We had a nice ad-hoc Club outing this weekend. A number of members and wives had the opportunity to hear about the Disabled Sailing Association of Alberta, and got to experience a short sail. A few new skippers in the making.
DSAA has existed at South Glenmore Park since the mid 1990’s and they also execute Outreach Programs to sites at Chestermere, Sylvan and Wabamun Lakes from time to time. The mission of the DSAA is to relieve conditions associated with disability by providing specially adapted boats, sailing programs, and facilities to beings with various disabilities. In addition to supporting individual sailors, the staff and volunteers have a very active summer program supporting 22 community groups coming from hospitals, kid’s cancer camps, brain injured support groups, MS support groups, MD support groups, etc.RCCHP has made two generous donations over the past couple of years – helping to maintain boats and facilities, fund sailing for people without financial means, and to provide staff and volunteers with t-shirts which identify both DSAA and RCCHP – which allow the staff and volunteers to be easily recognized by clients and the public.
There is an annual regatta using the Martin 16 class of boats. It moves around the country from year to year. This year the regatta is at Cape Breton and the Title Sponsor is the Rotary Club of North Sydney. Calgary hosted in the late 90’s and 2005 at Glenmore and 2014 at Lower Kananaskis Lake. Each regatta involves approximately 50 sailors from across the country with some international presence, and another 50 aides and volunteers.
The Board, staff and volunteers at DSAA are very appreciative of our support.
58 campers, 10 youth leaders and 24 volunteers from Rotary, Community Futures and “friends of RAYEC” (past campers, former CF and Rotary) attended the 24thoccasion of RAYEC, held at Eagle’s Nest Ranch in the Cypress Hills in August.
After reviewing the business plans, $6,000 of loan and float money was approved by the team of bankers from Servus Credit Union. The local Community Futures office provided the funds to the business teams.
At the conclusion of the Business Day on Saturday, when all the families came to pick up their campers, all the loans were repaid with interest and fees, garage sale bills were paid, table rental and office costs were paid.
In the end each camper went home with money jingling in their pockets – anywhere from $20 to $120 per camper and some teams made donations to charity on top of that.
Rotary members in Ukraine are distributing supplies from other countries, organizing long-term aid, and helping their neighbours settle back into their homes – despite being affected by the war themselves. Ukraine District 2232 has received four disaster response grants of $50,000 each from The Rotary Foundation, which together will fund nearly 50 relief projects across Ukraine. Read more about their efforts in the face of adversity and learn how Rotary is responding to the war in Ukraine.
Calgary Public Library has partnered with a local schools, the Calgary Police Service and local Rotary Clubs to offer It’s a Crime Not to Read. This program connects Grade 2 and 3 students with books, reading, life-long learning, and positive community relationships. Each month, staff from the Calgary Public Library and an Officer from the Calgary Police Service visits a participating school. The Police Officer reads aloud to the students, illustrating the importance of developing strong literacy skills. Each student receives a free Library Card and the importance of using library resources is reinforced. A selection of books from the Calgary Public Library is brought to each session for students to borrow. The Police Officer is a positive role model, and becomes a mentor to the students. The participants also take part in several special events in the course of the program.
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