At our Friday morning meeting, we were very happy to hear from the Honourable Joanne Bernard, CEO of Easter Seals Nova Scotia. Joanne talked about Camp Tidnish, a camp built by Rotary, owned by the Rotary Club of Amherst, and operated by Easter Seals. Camp Tidnish is the only barrier-free and fully accessible summer camp for Nova Scotian children, youth, and adults with physical and/or intellectual disabilities. They have been around for over 80 years. Unfortunately, the camp needs a large capital investment to repair and update the various structures. The camp is so important to so many people. You can watch Joanne's talk here around the 23-minute mark.

 

Members are reminded that recorded presentations may only be available for a few months. Therefore, members must request that recorded presentations be preserved for longer.

This is a reminder that our Christmas / Holiday Rotary Party is on December 10th, at Stephen Beaufoy's building in Halifax. Please check your emails for details from the social committee. Please remember, everyone is welcome, including those considering joining our club! There will be good food and a great social to see follow members.

Jillian Gibson is hosting a cookie swap! Folks are invited to visit Jillian with three dozen cookies. A dozen are eaten, a dozen go home with another person, and a dozen go into our Christmas hampers delivered to needy families in our community. They must be homemade. The cookie swap will happen Sunday, December 11th, in the afternoon. Please reach out to Jillian for directions and more details.

This past weekend we welcomed our District Governor, Harvey Bass, into HRM to meet with local Rotarians. At this event, our Club was recognized for raising our goal for Polio Plus. 

This year, instead of doing a gift exchange among members, we are encouraging members to consider giving a gift to a community member in need. Items as simple as towels or kitchen supplies can mean so much. If you are interested, please wrap your gift and include a note. You don't have to provide your details in the note. Items will be accepted at our holiday social on December 10th and when the Christmas hampers are being assembled and delivered next week. Please reach out to Dave Kowlessar for details.

A lot of what we do and what drives us as Rotarians is our work in the community. To strengthen this work, we must continue engaging with each other and the community. Please don't hesitate to reach out to Dave Kowlessar, our Local Committee Lead, if you have any suggestions, feedback, or questions. 

In past years the former Rotary Club of Halifax hosted the Vacation Draw and later the Cash Draw. The club decided not to complete the draw this year. Still, Bob Power has reached out to many former donors, and many have generously agreed to donate to the Charitable Trust (the charitable arm of our club). So far, over $1,400 have been donated! Thank you, Bob, and thank your generous donors!

 

If you know folks looking for a charitable giving opportunity, please reach out to any member of the Charitable Trust.

Did you know that out of our current club dues, only about $30 is allocated for club operations? See more about club dues here. We supplement our operational budget with happy bucks and only 3% of our external fundraising. We have worked very hard to keep our operating costs low, but as everyone knows, many costs are beyond our control. To avoid increasing members' dues, we would like to ask for suggestions for simple fundraisers. Folks may recall the "Chase The Ace" fundraiser we did before Covid. The better we manage our costs and internal fundraising, the more we can absorb increasing costs. Please send suggestions to info@rotaryhalifaxharbour.ca.

The PR team would like to remind folks of the importance of pictures when it comes to telling our story. When you are doing club activities, please consider taking a picture of your fellow Rotarians. Once you have some great pictures, please forward them to updates@rotaryhalifaxharbour.ca. The Rotary Brand Center has some great tips for capturing Rotarians at work here.

 

Please remember to ask permission from folks (guardians if a person is under 18) if you take their picture, especially if they are not a member of our Club. Let them know that we may use their image on our social media and promotional material.

Just a heads up that we will review our strategic plan as we enter our calendar new year. This important step is what helps our club create long-term goals to strive towards. This will be led by our very own Chris Hornberger. Please standby for more information. 

The Youth Committee is excited to share that we have two Youth Exchange students lined up (short-term and long-term). We will start integrating them into some activities and preparing them to head out of the country.

Members who wish to volunteer to help with the Salvation Army Christmas Kettle, please reach out to Dave Kowlessar. We are looking at December 19th at the Halifax Shopping Centre.

Tripta is on the committee to nominate the 2025-2026 district governor. If you have someone in mind who you think would be a great district governor, please reach out to Tripta. The deadline for nominations is January 27, 2023.

Our next Paul Harris Fellow night will be at the Westin Nova Scotian on April 20th. Please check your email for a for call nominations. We are looking for five people in our community who exemplify the values of Rotary. All nominations must be made by January 15th.

We have created a social WhatsApp chat room for members. What's a WhatsApp? WhatsApp is an app you can download on your phone and use to chat with friends and family. We have created a private chat room for members to chat socially with each other. Just click on the WhatsApp logo near the top of the newsletter or here.