September 6, 2012

Getting to know our newest member, Don Halpert

A lovely summer morning in the great northwest with 14 LakeheadRotarians on hand plus visiting Rotarian Tony Williams [RotaryClub of Edmonton Glenora], our GSE Tasmania Team Member,Siobhan O’Malley, and our Exchange Student, Juan Luis. Actually,Juan is officially sponsored by the PA Rotary Club but we aresharing in the responsibility to host Juan and to help cover hisexpenses and travel needs in the year. Siobhan will be back to seeus later this year for her formal presentation on the trip toTasmania…stay tuned for that one. Our special guest was our ownDon Halpert with his classification talk and his experience withcochlear implants.

President Allan adopts Rotary’s theme for our Club this year…“PEACE THROUGH SERVICE”

ON THE DOOR IN 2012/13:Richard was on the door today for his first shift of the month withKarl on deck for October. Help your Club…pick a month. ContactSergeant Bill or Clint if you can take a month in our new Rotaryyear. Here is the “gatekeeper’s” line-up for the new Rotary year:

JULY Mo Papich JANUARYAUGUST Karl Ratz FEBRUARY Gail BresciaSEPTEMBER Richard Kehrig MARCH Réal BouchardOCTOBER Karl Ratz APRILNOVEMBER MAY Devon TeepleDECEMBER Graham Stewart JUNE Clint Kuschak

CLUB MEETING SPONSORSHIP:If you can help your Club and wish to promote your business orcommunity interests through a month sponsorship, please contactSergeant Bill or Clint. Here is the sponsorship for 12/13:

JULY Sunset Memorial Gardens JANUARY Garry KushnerAUGUST Investors Group FEBRUARY Investors GroupSEPTEMBER Investors Group MARCH Bob IkolaOCTOBER Regional Food Dist. APRIL MS SocietyNOVEMBER John Howard Society MAY Salvation ArmyDECEMBER NOSM JUNE 4 Star Rotarians

OUR FAMILY OF ROTARY IN THUNDER BAY

Celebrating birthdays this month?

And anniversary congratulations go out toGlenn & Laura Craig

Allan & Lori-Ann KozloRoy & Jane Lucas

Note: If we have missed your birthday or anniversary this month,please let us know

Our sponsor this month is INVESTORS GROUP…Thank you Rotarian Dale McGinnis

CALENDAR – MEETINGS & EVENTS:

SEPTEMBER – NEW GENERATIONS MONTHSEPT 7 UNITED WAY KICK-OFF BREAKFASTSEPT 8 A DAY AT EAST LOON LAKE WITH

JANE & ROY LUCASSEPT 13 OFFSITE MEETING AT N.W.O.

SPORTS HALL OF FAMESEPT 16 TERRY FOX RUNSEPT 20 IAN SMITH – MTOSEPT 21 UN INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACESEPT 22 ROTARY SHELTER FOOD DRIVESEPT 23 MILES WITH THE GIANT MARATHONSEPT 27 DET. CONSTABLE CHRIS DUNNILL

T.B. POLICE COMPUTER CRIME UNITSEPT 27 CANADA CLUB MEETING

OCTOBER – VOCATIONAL SERVICE MONTHOCT 3 BOARD MEETINGOCT 4 MICHELLE KOLOBUTIN/PREVENT SKIN CANCEROCT 8 THANKSGIVINGOCT 11 ROLY TURNER – ROTARY FOUNDATIONOCT 18 REGULAR MEETING CANCELLED…OCT 18 CLUB VISIONING FOR LAKEHEAD ROTARYOCT 25 BUSINESS MEETING

NOVEMBER – ROTARY FOUNDATION MONTHNOV 1 ROLY TURNER – ROTARY “FUTURE VISION”NOV 7 BOARD MEETINGNOV 8 OPENNOV 11 REMEMBRANCE DAYNOV 15 BUSINESS MEETINGNOV 17 ROTARY CHRISTMAS PARADENOV 22 OPENNOV 29 OPEN

PRESENTATION:Don Halpert is our newest member…still sporting the “red ribbon”and looking forward to passing it on to a new Rotarian.

Don shared a little of his life experience incorporating someinteresting graphics and photos. He described himself as a “badboy” in his early years…in need of some order and discipline. Hegrew up in Windsor and liked to play hooky from school. The orderhe needed started when he joined the Windsor Regiment at the ageof 15. He enlisted in the US Army at the age of 17 with his father’spermission…and we saw a picture of him with a good friend fromVietnam. He attended the University of Windsor for his BA…andhis tuition was paid by the US Army. He also found the love of hislife, Shelley, and they were married in 1973. They have two grownchildren, Adrian and Allyson.

Don recently retired from his position as Vice President, HumanResources at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. He ispast Board member and treasurer of the Canadian Hard of HearingAssociation. He has also served on the Board of the CanadianHearing Society. Don is active in accessibility efforts in Ontario

Hospitals. He is a graduate of the University of Windsor and hasbeen hard of hearing for the past 20 years. He maintained hisactive job and pursues an active life with the aid of a CochlearImplant.

A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted electronic devicethat provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deafor severely hard of hearing. Cochlear implants are often referred toas a bionic ear. Cochlear implants may help provide hearing inpatients that are deaf due to damage to sensory hair cells in theircochlea. In those patients, they can often enable sufficient hearingto allow better understanding of speech. The quality of sound isdifferent from natural hearing, with less sound information beingreceived and processed by the brain. However, many patients areable to hear and understand speech and environmental sounds.Newer devices and processing strategies allow recipients to hearbetter in noise, enjoy music, and even use their implant processorswhile swimming.

Don hopes to talk more about the cochlear implant at a futuremeeting.

NEW GENERATIONS: Norm Lavoie, Service DirectorSTUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM:

Meet Exchange Student, Juan Luis, from Mexico all smiles todaywith his counsellor from our Club, Sandy, and President Allan. OurClub is taking a break from the Youth Exchange Program for a fewyears but our decision to do so came after Juan was already set upfor Thunder Bay. PA Rotary became his official host and sponsorbut our Club has agreed to support him for his year and help himwith his travels to District events, etc.

Juan is a serious student and plans to complete his secondaryeducation while in Thunder Bay. His studies are in math, Spanish,English, chemistry, Physical Education, History, computers, Civicand Ethics, and theatre. Juan lives in a 2-storey home in MexicoCity with his parents and sister. Juan’s father is a freelance

photographer for magazines and publishers. His mother is agraphic designer and takes care of the home. Juan loves sportsand music. Juan describes himself as a very positive person andtries to make the best out of every situation. He aspires tosomeday work on Wall Street and move to New York.

Juan will be helping with our Terry Fox Run later this month and ifhis schedule permits he will be going out to the Lucas’ camp atEast Loon Lake on Saturday. He has already experienced ournorthern saunas…followed by a brisk jump in the lake.

If you and your family would like to invite Juan to dinner or take himon a family outing to learn more about our culture and lifestyle,please contact Sandy or send Juan an email at:

Juanluishdz96@gmail.com

Juan is sponsored in Mexico by the Contreras Rotary Club –District 4170.

CLUB SERVICE: B. Butuk, Service DirectorFELLOWSHIP:Roy talked about the social gathering to be held at his place at EastLoon Lake. Jane and Roy will welcome us and our guests for a dayat the lake on Saturday, September 8th…starting at 4 p.m. Janeand Roy will cook some burgers and members are invited to bringsalads, sides or desserts. Just let Roy know what you will bring sowe don’t have 10 Caesar salads. Roy also reminds us to bringchairs. Here are the directions to their camp:

DIRECTIONS:pass Terry Fox statue on Hwy 11/17pass turn for Sibley peninsula and closed Pass Lake truck stoppass West Loon Lake and get ready to turn offTurn Left at East Loon Lake Road.Cross the tracks, go straight across the 4-way stop.Pass the tennis courts (R) and Camp Duncan(L)Lucas sign is fire number 504 with hand made sign (L)

It is 30 minutes from Balsam Hwy intersection and 5 minutes on thecamp road.

An offsite meeting/outing is planned for the N.W.O. Sports Hall ofFame on Thursday, September 13th meeting. We will not meet atthe Valhalla. We will bring our own brown bag breakfast and take atour of the Sports Hall of Fame with E.D. Diane Imrie. More detailsto come next week.

COMMUNITY SERVICE: G. Brescia, Service Director

TERRY FOX RUN:The Run is on for Sunday, September 16th at BoulevardLake…usual times and location. Don will have more details for uslater but he does have Terry Fox t-shirts now for this year’s Run.The cost is $17 and you can get yours from Don at meetings. Healso sent the sign-up sheet around today for the various jobs onRun day…and a good number of us are signed up. More will beneeded so sign on when you see the list or contact Don to let himknow you will be able to help.

ROTARY SHELTER FOOD DRIVE:C. Kuschak reported that our Club is set to help raise food anddollars for Rotary Shelter House during their annual food drive…onSaturday, September 22nd at our usual location – Metro Store in theArthur Street Marketplace [across the road from the Valhalla Inn].The hours will be 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and the sign-up sheet willstart to make the rounds soon. Hold that day in your calendars toshare an hour of your time to gather food for Rotary Shelter.

FELLOWSHIP FINES:Gail was on the cup today honing her fine skills and opening withtribute from President Allan for enabling a new record for a ClubBoard Meeting…35 minutes. In honour of our Exchange Student,Juan, those who have never been to Mexico City were invited topay tribute. And in honour of our presenter Don, those who alsoplayed hooky from school also paid tribute. Sandy’s happy dollarwas for welcoming Juan as our shared Exchange Student. AndGail was just happy today. Richard offered a sad dollar with thenews on September 1

stthat the Globe & Mail has ceased its printed

edition…and will only be available online. No more getting inkyfingers from the daily struggle with the Cryptic Crossword. Say itisn’t so.

50/50 DRAW:Today’s happy winner of the 50/50 draw was Roy and his winningswill be added to his Foundation account.

NEXT MEETING:

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012OFFSITE “MEETING”

TOUR OF NORTHWESTERN ONTARIOSPORTS HALL OF FAME