The Hamilton AM Rotary club has accumulated a nice collection of tents, tables fundraising supplies and decorations over the years used to host high quality, successful fundraising events over its 38 year history.

 

The last two years, this growing collection of goods was stored at Tennier Sanitation, thanks to the generosity of member Darren Slemko,  I am sure Darren didn't know what he was in for when he extended this generous offer but as the say, "all good things must come to an end".  Darren's warehouse space was needed for expansion of his growing business so a move was necessary.

 

There was not big fight to secure additional space for about 400 square feet of goods, Mark Ewer, Past-President took up the initiative to research three local options and on September 20, a new home was secured for these items.

 

The club chose Public Storage on Hess Street North as a reasonable option for the new home for this rag tag collection of boxes and bins and more.  On September 20, members Don Grennan, John Mokrycke, Mark Ewer and his son Paul Ewer moved everything in one move to the new location less than 5 kilometers away.  We were a little surprised when Don showed up with a Mustang convertible for the move but when he put the top down, we saw the wisdom for those taller decorations.  John contributed his Volvo wagon and Mark brought a borrowed truck and in one trip, the transfer was completed!

 

We may have not done the neatest job of storing all these items but we were able to close the storage unit door when we were done.  As they say, "the rest is history"!  Thanks boys!

 

At the regular morning meeting of the Rotary Club of Hamilton AM on September18, guest speaker, Jeff Mahoney shared his deepest insights into the "good, the bad and the ugly" of working in the newsroom of the Hamilton Spectator newspaper.

 

Jeff recently retired after 36 years at "The Spec" where he was renowned for his feature stories primarily on human interest and community issues.  Jeff spoke for 20 minutes straight, without notes, but we felt assured he was speaking truth, and from the heart.

 

Jeff was saddened by the gradual reduction in newspapers in Ontario, for example the loss of our weekly community papers, and indicated the newsroom was reduced from about 150 to its present cohort of 15 reporters, editors, photographers and others.  Many members realized that the enormous presses in the Spectator flagship at Frid and Main West were now gone and in fact the building has been sold and the business relocated to an almost secret location on Pritchard Road.

 

A number of members, particularly John Mokrycke and Mark Ewer have valued their friendship with Jeff over the years but we are not sure of how long this might last due to advanced age on the part of all the parties!

 

Jeff valued the contribution of Rotary to the community and the Rotary Club of Hamilton AM valued Jeff's contribution to public education and awareness over his many years as an outstanding reporter!  Thank you Jeff was the message the club wanted to convey to him!

 

At our regular morning meeting, on September 4 Lesia Mokrycke spoke on her Urban Forest Lab and Monument Tree Projects.  She started by providing an overview of her art and landscape architecture practice, discussing the origins of her inspiration, in art, architecture and the environment.  

 

She almost did not have enough time for her excellent presentation because her proud father, member John Mokrycke, waxed eloquently about the educational and now work achievements of his oldest child, Lesia!  One of our "Rotary rules" is the introduction cannot exceed the guest speaker's presentation in length!  An appropriate fine will deal with this minor infraction!