banner
Upcoming Events
Brighton Santa Claus Parade
Nov 17, 2023
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
 
Joint meeting with Brighton Lions
Own Gibb Community Centre
Nov 27, 2023
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
 
Blue and White Classic Christmas Dinner
Gables Restaurant
Dec 20, 2023
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
 
View entire list
Download Files
DG John's Nov 6 Newsletter
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
CHRIS REED
October 12
 
Daniel THOMPSON
October 15
 
Spouse Birthdays
Sandy
October 29
 
Anniversaries
Michael Koerber
Audrey Koerber
October 5
 
Speakers
Nov 15, 2023
NO REGULAR MEETING
Nov 22, 2023 7:00 AM
Craig and Ruth Kerr and Execultive Director
Bridge Hospice Fundraising changes
Nov 29, 2023 7:00 AM
Ann Falla and students
ENSS Env Club
Dec 06, 2023 7:00 AM
Steve Blakey
Polio Plus refresh
View entire list
Download Files
DG John's Nov 6 Newsletter
Advertisement for Russell Hampton
Advertisement for ClubRunner
Advertisement for ClubRunner Mobile
News
Brighton Rotary News Nov 8 -
2023
 
Members: 9
 
Guests: Terri Lynn Jenkins, Heather and Rotarian Deb Murray
 
 
Correspondence:
 
1. DG John Burns weekly news letter. See attached.
 
2. Good afternoon Lions Clubs of Colborne, Trenton and the Rotary Club of Brighton,
I would like to take this opportunity to invite you and your membership to join the Brighton Lions on November 27 to listen to our guest speaker Retired Brigadier-General Jeff Brace, giving a presentation on his  experiences as Mission Commander of several Royal Family, Papal, Prime Ministerial, and Governor General flights.  It is these tours which form the basis of General Brace's presentation.
Brigadier-General Brace was the former Base Commander, Canadian Forces Base Trenton and Commander of Canada's military air transport search and rescue forces.
General Brace, following his retirement in 1997, became the Executive Director of the RCAF Memorial Museum.
On November 27, we are gathering at the Own Gibb Community Centre (previously known as the Brighton Community Centre) with dinner taking place  at 6:30. It is expected that General Brace's presentation will take 30-40 minutes with an opportunity for questions following.  Our regular Lions meeting will follow and guests are to sit in or call it a night.  It would be unusual for our meetings to extend beyond 8:00.
Inter-Club visitations have declined over the years since I joined Lions in 2006, so the 27th also provides an optional opportunity for the  Lions Clubs and Rotary Club to join together for the presentation and sharing of ideas for cooperation and  SERVICE at our regular meeting afterwards. Guests are welcome as well.
The details are not finalized at this time, but in the past  Just Like Granny's Catering of Brighton have provided an excellent meal for $20. Granny's have been able to provide for special diets when requested.
I hope to finalize the details shortly, including the size of room we may require and the firm cost for the dinner.  I am asking the clubs involved to let me know by November 23 the number of folks from your clubs who may be interested in attending.   Once I have the final cost of the meal, I will let the clubs know and require a firm commitment from those attending by November 26. An eTransfer to me for the cost of the meal is a pretty firm commitment.  I appreciate that the deadline is short, but there were a number of moving parts involved.
Thanks everyone.  I hope we can get club visitations rolling again and inter-Club cooperation will only enhance our ability to SERVE our communities.
 
3. Good Morning Joyce;
I am forwarding you an email re our Picton Rotary Club Ukrainian Fundraiser to be held at Picton Rotary Hall, 375 Main Street East Picton, PE Community Centre on Saturday, Nov the 18th 5-9 p.m. I hope you can register and join us and possibly bring  a table of 8.
Please let me know if you can - I am looking forward to meeting you, and other friends and members, of your Brighton Rotary Club.
Thank you, Nancy Griffin
Ukrainian dinner and entertainment to support medical supplies and school projects in Ukraine.
 
4. Greetings from Rotarian Isaac from India. 
Hope these few lines of mine will find you all in good health, safe and you are all continuing your wonderful Service Above Self Projects as members of the Rotary International our Great Global Family.
I am coming to you after a few years of silence with a good reason.  And I am here to thank your Club for the long connection and collaboration your club has been having with our DKSHA Cornerstone Orphanage here in Tamil Nadu, India. Today DKSHA cornerstone is supporting more than 155 orphan and children from disadvantaged families from rural, remote village communities. We are working with these children with the change of Strategy Family -Based Alternative Care (F-BAC). All these children are in their best interest and their family members ( living ones and Blood Related Family members including kinship care). With our Gap Funding Partner Agency Miracle Foundation, Based in Austin, TX USA, we are successfully doing this Project from 2019 to till this date.
In this Forwarded email, I have come to introduce you all one Rotarian, very Active Member of Whitby Rotary namely Narendra Sethi, who has been regularly visiting our DKSHA Cornerstone since the past many years and also one of the Rural small local Rotary Club Namely Vaiyampatti Rotary in Dist.3000 functioning well near to my local Town. I have been volunteering as the Mentor and Guide for this Vaiyampatti Rotary ever since this Rotary Club was Chartered in 2015 to this day.
Though the club members are all from middle and lower middle class, all of them are like minded and committed to the cause for which they chose to be members in this Rotary Club. Sharing possible resources, this Rotary Club has been doing worthy projects whenever possible. To name some - Annual Eye Screening Camp joining with one Eye Care Hospital doing Cataract Surgery to  100 to 115 poor regularly; Small Educational help to orphan and semi orphan children; Simple Service of many kind during COVID-19 Pandemic; Cleaning Rural Village Schools with children and Teachers in more than 7 such Schools; Distribution of Chairs to the benefit of pregnant women who for regular check ups to Government Run Primary and Upper Primary Health Centres in Villages where these women have to sit on the floor and open places and so an.
One of the interesting thing happened last year is that, one Member a Retired Teacher Ms.Adaikalam Mary, came forward and donated 4 cents of land freely for this Club's Service Above Self Projects and in particular for the Club to Build a Study Centre to help the jobless and educated unemployed youth come and prepare for giving competitive exams for various job opportunities in the Government and private Sectors and also to organize evening Tuition/Schools for the poor children going to schools. As per the encouragement given to all Clubs in Rural Areas by the Dist.3000 Governor during the last 2022 - 2023 Rotary Year, this club with the help of Whitby Rotary financial Assistance along with club members contributions opened this study Centre in a Rented building where all jobless poor educated students come and make use of the online coaching classes available with the help of the TV with Wi-Fi connection and use the books for learning and giving various competitive exams to give job related exams and pass in interviews to get better jobs for these youth.
Now this Rotary Club wants to build a simple Structure in the club's own landed space donated by the above said Rotarian and for this Club is seeking other Rotary Clubs like Whitby and yours to raise funds for this Project. The reason of the genesis of this project is that, now the students and children have to travel 10 kilometres to come to the Study Centre which they do but in the evening hours they find it difficulties to reach home due poor transport services. Especially the adolescents girls are facing hardships.  More details of this Project, i request you all to please kindly read in the attached documents in this forwarded email and I invite you and your club to join to help for this project.
Here I am happy to introduce Rotarian Narendra Sethi, Member of Rotary Club of Whitby who is happy to be your contact person and to be the host club and taking over the project for other clubs like yours to participate for the successful implementation of this project.
Yours Sincerely in the Cause of the Needy,
Isaac Arulappan
 
Dear Rotarian and Chairperson, International Service Committee, Whitby Rotary, ON -Canada Attached in this email is the Finalized Project Proposal received from Vaiyampatti Rotary Club here in Dist.3000 for your kind consideration.
The President and all Members in Vaiyampatti Rotary are sending their sincere thanks and Rotary Wishes to you, to All International Service Committee, the President and all Members in Whitby Rotary.
As I have been volunteering and doing the mentoring services for the well functioning and to do Service Above Projects reaching out to the rural and remote village communities children, youth and men and women,  I consider the attached project a very important one at this time for helping the poor children, students visiting colleges and job less educated youth living in village communities, I come here to request your valuable support help.
One suggestion from my side is that, You Please contact the Rotary Clubs Namely Brighton, Ajax, Whitby Sunrise, Bowmanville also PortPerry...and encourage each club to give 1000 $ CDN.
 
 
Smile: blush
 
Why I am getting a divorce.
 
Well last week was my birthday. My wife did not wish me a happy birthday. My parents forgot and so did my kids. I went to work and even my colleagues did not wish me a happy birthday. As I entered my office,my secretary said, "Happy birthday, boss" I felt so special when she asked me out for lunch. After lunch she asked me up to her apartment. We went there and she said, "do you mind if I go in the bedroom for a minute?". She came out 5 minutes later with a birthday cake, my wife, my parents, my kids, my friends, my coworkers all yelling "SURPRISE" while I was waiting on the couch...naked.
 
Announcements:
  • NO REGULAR MEETING Nov 15
  • Next board meeting will be held at R Daniel's home at 62 Young Street November 28th.
  • Bottle drive Nov. 4 brought in $451 but some additional cans anticipated.
  • R Joyce and R Emily planning a Monti Carlo Night for Feb. 24, 2024.
  • Brighton Santa Claus Parade Nov 17. Look for Rotary float with the singing Grinch.
Santa Claus Parade Policies and Regulations
  1. All Floats/entries must be decorated in a Christmas theme and be acceptable to a family audience. “Santa” is not permitted to appear on any float other than the municipal float at the end of the parade.
  2. Please ensure your group stays together.
  3. Participants shall not consume alcohol and shall refrain from smoking during their participation in the parade.
  4. Animal Entries: all entries are required to clean up behind their animals along the route. Please be courteous to the other participants.
  5. Floats with small children must have adequate supervision on the float.
  6. Each entry must identify one person who is responsible for reporting to the parade representatives upon arrival at the parade line-up.
  7. Throwing candy or objects is not permitted.
  8. We ask that floats arrive no later than 6:00pm to ensure time for proper line-up.
  9. Parade will begin at 7pm and run for approximately 90 minutes
  10. Please inform all parents and participants of these rules.
  11. Entry into the parade may be denied should parade representatives deem a float and/or participants to be unsafe or not meet the policies and regulations above.
  12. The Community Events Committee will not be held responsible for any accidents or damage caused by participating in the parade.
  •  
  • The registration page for Governor Elect, Virginia O'Reily's District Conference at the Nottawasaga Resort in October 25-27, 2024 is now open for registrations.
     Please take advantage  of the early bird registration pricing. Hotel link will be provided shortly.
  • R Victoria will keep our Facebook page up to date but we have to send her pictures with some context. Thanks Victoria.
  • R Chris, R Steve and Steve met with Wellington Rotary organizers of their 2023 Community Appreciation Day to learn and develop our own event for 2024. We met in Wellington Tuesday morning after bottles and cans deposited.
  • Holiday Train Nov 28 at 11:30am
  •  
  • Gabriel's bucket list - Toronto trip - possible December 1 to 3, skiing, skating, a hockey game, and theatre.
Song: no time for a song this morning
 
Sharing Pot: $18 won by R Steve S who is donating it to Gabriel.
 
Happy Bucks: great presentation, learned a lot, trailer parked for winter, very informational presentation, thank God for those who serve, such a brave and courageous soul, CFL game Saturday, happy, awesome, off to Mexico for a week.
 
Rotary Minute: 
 

Our mission

We provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.

Vision statement

Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.
 
Stories
Interaction of Forest Ecology, climate change and the state of Wildfires in Canada
R Jeff introduced Heather:
 
Heather joins us as a past Rotary Youth Exchange student. She first became interested in forestry and climate change while obtaining her Bachelor of Science at the University of British Columbia in the faculty of Forestry. She has since worked for the B.C Wildfire Service as a helicopter attack wildlife fighter, Safety and Staff Development Coordinator and Safety Officer on an incident management team. She’s worked the front lines of wildfires during the worst seasons ever recorded (up until this year) and is here to talk about her experience and what she’s learned.
 
 
 
 
A Walk Through Wild Fire
 
Heather is passionate about the interaction of Forest Ecology, Climate Change and the state of Wild Fires in Canada today. She speaks from practical experience working as a Wild Fire Fighter in BC.
 
She started with a brief history of fire. Early people used fire to clear land to make hunting easier. This goes back 300,000 years. Since the last ice age, Indigenous peoples understood the role of fire in the environment, they managed it and used it. Natural Law requires that humans are part of the eco system. The use of low intensity burns, at the right time of the year, could help to limit the high intensity fires we are experiencing and seeing now.
 
In the early 1900's the Indigenous management of the land had ended. Fire became the enemy of western expansion and development. There were a series of big wildfires in Canada and the US. Some natural and some man made. A big fire in Idaho in 1910 saw 86 dead and resulted in the attitudes and current management techniques of today. Basically to work to immediately suppress wild fires as quickly as possible. This was supported by academics from Europe with limited if any knowledge and understanding of the Boreal Forests of North America. As a result, forests become over grown with lots of material to burn.
 
In BC, they use three types of crews; Para chute crews, heli crews who deploy from helicopters and ground crews who get to the sites by vehicles along roads. There are six Fire Centres in BC.
 
When a call comes in about a possible fire, the details and location can be vague or wrong. The location of a fire, the size, direction of travel and speed are all critical. What is in the fires path. Also noting that all these conditions can change quickly.
 
Crews need to find access routes, source of water quickly.
 
The heli crews look for a place to land or can be lowered close to ground to disembark in a hover exit. They carry packs with a days food and water, hoses, pumps and equipment (a lot of weight). They have to cut their way to the fire, cutting trees, limbing and moving as they go. This path may have to be their quick exit in emergency and wide enough for two crew members to carry an injured member out.
 
Once at the fire, they work to cut a perimeter around the fire, for access, dig a fire guard, and ditch for hoses etc. They need to be efficient. They need to cut a trail to the water source.
 
It is a lot of work all while the fire sucks the oxygen from the area. They work long hours and often camp near the site. They have to plan and work strategically. They try and box in a fire to slow it down.
 
Heather worked with other fire fighters who were in the forest fighting fires while their own homes burned.
 
Wild forest fires have become worse due to logging practices and the practice of planting homogeneous forests, creating dense forests, younger trees. Climate change with hotter days and nights, more intense storms.
 
Old growth forests tend to withstand fires better, their lower branches higher up and bark is thicker and better able to withstand the fire. Traditionally overnight would bring more relief, with lower temperatures and humidity, but now with droughts and higher temperatures, there is less relief over night.
 
Some fires are good and needed for the ecology.
 
Forest Fire Fighters are not paid well. After six years Heather was only making $24/hour. The work is seasonal and typically 14 to 16 hour days with 2 weeks in the bush, sleeping in tents before getting a couple days off. There is a high suicide rate among forest fire fighters. In 2023 there were 7 fire fighters lost their lives.
 
Recent years experiences with forest fires in BC is the new normal.
 
 
Service Above Self