Grande Prairie Rotaract

Meeting Minutes - November 9, 2010

2010-11-18T16:02:00.001-08:00

Members in Attendance:

Dale, Lisa, David, Devin, Kendra

Guest:

Mr. Brian Brake

Meeting Called to order at 7:30 PM by Dale Tiedemann

1. Minutes Approved from October 12, 2010
Devin first, Lisa second.

2. Agenda
• Add round table
• All in favour

3. Guest Speaker: Mr Brian Brake, Executive Director Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative
• Project on the go since 2002
• Bone bed was discovered in 1974
• Bone bed is 10 inches thick, size of 3 football fields
• Only a very small portion of which has been dug
• Already discovered the fossils of 5 complete animals, 5000 bones, 14 skulls
• $26.4 Million required to complete project (museum)
• Anticipating 1/3 local, 1/3 provincial and 1/3 federal funding
• Target date to open is December 31, 2012
• Museum would be placed just off the highway halfway between Beaverlodge and Grande Prairie
• One of the many features includes a $500,000 Rotary Education Center!

4. District Governor Jackie Hobal’s visit
• Visit went well. Had a smaller turnout but got some good brainstorming time about some local and international projects that the club can start doing!

5. District Training
• Dana will inform us how her district training was at the next meeting.

6. 2011 Rotaract Preconvention Meeting
• There is rotary convention as well as a preconvention meeting in New Orleans in 2011. It would be great if we could see some members go to this. Partial funding may be available from the club. There will be some information available about this convention at the next meeting.

7. Festival of Trees
• We have been asked to help make center pieces for the Teddy Bear Breakfast. We will be making the center pieces on Friday November 19 at the Tech Center at 6:00 pm. Dale, Kendra and David have already volunteered, but we are hoping for 5 volunteers. Please let David know as soon as possible if you are interested. His email is davidc373@hotmail.com.

8. Rotary Christmas Party
• Mark your calendars! The Rotary Christmas Party is on December 17th. There will be more details on this (time/location) at the next meeting. We normally volunteer one Rotaract member to be on the committee that makes center pieces, and Kendra has volunteered to do this.

9. Christmas Dinner
• We have decided to organize a seniors Christmas Dinner at the Golden Age Center on December 14 from 4-7! Please note that this is in place of the meeting that would have taken place on December 14th. We will need lots of hands getting the food ready prior to, during and after the dinner. We will have more details on some of the required efforts at the next meeting.

10. International Project
• We would like to do some sort of international project. One idea that is popular was building a playground in Mazatlan.

11. Round Table

12. Meeting adjourned at 9:10 PM
• Next meeting Tuesday, November 23rd at 7:30 PM, Standford Inn.

Meeting Minutes - October 12, 2010

2010-10-13T10:11:00.001-07:00

Members in Attendance:

Dale, Dana, Lisa, Cate, Terri, Devon and Mark

Meeting Called to order at 7:30 PM by Dale Tiedemann

1. Membership Dues
• ACTION: If you received an invoice, please pay
• $60 is the fee for a first year member, $30 is the renewal fee
• If you did not receive an invoice please contact David, Dale, Dana or Lisa (Executive Team)

2. Membership Distribution List
• A new list needs to be created so that we have the most up to date contacts for everyone.
• ACTION: Prior to next meeting please email Dale or Dana your email address and phone number

3. District Governor, Jackie Hoble's visit
• Jackie Hoble will be in Grande Prairie November 3rd and 4th and would be willing to meet with Rotaract and Interact
• Dana motioned to have a meeting with Jackie combined with Interact for us to have an opportunity to interact with Interact on November 4th at 4pm (as this would be the only time available for Interact to attend)
• Dale second the motion and all were in favour
• Dale will follow up with Interact to make arrangements. More details to come.
• ACTION: Mark your calendar to attend Nov 4th meeting at 4pm

4. Sunrise Rotary Club Scare Crow Festival
• Saturday, October 16th @ Five Mile Hall. Cocktails @ 6pm, Dinner @ 7pm, tickets $75/each.
• Opportunity for Rotaract to run the "keys please" as done in past years
• The club charge a flat rate for the service and made an estimate $300 or less
• Lack of interest from those in attendance and due to the short notice we will decline this opportunity this year
• If interested in purchasing tickets to attend event, contact Sandra Impey @ Sunrise Club

5. Local Projects
• In an effort to increase membership attendance, Rotaract will be moving away from the current meeting format, which is 2 monthly meetings, and have 1 out of 2 monthly meetings become a working meeting, ie: volunteering for an organization
• This will also fit with the mandate of Rotary - "Service Above Self"
• The idea is to have one volunteer opportunity or event/fundraising initiative each month. This would take place of the 2nd meeting.
• In an effort to give people notice of the upcoming activities, a quarterly calendar will be created outlining the activities upcoming in the next 3 months.
• Plan to implement this starting in November
• ACTION: For the next meeting, everyone is encouraged to have one volunteer or fundraising idea. If unable to attend meeting, please email Dale your idea for consideration.
• Examples of volunteer groups: PARDS, SPCA, Big Brothers & Sisters, Habitat For Humanity

6. International Project
• Rotaract would like to increase our presence with international projects. Opportunity to partner with the Rotaract Club in Mazatlan (our sister city) for "Roads to Mexico"
• "Roads to Mexico" is a project that brings vehicles such as ambulances, school buses, fire trucks, etc to Mazatlan. As well, money will be raised to purchase items that are essential that they would not be able to afford.
• The club already has a relationship with the Mazatlan Club, plus connections with other Rotarians that do this project, so it would be a good place to start for an International Project
• Dale will be working on this project to see exactly how Rotaract can get involved and will let the Club know more details as they come

7. Round Table
• Terri - works for Travel AB & GP Tourism, has been there for 4 yrs. First Rotaract meeting; however she volunteered at Bud Country & Coats For Kids with Rotaract! Welcome!!
• Cate - she is due with a baby in February! Congratulations! This means that she needs to be in bed by 8:30pm!! They will be finding out the sex of the baby on Friday...watch Facebook for updates! Recently moved to Sexsmith where Doug is volunteering with the Sexsmith Fire Dept.
• Dale - recently was in Waterloo, Ont. for work, which was his 1st time to Ont. So what did Dale do while there??? He went to the Children's Museum...makes sense! Actually he went there because there was a Titanic exhibit that was very cool!
• Devon - Participated in the Food Bank Drive with Rotaract...it was really good! Other than that just busy working!
• Mark - His girlfriend just moved back to Edmonton from Montreal, so he is in E-town 3 out of 4 weeks in a month. Will be moving there in the Spring, so if anyone is looking to buy a condo, let him know! He'll also be going to Mexico for 2 weeks at Christmas time! Arriba!
• Lisa - busy with work! Face Off Against Cancer is next week and Shoot For The Cure with the GP Storm this Friday. If interested in either event, let Lisa know. Otherwise, she is off on a hot air balloon ride tomorrow morning, so hopefully no crazy GP winds happen!!
• Dana - Dana was giving updates throughout the round table, and then when it came to her turn she didn't have anything to say!! :-)

8. Meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM
• Next meeting Tuesday, October 26th. 7:30 PM, Standford Inn....be there or be square!

Meeting Minutes - June 8, 2010

2010-06-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

It's that time again ... Rotaract Meeting Minutes!

1. Intro of Members & Guests
Members: Darrell, Dale, Miranda, Amanda
Guests: Ashley Tiedemann from Canadian Red Cross, GP Chapter

2. Approval of Last Meeting's Minutes - this has been passed to the next meeting as we did not have them to approve, nor did we have quarum.
3. Approval of Meeting Agenda - no additions

4. Canadian Red Cross Presentation
The Red Cross is promoting their organization and raising local awareness and to change people's perception of what the Red Cross really is and what it does in our community.

* HELP - Health Equipment Loans Program - lend medical equipment to post surgery patients when they are returning home, free of charge. They take donations specific to this program as well.
* Disaster Management Program - municipal response in the case of large catastrophes ann individual response.
* The Grande Prairie chapter goes north to the NWT, west to the BC border, south to Grande Cache and east to High Prairie/Slave Lake.
* They have 10-12 regular volunteers
* 5-7% of funds go to admin costs, the rest to the organizations programs.
* An individual must train with the Red Cross to become a delegate in order to go to international disasters on behalf of the Red Cross.
* The summer focus this year will be Youth Engagement (12-25 years of age). Refugee Day Camps. They will be looking for volunteers in the month of August. Date to be determined.

5. Volunteer Projects

* Golden Age Centre - Sunday, June 13th - help prepare and serve lunch at the seniors dance. Darrell will forward more detailed info via email to the club.
* Bud Country - July 2nd & 3rd. Our club has been approached to take on the beer gardens for Bud Country. We would staff the beer gardens both nights for set-up, drink ticket sales and serving of the drinks. We would require approximately 20 people each night and required to be there from 5PM - 3AM. Our club would be given a $2,000 honorarium, the bottles/cans for refund as well all the volunteers would be provided with weekend passes to the shows. All volunteers would be required to take Pro Serve through the Liquor Board and we would be reimbursed the cost of the course. Can our club manage this project - can we get enough people to help out? Dale will contact the other Rotary clubs to see if they can provide a few volunteers from each club - this project could fund our club for an entire year and the money would not be controlled by gaming. More details will follow.

6. Old Business

* T-Shirts - they have been ordered and should be here soon!
* Change over - passed over to next meeting
* Exec meeting/GPRC - not discussed

7. Round Table

* Miranda - survived the CO incident in her condo and was rescued by Red Cross - they were put up for the night at the Sandman.
* Dale - is renting a mini van and taking 4 teenaged girls to Edmonton for the weekend to a conference. We look forward to hearing more about this Dale!!

This meeting was very casual due to the low number of attendance. It was discussed that Dale's first meeting in July will be taken on the road in form of a FIELD TRIP!!!! More info from Gabrielle will follow. Who doesn't love going on a field trip?!

That is all.

Meeting adjourned ... sometime close to 9:00 PM.

Next meeting - Tuesday, June 22nd, 7:30 PM. Be there!

Meeting Minutes - May 25, 2010

2010-06-01T17:02:00.001-07:00

Grande Prairie Rotaract Club General Meeting, May 25th, 2010

Members in Attendance: Darrell Winwood, Devin Bateman, Cedric, Dale Tiedemann, Matthew Hall, Kendra Wilson, Miranda LeClercq, Gabrielle Boulet, Cate Weber

Guests in Attendance: Amanda, Miguel Lopez

1. Introduction of Members & Guests
-Welcome to Miguel Lopez and Amanda!

2. Approval of Last Meeting's Minutes
Motion by Kendra Wilson
Seconded by Dale Tiedemann
Motion carried

3. Approval of Meeting Agenda
Motion by Gabrielle Boulet
Seconded by Miranda LeClercq
Motion carried

4. Guest - Miguel Lopez - Chile earthquake relief
-Chile experienced an earthquake on February 27th, 2010 that measured 8.8 on the richter scale
-The epi centre of the earthquake was located near the area where Miguel has participated in various volunteer projects such as building a library, installing a boiler in an old folks home and building a school. A tsunami subsequently devestated the coastal area.
-In total, 80% of Chile was affected by the earthquake
-As a result, many people in Chile are without basic needs such as food, water, shelter and work; any funds raised will be used towards getting people these necessities
-Swan City Rotary is organizing a dinner theatre to raise funds
-Rotary International provided shelter boxes
-Any donation is appreciated; Chile can use all the help it can get
-Rotaract will discuss ways to help out with this project
-Rotaract will also post the informational DVD on the website and on the facebook site; paypal will be set up so that people can make donations online

5. Volunteer Projects

County Fundraiser
-completed on May 24th! Thank you everyone for your help!

Golden Age Center
-Matthew to handle this event

Painting City Planters
-Rotaract has decided not to move ahead with this project

6. Old Business

T-Shirts
-cost $10; let Dale know if you would like to order one as he is placing the order this week!

7. Executive Change Over
-Dale to plan the event
-The plan is go paintballing then out for drinks at Madhatters

8. Round Table

Devin: not much going on lately

Darrell: is very busy and may win money in the hockey pool! (rooting for the hawks)

Dale: youth week is complete! Now it is time to recoup. He is also going on a vacation to California!

Matthew: hired at JAX as a bartender and scored 2 goals in his men's soccer league.

Kendra: tried to go camping, but it was too cold and wet, so she came home. She is also running faster!

Miranda: went on an interesting trip to Mexico, and stayed with her grandparents and at a resort.

Gabrielle: got her coffee machine back! Taking part in the press run on Saturday, and planted some herbs on the long weekend.

Amanda: lots of travelling and lots of spring cleaning!

Cate: going to Ontario in 4 weeks and getting married in 5!

Cheryl: bought a new house!

Meeting adourned at 8:40pm

That's all. If you've noticed any errors or ommissions, please bring them to my attention.

Happy Tuesday!
Cate

Meeting Minutes - May 11, 2010

2010-06-01T17:01:00.001-07:00

Hello Everybody!

I procrastinated a bit more than usual ... but alas, the meeting minutes are being sent out before the next meeting - an accomplishment!

May 11, 2010 - Meeting called to order by President Darrell Winwood @ 7:37 PM

Members in Attendance:Darrell Winwood, Dale Tiedemann, Gabrielle Boulet, Michelle Dupont (yes, you read that right ... Michelle is back!!) Lucy Ramirez, Chris Murray, Devin Bateman, Kendra Wilson

1. Introduction of Members & Guests
Sarah Nightingale and Jasime (I missed your last name!). Welcome!

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes
Motion - Chris Murray
Second - Darrell

3. Approval of Meeting Agenda
Additions: To Volunteer projects - DHT Press Run by Gabrielle, to Old Business - Greenathon by Chris

4. Volunteer Projects

* County Fundraiser - Scheduled for May 18th & 20th. The county pays groups to clean pre-assigned secondary roads, $100/km. We have signed up for approximately 5.5kms of road. Our assigned area is on the north tip of city limits. Meet at the pre-determined location at 6:30 the first night, divide into teams and get at 'er! The county supplies bags, gloves, safety vests and signage. They will also collect the full bags. We just need to have our area complete before June 1st. More info from Darrel to come.
* Golden Age Centre - They are holding an and are looking for Rotaract to help out at the dance and possibly serve lunch. If you are interested in taking the lead on this project, please contact Darrell.
* Painting City Planters downtown - this is a past Rotaract project. The city supplies the paint and we paint the planters that are located in the downtown core. This helps beautify the area and get our members out there! Some members expressed interest in doing it if we have more artistic freedom rather than plain blue paint. Darrell will look into how artsy we can get and advise.
* School Snack Program - Dale advised that he is still working with the program organizers for a time that our club can participate. Our original volunteer day of April 16th was postponed last minute. Stay tuned!
* Relay for Life - Friday, June 11th. Do we want to volunteer our club to help out or are too many members participating with other teams? This is being left open, but nothing definite will be planned for now.
* DHT Press Run - the race is Saturday May 29th and the Grande Prairie Run Walk Club is looking for volunteers to help out race day. They need course marshalls, water station people, etc. If you are interested, please contact Gabrielle. Kendra helped out with the Brian Harms race and did an excellent job of cheering me (Gabrielle) on at the half way and finish points and has become inspired to start running! There is a volunteer appreciation dinner for all DHT Press Run volunteers the week following the even at Jake's Down South.

5. Old Business

* T-Shirts - Dale advised a new wicked price for the T-shirts, including logos - $10/shirt ... yes this is for the awesome bamboo shirts. Please advise Dale your shirt size ASAP for an order to be put in.
* Greenathon - with great enthusiasm Chris wanted to send a shout out to all members that helped out with the project - you guys rule! The project was less than organized and slightly chaotic, but our members did a great job of working together and keeping their assigned student groups under control. Thanks agan!

6. RYPEN Camp - District volunteer opportunity

* Taking place at Camp Warwa just outside of Edmonton (toward Grande Prairie) on the May long weekend - May 19 - 23. Darrell will forward the email sent from the District level for anyone interested in learning more or helping out.

7. Executive Change Over

* Change over occurs around the last meeting in June or early July to celebrate the incoming and outgoing executive. In the past we have held BBQ's are the outgoing President's place of resident. As Darrell and Debi live in a condo, they aren't set up to host a large BBQ for our club. It was suggested that we celebrate differently this year and go Paintballing. This is especially exciting to Darrell as the has wanted to do this as a social event for quite some time. More discussion to come. If you have any other suggestions, please feel free to contact Darrell or bring them to our next meeting!

8. District Conference - May 13 - 16 in Drayton Valley

* Are any Rotaract Club members attending this year?

9. Round Table

* Michelle - after much time spent debriefing in her condo post AWG , she is back in the swing of things! Welcome back!
* Lucy - has new Saucony running shoes! She is taking an extra long May Long weekend to go to a cabin in Merritt! Fun!!
* Chris - going to Calgary with 4 other geeks (his words, not mine) for a Robotics competition. He has to be back by May 16th however in time for his son's 1st birthday.
* Gabrielle - ran in her first 10 mile (16km) race last weekend. Survived and is getting ready for the DHT Press Run half marathon!
* Sarah - plays baseball (resultantly had to leave the meeting a tad early).
* Kendra - inspired by runners at the Brian Harms and is now running with her dog who is her pace bunny. She is finished school for the year and has a summer job weighing trucks. Not overly enthralling, but it will pay the bills and tuition - so it will have to do!
* Dale - is mid-Youth Week and it's going awesome so far and has TONS of ideas for next year already!! He LOVES Air Canada (NOT!), but in spite of this hung out with Michelle's mom in the Edmonton airport while waiting 8 hours to catch a flight home. Lame!
* Devin - has a new job and is writing his Life Insurance exam - good luck! He is participating in the Relay for Life.
* Darrell - was in Edmonton this past weekend attending a media camp conference. He didn't learn as much as he had hoped, but was able to meet up with old media friends.

Meeting adjourned @ 8:25 PM

See you all Tuesday, May 25th after an excellent May Long Weekend (crappy weather aside!)

P.S.: Something I don't recommend - typing meeting minutes with an agenda that is several meetings old and realizing it half way through! Making sense of notes taken compared to the flow of the agenda is very difficult.
If the information isn't exactly in the same order as the meeting agenda, this is why!

Meeting Minutes - April 13, 2010

2010-04-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

Members In Attendance:

Darrell Winwood, Dale Tiedemann, Dana Moody, David Crouse, Lucy Ramirez, Miranda LeClercq, Gabrielle Boulet, Chris Murray, Matt Hall

Guests In Attendance:

Amanda McKay, Heather

Meeting Called to order at 7:30 PM by Darrell Winwood.

1) Introduction of Members & Guests:
1.A.) As listed above, 2 guests were in attendance at tonight’s meeting.

2) Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes:
2.A.) Last Meeting was the Open House, no meeting minutes to approve.

3) Approval of Meeting Agenda:
3.A.) Add T-Shirt Order to Agenda. Approved by Gabrielle, second by David.

4) Volunteer Projects:
4.A.) . School Snack Program – The Grande Prairie Public School District as well as the Catholic School District have initiated a school snack program. They require volunteers to come in and prepare the snacks at the chosen school. The snacks are donated by companies or organizations and they will often have a ‘celebrity week” where the donators prepare the snacks. Dale recently participated in this project with the City of Grande Prairie at Hillside Elementary. He thought this would be a great experience for Rotaracters, and has signed us up for April 16, 2010, 9:00-11:30am. They will require 4-5 volunteers, sign up sheet to follow.

4.B.) Greenathon – The Greenathon is fast approaching, May 1, 2010. This is a quad club event where the Rotary clubs and kids of G.P. help clean up the city. Arrive in the morning to the Rotary campground for a pancake breakfast. Go to the schools to pick up the kids, and then head to your designated section of the city. Finish up with a BBQ and Bike Draw. Take the kids back to their schools and the day is usually done at about 1:30. This is a very fun event and if you would like to sign up as a captain or co-captain, please speak with Chris Murray.

4.C.) County Fundraiser – The County of Grande Prairie is holding something very similar to the Greenathon, the County Clean up. Groups are paid $100 for every km cleaned. This money could be great as general funds for the club. 5-6 volunteers needed, we will be signing up for 5 km to clean.

4.D.) Golden Age Centre – Dora has contacted Darrell to see if the Rotaract club would like to volunteer for an event at the Golden Age Centre. Darrell would like to know if anyone would like to head this event? Please contact him if you are interested.

4.E.) Relay for Life – This event runs from 7am to 7pm in June 11, 2010. This event is a fundraiser for Cancer Research. They will need volunteers for set up/registration/preparing meals. Or we could possible put together a team and participate. Will discuss further once more details are available.

4.F.) – Service Club Expo – The Lions club of GP is hosting a service club expo at the Lions Learning Centre April 17, 2010. It will be tradeshow style and Rotaract will have a booth set up. It is to raise awareness of the different clubs available in GP, and to build community interest in service clubs. Darrell and Kyla from Sunrise Rotary to work on behalf of the GP Rotary Clubs.

5) Old Business -
5.A.) New Executive – New Executive Members will come into their position on July 1, 2010 (the beginning of the Rotary year). New Exec includes:

Dale – President
Dana – President Elect
David – Treasurer
Cate – Secretary

5.B.) – T-Shirt order – We have added this to the agenda again… There was some dispute about Rotaract having their own logo, after the Rotary clubs designed a Quad club logo to include Rotaract. Dale is to see if he can get the logo from Sportswear plus, so we can put it on our awesome bamboo t-shirts.

6) New Business
-
6.A.) Lobster Fest – June 5 is lobster fest, a Quad club event. Tickets are $50.00, but the Rotary clubs are asking if we have anyone that would volunteer to work the door. Meal included with Volunteering. We have two free confirmed tickets for the club.

6.B.) District Conference 2010– District Conference will be held on May 13-16 in Drayton Valley. Darrell would like to know if anyone is able to attend. He will pass around the agenda of the speakers and events being held that weekend. Darrell is to contact gaming to see if any funds can be used from our lottery money to assist members wanting to attend the conference.

6.C.) – Grande Prairie District Conference 2012 – We will need to have a Rotaract member sit on the board for the 2012 conference. It is still in the planning stages and meetings will be fairly light (once a month) for right now. Please contact Darrell and he will put you in touch with Fletcher Bootle for more info.

7.) – Round Table

Meeting Adjourned.

Meeting Minutes - February 9, 2010

2010-02-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

Members In Attendance:

Gabrielle Boulet, Chris Murray, David Crouse, Kendra Wilson, Dana Moody

Guests In Attendance:

Cedrick Leblanc, Kendra, Brette Madden

Meeting Called to order at 7:30 PM by Past President Gabrielle Boulet.

1) Introduction of Members & Guests:
1.A.) As listed above, 3guests were in attendance at tonight’s meeting.

2) Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes:
2.A.) MOTION: Lisa Approved, David Second. MOTION CARRIED.

3) Approval of Meeting Agenda:
3.A.) MOTION: To accept the agenda as presented. Motion by David Crouse. Second by Dana Moody. None Opposed. MOTION CARRIED.

4) Review of Action Items from Previous Minutes:
4.A.) Executive Nominations: Still looking for Executive nominations for positions of:
President Elect
Secretary
Treasurer
Please send your nominations in to Darrell before Feb. 23, 2010.

4.B.) Social Night - Social night was at the Kokanee comedy night at the Great Northern Casino. Gab and David were the only members at the meeting that attended the comedians and said they had mixed reviews, but overall a great night.

4.C.) T-Shirt Order – Due to Dale’s absence at meeting, we will be carrying over the order to next meeting. The T-Shirts will have the Rotaract Emblum on them, and are $30.00. Please email Dale with your size.

4.D.) District Curling Bonspiel – Tyler is planning on attending this bonspiel in Athabasca, last call for three more members for Rotaract team. Please contact Tyler if interested.

4.E.) Club Regalia – Have received our first shipment, Rotaract club pins, and second order should be in soon which will contain the Rotaract banner.

5) February 12-15, 2010 – Activities you could be doing as a Rotaractor

5.A.) Quad Club Ski Trip to Jasper – Family Ski trip for Rotarians during the long weekend

5.B.) Spirit Speakers Youth Conference – This conference is requiring volunteers to help with registration (from 3-7), and the introduction of speakers (All day Saturday). Please contact Dale if interested in helping out.

5.C.) SPCA and PetSmart Adopt a pet weekend – From 11-4pm at the PetSmart location, they will be needing volunteers to assist with the many adoptions that will be taking place (handling, paperwork etc.). SPCA will provide training for any volunteers. Please contact the volunteer coordinator for the SPCA @ (780) 538-4030 ext: 109.

6) “Rock”ing out with Rotaract Curling Fun-Spiel

6.A.) March 19-20 will be the first annual Rotaract Fun-Spiel held at the Grande Prairie Curling Club. We need help in collecting sponsorship for prizes, as well as cash donations. We need to recruit teams of 4, tickets for the weekend costing $210.00 for four games and a banquet dinner. Please contact Dale for more information.

7) New Business -

7.A.) Arctic Winter Games – Are calling for volunteers for the games being held in GP Mar 6-13, 2010. They will require help for March 14, 2010 (Sunday) putting the classrooms back together at the schools the athletes were housed in. They will need 4-5 club members to help. Please contact Michelle Dupont if interested, there will also be a sign up sheet at the next meeting.

7.B.) Rotary Green-A-Thon - Rotaract will be needing a liason from our club to be involved with the Green-A-Thon. Chris Murray has volunteered for this position. Thanks Chris!

Round Table

Meeting Adjourned

Meeting Minutes - January 26, 2010

2010-02-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

Rotaract Meeting Tonight at 7:30 PM, officiated by yours truly, with gavel in hand!

Ok, so my good streak of getting meeting minutes out in a timely fashion came to a end. But at least I'm getting them out ... right?!

1. Introduction of Members & Guests - Kris Podalski and Crystal

2. Approval of Last Meeting's Minutes - Dale, second by Lisa

3. Approval of Meeting Agenda - I have nothing written down, usually it's a fight to see who can put their hand up first. Let's try harder next meeting!

4. Review of Items from Previous Meeting

* Rotary Ski Trip - February 12 - 15. U-Drive. Rooms blocked at the Sawridge.
* Social Event - Comedy Night at the Casino, Wednesday February 3rd. Please RSVP to Darrell.
* Executive Nominations - we are still looking for nominations for President-Elect, Treasurer and Secretary. We will vote next meeting. Please email nominations - either for yourself or someone else to Darrell.
* Club Materials - Darrell has placed the order, they are on the way!

5. Fun-Spiel

* "Rock"ing out with Rotaract Fun-Spiel is March 19 & 20th held at the Grande Prairie Curling Club. Let the play on words fun begin!
* $210/team (based on 4 players), including 4 Saturday night meal tickets
* We are looking to secure 24 teams
* 6-8 end games, guaranteed 4 games
* Additional Meal Tickets - $40
* Please see Dale, Lucy, Lisa or Tyler if you have questions, suggestions, etc.

6. New Business

* Spirit Speakers Youth Conference - approached Dale looking for volunteers to help out during the event. February 12 & 13th. Please contact Dale if you are interested in volunteering for this event.
* T-Shirts - Dale passed around samples of the shirts we can choose from. The scoop neck ladies T-Shirt in the bamboo cotton was a HUGE hit - so soft! Please let Dale know your preferred T-Shirt size.
* Curling Team for District Bonspiel - ROAD TRIP!! Can this year beat last year's shenanigans? Darrell & Tyler are interested, please let Darrell know if you would like to join the team. Experience/talent not required.
* Volunteer Projects - our club is sitting idle, not what we do best. As usual, once May gets here, we will be busy with plenty of projects, but if there are suggestions for volunteer opportunities for our club in the mean time, please contact Darrell.

7. Round Table

Lisa

* Doing home renos in her basement - looking forward to sending the bachelor furniture back to the basement!
* Her mom has mini schnauzers for sale - contact Lisa if you are interested.
* Joined the Fit N Firm Challenge through the college - go Lisa!
* Canadian Cancer Society Daffodil Days are coming up - week of March 21st
* Volunteer Opportunity - Daffodil Days & Relay for Life

Miranda

* has a new camp stove - looking forward to trying it out!

Tyler

* broke his hand since the last meeting, but it is healed
* Permanent Full-Time in Beaverlodge. He'll be sticking around for awhile

Gabrielle

* has a Wii Fit and is using it to monitor her cats weight. One cat is petite, the other, well, not so much. So far, the little one has lost the most weight. Oops!

David

* Played new Super Mario Bros - conquered the entire game, including all Star coins in all levels. Wow!

Crystal

* Welcome! Crystal's boss Jen send her our way. She works at Speed Pro Signs and Original Joe's.

Kris

* Welcome! Kris was introduced to Rotary through a client. Kevin Hilgers sent Kris our way. Kris works for TD Financial.

Matt

* has a busy semester at school and is working on his role in the Arctic Winter Games play. The play is showing February 26/27/28 & March 3/4/5 - can you say Rotaract outing to cheer on Matt?!
* Matt bought a guitar and is learning to play (someone suggested Matt get mono so he can stay home for a few weeks and concentrate on his guitar skills ...)

Darrell

* is working on social media trends - and is following a GP network of Twitter followers.

Meeting adjourned at 8:31 PM. See you Tuesday, February 9th!

Meeting Minutes - January 12, 2010

2010-01-20T10:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Rotaract Meeting Minutes

January 12, 2010

In Attendance: Lucy Ramirez, Chris Murray, Dale Tiedemann, Gabrielle Boulet, Darrell Winwood.
That's it, that's all. Where are all the people?!

Guest, Josh Boyne joined us about half way through the meeting. Welcome!

1. Introduction of Members & Guests - skipped
2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes - "approved". I think they were pretty awesome, if I say so myself!
3. Approval of Meeting Agenda - "approved"

4. Review of items from previous meeting

* Christmas Party - Darrell and Dale talked about their "Rotary Feud" winning experience - earning them a trophy! The party was a great time as usual.
* Executive nominations - it's the that time of year again. If you are interested in an executive position: President-Elect, Secretary or Treasurer, for the 2010 - 2011 term under Dale's Presidency, please email Darrell (dwinwood1@mac.com) your nominations. You can nominate yourself or someone else. We plan to vote the first meeting in February.

5. Fun-Spiel (replacing the good 'ol Duck Race heading)

* Dale held a planning meeting at 6:30 PM tonight - he ended up eating dinner by himself. So, with that said, Dale needs some extra hands to help out with planning the event (d_tiedemann@hotmail.com). They have secured the dates of March 19 & 20th. They will be looking for 24 teams of 4 people - so put the word out. As Lucy put it: Advertise, Advertise, Advertise!

6. New Business

* Social Event - we haven't had much success in the past few months with a social event. A few ideas came up: skiing at Nitehawk, Comedy Night at the Casino. Darrell may or may not know someone who works for the Casino who may or may not be able to get us some tickets for a very low price of nothing for our club members to attend. It has been decided to attend Kokanee Comedy Night at the Casino Wednesday, January 27th. More details from Darrell to follow.
* Rotary Ski Trip - Family Day Long Weekend in Jasper (February 12-15). There is a block of rooms booked at the Sawridge and rooms will be released 30 days prior (soon, if they haven't been already). So if you want the group booking rate and are planning on going, I suggest you book NOW! Please call in (780-852-6589) under group reservation #GPB12A and quote Grande Prairie Rotary Clubs. As a side note - I spent New Years in Jasper and apparently their power goes out every once in awhile in the entire town - we ended up playing Rumoli by headlamp light New Year's Eve because the power went out (for the third time in 5 days) at 9:00 PM and didn't go back on until about 1:00AM and it also went off New Year's Day for awhile. I suggest packing a flashlight or headlamp ... just in case!
* Spirit Speaks Youth Conference Request - Dale brought this request for volunteers to the club. It is also taking part on the Family Day long weekend, February 12th & 13th. They are looking for volunteers over the age of 18 to help with Friday & Saturday registration, information, group leaders, special events. This is a great opportunity for our club to volunteer in the community among an age group our club targets and it involves very little preparation work on our part - we just have to show up and look pretty! Please let Dale know if you are interested in volunteering that weekend.
* Club Materials - Darrell has put in an order for a Club Banner to be displayed proudly at every meeting, trading pennants (mini versions of the club banner used to trade with other clubs, give one to our sponsor club, etc.) membership pins and membership certificates of appreciation. This will cost the club approximately $800, but well worth it. Also, if you DO NOT have a nametag, please let Darrell know and he will order you one.
* T-shirts (almost resembling a zombie topic that just never dies) we were supposed to take part in a mass order being organized by that Swan City Club, however, as the other Rotary Clubs could not come to a consensus of what they wanted to order, an order was never made and we were left waiting anxiously for our awesome T-Shirts! We are going to take matters into our own hands and price out an order for the same style T-shirt, except in red so Rotaractors can still stand out in a sea of Rotarians. Once pricing has come back, we will take size orders.

Upcoming Events

* District Curling Bonspiel - February 18-21 in Athabasca. Do we have 4 club members interested in forming a team and road tripping to Athabasca for the weekend to promote our club, our club's involvement in the District and our club's upcoming Bonspiel event in March? If you are interested, contact Darrell!

7. Round Table

* Chris - going to Texas to work for 3 weeks. He'll be back in February. Green works is still working hard and currently looking for building space!
* Dale ... is sick!
* Josh was able to tell us a funny story about Dale during his time at Mr. Mike's. Dale elaborated on the story of spilling a lot of iced tea on one lady. Moral of the story: Dale + Iced Tea = bad news!
* Darrell - very excited that the Bay City Dodgers are back at it again in the City's Dodgeball league! Look out!
* Gabrielle - very excited about Chicks on Sticks the ladies cross country ski group at the Wapiti Nordic ski trails every Monday & Thursday at 7:00 PM (as skips skiing tonight and is currently writing out the meeting minutes ...) It is for all levels of cross country skiers. Great people & great exercise!
* Lucy - she went to the dentist and has no cavities and is getting her hair cut on Thursday! She is also training for a 21km race up a mountain in Tumbler Ridge in August 2010, the Emperor's Challenge! Go Lucy!

Next Rotaract Meeting - Tuesday, January 26th - 7:30 PM. Our meetings are now in the larger meeting room, through the entrance to the restaurant. I'll know if you read these meeting minutes or not if you go to the wrong meeting room first meeting!!

Until Next Time,

Gabrielle
Honorary Secretary

Meeting Minutes - December 8, 2009

2009-12-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

Greetings!!

Well, it's not the same day, but within 24 hours of the meeting - not bad!

Enjoy your latest meeting minute installment and the last of 2009!

1. Members: Darrell Winwood, Tyler Bulford, Matt Hall, David Crouse, Lisa Heck, Gabrielle Boulet, Dale Tiedemann, Chris Murray, Doug Porterfield, Cate Weber
Guests: Lucy and Jennifer

2. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes - add Jose to "in attendance"
Motion to Pass: Tyler
Second: Lisa & Cate - it was a tie

3. Approval of Meeting Agenda - add to New Business: Crystal Park Funding Request, Next Meeting Date, Greenworks
Motion to Pass: Dale
Second: David

4. Review of items from previous minutes

* Dues - PAY UP!
* Social Event - Thursday, December 10th at Oasis in Sexsmith. Lots of board games, Wii, Foosball, etc. Starting at 7:00 PM. Car pool if you can - save the environment. Chris apologizes for the short notice, he had a hard time getting a hold of the gentleman who runs the establishment (who goes to Hawaii anyways?! ... inside joke, you had to be there). Please come if you can, Chris has maps if you need one. Darrell would like you to bring your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/friends/crazy uncle, etc.
* Christmas Party - Lisa reminded us that the party is NEXT FRIDAY!!!!!!! (December 18th) She passed the sign up sheet around again. If you are interested in coming, please sign up. If you have a silent auction item, please put your phone number on the sign up sheet to be contacted for pick up details. The club covers the cost of our MEMBERS to attend the party, members are responsible for the cost of their guest ($40) - the club will invoice you after the fact. 6:00 PM start, GPRC choir to entertain. Please let Lisa know by Thursday, December 11th at NOON if you plan on attending.

5. New Business

* Rotaract Fun-spiel, March 19 & 20. Dale & Tyler will co-chair the event with the help of Andrea from the curling club. We are hoping this will increase awareness of our club in the community. Our main goal is to gain members and overall awareness. Please let Dale or Tyler know if you are interested in helping, including door prizes and sponsorship.
* Duck Race - yay!!! Darrell and Miranda completed reports for Alberta Gaming and are VERY pleased to announce that approximately $41,000 was raised this year!!!! Woohoo!! Donations were made to the following groups (amounts are approximate): Ducks Unlimited $9,000, PACE - $5,000, Soccer Association - $5,000, SPCA - $7,000, Rotaract - $11,000. Our club's portion will be going directly to our $20,000 commitment to the Community Village which will complete our commitment - EXCLAMATION MARK!
* Executive nominations for the 2010 - 2011 term - We will be seeking nominations for executive positions - President Elect for the 2011 - 2012 term, secretary and treasurer. Gabrielle has cudies (according to Dale) AND has decided to take on International Director and will be in contact with the Mazatlan Rotaract club to see if there are some projects our clubs can work on together. We are still looking for secretary and treasurer replacements for the current term.
* Next Meeting - in light of the upcoming holiday season, the December 22nd meeting has been CANCELED. Meetings will resume January 12, 2010. Motioned by Michelle, second by Matt, passed. If you bring Bailey's and cookies, Gabrielle will host an impromtu Rotaract meeting December 22nd at her house - please RSVP by email (gabannie@hotmail.com) if you would like to come and so she knows if anyone will show up.
* Crystal Park Funding Request - "Everybody Needs a Christmas". Our club has been approached by a student at Crystal Park to donate funds toward a Christmas fundraising project to provide food and presents for the less fortunate. The executive recommends that the club donate $250 to the project. Motion - Chris, second - Scrooge, I mean David, passed by the club. Darrell will contact the school's principal.
* Greenworks a la Chris - the Greenworks executive has discussed bringing a robotics event to Grande Prairie. In order to run an event, they need PEOPLE (Hey! We have those!) This is an opportunity for our club to raise funds for the club by providing people.

6. Round Table

* Cate - Cate gets to share all the exciting news before Doug! They are moving this weekend and they are going home for Christmas. YAY!
* Doug - is taking credit for the new house they found. Doug & Cate took a cat from Cheryl who likes to lick Doug's face. And she toots! The cat comes with much personality ... like it's previous owner!
* Michelle - 91 days away from the AWG. And is still looking for volunteers for the games.
* Chris - is the perfect height to be the mascot for AWG. His son has a fantastic time in the bath and it makes Chris' day!
* Lucy - is going down to Calgary to share Christmas with her family.
* Dale - has 3 working bathrooms in his house.
* Gabrielle - shared all the gorey details about her wisdom teeth extraction. Good times!
* Lisa - Shoot for the Cure at the Storm Game, Saturday, December 12th at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $10 through the Society. New Years Eve - Shark Club partnered with the Society to have a Pink & White event. Tickets are $20 and all proceeds go back to the Society.
* David - Kathleen & their mom are in Reno ... he is lonely. David will report on Season 5 of Lost at the next meeting.
* Jennifer - is trying to survive her finals and then she's going to Hawaii for Christmas!!! (pffft, whatever!)
* Matt - is also getting through exams. He landed the lead role in "Sonny's Song". Yay, Matt!!!
* Tyler - is experiencing hour cut backs at work and he may be transfered to Calgary, which he isn't too keen on. Today he "did a smart move" ... he lost his keys in the pit at work.
* Darrell - is the next Beatles lead singer. But, David (Scrooge) killed Darrell's dreams by confirming that "you can basically talk on easy and still get 97%". Watch "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog" - Hilarious!

Thanks for coming out on this wintery night. See you all in 2010!

Meeting Minutes - November 24, 2009

2009-12-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

PRESENT: Darrell Winwood, Chris Murray, Matthew Hall, Cedrick Leblanc, Glen Tissington, Lisa Hansen, Michelle Dupont (recording)
GUESTS: Pete & Jenna

MOTION TO APPROVE MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING Moved by Chris, Seconded by Jose
MOTION TO APPROVE AGENDA AS PRESENTED Moved by Jose, Seconded by Chris

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: A block of rooms are being held until Dec. 4^th in the hotel that many GP Rotarians are staying in, so BOOK NOW if you’re planning to attend. The conference is in June in Montreal, QC.

NURSING ‘ROLE-MODELS’ PROJECT: 1^st year nursing students are looking for ‘community rolemodels’ to visit grade 6 classes and bring their students anti-tobacco messages. Four volunteers signed up & Darrell has connected them with the students via email – as of yet no confirmation back from the students.

SOCIAL NIGHT: Chris is planning a ‘Game Night’ for the club and is looking at a potential date in early December at The Oasis in Sexsmith. Email Chris if there’s a specific board or video game you’re interested in playing, or a game you can bring. Chris will be confirming a date very shortly & will email everyone with details.

HOTEL PROMOTION: Dale to source prices on promotional materials to adorn our meeting room and promote within the hotel that we meet here (think a ‘Rotaract Meets Here’ plaque). Dale is out of town this week but will report back at the next meeting.

EXECUTIVE SPOTS: Two executive positions are available,
Secretary – take minutes at the meeting & distribute them to the membership in a timely fashion (she says while emailing the minutes out they day prior to the next meeting).
Treasurer – take care of the financials. This will be a much easier task without the Duck Race, and Miranda will train whoever is taking over.

ROTARY CHRISTMAS PARTY: A good time is always had by all. This year’s party happens December 18^th at the Holiday Inn. Tickets are $40 each. The club will cover the cost for members to attend, so you need only pay for your guests! Lisa is our club’s representative and has some beautiful centrepieces in the works, confirm your attendance to her at the next meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

ROTARACT FUN-SPIEL: The idea of a Rotaract funspiel was proposed not long ago, and the only initial concern from the club was that the only dates available were coming up too quickly to give us time to do it right! Darrell has inquired and discovered that there are some later dates available, and has tentatively booked the weekend of March 19-20^th. Tyler was very interested in coordinating this event, so Darrell will contact him prior to our next meeting to get an outline of the tasks required. This could be a great fundraiser and awareness builder for the club without requiring that much work to plan. This item will be reviewed at the December 8^th meeting so people can sign up to assist with planning, prizes, activities & promotions.

ROTARY DISTRICT BONSPIEL: Coming up in Athabasca, February 18-21. Many teams from Grande Prairie’s 3 Rotary Clubs will be attending, so there are many options for car-pooling! Email President Darrell for details.

DUES: The Rotaract year started July 1^st, and membership dues for many members are still outstanding. Miranda is compiling a list & will be sending out email notices shortly. Please bring payment to our next meeting or mail a cheque payable to GP Rotaract Club to P.O. Box 21356, GP, T8V 6W7

DUCK RACE: There’s still some paperwork outstanding for gaming, which Miranda & Darrell are working to complete. We should be able to cut cheques for our partner groups shortly!

ROUND-TABLE

LISA HANSEN – is looking forward to ‘Shoot for the Cure’ a fundraiser & awareness builder for the Canadian Cancer Society held at the Storm Game December 12^th. Also a New Year’s Party which will benefit the CCS being held (you guessed it) December 31^st.

JOSE – Growing a movember moustache to support research against prostate cancer, and although it’s a VERY worthy cause it did negatively affect his photo with Brent Butt.

MATTHEW – auditioning for a role in ‘Sonny’s Song’ tomorrow, a wonderful play written by a student at GPRC that will run during the 2010 Arctic Winter Games.

CHRIS – GP Greenworks is busy busy busy, they’re registered for their first robotics competition in Calgary!

DARRELL – represented the club at a Charter Night for the Sexsmith Interact Club, bringing the total to 3 Interact Clubs in our local region (Peace Wapiti, Dawson Creek, and now Sexsmith).

NEXT MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8^th
7:30pm Stanford Inn

General Meeting Minutes - November 10, 2009

2009-11-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Well, slightly late, but not the same day as the next general meeting, so I view this as an accomplishment to get the meeting minutes out "on time".

Sit back, relax and enjoy ...

November 10, 2009
7:30 PM

1. Guests - Jasmine and Lucy

2. Meeting Minutes from October 13/09 - motioned by Tyler, second by Chris

3. Meeting Agenda - motioned by Chris, second by Kathleen

4. Review of items from previous meeting minutes

Social Event - Chris is working on organizing our club a games night at the Oasis Facility. Date & time to follow.
Hotel Promotion - pass to next meeting, Dale to report
Curling Bonspiel - Tyler loves curling and would really like to see this as an opportunity for our club to FUNDraise or even FUNraise/FRIENDraise. We are too close to the January dates to organize, we have been advised that there is a mid-March weekend available, which is a date our club can work with for organizing. If the goal is to promote our club and gain community recognition and more members, we can look at a lower entry fee and fun rules rather than focusing on how much money we can bring in. This is being brought to the executive level for futher discussion.
Christmas Party - sign up sheet was passed around. Members are paid for by the club. If they bring a date, members are responsible to pay for their date's ticket. Please sign up if you can provide a silent auction item. Ticket price has not been determined yet. Lisa too provide further information.
Executive spots - the club is still seeking a new secretary to relieve Dana and treasurer to relieve Miranda. Also, we will be doing nominations after Christmas for the 2010 - 2011 term (secretary, treasurer and president-elect positions will be nominated).

5. New Business

Mentorship sign up - 1st year Nursing students have approached our club to help them with a community project to be guest speakers at local schools to discuss the importance of being positive influences in the community. Dates include: November 12/09 in Hythe, November 26/09 in GP at Kateri and Forbes. Please let Darrell know if you can participate for either of those dates.
Shelter Box - last term we sent $1,200 CAD to Shelter Box Canada to sponsor a shelter box on behalf of our club as a project that our club was able to sponsor on our own, without piggy-backing on other Rotary projects. Shelter Box was started by a Rotary club in England and is now worldwide, however it not considered a Rotary International organization or project. We received a letter (attached) from Shelterbox letting us know our box was sent to Niger*, Africa to help those in need from a recent flood. They included a link to their Fickr account to view the pictures of the boxes being deployed: www.flickr.com/photos/shelterboxuk/4031006129. When Gabrielle was in Los Angeles for the Rotary International Convention in 2008 she ended up meeting one of the Shelter Box US representatives and talking about the project. Those who attended the District Conference in Jasper, May 2009 also saw the set up and learned more about the organization.

* Niger, Africa also happens to be the same country we exchanged a parcel of culture with. Those who have been around long enough understand the irony in this. Kathleen still had the parcel of culture in her car - she brought it in to the meeting to pass it around and bring back memories.

Yusup suggested that we partner with the GPRC students on a project. The students are in our age group for members and the marketing and business classes are always doing projects in the community that could be good for our club to be part of. One example is the Peace Country Idol contest.

6. Round Table

Kathleen - has been absent from meetings for some time due to the Coats for Kids campaign. Approximately 3,000 items were distributed.
Gabrielle - tried to pass, but Chris bullied her into sharing something. She is having her wisdom teeth taken out next week.
Miranda - is awesome! (per Chris)
Yusup - looking to start his masters degree. He asked about personal development for club members, suggesting tours of local businesses as a learning opportunity - such as Weyerhaeuser, etc.
Tyler - moved into his apartment!
Chris - excitement in Greenworks!
Jasmine - recently moved to GP from Manitoba.
Lucy - talked about the "Spread the Net" program as another idea for our club to be involved in.
Darrell - reminded everyone of the Interact Charter night in Sexsmith, Thursday, November 19th.

That's it, that's all folks. See you Tuesday, November 24, 2009. 7:30 PM. Bring a friend.

Gabrielle

Meeting Minutes - Ocotber 13, 2009

2009-10-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Grande Prairie Rotaract Club

Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, October 13, 2009

1. Introduction of Members & Guests

Members: Dale, Kendra, Cate, Tyler, Darrell, Mark, Miranda, David, Matt, Gabrielle
Guests: Doug (almost a member … once he pays!)

2. Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes

Passed over to next meeting

3. Approval of Meeting Agenda – Tyler adds “Rotaract Bonspiel” to New Business

Motion – Dale
Second – Tyler

4. Review of Action Items from Previous Meeting

Planning Session

David – thought it was good to list out ideas of things we want to do as club.
Dale – took away that we need improve our communication both within the club and with the other Rotary clubs.
Kendra – she would like to see things go back to the way they were when she joined. More commitments for projects and she feels the meetings used to be more fun.
Cate – as a new member she felt it was beneficial to learn more about the club and our members.
Doug – he learned about volunteer oppurtunities – he enjoyed working at the Coats for Kids store.
Tyler – would like to see more presence at GPRC*. And he would like to organize a Rotaract curling bonspiel.
Matt – thinks our club is doing a good job and is looking forward to the improvements to come.
Darrell – although he was away on his honeymoon during our last meeting he would like for members to give him more feedback, the good, the bad and the ugly. He can’t improve how he is running meetings and the club if he doesn’t get feedback. He wants to know what you think!

*Rotaract in GPRC – the club executive met before the general meeting and discussed ways we can improve our presence in the community and we did discuss our involvement with the college. We decided that it would be very beneficial for our club to be involved with the Student Association and to invite some of their members to our meetings and to join the club – giving us a direct connection to the students of GPRC. More on this to come.

5. Old/Ongoing Business

Duck Race – it’s a short update this time, we promise! The committee is still trying to get the last of the prizes out to the prize winners. They hope to have this taken care of before the end of 2009.
District Governor Terry Draeder of Drayton Valley visit – both lunch (Rotaract) & dinner (all clubs) went well.

Terry is very youth oriented and therefore very supportive of Rotaract and Interact clubs. Rotaract also now has a voting seat at District level – this is our way to voice our opinion and lobby for things like lower Rotaract rates at conferences and training sessions.
Members who attended the lunch received a pin with the 2009/2010 theme – “The future is in your hands”

District Assembly – Dale attended Friday & Saturday sessions. Gabrielle & Dale presented on Rotaract to a small group of Rotarians from Dawson Creek who are very interested in getting a Rotaract club going (again). We offered our club’s support in any way we could help. To have another Rotaract club this close to Grande Prairie would be a great way to combine our efforts.
College Expo – this is an annual event our club participates in. We set up a booth among other community tables, allowing us the opportunity to network with students, spread the word about Rotaract to new students and take names of those interested in our club.
Quad Club Rotary Christmas Party – Lisa has offered to take on the Rotaract representative position as a liaison between the organizing committee and our club. In the past our club has been in charge of table decorations. Tradition in our club is that members who attend the party are paid for on behalf of the club’s general funds, however if members bring a date, they are responsible for their guest’s ticket price. Ticket prices have not been set for this year’s event.
Coats for Kids – David let us know that lots of coats were still coming in as the needs are high this year. Thanks to Kathleen for organizing our club’s participation this year.

6. New Business

Scarecrow Festival – our club has been approached again this year to offer a “Keys Please” service for those who attended the event and need a safe ride home. Our club offered this service last year (for the first time). It was an ok way for the club to gain more exposure among the Rotary Clubs and community, however in the end our members were more glorified taxi drivers, taking guests to local establishments or house parties as opposed to driving them home in their own vehicles. We made approximately $140 last year. Most of the trips were made in our club members’ vehicles, not in the owners vehicle. This poses concern for vehicle clean-up should there be any unfortunate incidents. It was decided as a club not to participate this year.
Social Event – once again we attempted paintball this year. We even waited for newly wed President Darrell to return from his honeymoon. Member Chris did a great job organizing it on such short notice, with limited dates. Unfortunately, the only date available was during the Thanksgiving long weekend AND the weather turned cold on us. Of course! So, needless to say, paintball has yet again until the weather is slightly warmer. With that said, a costume bowling event was discussed. Darrell was voted as organizer. More details to follow via email & Facebook.
Budget Committee – Darrell, Miranda, Gabrielle, David & Jose are the budget committee currently working on a more organized way for the club to plan & spend their general and lottery funds. They have met once to discuss all expenses the club has and will meet again to discuss how to divvy our the monies. Things they discuss include the District Conference, International Convention, District Bonspiel, etc.

On the topic of budget, the bank signing authority needs to be updated as we are now several months into our new term. Cate & Dave proposed to have the club’s bank account signing authority amended from Gabrielle, Darrell and Miranda to Darrell, Dale and Miranda. Motion passed unanimously by all attending members.

Hotel Promotion – Darrell has been in discussion with the Stanford regarding making the hotel our club’s home. We would like to be able to display a plaque in the entrance to the restaurant indicating that our club meets there the 2^nd & 4^th Tuesday of the month (similar to what we see at other hotels that house Rotary clubs). This has been approved by the hotel management. Dale will price out a few options for us. Further to this, Darrell would also like to see a display case that is preferably mobile that would store our club banners, other plaques and memorabilia that we have collected over the years and are currently spread across Grande Prairie in several members’ houses. As this is a larger commitment on behalf of the hotel – including storage capabilities, this has gone to higher ups for discussion. We will also need to price out such display cases as our dream display case could end up being quite pricey.
Rotary International Convention – June 20, 2009 – June 23, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec (Gabrielle’s most favorite place … ever!) As previously mentioned, the budget committee is working on a monetary amount to put towards club members attendance. Members are highly encouraged to consider making this trip to Montreal to attend the convention. This is as close to home as we may see it for awhile. Currently Kevin Hilgers (Assistant District Governor) has blocks of rooms booked for Grande Prairie Rotary & Rotaract members to book, however rooms will be released by mid-December if not booked. At this point room rates will go up and availability will decrease. There are also housing options at McGill University for Rotaractors.
Chamber of Commerce Membership – it was brought to the table to discuss our club paying for a club membership as a way of including information on our club in the Chamber newsletter that is released. As it is discouraged in Rotary to promote one’s business, this may be conflicting with the Chamber, as business members promote their businesses. It will be discussed further by Darrell & Dale at the next Quad club executive meeting with other Rotary Presidents & President-Elects.
Rotaract Bonspiel – Tyler would like to start a small fundraiser for our club in collaboration with Interact by means of curling bonspiel. He will discuss venue logistics with the curling rink and report back.

7. Round Table

· Matt – looking forward to being more involved with Rotaract. It makes him feel good!

· Tyler – considering schooling in Olds, Alberta … or Texas?!

· Doug – is now licensed to get a gun!

· Cate – is a permanent employee at the County of Grande Prairie. Woohoo!

· Kendra – has a new dog, Ruby!

· Dale – is boring! (nothing new going on) (but the added exclamation mark makes it more exciting)

· David – went to San Francisco for work!

· Miranda – went to BC for her brothers wedding. It was cold on the beach!

· Mark – going to Montreal for 3 weeks. One week for work, two weeks for holidays! (Gabrielle likes, but is jealous)

· Darrell – got married … applause erupts! They spent 10 days in Hawaii!

· Gabrielle – going to Las Vegas October 22^nd to see U2 and Black Eyed Peas in concert. She won the trip from Q99!

Next Meeting – Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 7:30 PM.

Be there, bring a friend!

Rotaract General Meeting, July 14, 2009

2009-07-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

Attendance: Darrell Winwood (president), Dale Tiedemann (president elect), Miranda Leclerc (treasurer), Gabrielle Boulet (past president), Tyler Bulford, David Crouse, Sarah Davison.

Guest: Cheryl Budjak...... that's right, ladies and gentlemen - Cheryl OUR GUEST.... read on, read on.....

1. Introduction of Members and Guests

2. Approval of Last Meeting's Minutes: Gabrielle motion, Dale second, PASSED.

3. Approval of Agenda: Sarah motion, Tyler second, PASSED.

4. Guest Speaker: Donna Durnford, VSB. Donna was not in attendance tonight, but some packages were dropped off for the Street Festival so we went through them. We need volunteers to man the tent same as last year. Job entails giving out the daily schedule to the public, making change, water sales, general info, and oh yes..... Duck Race ticket sales. Please let Gabrielle know if you can sign up soem of your time for this this weekend. We need all the help we can get. This is actually quite a fun volunteer opportunity, as you are right in the thick of things in the festival. Think about it.

5. Review of Action Items:
a) Lobster Fest: A good time had by all! We have received a cheque that Gab will pick up for the whopping amount of $64.50. We have an agreement to give these proceeds to our Polio Plus project, but will be waiting to receive the bulk of the funds and present it all at once. Not clear on total amount yet, will advise at next meeting.

b) Budget Committee: We had agreed awhile back to create a budget committee that would help make decisions on such things as reimbursement to club members for club activities, review of budget and allotment of funds on a regular basis. This committee will be made up of President, past President, Secretary, and two club members. David has volunteered along with Jose (schedule permitting) to be the club members to participate. This committee has agreed to commence after Duck Race is completed and finished. Will revisit mid-August.

6. Old/Ongoing Business:
a) Bottle Pickup: Well, it has beena good source of extra income for the club, but it's got to keep going! We have many bottles to pick up and get to the depot each week, and all the help we can get is needed. There was a concern voiced from the depot regarding food and garbage in the bags, but all has been reported as good in the last while. We are having issue with people being able to make time to pick up, or having the capacity in their vehicle for the bottles. As Duck Race is fast approaching, the club has proposed to give North Wapiti Skating Club bottle duty and related proceeds until the week of August 15 - at which time we will resume the pickups. Cheryl is leading the Skating Club in the pick up. Please let Sarah or Michelle know if you will be able to be a pick up for this at that time - we'll revisit it in August's meeting. MOTION TO RELENQUISH BOTTLE PICK UP AND PROCEEDS TO NORTH WAPITI SKATING CLUB - Dale motion, Sarah second. PASSED.

b) Duck Race: Darrell reports that ticket sales and progress in general has been very slow this year with the Duck Race. We have approached the groups who will be benefiting from the proceeds to volunteer through to new proposed date of August 8, and they have declined. They were offered more of a share of proceeds to do so, but still declined - therefore, we are looking to members to staff this extension of the Duck Race. This is our big fundraiser every year, and we would sure love any help we can rustle up! If you know anyone who would be interested in doing a shift or two, or if you can take a few on yourself, please let the Duck Committee know. Much appreciated! So, as previously discussed: MOTION TO NOT CANCEL DUCK RACE DUE TO TICKET SALES - All in favour, none opposed. PASSES. MOTION TO EXTEND DUCK RACE DATE TO SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 2009 DUE TO TICKET SALES - All in favour, none opposed. PASSED.

c) Drag Wars: David reported t us that we haven't received any updates on this from Brad Jones for some time. Their website doesn't have any updates, Facebook group was under construction, etc. David has sent email to Brad asking for updates, as has Dale as well as a few phone calls. Gab says she knows him and will try to contact him to see what we can find out.

7. New Business:
a) Street Performers: We need volunteers for this too! See point 4 (above) for details of this volunteering this year. Gabrielle intends to go down the list of members and make a few phone calls to see who can contribute to this - lots of shifts to fill, and many of us are away this weekend...... can you help out? Pretty Please??

b) Brainstorm. Yes, you heard right. We want to get together and brainstorm some new ideas for the upcoming year. Darrell would like to know how members envision the club this year, and what they would like to see us put time into. A few projects? Fundraisers that are not lottery based? Activities/socials for our members? Your opinion is important!! Agreed that mid-August (Let's just refer to anything after August 8 as "post-Duck Race!) would be a great time to throw some ideas around. Hope to see you there with your thinking caps on!
On this note, Tyler brought up a good point for membership this year: could we try to set up at the college - maybe a booth? He commented that this seems to have worked great down at the U of A - they have a 100 member club!! We should brainstorm a few ideas together for this - I think this is a great source for potential members too!

c) Zone 22 Conference: Cheryl reminded us of the upcoming conference in Edmonton, September 17 18, 19. Cheryl has attended this conference numerous times before, and it's a great way to to catch up with other members in our region and see what other clubs are up to, meet new people, all that good stuff! Cheryl notes that she needs response from executive or budget committee on what reimbursements will be given for members who choose to attend. Darrell advises executive will address this asap.

ALSO! A bittersweet announcement made this evening - Cheryl has been inducted as a member into the Swan city Rotary Club!! Congrats,Cheryl!!! They are very very lucky to have you, and you will be greatly missed. Cheryl has been one of the most active members of our club and has some big shoes to fill! We hope to see you as a guest at our meetings, and we'll keep in touch, you Swan City girl! We'll miss you.

8. Membership Minute:
a) Coffee Time is all caught up! Not enough members in attendance at meeting to draw new names. Will wait til Michelle is in attendance to head up new pairings. Stay tuned!

b) Name Tags: If anyone does not have a name tag, please let Michelle know. Every member should have one at this point. Darrell notes that may even be a good idea to wear them to our general meetings, as when we have guests, guest speakers, new members, it's alot of names for someone to remember! Agreed. If we attend Rotary meetings, please wear your nametag there as well to represent the club, as well as at any fundraiser events. Awesome!

c) Membership Dues: $60 for new members, $30 for existing. If you have not paid this year's dues (like me......) please give them to Miranda our treasurer. There will be invoices sent out to members who have not paid, Michelle will be sending out shortly.

That is it for today! Hope to see you all at the next meeting. If you can volunteer for any of the above mentioned events, please let someone on executive know - it's a huge help. We know it's summer and everyone's busy busy, but if you can even squeeze in one shift it would be spectacular.

Meeting Adjourned.

Rotaract General Meeting, June 9, 2009

2009-07-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

1. Attendance: Gabrielle Boulet, Darrell Winwood, Miranda LeCercq, Michelle Dupont, Cheryl Budjak, David Crouse, Kathleen Crouse, Matthew Hall, Lisa Hansen, Dana Moody, Rebecca Villebrun

Meeting called to order by President Gabrielle Boulet

2. Approval of Last Meeting's Minutes: Unable to approve as of yet, will approve at next general meeting.

3. Approval of Meeting Agenda: David, Dale, passed.

4. Review of previous meeting’s action items:

* Lobster Fest: Painting pinkies purple at Lobster fest was received very well. Cheryl or Kendra have the proceed money, will track down who has it.

* Downtown Business Association Meeting: We have decided to sent Dale to attend next meeting to kiss the D.T.A’s butt! Dale will not be attending tomorrows meeting because it is a beautification meeting, but will make it to the next general meeting.

* ClubRunner Training: Darrel (and possibly Dana) to be trained by Kevin Hilgers and give club a tutorial on how to use ClubRunner.

5. Old/Ongoing Business:

* Belize Scholarship Program: by donating our ONE TIME monetary donation, we are sponsoring 3-4 students through 4 years of schooling! This will help them complete a higher learning, that normally without the financial support, a student would not complete beyond a grade 8 level. The donations from Rotary & Rotaract clubs have been matched by both Rotary International & The Wild Rose Foundation.
Originally this project was a 4 year commitment to sponsor one student through 4 years of school. Now our club's money is sponsoring 3 or 4 students for 4 years with a single donation.

* Shelter Box Program: program originally developed by a Rotary club in England that supplies immediate relief to regions experiencing disaster, whether it be war or weather related.
This has become nationally recognized in the Rotary world as a worthy project, but is not considered an International Project.
The shelter boxes contain immediate relief equipment for 10-12 people, including a large tent, cooking tools, water filtration system, etc. These are designed to maintain the survivors for several days until rescue relief can arrive.

* Bottle Pickup: We are going to have to discuss whether or not to continue the bottle pickup at the mall. Recently, the bottle depot employees have been complaining that our bags have had garbage mixed in with the bottles. We will have to sort the bottles before dropping them off, or sorting them at the centre. There is potential to find a partner for this project that we could share the work/funds with. Cheryl is to discuss with her skate club, and someone from our club will approach Interact.

* Duck Race: We will be having some additional locations to sell Duck Race tickets the next upcoming
weekends. Saturday Sidewalk Sale, GP Farmers Market, also Marble Slab July 9th. We are looking for another location for Sundays. Contact Jeff Morgan @ Woodland Timbermart for potential Sunday location. Also, duck sorting is going to be the last weekend in June, first weekend in July at the Decoy Armories.

* Drag Wars: We have been asked by Brad of the Grande Prairie Rotary club to approach our club for volunteers for this year’s Drag Wars. David has volunteered to help out with the website/facebook/twitter site maintenance. Dale is to help with the designing and brainstorming for fresh memorabilia ideas. There is a Primer Party at Pats Auto Parts on June 20, 2009 9am – 4pm. They will be bbq’ing and will have cool cars on location!

6. New Business:

* Changeover Party: This upcoming Tuesday’s meeting will be cancelled for our Rotaract Change Over party! We have passed around a list of food/items for everyone to sign up to bring! We plan on inviting some past members as well. Gab will send out an email with directions.

* Budget Committee: The Rotaract annual budget committee is to present the budget to the general club after the Duck Race has been finished and members of the committee and two general members have time to meet. Dave and Jose have been nominated and voted to be the two general members of the club to assist with the budget.

* Lost & Found: The club would like to have someone contact the schools to see if it would be possible to sort through lost and found items in the fall instead of the end of the school year (Duck Race time).

* Storage: Miranda has allowed Rotaract to share her Storage space in Clairmont. We will be storing Banners, and Duck race paraphernalia here for a small fee. There is also the option of using the upstairs at Crouse’s Cleaners as well.

7. Membership Minute: Matthew discussed his exchange to Poland.

Rotaract General Meeting – May 12, 2009

2009-06-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Meeting Called to Order – 7:31

1. INTRODUCTIONS

Members: Gabrielle Boulet, Spencer Brownell, Cheryl Budjak, Darrell Winwood, Jose Magat, Mark Forman, Dale Tiedemann, Jennifer Villebrun, David Crouse, Lisa Hansen, Miranda LeClercq, Michelle Dupont (recording)
Guests: Yusup Yuskin

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING

A few amendments were noted:

- Chris Anderson: Lost & Found project would/could include collecting clothing/shoes/etc, potentially from all schools, not just high schools
- Homeless for a Night: please note the t-shirts mentioned for $6 are ‘Rotarian at Work’ shirts (a Rotary initiative) details to come!
Jose. Gabrielle.

3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Darrell. Cheryl.

4. REVIEW OF ACTION ITEMS

Downtown Business Association – Tabled for Sarah to report
Clubrunner Training – Darrell to schedule with Kevin Hilgers and report back

5. OLD / ONGOING BUSINESS

Lobterfest – Saturday May 30

A Quad Club event
Lobster, Steak, Bevvies, the Fellowship of Rotary
$60 per person ... cocktails at 6 ... dinner at 7
2 Volunteers needed to take tickets at the door, these people’s tickets will be paid for contact _______
Rotaract has also been authorized to run the ‘pinkies for polio promotion’ throughout the night.
Volunteers collect $1.00 to immunize one person. People get their pinkies painted purple to signify that they’ve donated (this is what’s done when immunizations are ACTUALLY given)
All proceeds to international polio projects.
Silent Auction Donations: 2 required from our club – Cheryl will give a figure skating lesson package valued at apprx. $150 ... Yassup will donate some cultural items from Turkmenistan

Ovations Dinner Theatre – Fridays & Saturdays in May

Rotaract provides volunteers for coat-check & bussing every shownight in the month of May (Fridays & Saturdays)
3-5 volunteers are required to start Fridays at 5:00 and Saturdays at 4:30
1 volunteer can leave after intermission, but 2 volunteers are required to stay until all coats are collected tables are cleared & stripped if necessary (10:30ish)
A couple of the volunteers in attendance will also have to run the ‘Pin the Tail on the Duck’ promotion during intermission
Volunteers are still required for Friday May 15, Saturday May 16, May 30 ... contact Michelle 780-228-1211

Bottle Pickup – Weekly

Pair with another member or someone you know who has a truck, pick up the recyclables at Prairie Mall’s Food Court and bring them to the Bottle Depot.
Needs to be done once a week. We’ve already brought in a couple hundred bucks - and because of their cheque schedule that’s for not even a full month.
Bags of recyclables are in the tray-cleaning room off the Prairie Mall foodcourt
Tape our ‘PowerPlus Number’ onto each bag ... the tape/marker/number are on the rack to the left of the recyclables or in the storage room by the door
May 11 – Sarah & Paul
May 18 – Kathleen & David
May 25 – Sarah & Paul
June 1 – Jennifer & Rebecca
June 8 – Jennifer & Rebecca
June 15 – Lisa & Dale
To sign up for future shifts contact Sarah 780-228-1142

Duck Race

Tickets are printed & books of 25 or 50 were handed out to all members in attendance.
All members are expected to have a book available for sale, members who missed the meeting & don’t yet have a book call Cheryl at 780-933-7590 asap
First weekend of sales went great, we’re already 1.75% SOLD OUT!!
Miranda & Cheryl are handling virtually all cashouts, but other volunteers will be needed on occasion.
If you can help with the following cashouts, please contact Cheryl asap (780-933-7590)
o Friday May 15th, 9:00pm at Prairie Mall (apprx. 15 minutes)
o Sunday May 17th, 4:00-5:15 with stops at Superstore & Southside IGA (will take a little over an hour)

Drag Wars

Rotary (& Rotaract) will be assisting the organizers with the event this year in preparation for the Quad-Club to take over as the main organizing body next year.
Wednesday, May 20th is the official media launch. 10:00am at Centre 2000 ... the executive is expected to attend, any other members that are interested are more than welcome.

6. NEW BUSINESS

Cool Aid Society

The organization is looking for help as they prepare to open a new location on the South side near the Dave Barr Arena & Lions Learning Centre
Most of the tasks that they outlined involve some heavier construction duties (like building a deck) ... Gabrielle has let them know that we’ll help out with lighter tasks where possible.
If there are any lighter duty opportunities available the info will be emailed to everyone, so keep a look out.

Triathlon – Sunday, May 17th

Volunteers are needed to help by staffing water stations & directing traffic throughout the event.
Additional volunteers are also needed to help prepare / setup for the event THROUGHOUT the weekend (weekend volunteers are entered to win a new Trek Bike!
If you’re interested in helping out email info@highperformancesport.ca

Press Run – Saturday, May 30th

Volunteers are needed to help by staffing water stations & directing traffic throughout the event.
If you’re interested in helping out email pressrunwalk@gprunwalk.com

HIGH SCHOOL PRESENTATIONS

It was proposed that we schedule speakers for Grade 12 classes (specifically in schools with clubs like Interact or Students Without Borders)
Cheryl will schedule the Comp
Michelle will schedule St. Joes
Darrell will schedule Peace Wapiti Academy

7. MEMBERSHIP MINUTE

Cheryl & Spencer’s Coffee Time – Cheryl is “crazy on the outside with a side of sweet” she says. She coaches figures skating part time & wishes she could do it full time again as it’s definitely her passion. Cheryl tries to always stay positive – but she allows negativity on one front ... she HATES baseball. She’s a big fan of EVERY sports team from Edmonton as she was born in Edmonton & moved when she was 8. Spencer played hockey for 13 years, he’s from Chilliwack where he was in French immersion for many years. He is engaged to Kim, has two brothers (an engineer and a very tattooed hairstylist in Vancouver) and a sister. Plus a step-mom, a few step-sisters & two step-brothers. He LOVES Vancouver & disagrees strongly with Cheryl on her support of Edmonton teams!

New Members – The club is thrilled to OFFICIALLY welcome Rebecca Villebrun, Jennifer Villebrun & Matthew Hall to the club!! Nametags were handed out to the new members in attendance.
Guests / Prospects – The club would like to thank Yusup for staffing his first Rotaract Volunteer Shift, and donating a prize to Lobsterfest before even becoming a member - now THAT is the Rotaract Spirit! We hope to welcome you as an OFFICIAL member very soon!

Member Presentation by Matthew Hall – Matthew’s presentation on his Rotary Exchange has been postponed to a later meeting

Meeting Adjourned – 8:42

Rotaract Meeting - April 28, 2009

2009-05-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Attendance: Gabrielle Boulet, Darrell Winwood, Miranda Leclerc, Dana Moody, Jose Magat, Dale Tiedemann, Kendra Wilson, Michelle Dupont, Cheryl Budjak

Guest: Cedrick Leblanc, Glen Tissington, Chris Anderson of the Swan City Club, Kim of Rock City

Approval of Last Meeting Minutes: Gabrielle motion, Dana second Passed.

Approval of Agenda: Darrel motion, Michelle second. Passed.

Guest Speakers: Chris Anderson of the Swan City Rotary Club, and Kim of Rock City

• Chris Anderson: Chris was speaking to the club asking if we would be interested in helping sort books, as well as donate so they can be passed on to Schools and Libraries in Western Ethiopia, and Sudan. If we were to take on this role, it would happen the first week of June. Requirements would be sorting and packaging these books and goods for the trip overseas. It has also been brought to his attention that there is opportunity at the all schools, to help clean lockers and lost & founds after school is finished and donate the left over items to a charity of our choice. These goods would just be thrown out if we do not decide to take this on. Executive will discuss and respond to Chris as soon as possible.

• Kim: She is interested in working with Rotaract and creating a fundraiser for the Community Foundation. Rock City will be holding an event and auctioning off Neon Signs with proceeds going to the Community Foundation. Our role would be to come up with marketing ideas, presenting, and promotion of this event. It will be held in September. We asked if some of the proceeds could go towards the Grande Prairie Rotaract Club, and she seemed open to the idea. Will discuss further at a later date.

Action Items:

• Down Town Business Association: Sarah Davison to attend meetings on behalf of Rotaract, will discuss at a later date.

• Stompede Weekend: The club was approached by Cathy, organizer of the Stompede, to sell beer tickets in the beer gardens. There is a potential of earning some money for the club, but will require 20 people from the club for each night. Unfortunately, we have other commitments on the weekends such as Duck race, and Ovations Dinner Theatre. The Executive committee will discuss further and decide if this would be beneficial for the club.

Old/Ongoing Business:

• Rotaract Co Chair: Discussed the position requirements, which are still not to clear to the club. We decided that we will pass on nominating someone in our club because Cheryl was elected last term. We look forward to seeing what the other clubs have to offer!

• Ovations Dinner Theatre: We are requiring everyone in the club to take at least two shifts for either coat check, or bussing. Please contact Michelle for further information, and shift signup sheets. Spouses and friends are welcome to come and work the coat check!

• Bottle Pickup: The bottle pick up at the mall has been very rewarding to the club, bringing in around $200.00 to the club as of yet. To be fair, we will pair people with access to trucks, to someone without. The bottle depot is open 9-5 Monday – Saturday, and open 11-5 on Sundays.

• Rotary Greenathon: The Rotary Greenathon is coming up this Saturday, if you would still like to volunteer please sign up. There is a pancake and sausage breakfast at 7:30 at the Rotary Campground. Busses leave at 8:30 so make sure you are there by 8:15.

• Duck Race: The Duck Race launch party is this Wednesday! It starts at 4, with speeches at about 5:30. Unfortunately our tickets have not been printed yet, hopefully by this upcoming weekend we will be selling.

New Business:

• Homeless for a night: Friday, June 19th we will be participating in ‘Homeless for a Night’. We will be requiring volunteers to cook soup and grilled cheese for the participants. This year they will have T-Shirts available for only $6.00 each. A great way to support and you can also wear it for other volunteer events.

• ClubRunner Training: Kevin Hilgers will be doing the training ClubRunner sometime in May. This is necessary for all current and incoming Executive Members.

• Lobster Fest: Being held the last Saturday in May, this is an awesome event. They are having steak, lobster, and a cash bar. Our club will be selling tickets at the front table. We will also be colouring peoples pinkie fingers purple, for a dollar donation to immunize 1 child in a 3rd world country for Polio. There are only estimated 1600 cases of Polio left in the world!

Membership Minute:

• Coffee Time:
Cheryl & Spencer, and Dana & Dale: Some members were not present, will tell us about their coffee time next meeting! No new names have been drawn.

Rotaract Meeting - April 14, 2009

2009-04-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

Attendance: Gabrielle Boulet, Darrell Winwood, Sarah Davison, Michelle Dupont, David Crouse, Mark Forman, Lisa Hansen, Dana Moody, Dale Tiedemann, Rebecca Villebrun, Kendra Wilson

Guests: Cedrick Leblanc, Matthew Hall (soon to be a full fledged member! whoot whoot!)
Guest Speaker: Lane Smith from Ovations Theatre

1. Intro of members and guests (above)

2. Guest Speaker: Lane gave us some great insight on what to expect and what happens when we volunteer at Ovations. He also let us know that we are more than welcome to place our club brochures and info as well as Duck Race info etc around the front tables and in a display case - AWESOME! A sheet was passed around outlining the rules and protocol for both the coat cheque procedure as well as bussing procedure. Above all, he stressed that this is to be a FUN time!! Yes, we are there to work and make sure things run smoothly - but the more we can engage the guests in a fun professional manner, the better - Lane mentioned the tips we earn usually reflect how exuberant the volunteers are! See Michelle if you did not get a sheet outlining duties etc. A few more key points to note: Please wear all black, definitely no open toe shoes, and no jeans! We are able to take some time to watch the show in between duties, and tell whoever you can to come on down and have a great meal and show! Thanks, Lane, for the opportunity to earn some funds for the club, and promote the club to potential new members! Lastly - we will be hosting an intermission segment, thinking perhaps a "pin the tail on the ducky" game to include participation from the audience for a chance to win theatre tickets, duck race tickets, and other various prices. Stay tuned for further ideas on this show! Please contact Michelle @ dupontm @ telus.net

3. Approval of Last Meeting Minutes: Darrell first, Dale second. Passed.

4. Approval of Meeting Agenda: Sarah first, Dana second. Passed.

5. Review of Action Items from Previous Minutes:

• April Social Night: Was a huge success! 7 people came out and scaled some walls, had a great time rock climbing at the college! Thanks to Gab and Jeff for spotting everyone, and thanks to Jose for planning. Social Night Schedule for next few months: MAY=DARRELL
(paintball?), JUNE= GAB (changeover party), JULY=DANA (bowling/golfing?). Stay tuned!

• Downtown Business Association: Darrell advises that last he spoke with Helen Rice, she had offered some "sidewalk sale" tables at the Canada Day parade to sell Duck tickets, as well as something of the same sort potentially with the Iskoteo festival. Attending meetings? Sarah attends them already, will talk to Helen next meeting and firm some more things up for the club. Stay tuned!

6. Old/Ongoing Business:

• Black Tie Bingo: Volunteers resigned up for Dale - the last sheet is MIA.... Dale is looking for about 6 volunteers for this event on Saturday, think we got about 5. Black Tie Bingo is a formal affair, movie star theme this year, so dress up dainty and come down to help out! Rotaract will be doing coat check, and perhaps helping out throughout the night with a few different draws happening, etc. The vent is expecting over 300 people, so there will be lots to do! We are allowed to wear our Rotaract name tags and some signage at coat check. Please show up between 5-5:30 on Saturday.... see you there! Any more info needed, please contact Dale @ d_tiedemann@hotmail.com. Thanks!

• Volunteer Service Lunch: If you are one of the people that is attending, you must pick up your ticket at the VSB office BEFORE the luncheon. This office is located across from Blackman's Butcher Shop (same side of the street, on upper corner near Sylvan learning, Incubus Tattoo, etc). Not sure of the hours, but assume daytime business hours to be the norm.

• Bottle Pickup: So far, no cheque from the Recycle Depot, but let's keep em coming! They issue cheques once per month only if account sits at over $50.... so we should be getting one soon! We reviewed pick up procedure (please refer to last two meetings minutes for details again on this). Sign up sheet went around - but we still need a few more people! The commitment is a one time pick up per week, pick the bottles up from the mall, label them, then drop them off at the depot. Please contact Sarah @ mymortgage@telus.net for sign up or more details/questions.

• Rotary Green-a-thon: Saturday May 2 @ 7:30am, Rotary campground (on the bypass). Please see previous meeting's minutes for details of this campaign. Overview: garbage pickup around our lovely city to make it clean and prettier! Grade 5 and 6 kids come out and do this, starting with a pancake breakfast, and ending with a barbecue...... sign up if you haven't already with Gab! She will need someone to help her visit some schools to promote this day and hand out waiver sheets to the students to participate as well. For more info, contact her @ gabannie@hotmail.com

• Duck Race: We are still looking at our May 1 launch date, to kick off in fine form with somewhat of a party at the Keg. Some issues to ponder and give Darrell some input if you can: Ticket sale venues - we need some! Currently have deals with the mall and Coop, Home Depot, Walmart, IGA, Best Buy and Superstore - let us know if there is anywhere else we can get a booth set up to give this event more exposure and sales!! Ovations is also a great opportunity we've afforded for the Duck Race - we are title sponsor for the month of May. Next Duck Race meeting to be held next Tuesday (April 21) at 6pm, eastside Esquires coffee - feel free to join the committee if you would like more info, or want to get more involved! For more info, you can also contact Darrell @ dwinwood1@mac.com

New Business:
• Rotaract District Co-Chair: Gab received email from the district yesterday afternoon that there will be a vote shortly for this position in the district. All applicants must also submit a bio for review - these will be reviewed by clubs prior to voting. An important note: you cannot vote for your own club member on this poll! We are proud to say that our very own Cheryl is the inaugural current co-chair!! Kudos to Cheryl on this - taking on a brand new role is a trying thing sometimes, and she did a great job! Deadline for nominations and bios is *gasp* Friday, April 17 - but this can be extended if need be seeing as such short notice was given to our club.

• Ovations: As discussed above. Final note: Please consider being a volunteer for this if you are NOT going to the district conference, which falls on one of the same weekends in May - the long weekend. Thanks!!

• Stompede: Pretty sure we figured out this is happening in the last week of May. Darrell was approached to think about entering a team from the Club to volunteer throughout the event. We did this last year - had many of our members help out quite a bit, and did not receive any proceeds as we thought we would in return...... The people who volunteered say it was alot of fun - just a shame we did not get any funding for the club as promised. This year, Darrell was told we could expect anywhere between a $3000-$5000 honorarium for our efforts - a really great amount of money! Sarah did bring up concern around over-committing our club members to too many events - was discussed by club. Agreed that we have stretched our membership over quite a few projects for the next few months, and what with it being summer it's been proven to be that much more difficult to get the volunteers and bodies needed for events. To date, club has Ovations, Green-a-thon, Black Tie Bingo, Bottle Pick-up, Duck Race, District Conference running over the next few months - alot of great stuff, but quite the schedule! Agreed to have Darrell get more info on this, and we will revisit in a future meeting. If not this year, let's keep in front of mind for next year? Sounds good! Stay tuned.

• Rotary Club Updates: changes to meeting times/places for two of the Rotary clubs in town to note: Sunrise Club: Tuesday April 21 @ 7am, held at the Community Village - info session. GP Club: effective Friday, April 17, meeting will be at Quality Inn (no longer GP Inn).

Membership Minute:

• Kendra and Tyler: Kendra present at meeting, reported back that her and Tyler did see eachother briefly, and chatted about a few random things.......er........ they had a good time!! Got to know a little bit more about eachother - we'll get Tyler to elaborate as well next time we see him. A good suggestion from Kendra: the members that are paired up should be supplied with some sort of contact info for eachother in order to plan their date...... wicked suggestion, Kendra! So, see as Dale and Dana are the next two to meet, I will send you guys an email with eachother's contact info following these minutes!!! Can't wait to hear about your outing! Cheryl and Spencer were the last two to pair up, hope to hear about their get together at next meeting.
Have a great week everyone, and see you at the next meeting.....or perhaps Black Tie Bingo? Ovations?? Green-a-thon?? :) Take care!

Meeting Adjourned.

Rotaract Meetting - March 24, 2009

2009-04-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

Attendance: Gabrielle Boulet, Darrell Winwood, Miranda Leclerc, Sarah Davison, David Crouse, Kathleen Crouse, Mark Forman, Jose Magat, Dale Tiedemann.

Guest: Cedrick Leblanc

Approval of Last Meeting Minutes: Dale motion, Jose second. Passed.
Approval of Agenda: Darrell motion, David second. Passed.

Action Items:

• Open House: Had great response, potential recruits from the evening, and cheques were made up and presented. thanks to Dana again for getting the space provided and the food! A successful event all in all.

• Bottle Pick up: We reviewed the bottle pickup process, but again for those who weren't in attendance: Please sign up with Michelle or myself for weekly pickup. We have been doing pick up preferably on a Monday/Tuesday, but whatever works for you midweek. When you go into the mall food court, the bottle room is located down the hallway in between the chinese restaurant and taco time on the right hand side (this is the mall's janitorial room as well). The bottles are at the end of the room in the corner in plastic bags. We have left a red Zellers bag there containing a jiffy marker, duct tape, and the power plus account number. Please put the number on tape and attached to the front of each bag of bottles - this way, our account will be credited with the funds. You can take these bottles to either one of the depots - the one on resources is now only open Mondays and Tuesdays, and the other from Wednesdays to Saturdays. There is a drop off spot labeled "power plus" in each depot when you walk in, and you can leave the bags under this sign. So far, we do not have a volunteer for this week - any takers??? I will have a new sign up sheet ready to go at tomorrow's meeting. Thanks to Jose and Gab for last week, and Mark for the week prior. Keep it up you guys!

• Black Tie Bingo: Ah, Dale's bebe, Black tie Bingo! We need volunteers for this for working coat check. A sign up sheet was passed around last meeting, but anybody else that would like to help, please let Dale know! This event is formal, so wear your Sunday's best and come out to help, should be a very fun event. the event is April 18, please be there for 5:30pm (earlier if you can). We have been advised that we are allowed some signage at the coat check, and can keep all tips towards the club! Awesome!

• Volunteer Services breakfast luncheon: 11:30 April 22 at the GP Inn, tickets have been allocated.

Old Ongoing Business:
• Belize Scholarship Project: Gab has found out that our contributions in fact put not one, but THREE TO FOUR students through high school - quite something! We are still deciding on whether we are allocating funds for this from gaming money, or lobster fest funds ($1000 for four years).

• Shelter Box: A quick review: Shelter box is a survival kit that supplies 10 to 12 people with aid/relief though a crisis. They are $1200 CAD each. We need a spokesperson or an ambassador if you will, to go to Peace River, Grimshaw and Fairview for 12pm meetings to present this project - who can travel? Please let us know if your schedule allows, would love the help. More to come, so stay tuned.

• Duck Race: And, over to Darrell for an update: Gaming has received our application, we are just waiting on the approval from them - so the ball is rolling quickly! April 30 has been confirmed for ticket sales to commence. We still need to find and confirm locations for ticket sales - this is a 12 week campaign. Please let Darrell or a member of the Duck Race committee know if you are aware of a location we could use commencing April 30 for 12 weeks running, or even a portion of this time.

• DTBA invites: Helen Rice has extended invites to our club for the Downtown Business Association committee meetings and participation in the Canada day parade a Duck race ticket booth perhaps?..... more to come on this proposal. Also, Iskoteo festival may be somewhere we could sell tickets or participate in the events (this is an arts festival happening in June in Grande Prairie featuring many local artisans - how cool!). Again, more to come on this...

New Business:
• Social Night: April 7 wall climbing, 7pm at the college $18-$20. This event has happened, Jose you will have to fill us in on how it was! Hope it was a success

• Rotary Green-a-thon: let's clean up this city of ours! the 1st Saturday on May there will be a garbage pick up day in Grande Prairie. Kids volunteer as well from local schools, so you may be in charge of a gaggle of little ones doing their best! Gab did it last year, reported it to be very entertaining.... complete with a pancake brekkie to start, then a barbecue after. 9am-1pm approximately, May 2. Sign up sheet will be passed around again at the next meeting.

Membership Minutes:
• Kendra and Tyler coffee time.... neither were present, so we'll have to hear what they got up to and learned about eachother at next meeting...... stay tuned! Cheryl and Spencer have been paired up next for coffee time, so we'll look forward to that as well.

• There is a Swan city Poker Tournament May 7, cost is $20 to enter, with plenty of prizes..... ask Dale for the deets.... he is the poker guy....

• Another Rotaract Interest: Darrell told our club about 6 Rotaract clubs in London, Ont that are doing odd jobs in seniors centers around their community - very cool. They volunteer to do the mundane tasks that help people very much, as well as some fun stuff for the residence. The club has been featured in a few articles for their work - way to go! Also, clubs in salt Lake City are up to some goodness: they raised $51,000 for clean water projects in Cambodia, and reforestation projects in Bangkok.

Meeting Adjourned
Hope everyone had an excellent Easter, and we'll see you all really soon! Have a wonderful night.

Rotaract Meeting - March 10, 2009

2009-04-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

7:32 p.m. start

Approval of last minutes: Motion by Kathleen, second by Jose - passed

Approval of agenda: Motion by Dale, Cheryl second - passed

Action Items

Interact charter night: Five members attend. Was a good event to support and the cupcakes were very yummy!

Community Village breakfast: Club was invited to attend - Dale, Gabrielle and Kathleen attended to represent Rotaract and our fundraising commitment. Club has donated $9,000 so far, still have $11,000 commitment outstanding.

Visiting other Rotary Clubs: Visits made to other three clubs to promote Rotaract Open House.

Drag Wars: Meetings ongoing, Rotaract has little involvement.

Open House: Dana and volunteers to set up, some members encouraged to stay behind to help clean up. If needed, Cheryl and Jose will bartend. Event starts at 6 p.m. - speeches at 7 p.m.

Duck Race - Darrell reports on Duck Race. Event is still on track, much more information to come.

Mazatlan bus trip: Bus trip leaves this Saturday at 6 a.m. - your welcome to go and see them off if you like 6 a.m. on a Saturday.

Grande Prairie Legal Guidance: Club invited to celebration/information event for legal clinic in town - March 12 at 4:30-6:30 at Maddhatters.

Black Tie Bingo: STARS event - April 18. Volunteers needed for help that night, possible fundraiser for club. Talk to Dale to sign up.

Volunteer Services Bureau lunch: Lunch to celebrate volunteers in Grande Prairie, club has five tickets for April 22 lunch, two are spoken for - talk to Gab for the rest.

Membership minute: Tyler and Kendra to report for next meeting.

Rotaract Meeting - Tuesday January 13th

2009-01-12T16:27:00.001-08:00

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions involves:

- More community involvement

- Expanding your professional & social networks, or

- Having More Fun

THEN THIS IS THE YEAR TO JOIN ROTARACT!!

Rotaract is a division of Rotary International for men & women under the age of thirty. The club works to promote volunteerism & community pride by assisting with community service projects, fundraisers, and Rotary events through the district, the country, or other parts of the world. We meet on the 2^nd & 4^th Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm.

I’d like to encourage you to join us this Tuesday, January 13^th at The Community Village for our first regular meeting of 2009.

The Grande Prairie Rotaract Club has been a part of The Community Village capital campaign for years – committing cash & sweat equity to the project since 2007. As our regular meeting room in The Stanford Inn was otherwise booked this Tuesday, our club’s executive decided to seize this opportunity to give some of our newer members a closer look at the project. The boardroom is located in the basement of the two story Community Village Administration Building , with an entrance on the East side of the building at the corner of 101 Street & 103 Avenue.

We hope to see you Tuesday January 13^th at 7:30pm!!

If you have ANY questions, please call or email.

Yours in Rotaract,

Michelle Dupont - Past President

Grande Prairie Rotaract Club

P. 780-228-1211

dupontm@telus.net

November 25, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-12-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

Rotaract General
Nov. 25, 2008

Attending: President Gabrielle, VP Darrell (acting as secretary), Treasurer Miranda, Membership co-director Dana – General members – Cheryl, Mark, Cedric, Dale, Becky, Spencer

Guest: Elizabeth (did not get last name, invited by Becky)

Approval of agenda: Motion by Cheryl, seconded Gabrielle - passed
Approval of past minutes: Motion by Dana, seconded Dale - passed

1. Welcome of new members

Official welcome to new members Mark (I finally paid, it’s official) Forman, David Crouse (unable to attend), Spencer Brownell. Congratulations all around and welcome to the new members.

2. Youth Emergency Shelter - Black and White dance

Event is this Saturday (November 29) for everyone who volunteered to help at the event. If you have volunteered contact Gabrielle to get information of a possible dress code and duties and time. Duties include security patrol and/or baby-sitting (actual babies, not the teenagers). Contact Gabrielle ASAP for more info if needed.

3. November social night

This past Saturday (Nov. 22) was the monthly Rotaract social event - gingerbread house making at Mark’s house. Event was fun for all who attended, copious amounts of rum in the icing made spreading it more challenging and Mark’s bathroom still smells like rum (thanks to Dale and Cheryl for hiding a house in there that took Mark two days to discover). The December social event is the Rotary Christmas Party – see details below.

4. Rotary Christmas party

Event is Saturday, Dec. 5 at the Grande Prairie Inn, cocktails at 6 p.m. dinner at 7 p.m. Is a city-wide Rotary event and generally a more classy affair. If planning to attend RSVP to Cheryl no later than Dec. 2. Register at the door when you arrive so the club can be invoiced at a later date.
Rotaract needs a reporting sergeant volunteer, basically a snitch, someone who will advise the master sergeant about events and people in our club that can be mocked properly in front of Rotary. Any volunteers? Contact Cheryl ASAP.
Also Cheryl is seeking donations for the silent auction. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Youth Emergency Shelter. Any questions about the event contact Cheryl ASAP.

5. Rotaract badges
Gabrielle to contact former member Bill Given to get any information available on getting new name badges for new members.

6. Duck Race
Committee has a target list of prizes and is now trying to contact potential sponsors to determine what we can get. Hope to have firm list of prizes by Dec. 16.
Committee always looking for help. Anyone willing or wanting information contact Darrell.

7. Club Secretary assistant

Due to a family illness Sarah might be as available she would like to be for meetings so club needs a volunteer to take minutes on nights Sarah is not there. Contact Sarah if you want to be the go-to person or contact Gabrielle.

8. Rotaract Charity Scavenger Hunt

There is no general meeting in December for Rotaract. The first meeting date, Dec. 9 is instead the Rotaract Charity Scavenger Hunt, in past years this has benefited the Food Bank, this year club is contacting Youth Emergency Shelter to see what items we might be able to raise to help them. Event involved Rotaract teams canvassing friends and family to raise certain donations in a one-night blitz. This year an invitation is being extended to Interact and the exchange students as well. If you plan to come and participate RSVP to Gabrielle as soon as possible to help with vehicle planning. More details on the event will be coming via e-mail so stay tuned.

November 11, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-12-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

Members: Dana, Kathleen, Jeff, Cedrick, Darrell, Gabrielle, Mark, Kendra, Dale, Michelle
Guests: David, Spencer & Kimberly

1. Introductions

2. Approving the Minutes of the Last Meeting
(no one recalls getting the minutes ... let’s move on ... )

3. Approving the Agenda
(motioned by Darrell, seconded by Dana)

4. Presentation by former Rotaractor Someh Niengor – Executive Director of GP YESS

The Grande Prairie Youth Emergency Shelter Society operates Sunrise House Youth Emergency Shelter, a Street Outreach Program and school outreach programs which engage youth to tell THEIR stories to other youth & encourage positive change. Youth homelessness is notoriously poorly funded by government. Most non-profit agencies fundraise 20-50% of their budgets, while GPYESS fundraises almost 80%

The shelter serves children that run away from home due to fighting or abuse and need a place to stay for a few days until it blows over, runaways from the system, kids who are abandoned or neglected, those involved in sexual exploitation or drugs, and those lacking mental health or medical support trying to do whatever they can to survive.

There are a few GPYESS events coming up that they’d like Rotaract to help out with:
The Positive Choice Project – works to engage youth before they get into trouble by giving them something fun to do and give GPYESS support workers a chance to develop a relationship with them. The first initiative of the PC Project is a Black & White Much Music Video Dance Party, Saturday, November 29th 7:00pm-12:00am. Volunteers are needed to ‘chaperone’; directing people to the gym, monitoring the VIP section, ensuring no one gets into other areas of the school, keeping an eye out for intoxication, etc

Anyone interested in volunteering contact marsha@sunrisehouse.ca (cc Michelle so you get an attendance credit!!)

Homeless for a Night – raised $43,000 last year (close to twice what was raised in previous years. Rotaract has been involved from the beginning, cooking dinner for all participants.
Leisure Centre Luau – PC Project in January that they could require volunteers for.
Global Youth Day – PC Project modelled after Oprah’s Big Give where PC Project participants will get into groups & attempt to trade up from paperclips to secure the items non-profit groups in our community need. Local fundraisers will act as judges and eliminate one group each month, but they’ll need other volunteers.

GPYESS will recognize Rotaract for their support through posters, media coverage etc.

5. District Conference

The Rotary District Conference goes May 14-17 in Jasper.
Cedrick has booked two rooms for Rotaract (enough room for 4-8 people). Anyone planning to attend please let Cedrick know ASAP. Our club has been asked to make a presentation at the conference about what we’ve accomplished, what our current projects are, and how we work with our local Rotary clubs & Interact. Anyone interested in helping with the presentation contact Michelle.

6. Festival of Trees
Thursday November 13th – Volunteers Needed for set construction from 12:00-9:00
Bring your own drill/driver/saw

7. November Social

November 22 – Gingerbread House decorating at Mark’s House (30 Pinnacle Ave.) The gingerbread decorating starts at 7:00 ... feel free to bring your FAVOURITES: candy for the houses, snacks for our bellies, or drinks for our amusement.
Michelle will pickup 5 gingerbread kits & continue hating science

8. Duck Race

Ideal prize list is in development for 2009 ... if anyone have any suggestions let Darrell know.
The committee is working to develop an application system for potential partner groups, get final numbers for this year’s partners & get cheques into their hands asap.

Our portion of the proceeds from the 2008 race will go to pay the GP Rotary Club back for their loan of ‘seed money’, keep enough to fund our 2009 lottery, with any extra going to fulfil our commitment to The Community Village. DUCK RACE 2009 IS SCHEDULED FOR JULY 26, 2009 – anyone interested in helping is welcome at our regular Tuesday meetings ... contact Darrell for details of the next meeting.

9. Quad Club Christmas Party
Friday December 5th at the Grande Prairie Inn

Members of all three Rotary Clubs, Interact and Rotaract are invited to attend. Rotaract will cover the cost of any Rotaractors that want to attend, but anyone who wishes to bring a guest should be prepared to cover the cost of their ticket (apprx. $40 for their guest). Though again we have no records of ever being billed by Rotary for our Christmas Party tickets, so I guess you’re only on the hook IF we’re billed!

Our club is in-charge of decor ... if you’d like to help contact Cheryl
All proceeds from the evening will go to the Grande Prairie Youth Emergency Shelter Society

10. ONE LIFE Experience at People’s Church
November 20th at 11am
Rotaractors have been invited for a special sneak-peak at this interactive experience created through World Vision to help you step into the life of a child in an African village.

11. SCAVENGER HUNT
December 9th, 7:30pm
Meet at our regular meeting room at the Stanford Inn, break into teams, get our list of items to collect, and then hit the streets (and our friend’s houses) to collect as many as possible!
Gabrielle will contact GPYESS to see if we can collect the items they need on their behalf.

12. NO MEETING ON DECEMBER 23rd
Motioned by Gabrielle, Seconded by Dale

13. ROUNDTABLE

Mark’s been doing lots of travelling (to exotic places like Montreal and Fort St John). Mark confirmed his membership so he’s now officially a Rotaractor.

Spencer shared with us what he does at the Keg ... and how he & Kimberly put up their Christmas Tree, but gave up on the lights on their house. Spencer was introduced to the club through Keith Curtis at The Keg. Thanks Keith! And Thanks Spencer & Kimberly for visiting!

Kendra is learning how to drive in the snow (really learning for the first time ... not re-teaching herself like the rest of Grande Prairians do every ‘first snowfall’).

Dale has officially moved into the new place & is starting renovations now that their Nov. 1 STARS fundraiser is over ... They raised $46,000 through a dinner & dance in Dale’s hometown of Debolt!

Michelle will be spending Christmas in Grande Prairie for the first time ... spending the holidays with her new redneck family.

Dana will be in Lahaina Maui in just over a month with her family.

Kathleen just got paid back for a bike her brother Nathan borrowed & didn’t lock up 4 years ago.

David’s happy he won’t have to listen to Kathleen complain about the bike their brother Nathan borrowed & didn’t lock up 4 years ago. We’re also thrilled to welcome David as a new member!

Jeff has moved into a new position at Timbrr Mart and is working days (less evening & weekends) so he was able to join us tonight!

Darrell has gifts for people who donated their time at the Street Performers Festival and considered using them to bribe people to vote for Debi & Darrell’s proposal story at www.q99live.com, so they can win $4,000 in Tacori Wedding Bands!

Club President Gabrielle is recruiting people for pyramid schemes & alcoholism ... she pins down

Michelle & Dale, so look out for either of them or you could be next!!

14. MEETING ADJOURNED – 9:04pm

October 14, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-10-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

Members: Tyler, Cheryl, Kendra, Michelle, Jose, Lisa, Dana, Gabrielle, Kathleen, Cedrick
Guests: Lisa Peters

Duck Race (covered at the very beginning of the meeting so Darrell could get on the election-beat)

- This year’s race was successful, but A LOT of work for our small committee

- In order to proceed with it next year we need a commitment from the ENTIRE membership

- We’d like to appoint individuals to look after one entire aspect of the lottery (ie. gaming, volunteer groups, ticket sale locations, marketing, finances)

- Many suggestions were made for next year, including implementing a large fine for volunteer groups that miss shifts (the fine is then withdrawn from the proceeds for that group)

- Darrell has suggested that the President Elect serve as Chair of the Duck Race committee (as the race takes place at the beginning of the Rotaract year, this will ensure that the President at race-time is the authority for all things Duck Race because they’ve been chair of the committee for a year already … it also gives them a focus (beyond helping the Pres.) for their year as President Elect

This, of course, means Darrell himself will be chairing the 2009 Duck Race committee
Work on sponsorship & prize development will start in November … if you can spare some time to help on the committee it would be VERY MUCH appreciated

Duck Race Meeting, Tuesday November 4th … time & location TBD

Motion to Approve the Minutes of the Previous Meeting
- Cedrick motioned
- Dale seconded

Motion to Approve the Agenda
- Kathleen motioned
- Jose seconded

October Social Night
- Sarah has offered to host a Game Night, Friday October 24th
- Bring snacks, drinks, board games, friends, or prospective Rotaractors

District Assembly - and upcoming District Events
- Cheryl, Gabrielle & Cedrick attended the Rotary District Assembly in Peace River

- Cheryl noted that one of the ways we could be more effective as a club is if our members are aware of district goals & look for opportunities to get involved

- Members NEED to attend these kind of events to get an understanding of the Rotary Family and how clubs work locally, regionally & internationally

- The Rotary District Conference is planned for May 14-17 in Jasper (Jasper Park Lodge)

- Our club has been asked to make a presentation about our club activities & future plans … who will spearhead this?

- Kendra, Cheryl, Gabrielle, Kathleen, Dale, Jose, Michelle & Cedrick are interested in attending

- We need to book hotel rooms NOW, preferably large suites so we can fit 4-5 people per room … who is making these bookings?As long as the rooms are booked in advance, we can worry about exactly WHO is coming later … people can register online … Rotaract Rate is $250 for the weekend

- Just a reminder, Cheryl is in charge of fundraising for the Zone 22 Conference scheduled for September 2009 … she needs volunteers to ask Rotary businesses to help fund the conference … if you’re interested in helping behind the scenes or being the person to ask for donations, contact Cheryl

Scarecrow Festival
- Gabrielle was approached by the Sunrise Club to provide a ‘Keys Please’ service at their Scarecrow Festival

- It was suggested that we rent vehicles ($45 each for the weekend … the rental place would give us one for every one we rent)

- Members suggested that we would MAKE more money for the club if we used our own vehicles

- 9 people volunteered themselves & their vehicles for the night - THANK YOU!

- It was determined that we would provide drive-home services for a minimum donation of $20 to Rotaract. Drivers are needed starting around 9:00

November Social
- Proposed by new member Mark Forman … Gingerbread House Decorating!!
- Mark has volunteered his kitchen & is suggesting we actually make these things from scratch
- A few people suggested just DECORATING … maybe getting a kit for the actual walls & roof?
- Date in November, TBD by Mark’s work schedule … plan for Late November

Rotary Christmas Party
- December 5 @ GP Inn
- The Rotaract Club has been asked to coordinate decorations
- Cheryl is leading the Décor-Team, so contact her if you’re interested in helping out!

Meeting on Remembrance Day
- It was decided that our meeting on November 11th is still on, as Remembrance Day ceremonies are held in the morning
- That means Tuesday, November 11 … 7:30 at the Stanford Inn

Rountable
- Tyler kicked off his GPRC Curling season with a win

- Cheryl is excited to get into her new house (any day now, really) so she can host a painting party (everyone quick - DUCK!!)

- Kendra is full of news … she got a CAR (a hot little blue one), and her & Jamie bought a house!! Kendra will now be spending her free time admiring the purchases that will keep her at home for the rest of her life!

- Michelle is hosting a Halloween Party - Friday October 31st … drop by any time after 8:00 & feel free to bring friends (7831 Cedarwood Park, Park on 79 Ave West of 100 Street)

- Jose’s clinical work is exposing him (and therefore the rest of us) to detailed medical descriptions about c-sections and other things that make me queezy

- Lisa has recently moved back to GP & although she has a busy work schedule is interested in getting involved in the community through Rotaract - WELCOME LISA!!

- Dana is excited for: pumpkin carving, a season of Dexter, and a bubble bath (please Dana … one at a time!!)

September 23, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-10-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

Attendance: Kathleen Crouse, Gabrielle Boulet, Cedrick Leblanc, Jose Magat, Tyler Bulford, Dale Tiedemann, Cheryl Budjak, Dana Moody, Miranda Leclercq, Sarah Davison
Guests: None

Approval of previous minutes: Kathleen motion, Jose second
Approval of Agenda: Sarah motion, Jose second

Action Items: NONE! Whoah....

Ongoing Business:

Chris Andersen stopped in to follow up with the person who so graciously volunteered their services to him when he was our guest speaker - duties were to sort through books, lost and found items, etc...... after Chris left, we pondered this and came to the conclusion that Darrell was the one who had offered - Darrell, defend yourself at the next meeting, buddy.

Duck Race: SO much hard work accumulated to a very successful barrell draw at the mall - way to go!!!! There was no cash prize winner, but the other recipients were pretty darn happy with their prizes. Michelle did a superb job of reading the rules and MC duties, and the other members in attendance sure looked cute drawing tickets, punching all the info into laptops, manning stations and notifying winners! We had a last minute burst of sales at the mall just hours before the draw - 109 tickets sold in 1.5 hours to be exact! There are still 6 books of 25 tickets MIA after recovering one of them from Corey, cheque the online site for details on refunds for these ticket numbers. There will be some sort of cheque signing get together for the committee to do an official tally and all payouts. They will keep us posted of final numbers!

NOTE: Signing authority must be done again for Rotaract bank accounts - committee members required to sign on, make a time to do so together.

Social Night: Plans??? Cheryl?! Glow golf is a no go, so what about games night? Sarah volunteered her shack to host it, see above dates and times and rsvp at next meeting when date confirmed..... let's be social butterflies...let's also bring some board games, as Sarah has a few, but not enough.

NOTE: Miranda needs help from 2 members to audit Rotaract financial statements - not sure whether they were volunteered or voluntold, but the lucky ducks (NO pun intended) are Cedrick and Jose. Thanks to both of you!

Coats for Kids: The dates and times have been confirmed - have you volunteered? Cold kids need your help - come to Crouse's Cleaners and help sort and launder Coats that have been donated by the community. DATES, TIMES, AND VOLUNTEERS SO FAR ARE AS FOLLOWS: Tuesday October 7 - 5:00-8:00: Jarrett, Gabrielle, Vaughn, Sarah, Michelle. Wednesday October 8 - 5:00-8:00: Gabrielle, Kathleen, Michelle, Dana. Anybody else that can come out and help, it's much appreciated!

Gratituities: We have a free room each and every month for our club - this is pretty awesome!! In return, the hotel asks that you maybe order some grub every once in awhile at a meeting, and tip your sever! 15% is the going gratituity rate - please make sure you do this. Hey, if you're a moneybags, tip more! Thanks in advance - hoepfully by us being a little generous, we'll continue to be lucky to have a free meeting place.

ROUNDTABLE. MEETING ADJOURNED

September 9, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-10-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

Attending: Sarah, Cedrick, Tyler, Amanda, Kathleen, Dale, Gabrielle, Darrell, Jose, Mark, Michelle, Cheryl, Amanda, Jarrett
Guests: Chris Andersen

Approval of previous minutes: Cheryl motioned, Darrell seconded
Approval of Agenda: Sarah motioned, Michelle seconded

Guest speaker: Chris Andersen
Summary: Chris enlightened us on some majorly amazing international projects that are both past and ongoing within Rotary District 5370 (our district spans all the way down close to Red Deer and north of us). The most prominent one discussed was one undertaken by World Community Services Society, which is a sector of Rotary specifically created to tackle international projects, available grant information, and basically guide different clubs who wish to create new or contribute to projects. A few examples were a project in the Dominican that addressed leprosy and water filtration systems; one in Irkutsk Siberia through 2005/2006 that focused on education improvement, orphanages and high schools; and one in Belize that is focusing on on literacy, teacher facilitation skill improvement, and gaining new equipment (ie computers) for the schools' use.

Gabrielle accepted a certificate on behalf of our club relating to our contributions in 2005/2006 to the Siberia project - way to go!! Some fast facts for you keeners: Currently on the Belize project, there are 60 clubs in our district, and 45 of these are supporting this project - pretty great, really. It also received a $300,000 humanitarian aid grant from Rotary International. With the combined efforts of Rotary and 24 Albertan teachers who have volunteered their time, this program will reach out and affect over 80,000 students - quite the accomplishment.

The bottom line: Chris wanted to stress to our club how key international projects are - if we can handle a commitment of this sort, he would urge us to do so. Darrell inquired as to what we could in the form of non-financial commitment (as our club is a little less resource rich than some others). There was some great ideas thrown around involving school lost and found item donation program, and possibilities of other sweat equity projects.... perhaps details to come in the future??

Lastly, Chris touched upon a Christmas card campaign that donates funds generated to entrepreneurial women in Ethiopia and restore of goat, cattle, and horse herds to pastoral communities. Get this - Chris and his wife started this one up in their own home, made the cards from their own picture stash, and, with help of their computer savvy son, raised over $50,000 IN THE FIRST YEAR! Again, pretty amazing stuff...

Thank you, Chris, for coming and talking with us about all these things that our own district should be proud of helping with.

Now, back to biz, folks....

New Business: How about those other non-lottery events???.....
Terry Fox Run: This Saturday, September 13 @ 9am Terry needs your help.... Race starts at Muskoseepi Park, it's a 10km run/walk. Anyone care to volunteer? Most likely helping with set up, take down, etc. Sign-up sheet available, or give Gab a ring-a-ding and catch her on the jimmy-jangle..... ps. This is a great cause! Terry Fox thanks you in advance...

Lottery Food Bank Drive: Have a vehicle? Some kindly donated food needs a lift from neighborhood doorways to the Food Bank.... please check with your C-A-R and see if it's available. Dates and times TBD.

Coats For Kids: Now til October 15. It's what it sounds like - people donating coats for kids this winter. Duties the cause needs your help with include (but are not limited to) sorting and cleaning coats, collection of coats from various locations. Tentatively marked for Sept 23, 24 (Tues/Wed). Let Gab know if you can help out if you did not sign up on the beautiful sign up sheets (which, I might add, she made all by herself and they looked wicked).

Festival of Trees: The committee has asked for our help, and wanted quite a large commitment from us - what with our schedules, time constraints of work, etc etc, Gab has asked them to revamp their request and present it again. More details to come.

ADDITION TO AGENDA: SEPTEMBER SOCIAL THIS FRIDAY, SEPT 12 @ LION'S DEN, 9PM. Please note, we are attending the Storm game same night, at 7pm, to sell as many more Duck tickets as humanly possible, then we will be moving on to the Lion's Den after this for our social. Come on down - it will be a good time!

Ongoing Business:
Dues: Who owes? Who will be renewing membership, who may not? Let Ashley or Michelle know, and give Miranda your money.

Ross Tyson: Yes, Ross Tyson wants to do lunch and even dinner with YOU. Please let's get a poll on attendance over the next few weeks via email.... The details: Lunch - Fri, Sept 26 @ 12pm at our regular meeting spot. Dinner - $31 gets you fed at the Quality Inn, same day as lunch.

DUCK RACE: 10 days left!! We have confirmed it will be a barrel draw, as we are far into the process with the lotto corp to do so - although there is enough water in the reservoir again, Ducks Unlimited cannot host a day event on such short notice, and the barrel approval process is almost complete. We need a video camera for this.... there were a few volunteers, so please keep the Duck Committee posted on whether you can get one for this date. Ticket sale update: approx 5300 sold - this is not including the outstanding tickets that we can't count til we get in......so......GET THEM IN. Darrell committed to getting an email out with the Ducks Unlimited website info for online ticket purchase, so stay tuned.

ROUNDTABLE

MEETING ADJOURNED

Duck Race Prize Draw - Sunday September 21

2008-09-20T20:28:00.001-07:00

The Grande Prairie Rotaract Club will award 12 lucky winners with their prizes this Sunday at Prairie Mall. As recently covered extensively in the media, all Duck Race prize winners will be determined with a barrel-draw due to low water levels.

Join us at 2:00pm Sunday September 21^st at Prairie Mall to see if you’ll take home one of our 12 HOT prizes - or the Lucky 13^th Bonus Prize of $100,000!

TICKETS ON SALE SUNDAY UNTIL 1:00PM

August 12, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-08-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Rotaract General
August 12, 2008

... and there came a night, a night like none other in the history of Rotaract. It was a night that divided Rotaract like never before, a split that was subtle at first but then actively encouraged (by one side of the club). It was a night where all the women chose to sit on one side of the table and the men on another... (okay maybe not that dramatic but you had to be there, it was kinda funny)...

Attending: Cheryl, Miranda, Michelle, Gabrielle, Kathleen, Ashley, Dana, Kendra, Jeff, Jose, Tyler, Dale, Darrell (acting as secretary)

Guests: Prospective member Mark Forman, Colleen Tarrant past-president Sunrise Rotary

Approval of previous minutes: Motion by Jose, seconded by Michelle

Approval of agenda (written out on white board because Gab [in her second meeting as president] forgot to make paper agendas): Motion by Cheryl, seconded by Dale

Action Items:

Wave Media Surveys - report by Michelle

Club had again been contacted by Wave Media to see if club members were willing to volunteer to survey visitors to Evergreen Park in return for donation to club’s general account. Surveys would have had to be have been done Aug. 10 and Aug. 24, 2008. As these dates would have (keep reading to see why they would have and not will) conflict with the Duck Race club kindly turns down Wave Media but says “think of us in the future.”

Club Runner training - report by Darrell

Rotaract trying to join the new century and learn about this fancy thing called the In-ter-net??? Club executive has been trying to schedule a training session to learn more about the Rotary Club Runner system which is heavily used by Rotary. Grande Prairie Rotarian Kevin Hilger volunteered to teach system to club executive. Training postponed because of unstable In-ter-net connection at Stanford Inn and will likely be rescheduled for when the executives' heads won’t explode - a.d.r. - after duck race. Keep reading for more details.

Stompede mechandise sales - report by Ashley

Club members had volunteered at Stompede to run the merchandise tent in exchange for a small percentage of the sales profit. Merch sales.... well ... were about as flat as a runover cowboy in the bull riding contest ... there was no profit and many boxes remain in Ashley’s poor crowded garage. But not all is lost, Ashley talking with Stompede executive about possible donation to club to compensate for our time regardless and club is welcome to volunteer again next year when merch sales run again.

(suddenly... the sky darkened, thunder shook the room, a chill fell over all in attendance... well not really but some of us felt that way)

Duck Race - report by Gabrielle

Duck race committee, believing that no news means good news, has news (if you get that you share Darrell’s sense of humour, congrats).

Ticket sales have not been going as we had hoped, about 3,000 tickets sold and the break even point is roughly 5,800-6,000. As such, committee is applying to Alberta Gaming to move date back to Sept. 21 and plans to have a meeting next week with partner groups to outline the situation. Also hampering the duck race is a distinct lack of water (first to say ‘hot enough for you’ gets a boot). There is no water in the reservoir, really, try driving by the college side and you'll see it’s green with grow-in weeds. No water makes it hard to have a race.

The committee is investigating its options for other public races and concepts. Last resort, there will be a barrel draw with 12 tickets drawn, all prizes remain valid.

To make up the difference the club has two new weekend selling points at Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire which are being staffed by club members and Grande Prairie soccer in addition to Co-Op and the Prairie Mall.

ALL MEMBERS WILL BE NEEDED TO HELP STAFF AND SELL AT THESE LOCATIONS! Please watch your e-mail for sign-up notices and help us make this event successful.

New Business

Sunrise Rotary Scarecrow Festival - report by Gabrielle

In an effort to boost their general revenue and get away from lotteries which ties up its money, Sunrise Rotart Club attempting to start up a Scarecrow Festival. The concept is simple, think Festival of Trees but with scarecrows. Club will be seeking sponsorship to set up walking festival of highly decorative and artistic scarecrows and make it a public event with the companies getting the scarecrows afterward. No direct Rotaract involvement, but members encouraged to spread the idea to their businesses for potential support and sponsorship.

Round Table:

This is otherwise known as the point when Rotaract members try to one-up each other with a better story of their most recent adventures. This humble scribbler won’t even try to recount the tales but it was perhaps the best round table ever in club history, you really had to be there to get the full laughs and good news.

Not sure what was better – Michelle’s tale of cowboy boots saving her from doing something no one should ever have to do - (just be glad it wasn't you) - ‘nuff said, Colleen’s tale of ridin’ the bible bus with her Dad to Winnipeg and back (stopping for beer where needed), Ashley Rae becoming a future country music super star (her first album is out at the end of this month), Kendra nearly (but not quite) cutting her toes off while chopping wood camping, Jeff being mocked for thinking that RVing at Calaway Park in Calgary counts as ‘camping’, Mark buying a house (no joke here, he bought a house - congrats Mark), Dale enjoying the highlights of his ‘dry’ and very religious family reunion, Miranda enjoying throwing horse bones (yes horse bones) around in a game at her family reunion. You just had to be there.

July 22, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-08-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

Attendance: Darrell Winwood, Cheryl Budjak, Jose Magat, Gabrielle Boulet, Kendra Wilson, Becky Watson, Sarah Davison, Dana

Guests: Tyler, Anna - Cheryl's guest.

Approval of Last Meeting's Minutes: Becky motion, Cheryl second - passed.

Approval of Meeting Agenda: Sarah motion, Becky second - passed.

Action Items:

Evergreen Park Project: Michelle not present, will get stats update Aug 12 meeting. Kendra reports went well, did survey, had good response. Thanks to those who volunteered.

Clubrunner: Brief review of what Clubrunner is, training has been graciously offered by Kevin Hilgers, Rotary member. In need of computer, projector, and a 1/2 hr of your time to learn the ropes; a very useful tool with way more functions than we are currently using.

Stompede Fundraiser: Ashley's got the goods, so we will wait to hear the results from her at next meeting.

Duck Sorting Day: With the way tickets sales are currently sitting, we are preparing to sort ducks. Proposed date is August 10 at the Lion's Learning Centre - Murray has advised their space is most likely available to use for this - Darrell to confirm. PUSH PULL OR DRAG you and your closest 20 friends to help out with this - it's going to be a big job! Side note: Meeting consensus to claim this as our official August Social - Gabrielle will look into some pizza for us, Sarah will look into some sort of way to make this fun! More details to come. Thanks in advance, you diehards!

Street Performers Festival: A fun time had by all, the English Gents stole the show. 138 tickets sold, $155 proceeds from I Am Silly magic goods sales, $330 proceeds from water sales/donations. Thank you Cheryl for organizing water sales; thanks to all who volunteered.

Old/Ongoing Business:

Duck Race Ticket Tally is 1020 sold to date. That means 13,980 left to go - let's push those tickets! Darrell attended Wed and Fri Rotary Clubs, seven books taken by members to sell on our behalf. Proposed plans to have Rotaract members attend Rotary meetings again to sell individual tickets to members. Cheryl has arranged ticket sales at Walmart for this weekend, July 26 and 27 (Cheryl, how do you know so many people?).

Shifts are as follows:
Saturday 9am-1pm: Cheryl and Gabriel
Saturday 1pm-5pm: Cheryl (we need one more here...any takers?)
Sunday 9am-1pm: Darrell (again, one more needed)
Sunday 1pm-5pm: Dana, Kendra

Request for additional volunteers for daily deposits, schedule is currently being done up one week in advance - please let Gabrielle know when you can help. Request also for any ideas of additional ticket sale venues or volunteers - please advise any executive member if you know of anywhere/anyone.

New Business:

Banking: Motion to amend signing authority on banking from Gabrielle, Kathleen and Michelle to Gabrielle, Darrell and Miranda. Cheryl motion, Becky second - passed.

Lions Club Big Bike Event: We have been given invitation to enter a team, but, with Duck Race volunteering etc, will not be officially doing so - feel free to attend and enter if you so choose.

Reminder next meeting August 12, 7:30pm Stanford Inn

Executive Retreat? Agreed to plan at some point after Duck Race, proposed long weekend overnight trip not feasible for some executives. More planning to come.

More tickets, anyone?? Darrell has many tickets ready to sell! Get them while they're hot...

Roundtable:

A few things to ponder - would we like a guest speaker to come in and discuss meeting and time management skills? Kendra generously offered to run a session for us as this is her forte. More to come. New schedule for social night organizers to be made soon, as August is last month planned.

Meeting Adjourned

Rotaract Photo Scavenger Hunt & Executive Changeover BBQ!!

2008-07-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 8 - 6:30 PM
at Michelle’s Place
(7831 Cedarwood Park)

Hamburgers, Hotdogs, and Condiments will be provided. This is a potluck event so please bring something to share with the group! Some suggestions: Salads, Chips/Munchies, Beverages, Fruit, Veggies, etc.

For More Information Call Dale (780) 933-8014 or email dtiedemann at stars.ca

Bring Your Digital Camera for the
Photo Scavenger Hunt

June 10, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-06-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

Attending: Ashley MacDonald, Gabrielle Boulet, Michelle Dupont, Dale Tiedemann, Tim Lau, Kendra Wilson, Darrell Winwood, Jacqueline Hutton

Guests: Shea Mildenberger, Tyler Bulford, Jarrett Leinweber, Briege (didn’t get her last name)

Minutes: Motion to accept past minutes - Gabrielle, second - Dale

Agenda: Motion to accept - Jacqueline, second - Ashley

Old Business

June social night: June 7 event did not happen as planned, rescheduled to June 21. Dale to get Rotaract banner to Kendra, event details to be sent out by Ashley.

Duck Days: No volunteers needed for event - yaaaaa - thank you Helen Rice

Wave fundraiser: Event still TBA, maybe next meeting

Club Runner: Darrell to arrange training session with Kevin Hilgers for incomming executive.

Duck Race: Last details have been sent to AGLC, volunteer groups to be contacted ASAP to line up selling schedule

Homeless for a Night: Kendra, Cheryl, Jose, Michelle, Gabrielle all volunteer at event. Event a success for Sunrise House, raised $34,000.

Stompede fundraiser: No total yet of money raised from Stompede merchandise sales. Ashley to try and update club at next meeting.

New Business

Bylaw ammedments: June 24 meeting vote to be held on ammeding bylaws to add in disalluision clause – ALL MEMBERS POSSIBLE SHOULD ATTEND

Change over party: Rotary year to change over effective July 1. Dale to help plan event possible for Canada Day.

June 21, 2008 Social Event

2008-06-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

What: Dinner & Dancing

Where: Egan's (Big Table) & Rock City (VIP Section)

When: Dinner at 8 PM - Dancing at 10 PM

Who: Everyone, except minors (minors will have to wait in the car)

Why: Dare I point out the obvious?

May 27, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-06-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

Rotaract General May 27, 2008

Guest: Tyler Bulford from Peace Wapiti Academy
Attending: Michelle Dupont, Cheryl Luken, Gabrielle Boulet, Kendra, Jose, Darrell

Minutes: No minutes as Darrell screws up and no finish minutes from last meeting
Agenda: New items added – approval motioned by Gabrielle, seconded by Jose

OLD BUSINESS:

Parcel of Culture:
Praise the Lord, it's done. Package is in the mail and away!

Chair Affair
Club volunteers help with the set up of the event, which was a fund raiser for the Community Village. The event raised about $20,000 – good job to all.

Duck Race
Gaming has the package, ticket proof is being done, Co-Op secured for the whole summer, all weekend. Progress on-going.

District Conference
Cheryl (a real bed hog) and Tim (a lead foot driver) attend the event in Camrose to represent club. Rotaract help run the House of Friendship along with volunteers from the Edmonton Centre club (which is a real super-keen club according to Cheryl).Cheryl agrees to the district Rotaract chair for one more year (which mean we get to keep her in the club for one more year – yaaaaaaa!).

Cheryl also agreed (with help from Edmonton Club) to plan and help host in Edmonton a Zone 22 (a really big area across the Prairies and U.S) Rotaract conference. Our club will be in charge of sponsorship, need club member to take on that role (sit on those hands Michelle – resist the temptation).

Wave fundraiser
Details on event remain MIA. Just waiting for information.

Homeless for a Night
Plenty of club volunteers for the event. Participants still needed, contact Sunrise House if interested.

Stompede fundraiser
Club to operate the merchandise tent, get a donation. Lots of volunteers still needed.

NEW BUSINESS:

July Social event
July 7 – dinner and dance at Rock City. Kendra to organize, Gabrielle to contact friend about limo service.

Duck Days
Gabrielle to contact Helen Rice about the event.

Interact Club
Gabrielle and Cedrick represent Rotaract at start-up meeting. Results uncertain but club might charter before the end of the school year at Peace Wapiti Academy. Rotaract supports the idea but Swan City Club to be parent club.

May 13, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-05-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

Rotaract General
May 13, 2008

Attending: Darrell Winwood, Gabrielle Boulet, Michelle Dupont, Tim Lau, Cedrick LeBlanc, Cheryl Luken, Kendra Wilson, Jose Magat
Guests: No guests

Agenda approval: Agenda altered - removal of guest speakers - ammended agenda approval motion by Tim, seconded by Kendra - passed
Minutes of past meeting: Approval motioned by Cheryl, seconded by Gab - passed

Old/Ongoing business

Parcel of Culture: Secretary is running out of metaphors to describe how this item keeps coming back but for all who have seen The Shining...... imagine an axe smashing through the door.... “Here’s.... the Parcel of Culture....”

But ultimately President Michelle says blame her for it still being on the agenda. It will soon be mailed out with the one item still missing.

Job Find
Club set up a booth at April Northern Alberta Job Find fair at the Crystal Gardens. Used as a promotional event, recognition good (they don’t know if they like us but they’re starting to remember us). No one invited at the event turned up at the May social event (party poopers), but event still seen as worthwhile and valuable. At next event plan to hit up people working at the other booths.

Green-athon
Few club members attend event to participate but a successful event overall.

Crime Prevention Surveys
Michelle, Cory and Sarah participate in event. Good time had by all with the teenagers who may or may not be on drugs, booze and inappropriate under age sex (they weren't sharing). At least that's what the surveys were designed to find out. Community Action on Crime Prevention likes Rotaract.

VSB Luncheon
Michelle and Darrell attend. Nice lunch, lots of people, speeches, networking, etc.
Club could potentially sponsor event next year if we have actual money. Could be nice publicity for the club.

Duck Race
Committee proposes to change date of race to Aug. 24 (Sunday). Accepted by club. Darrell to contact partners. Car is ready for decals. Michelle has secured space in the Prairie Mall for all of June and July.

District Conference
Cheryl and Tim plan to attend . Expenses to be submitted to club and we’ll figure out to pay (maybe from the top secret presidential Hawaii fund hmmmm, or have I said too much...).
Michelle motion for new Rotaract Travel policy:
“Rotaract travel policy about fuel is – gas cost or milage will be paid whatever is lower. Milage rate to be set at ¢.35”

- Passed by club

Wave Media Survey
Fund raiser on hold, waiting for more information from Wave.

Homeless for a Night
Night of June 6. Volunteers are needed - volunteer sheet passed around. Plenty of club interest, volunteers registered and fine.

Stompede Fund Raiser
Club volunteers will work at merchandise tent during Stompede in return for a donation. Sign up sheet passed but NOT filled out fully, more needed.

New Business
(yes, after all that we still have new business, all that was just old)

Chair Affair
Club to volunteer at fund raiser for the Community Village doing set up work. Sheet passed around. Event is May 24, afternoon and evening.

Poker Night
(Yes, it’s actually an agenda item that doesn’t have the club volunteering at something new yaaaaaa)
Put on your best poker face and join your fellow Rotarians for a Quad Club event. Sign up sheet passed around, any questions contact Friday club.

Longest Day of Golf
Club executive proposes to not do event again (at least this year). Club too busy with Duck Race and other events plus date conflicts with Chamber Golf Tournament. Event cancelled for 2008.

Lobster Fest (I could make a joke here, but the minutes are getting kind of long and I’m a little brain dead now)
Come stuff your face with surf & turf for $50 Saturday night, May 31, at the D-Company Armouries all in support of Rotary and large scale fund raising events. Rotaract to work the door as volunteers. Contact Cheryl for more information.

April 22, 2008 Meeting Minutes

2008-05-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

Rotaract General - April 22, 2008

Attending: Jacqueline Hutton, Gabrielle Boulet, Michelle Dupont, Tim Lau, Cedrick LeBlanc, Cheryl Luken, Darrell Winwood, Miranda LeClercq, Ashley McDonald, Kendra Wilson, Dale Tiedemann, Beck Watson

Guests: Julianne Fraser, Dana Moody, Jose Magal, Tyler Bulford, Jenny Oatway, Jari Lynn Anderson, Sarah Jensen

Agenda: Motion for approval by Cheryl Luken, seconded by Dale Tiedemann - passed
Minutes: Motion for approval of past minutes by Cedrick LeBlanc, seconded by Gabrielle Boulet

Guest Speakers: SSOS (Students Saving Our Society) group from Peace Wapiti Acadamy. Giving presentation club about group’s work to raise awareness of genocides in Darfur region of Africa. High school-based group which has organized a conference and several other awareness initiatives in the city. Very solid presentation by group. SSOS hoping to raise a further $5,000 towards relief efforts in region which they are hoping Rotary in Grande Prairie will match for a goal of $10,000 or more. Contributions to be discussed at a future date.

Parcel of Culture:
At this point we might have been able to walk to Africa and hand deliver it the parcel, but never-the-less it’s on it’s way and let this be the last time it shows up on the minutes for a very long time.

Social Event: Planned for May 6 at Ceramic Hideaway on 100 St. and 100 Ave. at 7 p.m.

Duck Race: Final touches underway, committee to offer more details at next meeting.

District Conference: $150 Rotaract rate set for district conference in Camrose, Cheryl to be attending and representing the club. Not too late to join her.... talk to Cheryl for more information.

Job Find: Booth preparations done, sign-up sheet passed around for anyone able to volunteer a shift at the booth. Social event to be promoted there for prospective members.
Blood Donation Drive: Darrell to wrap up results and send off

GSE Bangladesh: Exchange group coming to Grande Prairie, was scheduled for May but event has been postponed to later because of Visa issues with people visiting. Stay tuned for more details, same Bat-Time same Bat-channel...

Wave Survey: Club offered chance to do little survey for Wave Media about vehicle traffic Evergreen Park. Easy gig for some general revenue. Club to accept offer, more details to be forthcoming.

Homeless for the Night: Event on June 6, major fund raiser for Sunrise House. Club typically volunteers at the event, anyone interested mark it on your calendar now. It’s an overnight outdoor event for the youth shelter. Kendra offer to organize club’s participation, contact her if interested.

Green-a-Thon: Event on May 3, sign-up sheet passed around if anyone interested.

Crime Prevention Surveys: Darrell present volunteer request from city’s Crime Prevention department. Request is for Rotaract to help administer surveys to junior and senior high school students asking about drugs, crime and whatever other fun stuff they get into on a Friday night. Names collected and information passed to Crime Prevention for follow up.

Stompede: Ashley McDonald make club aware of chance to volunteer at the Stompede to earn some general revenue cash. More information to come at next meeting.

Lobster Fest: Start saving your appetite now, surf-and-turf on May 31 at the D-Company Armouries as a fund raiser for Rotary district events. Tickets $50-$60, Rotaract to also volunteer at event. More information to come.

Rotaract Social Night - Tuesday, May 6

2008-04-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

It's that time again ... Rotaract Social Night !!!

What: Ceramic Class

Where: Ceramic Hideaway 10006B - 100 Avenue (Across from Fourword/Digital Blues)

When: Tuesday, May 6th from 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM.

Cost: Ranges from $4.50 - $100. You have a choice of Acrylic Paint ($6) or Glaze ($10).

Please come join our social activity. Bring a friend. This is great opportunity to get to know the other members of the club and to bring a potential member to a more relaxed atmosphere to learn more about Rotaract.

Please RSVP (so we can prepare the staff for the right amount of people attending).

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us info @ grandeprairierotaract.org

April 8, 2008 Minutes

2008-04-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Rotaract General April 8, 2008

Attending: Cory Tretiak, Jacqueline Hutton, Kathleen Crouse, Michelle Dupont, Cheryl Luken, Darrell Winwood, Miranda LeClercq, Kendra Wilson, Dale Tiedemann, Becky Watson, Sarah Davison
Guests: Vaughn Marillier, Jarrett Leinweber, Bill Given (yes he’s a guest now from the Swan City Club)

Approval of previous meeting minutes: Motion by Jacqueline, seconded by Kendra - motion passed
Approval of agenda: Motion by Cory, seconded by Sarah - motion passed

Action Items:
Parcel of Culture
(this thing is starting to remind me of a zombie - it just never dies)
“Really, it’s almost done” - President Michelle

Kathleen to write letter to accompany package from our club
Box is assembled, to be sent off shortly

Duck Race
Ticket printing underway, delay because of unforeseen demands by Alberta Gaming (they’re getting annoying)

Community Village
The Community Village is launching their capital fund raising drive. Our club remains committed to a $20,000 donation spread over the next few years. Information on the Community Village is passed around to all club members who might not be familiar with the organization.

New Business

Rotary District Conference
Runs May 22-25 in Camrose. Cheryl and Michelle are planning to attend and could use some help at the House of Friendship Rotaract event. If you’re planning to attend contact one of them, there is a discount Rotaract rate.

Job Find
Event runs April 23 at the Crystal Centre, Rotaract once again has a booth for promotional purposes. A new Rotaract banner will be coming as a donation to the club from Sportswear Plus. Thank you notes are requested to be sent to store owner Curt (Kurt? sorry I don’t know) and Carla. Contact Dale if you can work a shift at the booth and help promote the club.

Blood Donor Drive
Canadian Blood Services Clinic is running a donation drive in Grande Prairie April 21-25. International Rotaract drive to promote blood donations discussed, Darrell to promote event and track any donations from club members for purpose of international tally. If you donate blood at the clinic please e-mail Darrell at dwinwood1@mac.com (hey... that’s me...)

Bangladesh Study Group
A team of Rotarians from Bangladesh is coming to Grande Prairie as part of a return exchange after Harry Sandu (sorry if I spelled his name wrong) from the Grande Prairie (Friday) Rotary Club lead a team of Alberta Rotarians there earlier this year. The Friday club is organizing the event, the Bangladesh team plans to visit our club May 13, be aware that meeting could be a “dry” meeting as liquor is a restricted substance in Bangladesh.

Grande Cache Charter
The official chartering of a Rotary club in Grande Cache is May 3. Anyone interested in attending contact Michelle. That is also the same day at the Greenathon and the birthday party of a certain President-elect.

Voting/bylaw changes
According to Alberta Gaming (and Miranda) we need a disillusion clause in our bylaws, basically saying where our money goes if the club folds. Executive to address. Also according to our bylaws club elections next year must happen before March 1.

Elections

Elections for next Rotary year starting July 1. Acclimation for Sarah as secretary, Miranda as treasurer. Voting held for Vice President: running were Dale, Cory, Cedrick and Darrell. Darrell (hey that’s me again) voted in as Vice President effective July 1. Gabrielle to become President at the time and Michelle gets to take a deep breath, have a drink and cheer.

2008-2009 ROTARACT EXECUTIVE

2008-04-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

Our club's executive for 2008-2009 year is now official.

President: Gabrielle Boulet
President-Elect: Darrell Winwood
Treasurer: Miranda LeClercq
Secretary: Sarah Davison

Photos of the new executive will posted when the official changeover takes place on July 1st.

Congratulations to everyone for their continued involvement with Rotaract.

March 25, 2008 Minutes

2008-04-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Rotaract General Meeting March 25, 2008

Guests: Lion Club members Donna and Lynne Coulter, Carla Rakestraw - guest of Dale, Sunrise Rotary member Glenn Tissington, Jason Luken - guest of Cheryl, Alison Pritcher

Attending: Cory Tretiak, Jacqueline Hutton, Gabrielle Boulet, Kathleen Crouse, Michelle Dupont, Cedrick LeBlanc, Cheryl Luken, Darrell Winwood, Kendra Wilson, Dale Tiedmann, Becky Watson, Sarah Davison, Bill Given

Approval of past Minutes: Sarah motion, Dale second - passed

Presentation to Rotaract by Lions Club members:
Donna and Lynne tell club about history and activities of Grande Prairie Lions Club, one of three Lions clubs in the city.

Lions International operates in 200 plus countries with 1.3 million members world-wide. Lions donate more than $450 million a year to various causes. Lions International major cause is fighting blindness, a legacy from Helen Keller who asked for the Lions club to help her cause.

Grande Prairie club started in 1957, meeting at the York Hotel, one charter member remains alive today. Lions Park in Grande Prairie was created 35 years ago and the
Lions Learning Centre opened in 2003. Since 1988 the Grande Prairie Lions Clubs have had a partnership with a club in Sri Lanka and have sent more than 60,000 eye glasses to that country.

For more information visit www.grandeprairielions.com.

Action Items:

Parcel of Culture - Done and done. Items collected and dear God it’s going into the mail.

Duck Race - Committee has met with GALAP and Ducks Unlimited to iron out details. Duck sorting day to be done in June.

District Conference - $150 Rotaract cost for any members attending. Cheryl will be going and setting up House of Friendship. Contact Cheryl or Michelle for further details.

New Items:
Job Find April 23 - Club offered table space again from Wave Media/Kevin Hilgers. Sign up sheet passed around, contact Michelle for more information.

Elections - New Rotary year starts July 1. Nominations submitted and next general meeting will be elections.

Social Events: List of organizers drawn up for our next several shin-digs, par-tays if you will

April - Allison and Sarah
May - Gabrielle
June - Kendra
July - Dale (change over party)
August - Cheryl

Special Note: Bill informs club this is his last meeting as a Rotaractor. Bill has signed up to transfer to the Swan City Wednesday club effective immediately. Bill last charter member to leave the club and will be missed by all.

District Rotaract Newsletter

2008-03-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Anyone wishing to submit an article for the newsletter is welcome and encouraged to do so. The articles must be print ready with no editing needed. Pictures may also be submitted, but must be of a high quality with a note attached to describe who / what's happening in the photo.

The submission deadline for the summer issue will be June 1, 2008.

For the Spring 2008 Newsletter, please click here.

Cheryl LukenCo-Chair,
Rotaract District Committee
coach@persona.ca

40th Anniversary Mixer

2008-03-05T21:57:00.001-08:00

Rotaract Elections‏

2008-03-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hello Rotaractors!

Preparations are underway for a new Rotaract year beginning July 1st.

This is a perfect opportunity for new members to take on a leadership role with the club, or for former members to rededicate themselves to Rotaract by renewing their membership!

As many of you know, our incoming Club President has already been determined (Gabrielle Boulet was named our President-elect at this time last year).

However, there are still executive positions to be filled:

Secretary – responsible for taking meeting minutes, tracking attendance, checking the mailbox, club correspondence, etc.

Treasurer – responsible for ongoing tracking of the club’s general finances & coordinating with the Duck Race coordinator for any lottery issues.

President-Elect – responsible for chairing meetings when the President is unable, and assisting the President throughout the year in preparation to take over the Presidency on July 1, 2009.

We will be reviewing the details of these positions, and the election process at the next GENERAL club meeting, TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2008.

Nominations will be accepted at the meeting: Tuesday, March 25th

Election of the club’s Executive will be made at the meeting: Tuesday, April 8th.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email.

Michelle Dupont
President – GP Rotaract Club

ROAD TRIP

2008-02-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, the Chamber of Commerce Provincial Election Forum is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 26.

Though this would typically be a regular meeting for our club - this Tuesday Rotaract takes a field trip!

Where: Holiday Inn - 9816 - 107 Street, Grande Prairie

When: 6:30 PM

What: All Candidates Forum from both Wapiti/Smoky Constituencies.

Post-forum discussion and drinks: 8:30 PM to 9:00 at Barcelona's

On a side note if you require additional information on the upcoming March 3, 2008 Alberta Election, click here

February 12, 2008 Minutes

2008-02-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

Attending: Jacqueline, Cheryl, Kendra, Jeff, Miranda, Cory, Ashley, Cedrick, Michelle, Gab, Kathleen, Bill, Darrell
New members attending: Becky Watson, Sandra Easton, Sarah Davison
Guests: Travis (last name unknown), Alan Kuechle - past president Swan City club

Minutes: Approval motioned by Gabrielle, seconded by Jacqueline
Agenda: Approval motioned by Cheryl, seconded by Kendra

Review of past items

Parcel of Culture
Okay... the previous minutes said this meeting, Feb. 12 was the drop dead deadline for bringing items ... yaaa.... ignore that.
The next general meeting, really, truly, honestly ....(well, maybe) that’s the drop dead deadline for bringing items.
The parcel will be shipped to a Rotaract Club in Nigeria as part of a cultural exchange where they will learn that in Grande Prairie we’re great at a lot of things... returning our mail... well we’re slow learners.....

District Rotaract Chair
Congratulations to Cheryl who was voted by the district to the executive position - everyone act like Kermit the Frog, throw your hands in the air, throw your head back and yell yaaaaaaaa while running off stage (if we had a stage)!!!! If you don’t remember The Muppet Show, I recommend professional counselling.

Duck Race
The application has been sent in to Alberta Gaming. Now awaiting approval.
In April, all club members will be needed on a day for duck sorting. Date TBD.

Rotary District Bonspiel
Three provinces will be represented, several hundred Rotarians expected.
Rotaract will run registration desk and field one team on the ice. Once again, if you can volunteer at the registration desk, show up Thursday night. Call or e-mail Michelle with any questions. Drivers are also wanted, contact Cedrick.

New Business

Club Open House
Rotaract 40th anniversary to happen in March. Club decides that general meeting on March 11 will be open house to showcase the club and our activities. Invite any and all friends and people interested in the club. Event will be promoted around town - same bat-time, same bat-channel.

Volunteer Services Bureau presentation
Kathleen was named Volunteer of the Week for her work with The Community Village and Rotaract. Jacqueline makes presentation of award to Kathleen.
Once again, do the Kermit for Kathleen - yaaaaaa......
For anyone interested in the program, anyone can nominate a volunteer. Contact Jacq for more information.

January 22, 2008 Minutes

2008-02-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Attending: Gabrielle (acting at meeting chairwoman), Jacqueline, Ashley, Bill, Cedrick, Miranda, Dale, Darrell
Guests: Sara Davidson, Daniel Rook, Vaughn Marillier, Colleen Tarrant (Sunrise Club President), Sandra Easton, Allison Pitcher, Becky (last name unknown), Jarrett (last name unknown), Claire (last name unknown)

1. Adoption of Agenda: Motion to adopt by Bill, second by Jacqueline - Passed
2. Adoption of past minutes: Motion to adopt by Ashley, second Miranda - passed

3. Review past items

Duck Race
Final steps being taken on application. Committee anticipates submitting application to the government before next general meeting.

In short - our ducks are in a row (yes I went there)...

District Bonspiel (bonspeil? I never know)
Clear the track, here comes.... the Rotaract curling team
Bill, Darrell (Cheryl maybe) agree to make fools of themselves (I mean display their skills) as members of the our club’s curling team under the actual talented leadership of Ashley.
Colleen Tarrant as chair of the event give a description of the event to our guests. There are 48 teams expected, couple hundred Rotarians from across northern Alberta, B.C. and the Territories.
Still seeking volunteers who can offer any time to help at the registration table and volunteer drivers. If you can drive (and we all know that’s a questionable skill in this city) talk to Cedrick as he is coordinating driving.

Membership Director
As previously discussed Jacqueline stepping down as Membership Director to focus on family time. Ashley has formally agreed to take over the spot.

Parcel of Culture
Enough is enough, next general meeting is the DEADLINE for bringing any items for the parcel to be sent to club in Nigeria. Keep it small but bring something that represents the city and Rotaract.

New Items

February Social Event
Darrell to organize. An e-mail will be sent out with details on event.

Meeting end with round table and greeting guests. Next general meeting - Feb. 12, 2008.

Box of Culture Pictures

2008-01-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

At the meeting on October 23rd the club took time to open the Box of Culture. The pictures are just making it up now.

The Box of Culture is an international project of the FUTA Rotarct Club in Rotary District 9130, Nigeria. They packed a box full of Rotaract info, pictures and cultural products from their home and sent it to our club.

The box was actually a small parcel, but we were in for a surprise when we saw how much was squeezed in there!

President Michelle did the honours opening the package...

.. and right away was intrigued with what was inside.

We were excited to see everything from Rotaract bumper stickers....

.... to certificates....

... to district newspapers!

All in all that little package had a lot of culture stuffed in there! It was impressive to see how organized Rotaract is in District 9130. Considering that we only have 4 clubs in our district it was eye opening to see so many events and materials produced by Rotaractors.

Also in the parcel were CDs with pictures of events from the FUTA club - which we posted to our Grande Prairie Rotaract group on Facebook.

Next up is our return package for FUTA! Don't forget next meeting is the last opportunity to contribute something.

January 8, 2008 Minutes

2008-01-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

Attending: Darrell, Bill, Cedrick, Miranda, Cheryl, Kendra, Jacqueline, Kathleen
Guests: Page (friend and guest of Jacqueline), Glen Tissington - member Sunrise Rotary Club

Agenda: Added to agenda, President-elect training costs
Approval motioned by Cheryl, seconded by Cedrick - passed
Minutes of last meeting: Approval motioned by Bill, seconded by Jacqueline - passed

Review of old business:

Duck Race:
Darrell give update on Duck Race, plans remain on track.

Rotary Bonspiel:
Volunteers are still needed to help with event which runs Feb. 21-24. Members can volunteers as drivers. Kendra will volunteer at registration desk. Contact Cedrick or Michelle if interested. Rotaract will also register a team to curl, so if anyone actually can curl please speak up soon.

Parcel of Culture:
Parcel will be mailed to African group in February so bring any items to next meeting.

New Business

Guest Speakers:
Goal is to bring in more guest speakers to club so we can all learn more about the community. Early potential speakers include president of a local Lion’s Club who has spoken to Bill, and Murray Hampshire with Ducks Unlimited. Plan is to have a guest speaker once a month, the second meeting of the month.
Kendra volunteers to coordinate the speakers. Any suggestions e-mail her the information at: yourmom365247@hotmail.com.
Speakers would speak for 10 minutes.

Rotaract District Co-chair
Rotary district interested in more communication with Rotaract Clubs. Seeks club nominations for district Rotaract co-chair. Details of proposal are confusing, not sure of what responsibilities would be included but Cheryl agree to be club’s nomination. Suggest club contacts some one from the district to get more details of event.

President-elect training costs
Gabrielle attends training session as the president-elect for next Rotary season. Club owes $57 in costs to Grande Prairie Rotary Club. Cheryl motion for payment to that club, Kathleen second motion. Club to cut cheque for costs.

Election nominations
Elections for next Rotary year (starting Canada Day) will be held in March. Start thinking about whether you want to run for the executive.

Membership director
Jacqueline stepping down as membership director as she is expecting and due in the coming months. Ashley has previously volunteered to take over the position and club moves acceptance in her absence.

Round Table
Darrell - Informs club that former member Ellen has given birth to her son Mikah. Congrats all around.
Cheryl - Her skating club will be doing another bottle drive soon, save up your bottles for her please.
Glen - Shares with club that he will be going back to Mazatlan with the Rotary trip in March representing the Sunrise Club. Asks why Rotaract not included this year, no one has a really good answer.
Bill - Will be attending the 2008 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife in March.
Jacqueline - Volunteer Services Bureau has received donation of furniture from Conaco-Phillips. Jacqueline needs two volunteer

Quad Club Christmas Party

2007-12-10T11:29:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-03T08:43:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-23T07:30:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-31T13:57:00.001-07:00

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

2007-08-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-29T12:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

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