Gathering at RIC we enjoyed the company of Wayne, Nav, Rudy, John, Anthony, Nora, Brendan, Allan and Merle this evening. We were joined by Ralph Bittner, Larry Kerray and Blake Burgess from the Alano Club of Langley.
President Rudy opened the meeting with a land acknowledgement, some information about the club, and the singing of O Canada (“Good singing. Thank you very much.”)
Announcement: 50/50 Sales Participation: Wayne, Gertrude, Brendan and Merle will be working at Save On Foods this Saturday, while Allan and Nora will be selling at the Global Music Festival at Kwantlen U. Late Notice: Nora was unable to work at Save On Foods on Sunday as she had planned as the store manager told us we were no longer welcome there.
Alano Club of Langley
Our guest speakers came to us from the Alano Club of Langley, a social club separate from Alcoholics Anonymous, where alcoholics and others can gather in a safe, friendly, presentable environment to help each other on their roads to recovery from addiction. The club was started, closed in 1995, then restarted in 1999 in a room near Home Hardware in Langley City, moved, and has been at 20473 Douglas Crescent since 2013. The club has seventy core members and had one hundred attend their AGM. Membership costs are $10 per month and the facility has a pool table, concession, and a tv room. Crib and other card games are often being played. See the attached brochure for more details about the club.
We learned that AA is self-supporting to the extreme, with only members donating. The Alano Club is a separate entity, providing a space for AA members and others to gather and hold meetings, and have a place to socialize with each other. Connections are important, and socializing outside of meetings is very important in the recovery process. The club is struggling financially at the moment because they did not receive a gaming grant this year (the government will not fund a room for AA meetings) and they need to prove to the gaming commission that they are indeed a social club providing a service beyond AA meetings to get a grant next year. Their facility charges $4200 per month for rent, plus utilities, so you can see they could use additional funding to be able to continue this service. Rotarians are invited to drop in to view their facility and visit with them.
Rotary Moment with Wayne
HOW DID THE ROTARY FOUNDATION GET STARTED?
The Foundation began after Rotary’s sixth president, Arch Klumph, suggested in 1917 that Rotary should have an endowment fund “for the purpose of doing good in the world.”
Starting from an initial contribution of US$26.50 from the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Missouri, USA, the Foundation has received more than $4.4 billion in total contributions.
The Foundation made a grant of $500 to an organization supporting children with special needs in 1930 and continues to do good around the world in Rotary’s name.
The Light Touch
Wayne continued with The Light Touch with three Silly Joke offerings.
I was kidnapped by mimes once. They did unspeakable things to me.
I finally decided to sell my vacuum cleaner. All it was doing was gathering dust!
A friend of mine went bald years ago, but still carries around an old comb. He just can’t part with it.
Other updates
Happy and sad dollars were pledged for: getting a new credit card (and all the work that goes with that); having received assignments at Ribfest for self and granddaughter; appreciating the three gentlemen coming to us this evening to share their story; the evening presentation; two picnics; going looking for bats; the superb job being done to get us speakers; wife needing to see an eye specialist; and more.
We closed with a toast to Canada. Note: Next week we’re back at Timms and Dr. John will be our guest speaker. Wayne is scheduled to be selling 50/50 tickets on July 29 and he and Merle are on for July 30. We are looking for volunteers for August 6, 12:30-4 at Krause Berry Farms; August 12 11-1:30 and 1:30-4 at Otter Coop; and August 13 from 11-1:30 at Save On Foods in Walnut Grove. After that we’re at Ribfest and we need more volunteers for that event. We also need someone to take notes for RoteNotes next week as Wayne will be at his Joint Strata’s AGM.
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