Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Caroling at Montclair!

Hey everyone!

I hope that this season of papers and exams is treating everyone well. I just wanted to let everyone know that we are going to Monclair again THIS saturday, however weare going a little bit later than normal - we are going for 3:00 pm. We will be singing Christmas and Hanukkah carols, tea and cookies, and perhaps a game or two, depending on how into the caroling the residents are. Please sign up on the comment section and let me know if you will be meeting at the bus stop. the directions are below, and the system is the same as normal - meet us there or at the bus stop to travel together, whatever works for you. This is going to be a really great study break, and a great way to get into the spirit of this great time of year!!

We are going to meet at the McGill College and Sherbrooke bus 24 bus stop to catch the 2:07pm bus. If you are not there, unfortunately we as we group will leave without out you, as we need to get to the residence on time (3:00pm). We will catch the 24, get off at Sherbrooke/Decarie, and catch the 102 or the 105 bus (whichever comes first). From that we will get off at Somerled / Walkley (102) or Sherbrooke / King Edward (105) and walk the two blocks to the residence. Note that these buses do not come very often, so it is important that we are on time. If you happen to miss us at the gates at 2:07pm, not to worry - simply take the next 24 that comes, and get off at Sherbrooke/Decarie and take the 105 as it comes much more often. You might be a few minutes late but it's better than not coming at all!

Some additional information for those of you either travelling by yourself or for future reference:
Montclair Senior Home
4413, av. Montclair
Montreal, QC

Should you go by yourself, simply ring the doorbell and tell them that you're from McGill Rotaract.

Hopefully we will see lots of people out on saturday and if you cant come happy holidays and see you in january (when concert craziness begins!!)

Friday, November 28, 2008

Picture from Volunteer Day


So our day of Volunteering was a great success with quite a few people coming out, and lots of fun had! enjoy the pictures!

First we went to Tyndale Treasures, a second-hand boutique who tries to teach people how to work in retail, and gets jobs for many people in the neighbourhood. We helped out by working in the storehouse and by decorating the front display in a christmas theme.



We next went to Monclair and played some bingo as well as some bean bag toss, and then had some tea and cookies. It was a blast as per normal.



Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Volunteer Day Nov 15th!

Here is the final schedule for this Saturday's Volunteer Day:

We will be going to Tyndale Treasures in the morning; for those of you who do not know what it is, they are located in Little Burgundy, same area as our mentoring program, and they run a 'store' to train recent arrivals to Montreal how to work in retail, basically giving them an opportunity to work and support themselves & their family. We also have a trip to Montclair senior's residence scheduled that same day, so after a few hours at Tyndale we will all head over and play games/have tea and cookies with the residents there!

We are meeting at Tyndale Treasures at 9:30 AM, and will stay there and help them clean/organize the store until about 1 or 1:30. Then, we will head over to Montclair and run our activities there from 2-4 PM. We were considering possibly having dinner afterwards at Rachel & my house if there is a substantial amount of interest and if we are all not completely exhausted after the long day, but we will play that by ear depending on turnout and feelings at 4.

Directions to Tyndale Treasures:
Take orange line metro to station George Vanier
Go west on Rue St. Antoine for 3 blocks until you reach Rue des Seigneurs
Go south on Rue des Seigneurs, about 2 blocks (you will pass a park on your right), and Tyndale Treasures is 731 Rue des Seigneurs.
We will all leave together from Tyndale to go to Montclair, and I will have directions!

If you are meeting us at Montclair, these are the same directions as last trip:
Montclair Residence is located at 4413, ave Montclair.

Take the Sherbrooke bus 24 from the McGill College bus stop; catch the 1:05pm bus. Take the 24 and get off at Sherbrooke/Decarie, then catch the 102 or the 105 bus (whichever comes first). From there, get off at Somerled / Walkley (102) or Sherbrooke / King Edward (105) and walk the two blocks to the residence. Note that these buses do not come very often, so it is important that we are on time. If you happen to miss the 1:05pm, not to worry - simply take the next 24 that comes, and get off at Sherbrooke/Decarie and take the 105 as it comes much more often. You might be a few minutes late but it's better than not coming at all! With the estimated departure time set at 1:05pm, you should arrive at Montclair at 1:50pm (10 minutes early, just in case).

If you need further directions/clarifications, feel free to email myself at nicolette.neumann@mail.mcgill.ca, or mcgill.rotaract@gmail.com.

If you are interested in coming to one or both of these events, please leave your name and specify the time you are coming in the comments section! Hope to see you all on Saturday!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

District Conference Information Resources

So at the district conference amung many activities we split up our mindpower to discuss Community Service, International Service, What Rotary/Rotaract can do for you - a.k.a. what advantages/opportunities there are for you through this organization, and Marketing Rotaract (emphasis on selling rotaract to Rotarians). If anyone is interested in checking out this information I have posted the links below. Hope that everyone finds something useful on here!

A Rotaractor's Guide to Community Service Projects
http://innovationplatform.concordia.ca/joomla15/leadership/35-leadership/104-a-rotaractors-to-community-service-projects.html

- A Guide to International Service Projects
http://innovationplatform.concordia.ca/joomla15/articles/103-a-guide-to-international-projects.html

- Rotaract Opportunities : Tons of Reasons to Become and Remain a Rotaractor
http://innovationplatform.concordia.ca/joomla15/articles/102-rotaract-opportunities--whats-in-it-for-me.html

- How to Market your Rotaract Club to Rotarians
http://innovationplatform.concordia.ca/joomla15/leadership/35-leadership/105-marketing-rotaract-to-rotary.html

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

District Conference Pictures



There was much fun to be had at the District Conference that was held in Cornwall, ON. Seven members were fortunate enough to be able to go and everyone had a great time.
During lunch, Richard 'Dick' Pound gave a presentation on Ethics & Drugs in Sports.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Halloween Events, part 2

I just got a call from Shriner's yesterday, and unfortunately we are not going in for Bingo, etc. next Friday. Apparently they currently have a really small group, most of whom do not stay on Friday evenings anyways, so they are having their Halloween activities a different night next week. I was told there is no need for us to come in, as they have so few people who will be there.

As an alternative, we discussed maybe having some people go in around the holidays... nothing is confirmed yet but it is a possibility we can think about depending on exams.

Trick-or-eat is still happening, so if anybody is interested in participating in that, let me know and we'll get you a route for next Friday!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Montclair Residence Trip # 2

A group of us went to volunteer at the Montclair residence yesterday and had a fabulous time! After some good ol' bean-bag tossing (a true favourite among the residents - refer to the pictures and video below) and a hearty game of BINGO, time flew by! It was truly an eventful trip to Montclair - can anyone say O64?... BINGO!




Abby announcing while Melissa watches on intently.

We don't know it yet in this picture but Man-Yi is handing over bean-bags to the woman who will soon be crowned the ultimate bean-bag toss champion. She had a mean throw that could "knock down the house" (quote by another of the residents who participated in the competition).

Ready-set-go! Here we have another resident preparing for her throw as Audrey cheers her on.

This is Margaret, the volunteer coordinator and one of the elderly caretakers (though you can't tell from this angle) - she was one of the participants in the bean-bag toss as well.
Tea time after a tiring, but fun game of bean-bag toss and Bingo-calling.

The minute we saw this swing-chair-table-thing outside of Montclair, we had to try it out. Best 45 seconds of my life. No joke.

And to save the best for last: the video!
(the quality isn't superb but it was shot on a camera phone - sorry!)


Friday, October 17, 2008

Halloween Events

1) 'Trick or Eat' - this is mainly coordinated by Meal Exchange but we have participated in it the past few years. On the 31st, groups of 2 (or more) people are assigned a route somewhere in Montreal (for example, NDG or Westmount) and you go trick-or-treating; but instead of collecting candy, you collect canned food. Don't worry, there is a car/van to collect the cans, you don't have to carry a heavy bag for two hours! It starts at 5:30, and generally lasts for 2 hours or so. Plus you get to wear a costume. We will ask for one route, so everyone who signs up will go as a big Rotaract group.

2) Shriner's Hospital - Every year we also go to the Shriner's Hospital on the 31st in the evening, and play games/do other fun activities with the children there. Of course, we dress up in Halloween costumes, and in the past it has been a ton of fun to go! Like trick-or-eat, we will probably start around 5 or 5:30, and it will last a few hours max.

Both of these events are evening time, so you will be back downtown/home in plenty of time to go out to other Halloween events you may have planned.
If you are interested in coming to either event (unfortunately they fall at the same time, so you have to pick only one), please leave your name in the comments and specify which event you are interested in!

OBM!

Hi everyone,

Our third OBM of the semester will be on Saturday, October 25th. Same deal as before, we are looking for 10 people max, we'll be meeting at the Roddick Gates at 3:45 (leaving by 4), or you can meet us at the shelter for 4:30 if it is more convenient.

Please leave your name in the comments to sign up, hope to see you there!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Montclair Trip this Saturday

We'll be heading off to Montclair for our second time this year! I believe a few people showed interest in bringing certain games along with them that would be appropriate for playing with the seniors there (i.e. I'll be bringing Catch Phrase = good times! - other ideas include boardgames, other portable games). Should you be interested, please sign up below and remember to read the transportation instructions as well:

We are going to meet at the McGill College and Sherbrooke bus 24 bus stop to catch the 1:05pm bus. If you are not there, unfortunately we as we group will leave without out you, as we need to get to the residence on time (2:00pm). We will catch the 24, get off at Sherbrooke/Decarie, and catch the 102 or the 105 bus (whichever comes first). From that we will get off at Somerled / Walkley (102) or Sherbrooke / King Edward (105) and walk the two blocks to the residence. Note that these buses do not come very often, so it is important that we are on time. If you happen to miss us at the gates at 1:05pm, not to worry - simply take the next 24 that comes, and get off at Sherbrooke/Decarie and take the 105 as it comes much more often. You might be a few minutes late but it's better than not coming at all! With the estimated departure time set at 1:05pm, we are scheduled to arrive at 1:50pm (10 minutes early, just in case).

Some additional information for those of you either travelling by yourself or for future reference:
Montclair Senior Home
4413, av. Montclair
Montreal, QC

Should you go by yourself, simply ring the doorbell and tell them that you're from McGill Rotaract.

We will be done at around 4:00pm and will again make the journey home together.

Remember to sign up in the comments section below if you're interested in coming!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Potluck on October 16th!

During our next meeting on October 16th at 6pm we have decided to have a Rotaract Potluck. For those who are not familiar with this concept, it basically is that everyone should try to bring food to share with everyone else. It's going to be a great way to chat and get to know one another while eating yummy food. So we had a sign up at our last meeting, but if you could not attend and can bring food to this meeting, please leave your name and what you want to bring in the comments section. This is a list of what people signed up for, so we don't have too many duplicates. Nicole requested that someone bring rice for the curry she is making, so that is a suggestion.

Sean Yaphe- Cheese and crackers
Jin Choi- Chips and cookies
Vincenzo M Scarano- Pasta
Abby Carter- Salad
Kally Bowser- veggies and dip
Heather Anderson- Bread bowl and dip
Sona Petru- Pasta
Arian Almas- Basic ethnic (Afghan) dish
Pamela Lee- cake
Nicolette Neumann- Tabbouleh and veggie dish
Audrey Wong- Drinks- Pop and Juice, and Pasta
Nicole Ebert- Vegetable Curry
Rachel: dessert squares

Thursday, September 25, 2008

OBM sign ups

Hi everyone!

Our second OBM trip of the semester will be on Sunday, October 5th. As usual, we will be meeting at the Roddick Gates at 3:45 and leaving no later than 4:00.

Because of space limitations at the mission, we can only take the first 10 people who sign up. Also, please do so by next Wednesday (October 1st) so we can let them know how many of us to expect!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Montclair's Seniors Residence Trip

A group of us went to the Montclair Senior Residence to play games with the seniors there. We all had such a fun time playing different card games such as Uno! There will be details about the next time we go to Montclair's in October at our upcoming meetings and also sent in the emails. Here are some pictures taken:







Friday, September 19, 2008

Mr. Henri Dommel Talk, October 3rd

Ok, so we have been extremely lucky, thanks to the kindness of the Laval Rotary Club, to have Mr. Henri Dommel come and speak to us. Mr. Dommel is the Director of Inclusive Finance for the United Nations Capital Development Fund. He will give the presentation "Microfinance recent trends, and the role of the United Nations Capital Development Fund in building Inclusive Financial Sectors." We have raised money for microcredit projects in the past, and as such I personally am very interested in the topic, and I hope that we get a large, diverse group coming out. The details are as follows:

Friday, October 3rd
Bronfman Building, room 422
Mr. Dommel will START at 5:30, and his talk will likely last around 1.5h.
Light refreshments (juice and snacks) will be served

Note that we will be taking donations (good-will offering) for a microcredit cause that evening as well.

Please advertise this - the more people the merrier. Its an honour to get this quality of a speaker come to our meeting, so the more people we get to come out, the better. Bring a friend! a great way to start your friday evening! We will have posters made up if anyone is interested in passing them out or having them available if friends are interested.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Gert's After Meeting Thursday!

Hey everyone,

Just a quick note to let you know that we are going to go and have a drink at Gert's (the bar that is in the same building) after the meeting, to get to know each other a bit. I hope that everyone comes out - its going to be lots of fun!

Rachel

First Trip Ever to Montclair Senior's Residence!

So This Saturday, September 20th we are going to have our first visit to Montclair! This is a project we have tried to set up for a while, so it is exciting for me to see it finally realized. We are going to spend time with the residents, and have some fun basically! I think that we are going to play some games, some cards etc. SO if you would like to come, and have a good board game or a deck of cards, please let us know on the comment function just below this post.

We are going to meet at the McGill college and Sherbrooke bus 24 bus stop to catch the 12:36 bus. If you are not there, unfortunately we as we group will leave without out you, as we need to get to the residence on time. We will catch the 24, get off at Sherbrooke/Decarie, and catch the 102 or the 105 bus (whichever comes first). From that we will get off at Somerled / Walkley (102) or Sherbrooke / King Edward (105) and walk the two blocks to the residence. Note that these buses do not come very often, so it is important that we are ontime. if you do happen to miss the 1236 bus with us, do not fear, you can still make it! Take the next 24 that comes, and get off at Sherbrooke/Decarie and take the 105 - it comes much more often. You will be a few minutes late, but no so much that it is no longer worth coming.
For those who are more bus-savvy or it is quicker to come from another location, the adress for the home is 4413, av. Montclair, and you can meet us there for 1:30. You will have to ring to get into the residence, and jsut tell them who you are.

We will be done at 3:30 and will again make the journey home together.

Please sign up using the comment function, and if you plan on bringing a game/cards, please state that when you sign up (this is highly encouraged). Also just leave a note if you are planning on meeting us there.

See you all saturday!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Samosa Sale

Our first samosa sale of the semester will be on Monday, September 15th, in the Leacock building. We are looking for volunteers to come and work at the table in 1 hour shifts; ideally we will have 2 people signed up for each shift.

If you are able to help out, please leave your name and preferred shift in the 'comments' section. If you sign up for a later shift (after 1:30), also leave a phone number, so we can contact you in case we run out of samosas early.

Shifts:
11:30-12:30 (I will be there for set up and the first shift)
12:30-1:30
1:30-2:30
2:30-close

Thanks!
~Nicolette

First OBM Trip

Our first trip to the Old Brewery Mission homeless shelter will be on Saturday, September 13th!

If you are not sure what this entails, anyone interested in volunteering meets at the Roddick Gates at 3:45 that afternoon. The mission is in Old Montreal, and we all walk down together from campus. If it is more convenient, you can always meet the group at OBM at 4:30. We help serve meals, and generally we finish by 6:30 or 7, depending on how busy it is.

If you are interested in coming along on this first trip, please sign up by clicking the 'comments' link at the bottom of the post... leave your name, and whether you will meet us at Roddick gates or come directly to the mission.
Also, please sign up by this coming Wednesday (September 10), since we need to let OBM know how many people are planning on coming down.

Thanks, hope to see you all there!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

2008-2009 McGill Rotaract Year

Hi Everyone!

I hope that everyone's summers were fantastic and relaxing! Welcome back (or just welcome!) to everyone, veterans or rookies alike! As I am sure you have noticed, due to come technical difficulties (or lack of access to our old website) we have come up with a new idea - this blog! Using this technology we can do live sign-ups, even if you cant make meetings, post meeting minutes, make comments if we ask for opinions, or just make a smart-ass comments on my likely spelling errors.

We have quite the year planned for the club, its going to be very buzy. We came up with "Equal Opportunity" as a theme for the year. I thought that I would give everyone a little update as to our plans, meeting dates and locations, events, and volunteering opportunities that the exec has planned. As per normal we love suggestions, ideas, and any comments, but here are the tentative plans:

Volunteering:
  • The third Saturday of every month we will volunteer at the Montclair Senior's residence at 1:30-3:30
  • About every three to four weeks we will volunteer at the Old Brewery Mission homeless shelter. We meet at 3:45 at the roddick gates or 4:30 at the mission. Dates for this semester are listed at the end of the post.
  • Mentoring at Tyndale Community Centre: the Dare-to-Dream Program (Year long committment).
Events:
  • fundraising competition in march
  • volunteering day in january
  • barbeque in september
  • UN speaker on microcredit (October 3rd)
  • Halloween volunteering at shriners hospital and 'trick or eat'
  • cocktail party/concert in November
Meetings dates for semester 1:
• Sept. 12th- Meeting from 6- 7:30 in B-30
• Sept 18th- Meeting from 6- 7:30 in B-30 (1st meeting after activities night)
• October 2nd- Meeting from 6- 7:30 in 403
• October 16th- Meeting from 6- 7:30 in 403
• October 30th- Meeting from 6- 7:30 in 403
• November 13th- meeting from 6- 7:30 in 302
• Nov. 27- Meeting from 6- 7:30 in B-30
• Dec 4th- Meeting from 6- 7:30 in B-30

OBM dates for first semester:
  • Saturday, September 13
  • Sunday, October 5
  • Saturday, October 25
  • Saturday, November 15
  • Sunday, December 7

We hope to see everyone out this year for some serious fun and to do some serious helping!

2008-2009 Executive

Monday, July 14, 2008

The Westmount Rotary Auction and Garage Sale

Below are some pictures from the annual Westmount Rotary auction and garage sale held at the Westmount Arena. The Westmount Rotary members have been preparing for this event year-round by collecting items that people donated. During the 2-3 weeks prior to the actual event, Rachel Kyle and I (Man-Yi Yau) went with them on their collection rounds. Then, during the week prior to the event, I also helped out as they needed lots of volunteers to help unpack, sort, price, and arrange the many, many items that they had collected. It was hard work, but definitely worth it as I learned a lot about things people used to use but don’t anymore, and as I met quite a few really interesting and nice people! I was also present at the auction on Friday, June 6, and helped showcase the items. Finally, the day of the garage sale, which was on Saturday, June 7, Rachel worked in the toys section while I worked in the linens section.





Friday, June 6, 2008

McGill Rotaract Exec 2008/2009



President - Rachel Kyle

Hey all, my name is Rachel and I'm in my last year studying biology and english cultural studies. I am excited for this year, we have an amazing executive who has quite the involved year planned for you! From barbeques to concerts, from social events to volunteering at a seniors home and at the old brewery mission, this year's theme of "Equal Opportunity" is shaping up to be one of the busiest of my 4 years involved with McGill Rotaract. Getting to know me I am an energetic, self-professed biology nerd who loves to sing, dance, play the bassoon, study genetics, volunteer, and hang out with friends. Please feel free to email me with suggestions, comments, ideas, or just to say hi!


VP - Erica McBurney

'Allo! I'm Erica, originally from Nova Scotia, and am in my 4th year of study at McGill in Music Performance! I've been involved with McGill Rotaract for the past three years or so and have enjoyed (and will continue to enjoy) all the great work we do as a club! When possible I enjoy hiking, running, strolling, sauntering and food (among other things)!



Secretary - Chelsea Brower





Hey
I am a U2 Microbiology student who is from New Jersey. I like to read and play tennis.





Treasurer - Jin Choi

My name is Jin Choi and I'm coming back as Treasurer$$$In my third year, I'll be studying physiology with a mix of social studies of medicine and kinesiology. I got to know Rotaract from my Interact years during high school, and I'm proud to be part of Rotary to this day. Surely, this won't be my last year with Rotaract :PI love soccer, snowboarding, and badminton. I hope Rotaract 2008/09 will be lots of fun! (and lots of hours counting money for my part)






Communications and Publications - Pamela Lee and Heather Anderson

Hi


My name is Pamela, and this is my second year with the McGill Rotaract club! I'm entering my second year (U1) at McGill, and I'll be majoring in Kinesiology. I spent half of my first year at the Macdonald Campus in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, and transfered downtown for the winter semester - where I found out about Rotaract. I'm looking forward to a year that will be jam-packed with volunteer and fundraising events! In my spare time, I enjoy running, rock climbing, reading the newspaper - lol, and I'm always up for trying something new!



Volunteering and Fundraising - Nicolette Neumann




Hi all! My name is Nicolette Neumann and I am a U2 biology major. I am originally from Connecticut, and have had exposure to the Rotary most of my life because of my grandfather’s involvement in our local club. I joined Rotaract during my first year at McGill and am very excited about being VP Volunteering and Fundraising this year. I love how there are so many great and diverse opportunities to get out and give back to both the community and international organizations through Rotaract, and I am looking forward to working with next year’s exec to continue these great projects!



Membership and Social - Man-Yi Yau


Hi! I am originally from Hong Kong, but I lived in Syria and Lebanon for most of my life. Some of the things that I like to do are reading, travelling, and volunteering. This is my second year (U1) at McGill University. I joined the McGill Rotaract Club in winter 2008, during the second semester of my first year. I have enjoyed being part of this group, and I hope that I will be able to get more people to join us, get involved with the various activities and events we organize, have fun, and feel more at ease with each other this year. I really like that this year’s overarching theme is “Equal Opportunity,” and I also hope that we will be able to accomplish more as a group and to make a bigger difference in people’s lives. Finally, I’d like to wish everybody a really good year!




Professional Development and Rotary Liasion - Sean Yaphe & Audrey Wong


Hi Everyone! I am from Montreal and have been involved with Rotary since high school when I joined the INTERACT Club (the only one on the island of Montreal!!). Ever since then, Rotary has been a huge part of my life. It's such an awesome organization! I am in U1 majoring in Biochemistry. Aside from school and Rotaract, I've played piano since I was 5 and compete in swimming competitions. I love to travel as well! This year with Rotaract is going to be amazing! We have so many great events and opportunities for the year.





Hi there! I'm Co-VP Professional Development and Rotary Liaison with Sean (above). I was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. I first found out about Rotaract through my local Interact Club that I was president of in my graduating year. I came to McGill to pursue an undergraduate business degree and am currently in U2 with the intent of doing a Major in Marketing, as well as a Minor in Politics, Law & Society. My ultimate goal is to go into law school to pursue either corporate or criminal law (a broad spectrum indeed!). I've enjoyed my time so far in Rotaract and am glad that I could help out even more this year. The school year 2008/2009 has a lot of promise and lots more to come. Cheers!


Thursday, June 5, 2008

Montreal-West Lobsterfest

Hey Everyone!

Just thought that I would share, a group of us went to help out at Montreal-west's annual Lobsterfest this past saturday, and had a swell bar, ate TONS of lobster and time. WE served
Rotaracter from New Zealand food, sold tickets, worked the had a few drinks with the rotarians. good times were had by all. We were also joined by a visitor, Tim Hickey, a who was spending the weekend in Montreal before continuing a journey through several Rotary conferences worldwide.

I attached some pictures for everyone's amusement, Stan and I were lucky enough to be crowned with Rotary International TRucker hats, which were quite the hit.