Our first regular morning meeting for the month of April was held this morning. We had a fun-filled month of events in April that did not allow us to meet for our regular morning meeting until today. We had plenty of agenda items and two exciting speakers.
As always, each meeting starts with a tasty meal prepared by Second Home Restaurant. This morning we enjoyed eggs benedict and fruit. Rotarian, Roch Fortin, announced April's birthdays and anniversaries in less than two minutes. A new record.
In the Youth Exchange Corner, Inbound Rotary Exchange Student, David Wu, from Taiwan, talked about his experience in Seattle. He went to Seattle with Rotarian, Paul Barber, and his wife, Charlotte Burley, to watch the Mariners and his favourite baseball hero, Ichiro Suzuki, the legend from Japan. Miss Rotary, Jessica O'Gorman, invited Rotarians to attend and support her at the Blossom Pageant on May 4th and 5th. To us, Jessica, you are a winner already! President, Chantelle Meriam, presented Bob Van Balkom with Rotarian of the Month for March. Bob always volunteers when asked. As well, he has been involved with Rotary youth initiatives at the club and district levels. Congratulations, Bob. Well deserved!
President Elect, Mirjana Komljenovic, introduced Brad Russill, Councilor at Summerland Secondary School, to s peak about the Bursary program. Brad shared how the Bursary program works and some success stories. Mirjana presented Brad with a cheque from Rotary to Summerland Secondary for $6000. The funds will be allocated to four students for $1500 each in the name of Gordon Smith and George Sutton. Both were gentlemen that were very involved with Summerland Rotary and wanted to leave a legacy. Rotarian, Don Gemmell, introduced speaker Mary Trainer. Mary wrote a book about the history of Trout Creek in Summerland. Mary explained why she felt compelled to write the book. She shared a little information about the contents of some of the chapters. We were all excited to learn about the book and hear more about Summerland history. At the end of our meeting, Don presented Mary with a $500 cheque to help with publication. We are all excited to read the book.