Call to Order
President Corrine started off the meeting at 1.
Invocation
The invocation was given by Adam Darville.
Toasts
President Corrine toasted to the Queen and then to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
Rotarian & Rotaract Visitors
Phil announced visiting Rotarian Eric Adderly from the Old Fort Bay club.
Member Guests
Geoff introduced his guest Jaime Lewis, John Joseph introduced Eliott Pyfrom and Brock introduced Christina Sukie.
Sergeant at Arms
This week’s Sergeant at Arms was Robert Brown who started by giving PP Robbie a fine for no pin. There were a number of late fines this week, plus a fine to Patrick with the reason being “BPL”. Robert entertained us with three jokes this week, the one including the Pope and Donald Trump in particular got a few laughs.
Member Birthdays
Make checks payable to:
EAST NASSAU ROTARY CLUB CHARITABLE TRUST
None
Spouses Birthdays
None
Announcements
Dianne was awarded a plaque for her work as International Convention Chair.
This week, Jaime Lewis and Elliot Pyfrom were both inducted and presented their pins by their sponsors. President Corinne welcomed them in the usual way, congratulations on becoming our newest members!
Roshan announced that there would be a showing of the movie “Finding Nemo” for the children at Sandilands Hospital, volunteers will be needed.
Lindsey Cancino gave us an update on his mother’s recovery and thanked everyone for their support. Best wishes on a speedy and full recovery!
Adam Darville appealed for volunteers to help with the fishing tournament sign in on Thursday.
Geoff reminded us that dues are due.
Guest Speaker
We were very fortunate to have Portia Sweeting from the Bahamas National trust speaking for us this week, and she was introduced by Geoff Andrews.
Her talk, entitled “Bridging the Gap Between Conservation and Community” gave us an insight into how the BNT creates awareness within the community.
The BNT is a non-profit, membership based organisation independent from the government. They manage our 32 national parks spanning over 2 million acres throughout the Bahamas. They also advise the government on matters that concern the environment, conduct scientific research and educate our communities on how to treat and preserve the environment we live in.
Their conservation efforts have brought Flamingoes back from extinction, rehabilitated the population of our native parrots and put into place protection laws for turtles and sharks. They continue their efforts with Conch, or “conch-servation”.
Ms Sweeting also gave us a breakdown of their many various educational camps and events which they do in order to maximise their exposure to the public, particularly with students, including the very successful Discovery Club Program, High school programs and professional development workshops for teachers. She estimated an outreach of around twenty thousand students and three thousand adults per year.
Joanne Smith thanked her for the engaging and informative talk.
Final Toast
Rotary around the world
Editor, Anna H
