Page 5 - Kwasind July 2020 issue

JULY 2020 MEMBER NEWS • 5
General Manager & Chief Operating Officer’s Message
Neil Rooney, CCM CCE neil.rooney@rcyc.ca
A lot has happened in the last eight weeks or so. We went from wondering if we would have a 2020 season on the Island to mid-June where we have (modified) sailing, tennis, lawn bowling, kayaking, SUP, biking all up and running. F&B is operating and busy especially with the pop-up BBQs.
This was no small task but it was a huge team effort and
I wanted to take a moment to thank some of the key people involved who all worked tirelessly while apologizing to the people involved who also worked tirelessly, but I inadvertently forgot to mention.
Your Task Force formed back in March, assuming we would meet for a few weeks through early April until this whole thing passed; Jamie Keating, Paul Marcaccio, Heather Broll, Judy Hauserman, Julie Thompson, Zenaida Dulce, Taylor Fawcett & Liz Mior (both through April), Mark Turuk (until his last day) Tommy Wharton and now Cory Anderson, plus myself.
The rest of the Management Team; Amanda Aujla-Chung and Jenny Farrand for their long and continued work. Equally important are Sailing Office; Hannah Billinger, Rory Doyle, Violet Stafford as well as our team of Dockmasters and Team of Launch Captains. Additionally, a thank
you to Vivian Rutledge and Sara Hsieh who have been assisting the Sailing Office.
Shiraz Joian, who was hired as Accounting Generalist in January pre-pandemic is working on Marine Services Billing.
Avi Camerino, who I have had to ask when he was taking a day off and the rest of his Maintenance Team. Fernando Piano and his Housekeeping Team. The additional strain on this team with cleaning washrooms, surfaces, door handles etc. is considerable, but they are managing well with smiles on their faces. Helia Pacheco, Jimmy Liu, Naji Rizeq and Jason Stockwell have been working in their home department in F&B as well as assisting with the City Station and Island Clean up.
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One common experience of this pandemic has been isolation. Randomly, this time has intersected with horrific acts of racism, which unfortunately are systemic, not
new. I’ve had the benefit of truly thoughtful input, from
a few of our brave Members most directly impacted. Ideas for communicating and activating, respecting and interacting, and for helping build a path to understanding. I will continue to reach out, to listen and learn, as I hope
Fred Reid, Gary Yang and Jonathan Paton helping in Marine Services – particularly seeing them on June 4th sleeves rolled up and fully engaged with the big boat launch, was very impressive. Armando and the entire Marine Services department for their persistence and speed this season. They got a green light on May 16th and it’s been non-stop since then.
Liliana Martin, Emily Araujo, Asmita Patel, Anna Pham and Agnes Kuczalska are all working at the QM’s desk at City Station. Our entire front and back of house F&B team including Stephen Tung and Sofiya Shemechko for their ongoing roles in F&B while assisting Maintenance and the Chandlery.
All of these Staff members readily agreed to cross-train and work in areas that were sometimes completely unfamiliar to them. I want to issue a wholehearted thank you to everyone for their enthusiasm and unity in helping their fellow departments and for the job well done! I couldn’t be prouder of our team.
we all can. We will be acting on these Member ideas, for embracing and encouraging diversity, of all kinds in our Club. Meanwhile, let’s each remember to reach outside our regular bubbles, to fellow Members and beyond, just to check how we’re all doing, to talk and have a drink, and to break down some barriers. Let’s not let a crisis go to waste. Let’s fix up our Club, but more importantly let’s improve ourselves along the way.
Onwards, Jamie