Meeting Summary – Rotary Club
Date: 2025-10-28
1) Opening and Welcome
- Chair called the meeting to order and noted a tight agenda.
- Four-Way Test recited.
- Invocation delivered (gratitude for food, faith, friends, and Canada as home).
- Guest introduction: Lynn Wright was welcomed as a prospective member.
2) Program – Member Spotlight: Mike
- Background:
- From Woodstock; family obtained U.S. green cards via lottery.
- Lived in Florida (Panama City Beach, then Tampa; brief return to Canada; later Venice).
- Challenging high school transition in Tampa; returned to Canada, later completed high school locally.
- Rotary Youth Exchange:
- Initially considered France; ultimately placed in Germany due to late timing.
- Spent a year near Cologne with four host families; credits the exchange with significant personal growth.
- Maintains strong ties with German friends and has engaged with their Rotary club (including during COVID via remote meeting).
- Education and Career:
- Admitted to University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier; chose the double-degree (Business + Computer Science) at Laurier (5 years).
- First job at Statistics Canada in Ottawa; also worked with Communications Research Centre and Shared Services Canada.
- Returned to Woodstock around 2008 to start an IT business, initially supporting the Ingersoll NP-Led Clinic; now focused largely on healthcare clients (nurse practitioners, community health centre, pharmacies, local physicians) and one non-health client (Maggie Group/Delta hotels in Belize).
- Grew from solo operator supporting ~200 users to hiring first employee ~1.5 years ago.
- Personal:
- Met spouse shortly after returning to Woodstock; married 3 years; welcomed a baby 2 months ago.
- Intends to give back through Rotary, potentially by hosting exchange students.
- Q&A highlights:
- Clarified the massive size of the Tampa school he briefly attended.
- Chose Laurier for the double-degree opportunity despite Waterloo’s computing strength.
3) Club Business and Announcements
- Member health: A Rotarian (RoseMary) is in hospital recovering from surgery; reported to be doing well.
- Club records and storage:
- Historical records believed to be in a fireproof filing cabinet at the former Quality Hotel.
- Action: Connect with the hotel manager to access/remove records. Consider leaving the cabinet if moving it is impractical.
- Logistics: Use a fridge cart; there is elevator access to avoid stairs. A warehouse is available if the cabinet is retrieved. Coordinator to contact manager this week or early next week and circulate a date for volunteers to assist.
- Birthdays/anniversaries: None reported.
4) Committee Reports – Dragon Boat
- Final meeting scheduled for Friday at 9:30 (Teams option available). Dave confirmed; others welcome.
- Financials:
- Most items accounted for; outstanding: insurance reconciliation and a receivable from “Top Dogs” (billing to be issued).
- Insurance issue:
- Last year: ~$500 for club insurance plus $132 additional.
- This year: billed $1,000 for extra insurance without sufficient explanation.
- Broker indicated billing is through District; extra coverage expected to include clubhouse, boats, motors, and liability for activities and festival.
- Action: Treasurer/lead has emailed for detailed breakdown and endorsement; awaiting response. Team believes a jump from $132 to $1,000 requires justification.
- Next steps: Resolve insurance allocation (clubhouse contents vs. liability vs. festival) and collect outstanding fees.
5) Closing
- Thanks, expressed to Mike for sharing his story and to all attendees. Meeting adjourned.