Volume 93, Number 25 4,570th Meeting Friday, January 18, 2013

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 405, Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 5L3 — web: www.rotarynanaimo.org

Serving Our Community Since

May 1, 1920 - Charter Number 43

DIRECTORS Doug Cowling Brent Stetar Susie Walker

John Shillabeer Chris Pogson Susan Gerrand

President Rotary International Sakuji Tanaka, Rotary Club of Yashio, Japan

District Governor Assistant Governor Judy Byron, Sidney, BC Barry Sparkes, Lantzville, BC

Club Meeting Friday at 12:00 p.m.

at the Coast Bastion Inn

CLUB OFFICERS 2012-2013

President ....................................................... Joan Ryan

Vice President ............................................... Wahid Ali

Secretary ........................................................ Bob Janes

Treasurer .............................................. Gordon Hubley

President Elect ................................. Douglas Anderson

Immediate Past President ..................... Dave Hammond

Feeding the ducks at the Bowen Park Pond is a favorite winter pastime for some children

Meeting Notes for Friday 11

January 2013

By John Shillabeer

President Joan opened the meet-

ing and Wayne Anderson gave the

invocation.

Donna Hais called for visiting

Rotarians and guests of members.

Frank Shoemaker introduced

Eric Brand who recently

moved here

from Medicine

Hat and who is

a prospective

member.

Egon Holzwarth and Bob Hoff-

strom introduced their wives,

Barbra and Ann.

Health of the Club:

Kay Ganderton, wife of deceased

member Willis Ganderton, passed

away recently. Al Smith recently

had an operation for gall stones

while on holiday in Mexico and is

recovering OK.

President Joan’s Newfoundland

Question of the Week:

This was a multiple choice ques-

tion (multiple guess). How many

years was Joey Smallwood premier

of Newfoundland? Douglas

Anderson answer (guessed) cor-

rectly: twenty-three years.

Announcements:

Wahid Ali announced that there

will be a meeting about the centen-

nial project at 5 pm on Tuesday at

the Gosselin’s house: 129 Black

Powder Trail.

Bob Janes passed around dona-

tions thank you letters recently re-

ceived from the Military Museum,

Citizens on Patrol and Nanaimo

Ladysmith Schools Foundation.

Bob Fenty read an extract of a

long thank you letter received from

the Bayview Elementary School.

Douglas Anderson reminded us

that it will be Robbie Burns day in

a couple of weeks on Friday Janu-

ary 25 and to wear something tartan

that day. Haggis will be served!

Susan Gerrand will be absent for

the next couple of months and

would like someone to replace her

visiting Travellers Lodge.

Sergeant-At-Arms:

Wahid Ali asked for a few sym-

pathy dollars for those who had al-

ready suffered this ‘flu season, but

then used his time to speak about

the club centennial project. The

meeting at the Gosselin’s will be

organisational with the intention to

handle all aspects by committees,

including the investigation and se-

lection of project(s). We should

consider ourselves as project mem-

bers not committee members.

There are two other clubs in our

district that will also be celebrating

its centennial in 2020 and we

should think about cooperating

with them. Whatever we propose

Wahid urged us to be ambitious.

Happy and Sad Bucks:

Susie Walker told us all to wash

our hands frequently. The flu is se-

rious. Frequent hand washing is an

excellent defence.

Jeremy Hewitt was happy be-

cause his wife is healthy again and

feeling great after eight weeks of

illness in the household.

Bill King was happy to be rid of

the flu (and some gruesome green

lumps!).

Lila Tanner was happy that her

89 year old aunt Is moving in with

her; sad that the aunt had a road

accident en route at Sicamous, but

happy that she survived and is re-

covering well.

Draw:

Debbe Narver won the table

stakes. Bill King won the card

draw and drew the eight of hearts,

so the pot will grow for another

week.

The Great Circle Cruise

Program notes by Janeane Coutu

Jerry Jaggers introduced our

speaker and fellow Rotarian, Bob

Hoffstrom accompanied by wife

Barb providing technical support.

President Joan displays a picture of past

VTT member Kirstine Cerna, who is

expecting her first baby, with her hus-

band Michael.

The American Great Circle

Loop is a 6000 mile circumnaviga-

tion of Eastern North America by

water. There are various routes one

can take, many venture from New

York up the Hudson River across

Lake Ontario, through the canal

systems and Lake Michigan to

Chicago, then down the Missis-

sippi River, and up the Tennessee

Rivers, down the Tennessee-

Tombigbee (Tenn-Tom) Waterway

to Mobile, Alabama and the Gulf

Coast. In Florida you can round

the southern tip and head north or

use the Okeechobee Waterway

inland and then head up the coastal

waterways to New York. The full

round trip would take about a year

to complete.

The Hoffstrom’s enjoyed a work-

ing vacation for two weeks aboard

a 42 foot powerboat travelling 234

miles from SW Kentucky in

Grand Rivers to Columbus, Mis-

sissippi where they parked the boat

for the hurricane season. The trip

began in September when they flew

to Paducah, Kentucky but first

had a layover in Chicago. At the

airport the big screens were filled

with news about Hurricane Isaac

in the Gulf Coast, heading for the

same destination. They bravely

boarded their next flight and spent

a couple of days waiting to see

what was going to happen with the

weather. With all systems go, they

departed from Green Turtle Bay

Marina in Grand Rivers, Ken-

tucky. The Mississippi River was

extremely low this year so many

channels were low and commercial

traffic reduced as a result. In some

areas entry into the marinas was

difficult.

The Hoffstrom’s found the work-

ing vacation opportunity through an

article in a yachting magazine for

the website “findacrew.net”. Bob

likens it to a dating website for

skippers and crew to each enter an

online profile and get matched

based on “like” criteria such as type

of vessel, location for travel, time

of year, etc. Bob says there really

was not a lot of work involved on

their part, they assisted with ropes

and tie-offs while navigating the

locks and some daily chores but

otherwise enjoyed cruising the

Southern waterways with Skipper

Dave aboard the Shirley Ruth.

The boat was built in 1981 but was

outfitted with air conditioner and

the latest in technology and naviga-

tion equipment. It was very com-

fortable to live and work aboard.

Skipper Dave, a self-described

staunch Democrat and Jewish athe-

ist, hailed from New Jersey and it

was on his bucket list to do the

Great Circle Loop.

The majority of their leg of the

trip was on the Tenn-Tom water-

way which is a man-made artificial

waterway comprised of 10 locks

connecting 10 waterways built for

commercial use to shave 800 miles

off the standard route on the Mis-

sissippi. A controversial project

during planning and construction,

the waterway did not realize its po-

tential until the 1988 drought which

closed the Mississippi and traffic

shifted to the Tenn-Tom canal.

Most of the locks are 110 ft wide

and 600 ft long, typically theirs was

the only vessel in a lock at one

time.

We were entertained with some

great pictures of some redneck lo-

cals on the water, other vessels, lo-

cal sites and highlights of the trip.

After 14 days aboard and having

safely put the boat away in moor-

age to wait out the hurricane sea-

son, they bid Skipper Dave good-

bye and enjoyed a side trip to view

historic antebellum homes in Mis-

sissippi and then to New Orleans

for the sites, sounds and flavours of

Bourbon Street and the French

Quarter. John Shillabeer thanked

Bob for his fascinating and excel-

lent presentation.

ATTENDANCE

By Bob Janes

Attendance for Jan. 11th was 54%

We missed these Rotarians

Borisenko, Corriveau, Cowling, Cur-

rie, L Gosselin, Y Gosselin, Heister-

man, Henderson, Herold, Hobbs,

Hrabowych, Knutsson, McFarlane,

Pogson, Raedler, Ramos, Salem,

Samson, Al Smith, Kathy Smith,

Joyce Smith, Stetar, Valsangkar,

Welch, Wilson

Guests:

Ann Holzworth, Eric Brand, Barb

Hoffstrom

Make ups:

Bob Wilson New Board Planning

meeting, Douglas Anderson New

Board Planning meeting

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Members Birthdays

Doug McFadden Jan 24

Spouses Birthdays

Ryan Bruce (Joan) Jan 18

Anniversaries

Hewitt, Jeremy (Raewyn)

9 yrs Jan 23

Club Anniversaries

Wahid, Ali 9 yrs Jan 23

Hobbs, Basil 29 yrs Jan 25

Smith, Allan 5 yrs Jan 11

PROGRAM

THANK SPEAKER

INTRODUCE SPEAKER

*

WEEKLY CLUB PROGRAMS

GREETERS

CASHIERS

SGT-AT-ARMS

INVOCATION

HEAD TABLE

INTRODUCE GUESTS

“COGS” is the official bulletin of the Rotary Club of Nanaimo, published each

Friday by the Bulletin Committee

Winner of District 5020 Best Bulletin

Awards

Bulletin Committee Chair — Lila Tanner Meeting Reporter: John Shillabeer / Program Reporter: Janeane Coutu / Photos: Ian Williams

Editing, Production & Web Posting: Ian Williams

PRINTING COURTESY OF ISLAND OFFICE EQUIPMENT NANAIMO - BOB JANES

GREETERS

CASHIERS

SGT-AT-ARMS

INVOCATION

HEAD TABLE

INTRODUCE GUESTS

INTRODUCE SPEAKER

THANK SPEAKER

PROGRAM

January 18th, 2013

Douglas Anderson,

Sharon Welch, Joyce Smith

Lynne Pankratz

Bob Fenty

Guenter Raedler

Pres. Joan, Stephanie Meinke,

Douglas Anderson, Doug McFadden,

Sharon Welch, Joyce Smith

John Heisterman

Douglas Anderson

Bethlehem Retreat Centre

Judi Malcom

Bob Wilson

INTRODUCE SPEAKER

February 1st

Helen Blackmore,

Robert Wilson, Brent Stetar

Lila Tanner

John Heisterman

John Salem

Pres. Joan and All Members of

the Club Executive Directors,

Egon Holzwarth, Bruce Gordon

Carey McIver

President Joan

CLUB UPDATE AND

OPEN FORUM

____

GREETERS

CASHIERS

SGT-AT-ARMS

INVOCATION

HEAD TABLE

INTRODUCE GUESTS

THANK SPEAKER

PROGRAM

January 25th, 2013

John Shillabeer,

Neil Valsangkar, John Salem

Lynne Pankratz

Wayne Anderson

Charles Ramos

Pres. Joan, Jan Petersen, Egon

Holzwarth, Yvan Gosselin, John

Morris, Basil Hobbs, Doug Anderson

Keith McFarlane

Egon Holzwarth

THE SCOTS WHO BUILT B.C.

Jan Petersen / Salute to Robbie Burns

Mikel Knutsson

Excerpts from Thank You letters to our Club

Re: THE ROTARY CLUB OF NANAIMO BURSARIES

On behalf of the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Schools Foundation, we would

like to thank you for your continued support through the Rotary Club

of Nanaimo Bursaries.

Further education benefits both individuals and the community and

your generosity will make a difference to both.

If you would like more information on the Foundation please visit our

website at

www.nisf.ca

Re: STOCK THE LOCKERS CAMPAIGN

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Nanaimo-Ladysmith

Schools Foundation, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for

the very generous donation.

As you know, we have many students in our schools that live in vul-

nerable situations and contributions such as yours go a long way. The

Stock the Lockers Campaign is directly servicing each of our elemen-

tary and secondary schools in the district to meet the immediate need

of school supplies for these students. This includes items such as back-

packs, calculators, binders, notebooks, etc. Due to our generous com-

munity and our invaluable partnership with Staples, we are able to dis-

tribute supplies district wide.

Your interest and support of the students within S.D. #68 (Nanaimo-

Ladysmith) is very much appreciated.

RE: VANCOUVER ISLAND MILITARY MUSEUM

On behalf of the Vancouver Island Military Museum I thank Rotary

Club of Nanaimo for the generous donation of $5,000.00.

As you know, we are dedicating our Peacekeeping exhibit, which is

one of Rotary's interests, to the Nanaimo Rotary Clubs.

We will Contact you in early January 2013 to arrange for a photo op

with the Peacekeeping exhibit and the other three Rotary Presidents.

Again, thank you for the donation and please drop in to experience the

new museum, it is worth seeing. We really appreciate your

encouragement and support.

DATES TO REMEMBER February 1st—Club Open Forum and Discussion on Topics related to Club Activities and interests, including reports from the directors.