Today we have Rotary Trust Fund charitable donations motions by Trustees

 

President Mariandy Lennon chaired our meeting last Monday and also gave the invocation.

 

 

Forthcoming Speakers and Events 

Feb 24th        Aoife Coffey Saint Vincent’s Hospital - transplants

Feb 22nd       President’s Dinner, Fitzwilliam LTC

Mar 16th        NOTE – no meeting due to holiday weekend

 

 

Rotary Rangers February Walks

Feb 18th        Hellfire Club & Massey Woods, Rathfarnham.

Feb 25th        Fananerrin Ridge, Glenmalure Valley.

                                                                                                                                                                              

Visitors and Apologies

Tony McCourt standing in for Hon. Secretary Tony Keegan presented apologies from Hon Secretary Tony Keegan, PP Tony Gannon, Brian Taylor, Sonia Crepaldi, Veronica Kunovska, PP Ken Hunt, Dorothy Hannon, PP Michael Carroll, Simone Nelson, Alexander Kopf, Tony Murray, IPP Brian George and Patrick White.

 

Apologies: Special Appeal.

Every week there is a large number of people not at the lunch, but who have not sent in apologies. If you are going to be absent, please let Hon. Secretary Tony know by ‘phone or e-mail so that at least we know that you are OK.

President Mariandy welcomed Rotarian visitor John Duncan, the immediate past President from the club of Mineral Wells Texas (recently celebrating its centenary), our speakers, Pierce Dargon and Shane Howell from Secret Street Tours.

Secretary’s Announcements

Tony updated us on decisions from the February 2020 Council Meeting:

• To offer membership of the club to Sinem Balta

• To pledge €500 to the District Mercy Ships appeal and to raise funds for this and other Rotary charities at our President’s night raffle

• To schedule the club AGM for 6th April between 1 and 2 pm

• To register rotarydublin.ie as the domain name for the new website

• To pass a vote of thanks unanimously to Dermot Knight for developing the new website

• Not to hold a lunch meeting on 16th March given it falls on a holiday weekend

• To hold a business meeting on 17th February at which motions from the Trustees if the Rotary Club of Dublin Trust Fund can be tabled

• To support the annual International Women’s Day breakfast in Greenore Rostrevor on 7th March

• Schedule the next council meeting for 2:15pm on 3rd March

Tony advised he had been in contact with Paul Denton of the Global Grants Committee to pledge €500 to the Mercy Ships and that our club had been added to the list of pledges. 1.096m has thus far been raised.

 

President’s Announcements

President Mariandy reminded us of President’s night coming up on 22nd February. She pitched the idea of hosting a Ball later in the year to raise funds for the Salvation Army, as a way of contributing to solving the homeless crisis in Dublin. She suggested creating a separate committee to manage this and appealed for feedback as well as volunteers. May 23rd at Elm Park was a potential date – please contribute ideas and feedback

 

She congratulated Kenneth Carroll on taking on the Chair of the Vocational and Community committee.

 

Members Wishing to Speak

PE Alan impressed upon us the importance of confirming attendance and numbers of guests for the President’s evening – please do so ASAP

 

Gerry McLaron requested that anyone interested in attending the performance on 16th April should respond to him urgently.

 

Delma Sweeney gave a brief summary of a very successful Wednesday evening meeting at the Merrion Inn. John Costello shared his experiences of working in the service of others in what was a very informative and interesting occasion.

 

Last Week’s Speaker

Derek Byrne introduced Pierce Dargon and Shane Howell from Secret Street Tours as our speakers last week.

 

Pierce gave an introduction to Secret Street Tours, a non-profit social enterprise offering a way to discover the streets of Dublin through the eyes and experiences of someone who has been affected by homelessness. The tours are developed in partnership with people affected by the crisis to empower them with skills and confidence to take the next step. It started with support from the Launch Box program at Trinity and also partnered with the Simon community. It launched in the 1st half of 2018 and has provided a way to develop convertible skills as well as give voice to stories that often go unheard.

 

Shane is one of the guides and gave us a very moving account of his story. He has been homeless for 7 years and described the disconnect from people that comes with that. He spoke about getting on the Luas in the morning and feeling a million miles away from other passengers on the same train. Secret Street Tours gives a hope, as well as education and confidence. His tour provides an account of Dublin history, but goes deeper to show what life is like on the street.

 

Bernadette commended him on his courage and his gift for speaking. Shane responded by saying he is only telling the truth about how desperate it is and how difficult it is to get out of it. He spoke about his lease ending and not being able to find anywhere – it becomes about getting through the day. Ted also commended him and was relieved to find another Munster man taking positive action to solve issues in Dublin. Paul suggested we tour as a club and President Mariandy agreed to find dates where we could do that – perhaps as a meeting or evening meeting.

 

Kenneth Carroll gave the vote of thanks and commended both Pierce for taking action on an idea and Shane for his courage in the face of difficulty.