

GPRC Membership event
Club will have a booth at GPRC during their new student orientation program, Wednesday, Sept. 12. A few volunteers will be needed to promote the club at this event. Michelle will send out a sign up list.

Rotary Ball Tournament
Come play catch with the other clubs...
Softball tournament Sunday, Sept. 16 at South Bear Creek. Great way to meet other Rotary members. Any questions ask Michelle

Northern Alberta Job Fair
Kevin Hilgers travelling circus of jobs... 
Well not really, Hilgers’ company Wave Media runs a twice annual job fair at the Crystal Gardens where companies set up booths to promote themselves and find new workers. Hilgers as a member of the Friday club has (very generously) offered to give us free space to promote Rotaract at the event. It runs Nov. 7. More information to come.

Community Service
Need Director - any one interested say so at next meeting
International Service
Possible ‘culture box’ exchange with a Rotaract Club in Africa being planned. Bill to track if needed.

Longest Day, Longest Drive, Longest Putt
Final report submitted - we made money - YAAAAA

Sales of $1,370
Expenses of $1,069
Profit of $301 into our general account

Report - Considered a success to make money in first year. Good exposure for club on Q99 which was on location all afternoon. Was long event which stretched volunteers. 
Notes for next year: Develop better sponsorship packages, better display of prizes, consider price drop (three balls for $5 maybe instead of $10), get posters up around town in advance, consider partnership with existing golf tournaments, maybe as a side event at Rotary or Chamber of Commerce tournament, Wee Links is up for sale (monitor for next year), create or purchase road signage outside entrance, promote at other clubs as much as possible. 

Red Cross Rocks
Event virtually rained out, little public turnout. Still, club manned and operated the Red Mile, raising $326 total with 20 per cent of $70 coming to the club. Congrats to Cory for organizing the event and all club members who braved the cold and wet, especially Bill who went in the dunk tank. See the Facebook page for photos.

Summer Market
Proposal reviewed. Idea calls for club to partner with curling club to set up and host a summer market. Proposal seen as good exposure for club, good revenue generator, place to sell Duck Race tickets.
Motion to proceed with creating a proposal to present to curling club
Motion- Cedrick - second Cheryl
Club votes 7-1 in favour of proposal. Two votes sent in by proxy makes vote 8-2 in favour.
Cory agree to become chairman of the project and will create proposal and return to the club with ideas.

Media Survey
Wave Media (Kevin Hilgers) approach club to run a Grande Prairie media survey. Consists of club members setting up at certain stores such as Timber Mart, Keddies, Co-Op, Ernies and asking shoppers about their media choices. Hilgers will pay $15/person/hour to run survey. One day event, Saturday, Sept. 8. Good money for club. 
Volunteers will be needed