In July we had a HandOver meeting to celebrate the shift to the new Rotary Year and the shift of President, Secretary and Treasurer to this years. The meeting was held in the beautiful Kukšu muiža, members, friends and spouses were invited. We celebrated the achievements during the year 2025-26: The Santa Fun Run (December) was a success with 1 000 participants, we collected 13 000 EUR that we donated to RMHC Latvia. Food Drive (December and January): We bought basic food products that was distributed by the Salvation Army, Latvia, to 63 families (319 people) in 7 different Latvian cities. Used Clothes Project Rotary Club Bad Homburg-Kurpark collects used clothes, textiles and sometimes Furniture in Germany. We transport it to Riga and hand it over to The Salvation Army and PINS shelter in Riga. Soup Kitchen with Rotaract 3 sessions with 2 servings each was done in the autumn. Approximately 180 portions across the autumn. We had guests from 18 different countries to our Thursday lunch meetings at Grand Palace Hotel in Old town Riga. We had 8 guest speakers and 2 club visits We inducted 5 new members.
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HandOverRotaryYear
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Mats Henningsson
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2026-08-06 21:00:00Z |
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On our meeting December 18th we inducted the new member Lena Rigere!
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New member Lena
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-12-17 21:00:00Z |
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Arranged in collaboration with Rotaract It was arranged on the 13th of December
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Last Soup Kitchen this year
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-12-12 21:00:00Z |
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We did the Santa Fun Run on Sunday the 7th of December and it was a Success! There were more than 1000 runners and we managed to net 14 000 Euro as a result of the runners tickets and donations. The whole net is donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities Latvia. A big thank you to all who contributed!
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The Santa Fun Run Was a Success
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-12-06 21:00:00Z |
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On Sunday the 7th of December at 15.00 the run starts.
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Counting down to Santa Fun Run
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-11-20 21:00:00Z |
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On Saturday November 25th we were arranging the first soup kitchen of the year. Actually, we didn't fully arrange it, our Rotaractors (young Rotarians) in Riga made the food and served, we financed it. It was arranged in the St. Saviours church. There were 2 shifts with two servings each. There will be two more occations: November 22nd and December 13th at the same place.
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First soup kitchen
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-10-24 21:00:00Z |
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Visit from Kaunas
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-10-12 21:00:00Z |
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We received a visit from a member of the Rotary Club of... (well you see below} Information: Eau Claire, located in northwestern Wisconsin about 85 miles east of Minneapolis-St. Paul, was incorporated in 1872 and currently has a population of over 69,000 as of the 2020 Census. The community has a diverse and expanding economic base in manufacturing, information technologies, health care, and retail trade. The city is home to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Chippewa Valley Technical College, and Immanuel Lutheran College.
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Visit from USA
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-10-03 21:00:00Z |
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Santa Fun Run 2025 vill happen 7th of Decemberwe have opened the ticket sale, see below
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Santa Fun Run 2025!
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-09-06 21:00:00Z |
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On Saturday July 26th we had a Hand Over party at the Beautiful Kukšu muiža (kuksumuiza.lv) It was about handing over the Presidency of the Club to our new President for the new fiscal year. Thuc To (to the right) is handing over to our new President Thomas Spazier
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Hand over
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-07-26 21:00:00Z |
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Last Thursday we got a visit from Jane Wang, president of the Rotary Club of Taipei! Jane was in Riga because of a legal conference. Our President exchanged flags with her: And we had a group photo:
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A visit from Taiwan
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-05-30 21:00:00Z |
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On Monday the 12th of May we were visited by 18 Swedish Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Kungsträdgården (Stockholm). Here are two pictures showing the exchange of Club Flags between our Presidents. We described our main activities in the clubs to each other. The Kungsträdgården RC also has declared that they can collect winter clothes that we can hand over to the PINS Shelter and the Salvation Army.
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Swedish visit
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-05-21 21:00:00Z |
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Recently we were visited by the French Rotary Club: AIRE sur la LYS As a Rotarian you are always welcome to visit the Rotary club at your destination, it is also a tradition to exchange club flags. You can see some of our collected flags on the first page of our home site.
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French visit
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-04-25 21:00:00Z |
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We arranged another Soup Kitchen today Saturday (8/3). We are financing and the work is done by Rotaract members (young Rotarians).
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Soup Kitchen
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Mats Henningsson
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2025-03-07 21:00:00Z |
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We have just received high quality used clothes from Bad Homburg Rotary Club that we have a long term relation with The Club is situated close to Frankfurt AM and we arrange the transport with support from NORD-EXIM (Latvia) We donate the clothes to the Latvian Salvation Army and to the PINS shelter. More pictures below:
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Clothes from Bad Homburg
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-12-18 21:00:00Z |
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The Santa's Fun Run that we arranged December 8th was a success, again ! We have been doing it yearly since 2008 ! The number of participants was 570. More pictures and information below...
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SFR 2024 Success
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-12-08 21:00:00Z |
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We are pleased to announce that we are organizing the annual Santa’s Fun Run on December 8, 2024 with the race starting at 15:00 in the Riga Old Town Dome Square. We invite you to participate and welcome any contributions to this yearly charity event. Santa’s Fun Run first began in December since 2008 and has been an annual tradition since. This year’s funds are going to be donated to support our long-term partner- the Ronald McDonald House Charities Latvija (RMHC Latvija) children’s “Care Mobile” program. The mission of the children’s “Care Mobile” program is to enable access and availability of professional health services for children throughout Latvia, especially the tough to reach places in the countryside. Tickets: Participants pay EUR 15 for the participation fee and this fee includes a Santa Claus suit. Tickets can be bought via this link: http://www.santafunrun.lv/ FB info: https://www.facebook.com/share/pDqF69cZo6Kkne61/?mibextid=9l3rBW
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SFR2024
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-10-26 21:00:00Z |
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At the Hand Over meeting we also inducted Lina Rimkiene (see photo, from the left: Karlis, Lina and Thuc) as a new member of our Club. A warm welcome to Lina !
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Lina New Member
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-08-02 21:00:00Z |
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We had the "Hand Over" meeting at Kuksu Muiza. Hand over from previous President: Karlis Bancovics to our new President Thuc To. It is the second time Thuc becomes President of the Club. A deep thank you to Karlis for he's efforts to vitalize our Club. And a BIG welcome to Thuc. It was a delightful warm afternoon for our Handover ceremony at Kuksa manor. Thank you for everyone who attended this unforgettable event to kick off the 2024-25 year. Looking forward to this adventure with old/new and deepening our friendships together through creating memorable experiences.
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Hand Over meeting
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-08-02 21:00:00Z |
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... and on March 7th we could welcome another new member: Thomas Spatziers (to the right in the picture)
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ThomasNewMember
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-03-06 21:00:00Z |
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Also March 7th we got a visit from Virginia USA: Lindsey Watson. The picture shows the exchange of Club Flags.
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VisitFromVirginia
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-03-06 21:00:00Z |
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On February the 1st we had the pleasure of welcoming a new member: Guna Caune !
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GunaNewMember
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-01-31 21:00:00Z |
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We did collect some money and bought food that we handed over to the Salvation Army to distribute to families in need in Latvia. Here comes a thank you from the Army: I can report that we were able to make 104 food packages with your donations. The money
and the candles (donation from Baltic Candles) were all that were contributed as donations. From The Salvation Army, we alsoadded a small promotional box of matches in each packet, which could of course be used with the candles, and carried an encouraging bible verse on them.
We distributed these packages to our centres in Bauska, Daugavpils, Drusti, Iecava,
Jelgava/Dobele, Liepa, Riga (Centre), Riga (East), Saldus and Seda. More pictures below
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Food Drive
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2024-01-19 21:00:00Z |
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Every year the Rotary Club in Bad Homburg, Germany collects used clothes of good quality that we transport to Riga. We hand over the clothes to The Salvation Army and that PINS shelter here in Riga for their distribution. Here is the thank you letter from the Salvation Army: Here is the thank you letter from PINS Shelter, written by Norbert Snarskis, Member of the Board:
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Used Clothes Distribution
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Mats Henningsson
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2024-01-18 21:00:00Z |
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Picture from the Santa's Fun Run warming up And Start: The RMHC Truck: We do this to add some fun to the Christmas celebration and, most important, to collect money for charity. This year as previous we will donate the net from this event to Ronald McDonald House Charities RMHC. They drive a truck, which is a small hospital, to rural areas in Latvia to give specialist medical care to children. And they are also helping Ukraine with medical aid.
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Santa's Fun Run Success!
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-12-03 21:00:00Z |
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This years Santa's Fun Run will happen Sunday the 3rd of December (the same day as the Christmas Market opens) at the Dome Square in Riga's Old Town. The official time is 14:00 until 17:00 but we will start handing out and also sell Santa Suits (tickets) from 13.00. At 14:00 our DJ will play music and we will have warm up exercise. At 15:00 the Run starts. At 16:00 the event ends.
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Santa's Fun Run 2023
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-10-24 21:00:00Z |
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From the money collected during the Santa's Fun Run in December 2022 we donated half of it to RMHC's medical trucks helping children in rural Latvian areas and the other half into the trucks helping people in need of medical help from and within Ukraine. Here is a screenshot from RMHC's Facebook Page with a thank you to us among other contributors:
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RMHC Supporting Ukraine
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-04-08 21:00:00Z |
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Mendip is a district in England situated west of London on the way to Cornwall close to Bristol, on the map below it is marked with a red circumference. Eight members of the Rotary Club visited us March 31 and we had a very nice meeting.
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Visit from Mendip RC England
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-04-02 21:00:00Z |
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Food Drive, December 2022 – January 2023. We collected money (2 000 EUR) for food parcels to be distributed to multi children’s families and families in hard circumstances in different locations around Latvia through Salvation Army. The food was paid for by the Club, delivered to the SA location in Riga, sorted in Riga by Salvation Army employees, picked up and delivered to 9 locations around Latvia and handed out.  
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Food Drive
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-02-24 21:00:00Z |
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Distribution of Clothes sent by Bad Homburg Kurpark Rotary Club – December 2022 – January 2023. Each December we receive a truckload of collected secondhand clothes from the Rotary Club in Bad Homburg (Germany). We transport it to Riga and distribute to needy people in Latvia. This year as well as previous; Salvation Army was asked to distribute the items. The Salvation Army got 64 boxes. The boxes were delivered to Bruninieku 10a, SA main office in Latvia. The majority of boxes were left in Riga, since there are many needy Ukrainian families coming to SA at Bruninieku 10a, some boxes went to SA social center at Varaklanu iela 1, some went to Drusti, an area with many foster families. The center at Bruninieku 10a gives away clothes also to other organizations/people who need them. For example, there are people from the Mental Hospital coming on a regular basis. 
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Clothes Distribution
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-02-24 21:00:00Z |
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The young Marshalls and our member Norberts that helped us to show the track during the Santa's Fun Run in December 2022 had a celebration on Restaurant Stargorod.
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SFR Marshalls party
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-02-23 21:00:00Z |
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We gave money to RMHC Latvija Mobile Care for helping children in Latvia and refugees from Ukraine in Latvia with medical care with their mobile care trucs. Here comes some pictures:
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RMHC helping Latvia and Ukraine
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-02-12 21:00:00Z |
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We had a prominent guest speaker on our meeting Friday the 27th of January: Mr. Burhan Erkan, the lead engineer for the mammoth project "Rail Baltica" and responsible mainly for the Latvia section. He is employed by Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting (DBEC). DBEC is one of the largest engineering companies in the world for new big railway projects. Rail Baltica is currently the largest infrastructure project in the European Union.
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Rail Baltica
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Mats Henningsson
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2023-01-28 21:00:00Z |
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At the Dome Square the 11th of December there was more than 400 participants from Latvia, Sweden and Canada, after the run it became folk festival with DJ music and dance. Forming up before the start Count down And here we go!
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The Santa's Fun Run was a success!
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-12-20 21:00:00Z |
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We have been arranging the Santa’s Fun Run yearly in the middle of December since 2008. During 2020 until 2021 we have not been able to arrange it in the traditional way, but this year we are back to normal!
It will happen on Sunday December 11th 2022 at the Dome Square in central Riga and the run starts 11.00. Participants pay EUR 15 for the ticket and the Santa Claus suit, all runners will get a medal.
The money we have collected has been given to different charity organizations in Latvia.
This year we have chosen Ronald McDonald House Charities Latvija (RMHC Latvija) children’s
“Care Mobile” program.
The mission of the children’s “Care Mobile” program is to secure availability of services that
directly impact health and well-being of children in Latvia.
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The Santa's Fun Run 2022
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-11-10 21:00:00Z |
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We had a good meeting on our Friday lunch Sept 23rd 2022 There were 7 visitors from Denmark.
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Meeting Sept 23rd 2022
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Mats Henningson
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2022-09-24 21:00:00Z |
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Friday the 9th of September we got a visit by Daiga Mejere - Rasmusena from RC Lviv Ratusha to also sign the protocol from the Inter-Country Committee Ukraine - Latvia Charter Agreement.
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ICC Ukraine Latvia
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-09-13 21:00:00Z |
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We welcomed a new member to our club today (9th of September)
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New member Andis
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-09-08 21:00:00Z |
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On our Friday meeting the 26th of August we got a visit from Ukraine by Руслан Аликперов (Ruslan Alikperov). The message from Ruslan was that Ukraine needs help to survive the winter. Both housing and money is needed, Ruslan presented projects in both areas that are done within the Rotary organisation. There was some technical obstacles so he could not show he's Powerpoint slides, some of them can be seen below. We are investigating how our Club and District can support the projects.
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Visit from Ukraine
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-08-28 21:00:00Z |
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Friday 12th of August we had a guest speaker from MeYou.One: Henric Johansson He told us about the company MeYou.One that is situated in Daugavpils. The company is consulting in mental training, leader development and coaching with customers in all ages, especially in the Latgale region. They have also received and helped refugees from Ukraine that arrived via Belarus.
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Visit by MeYou.One
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-08-13 21:00:00Z |
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We met with families the 9th of July to do the Hand Over from the Presidency of 2021/22 to 2022/23 at Kukšu muiža. During the meeting Thomas reported about our help to Ukraine and Anna reported about our food drive project in the winter. We also introduced two new members into the Club: Abu and Martins. We were visited by the new District Governor of district 2410: Guntars Kniksts:
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HandOver22
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-07-15 21:00:00Z |
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One Fire Truck delivered to Ukraine
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Fire Truck and Engines to Ukraine
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-06-11 21:00:00Z |
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The 11th of May we were visited by representatives from Ukraine Dnipro and München-Blutenburg Rotary Clubs. We found out that there is a lot of activities in the München-Blutenburg RC to send medical equipment and other support to Ukraine and also to support refugees from Ukraine. Another indication that the whole Rotary organization is helping Ukraine.
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Non profit Rotary in Europe united in Ukraine help
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-05-10 21:00:00Z |
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A few days after the Russian attack on Ukraine we started a project to send medical aid to them. We got lists of needed medical equipment from hospitals in Lviv via the Rotary Club in Lviv. We donated money to the project and contacted other Rotary clubs in Latvia and Sweden as well as different companies and asked them to donate money, so far (27th of April) we have collected EUR 200 000 ! We went through the lists to find out what was realistic to deliver from Latvia, negotiated with vendors and shipped the equipment as the money came in.
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We are helping Ukraine
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-04-27 21:00:00Z |
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Distribution of Clothes collected by Bad Homburg Kurpark Rotary Club – January 2022. 
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Clothes Distribution
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-02-01 21:00:00Z |
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Anna made an excellent presentation of the Food Drive project with images showing were the food went and what it contained. It is nice to see that our money collection (EUR 1900) had been used for food and distributed professionally to 300 people.
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Food Drive
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Mats Henningsson
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2022-01-22 21:00:00Z |
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