It's official... our club has committed $50,000 to help bring the movies back to Dauphin

Yes, it's official - our club has committed $50,000 towards the Dauphin Community Cinema project! This contribution will give us naming rights to one of the four movie theatres in the complex. This photo was taken during last week's club meeting by Jessica Rawluk of the Dauphin Herald and was included in the August 18th newspaper issue.

Watch for more details on the fundraising initiatives the club has planned to help make this project (and others) a reality this year.

Some creative brainstorming at today's club meeting

At today's club meeting, Heather led us through some group discussion around the mural project. One of our club projects is to have a mural painted along the back side of the Extra Foods building in Dauphin.

When the concept was originally started, we were looking at developing a set of 4 'history of Dauphin' panels that were going to be placed on the North side of the Rotary Arena. Due to some changes in that plan, we are now working on this other location and reviewing the design for the mural.

Discussion centered around ideas for the actual murals. A couple of decisions are needed before we can proceed:
1. What is the key message of the mural? Is it to promote the work of Rotary in the community? Is it a general community mural focused on the history and/or accomplishments?
2. What key elements need to be included in the design?

If you have any idea, comments, or concerns, please contact Heather asap to have your input included in the process.

Are the movies coming back to Dauphin?

Last night our club held an evening meeting with a guest presentation on the new community movie theatre project.

The proposed state-of-the-art, multi-use theatre will be built adjacent to the Parkland Recreation Complex. The 4-plex facility with stadium seating will feature new release movies, the latest technology including 3D, private rentals, and special events/programming. The Dauphin Community Cinema Inc. was incorporated on April 29, 2009 as a non-profit organization. Membership is open to the public for a fee of $100. For more details on the project visit www.dauphincinema.ca

At the end of the evening, our club made an exciting decision...
Watch for more details in future posts and find out how you can help us bring the movies back to Dauphin.

An Imagination Library update from a fellow Rotarian

Rotarian Karen Davis from our club has been hard at work this past year bringing the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to our community. Karen sent our club an update on the project which I would like to share a bit here with you. Congratulations Karen!

"I have had the fortunate experience to be part of the Imagination Library initiative and also gratefully acknowledge the support that this wonderful program has received in Dauphin. I know that the success of the Imagination Library is in part due to the generous support of the Rotary Club in addition to the members and their organizations who value this program as well. We are nearing 70% of registration numbers (almost 300 children), most communities take almost three years to get to that stage, and we did it in six months. " Karen

Some background information:

The Rotary Club of Dauphin is the first club in District 5550 to start a branch of the Imagination Library to provide free books to children from birth to kindergarten.

This program is the result of collaboration between Rotary International and the Dollywood Foundation. Rotary works with entertainer Dolly Parton to launch the Imagination Library whihc is a program that provides free books to youngsters from birth to kindergarten to give them a head start on reading.Under the agreement, Rotary clubs in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom are encouraged to support the Dollywood Foundation's Imagination Library program, which provides an age-appropriate book each month to children from birth until age five, so that parents and other family members can begin reading to them as soon as possible.

Local Rotary club participation could include promoting the program within the community, helping to identify and register the children, and paying for the books and mailings. The average annual cost is $28 per child (CAD$60 in Canada; £24 in the U.K).Once a child is registered with Imagination Library, the Dollywood Foundation sends the child one book a month, beginning with "The Little Engine That Could." The books are chosen to match the typical childhood development stages. Appropriately, the final title is "Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come."

Since its launch in 1996, Imagination Library has provided more than 15 million books to preschoolers. About 115 individual Rotary clubs already participate in Imagination Library. For more information, visit www.imaginationlibrary.com.

Another Rotary year comes to an end

Happy Canada Day!

On Tuesday June 23, Mac and Heather hosted the Club's annual fish fry and year end wrap up party out at their house on Lake Dauphin. This evening get together replaced our noon lunch meeting for that week. We had a wonderful meal with fish fried by chefs Brad and Ross and plenty of time to relax and visit with fellow Rotarians.

As part of the official business of the evening, outgoing Club President Howard Wirch said a few words and presented some awards to members of the club. The awards are as follows:

Fitness Challenge was awarded to Eric's team.

Certificates for outstanding achievement in youth services:

• Karen Anderson - for coordinating youth activities offered through the club
• Karen Davis - for her work with bringing the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to our community
• Kathy Bellemare - for helping in coordinating youth activities offered through the club

Service Above Self Awards

• Bob Bettson - coordinating our lunch speakers, the Countryfest bar and for putting his name forward to serve on the board.
• Carissa Caruk - for coordinating the Friendship exchange and helping out with planning for the 2011 District Conference

Two Paul Harris Fellowships were awarded by the club this year and are presented to:

• Jean-Louis Guillas for too many reasons to be mentioned - a great role model for the rest of us Rotarians.
• The Dauphin Marketplace Mall for all their support of our semi-annual book fairs.

Rotarian of the Year - Heather Agnew

Perfect attendance:

• 1 year - Kathy Bellemare, Lorraine Hanson
• 2 years - Laura Coghill, Jean-Louis Guillas
• 3 years - Ed Froese, Heather Agnew, Harvey Hanson
• 4 years - Howard Wirch
• 6 years - Mel Wyshynski

And of course, the last official item of the evening was President Howard Wirch handing off the torch to incoming President Brad Sawyer (as seen in the first picture below).

Howard led his last official club meeting yesterday at noon. Thanks to Howard for providing great leadership and inspiration over the past year.

Looking forward to another year of Rotary. Our next club activities is volunteering to work the bar at the 20th Annual Dauphin's Countryfest this weekend.

Mmmm... Lobsterfest

On Friday June 12th our club hosted the 7th annual Lobsterfest up at the Selo Ukraina site. The hardworking crew fed over 475 people (350 at the usual event, 125 Kinsmen members who were attending their district Kinsment convention in Dauphin). Tickets for this fundraising event cost $50 per person and included either 2 lobsters or steak and lobster, side dishes and cake.

There's no better fundraising party to kick off the summer season - a great outdoor venue, fresh live lobster flown in for the feast, lots of time to visit with friends and enjoy some great entertainment. This year's official entertainment was a band called The Swifty's. And of course, the informal entertainment for the evening was the TV that was set up so those hockey fans in attendance could watch the Stanley Cup final game.

Mmm... I can't wait until next year's event. Congratulations to all the club members who helped pitch in to make the event run smoothly.

If anyone is still craving lobster, there are still some cooked, frozen ones for sale (to be picked up this Thursday) - contact a Rotarian for more details.

Here are some pictures from that evening. 'Til next time...

A visit from Down Under

Last week our club had the great priviledge of hosting a group of Rotarians from District 9830, Tasmania, Australia as part of a Rotary Friendship Exchange. The group of 10 Tassies, accompanied by Larry Buhler from Winnipeg, spent June 3-6 in Dauphin. The crew was billeted out with host Rotarians and toured around the city and region throughout the day. Our club dinner took place on Thursday night with a brief presentation from the visitors on their home country. What an amazing experience for everyone involved. It's amazing how one can become close friends with people in such a short time. Here are some highlights of the visit.

Highlights from the District 5550 Conference and the beginning of this blog

This past weekend, several of our club's members attended the annual district conference in Winnipeg. With over 300 Rotarians in attendance and two full days of informative sessions, there is so much to be shared.
For now, here are some of the highlights from the event.

• The conference was a bit of a mini GSE reunion for me. Two of my fellow team mates from the 2008 Group Study Exchange to Australia were also in Wpg for the event. It was great to touch base and reminisce with Charles (from Estevan) and Diane (from Brandon). Looking forward to our next reunion.
• There were representatives from over 14 countries at the conference. RI Representative Lina Aurelio from the Philippines, District Governer Rodolfo Bianchi Sur from Guatamala, Youth Exchange participants from around the world, and the GSE team from Finland. What a neat experience and energy it adds to the event.
• Keynote speaker John Corcoran was 48 years old when he learned how to read. An amazing story considering he was a highly educated man with a college degree and a teacher. He was featured on Oprah.
• Shelterbox update - Ron & Clare Noseworthy gave us an update on the program and a quick presentation on their experiences as response team members in China last year. During the presentation, Ron announced that he had just received a phone call that morning letting him know he is being deployed to Bangladesh next week to take boxes to the most recent disaster area.
• Youth Exchange student presentations
• Wheelchair program update - the issues arising with the great need for service and maintenance in receiving countries.
• Canadian Human Rights Museum
• The announcement that Rotary will be moving forward with the building of the permanent memorial of 9/11 at the International Peace Gardens.
• Polio Plus - we are getting so much closer to eradicating polio. Only 1% of the world left to do by 2012. What an amazing accomplishment!
• Etc.

The idea for this blog came to me as a result of many exciting aspects of the conference, especially a few key points that were mentioned during the 3rd Plenary session of the Conference - Membership & Extension. In many cases, we need to do a better job communicating what is so great about Rotary and what does our club do. Some of the questions mentioned were - What is our club's identity? What product are we selling? Why should I invite my friends to join Rotary? How can we use technology to reach new and existing members?

So begins my blog. My project for this year is to blog about our local Rotary club events and happenings. I hope to post a minimum of one entry per week sharing the inside scoop of the tremendous variety of Rotary happenings. There are so many great things that have inspired me to join Rotary and it's time to share with everyone else. 'Til next time...