Notes from the August 28 online meeting

Finances – David Wood, treasurer, reported that we have received partial of full payment of dues from most members. Only 6 have not paid anything yet. The website cost, RI half year dues, and district dues have been paid. We received congratulatory start-up funds from West Ottawa, Laval Rive-Nord, Montreal-Lakeshore, Cornwall-Sunrise and Walt Mulyca from Massena. We are expecting another cheque from the Rotary Club of Cornwall.
 
Report on Ottawa meeting of August 28 – David met with the Ottawa area council of presidents about the Youth Now farm project. You can see more details about this on the “Our Causes” page of the club website www.d7040passport.org  
 
Causes for our club - We agreed that we would support food banks, Habitat for Humanity, Youth Now Farm Project and Adopt-a-Street. You can find more information on our website page http://d7040passport.org/page/our-causes 
 
Video – No ideas for a video theme came from members. We decided that we would do a video collage of club pictures taken so far. David reminded everyone that we ought to show up at as many events as possible, whether volunteering or just participating, to have the district learn about our club. One event coming up is the Ottawa-Stittsville Picnic in the Park #Stittsville https://t.co/gYetrlOiRD. Ariane will set up a DropBox file for Ludmylla to access and develop the video.
 
Regional meetings for D7040 Passport members – Ariane will set up regional meetings in Kingston and Ottawa to distribute name tags and pins to members who were not able to be at charter night. It will also be an opportunity to discuss questions and concerns for each area. Kathy Trim has volunteered her house for an Ottawa meeting. A Doodle will be set up for dates and times.
 
ClubRunner – Most felt that it was just a matter of using the site to become more familiar with it. Anyone who has questions or problems, contact Ariane. There is an article to the right addressing some of the concerns that were expressed about websites and Facebook.
 
DisCon 2017 silent auction item – We discussed what to donate. Kathy Trim felt that since we are a virtual club, we ought to have something technological. After brainstorming for a bit, we decided on Skyroam, a global WiFi hotspot https://www.skyroam.com/ . Contact Ariane if you want a referral discount.
 
As always, remember to mark in your makeups when you receive this bulletin.

New Member Proposal

We have received an application for membership from Yves Soumillon of Cornwall. Yves has taken an early retirement from the Canadian Border Agency and is motivated to serve his community and be part of Rotary Fellowship. His membership has been presented to the Board. According to our club bylaws, if no written/electronic objection is received by the Board from any active member of the Club within seven (7) days, the Membership Director (which in our case is the president) shall arrange for the orientation of the newly elected member.
 

A special note from RI Vice President Dean Rohrs about Hurricane Harvey

A Gulf Coast Disaster Relief Donor Advised Fund (DAF) has been established by Greg Podd and President-Elect Barry Rassin through The Rotary Foundation to collect relief contributions. Don and Greg are working with leaders from the affected districts to create a process for disbursing DAF funds to their respective district foundations or local 501c3 organizations to support local relief efforts.

If you would like to help please go to the following link: https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-districts-collect-emergency-funds-hurricane-harvey-victims
If you would like to make a contribution by credit card please go to the following link: https://www.your-fundaccount.com/rotary/HowToContribute.asp
 
The Name of the DAF (Donor Advised Fund) is The Gulf Coast Disaster Relief Donor Advised Fund. The Account Number of the DAF (Donor Advised Fund) is 608.
Please direct inquiring Rotarians to the web story on Rotary.org for the most up-to-date information or to contact RI by writing to relief@rotary.org .
 

Where to get your online information

1. Club website www.d7040passport.org. You need to login to get to the Members Only section which tells about payments, the member directory, and documents. After you have signed in you also have an Administration menu that allows you to do many things like mark in your own makeups (see last week’s bulletin for that information).
 
2. District website www.rotary7040.com. Your club login will also allow you to login to the district website, although you will have few items that you can access. You can learn about and sign up for district events; read the Governor’s monthly newsletter, and so on.
 
3. Rotary International website www.rotary.org and from there, My Rotary, www.myrotary.org. You need to create an account for that, or sign in if you have done that previously. You can check your information that RI has. You can check the goals that our club has on Rotary Club Central. These have only just been started, but will show more in the future. You can access Rotary Brand Center https://brandcenter.rotary.org/en-GB to develop materials from Rotary templates.
 
4. Other Online Tools on the RI site:
 
5. Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/D7040rotarypassportclub/. You will also find a copy of Facebook news on the homepage of our club website. Usually the page will have items shared from a variety of sources, as they happen, including events that are happening with other clubs in the district.
 
6. Our Facebook group is https://www.facebook.com/groups/1734739396840883/ . It is linked to our Facebook page, but only members who ask to be part of the group are admitted. It is a closed group, so any comments that you make cannot be seen by anyone outside of the group. To belong to the group, you need to be a “friend” of Ariane, so she can add you. Several members have been invited but have never accepted the invitation.