The Atlanta Host Organization Committee is offering some good old-fashioned Southern hospitality at the Rotary International Convention from 10 to 14 June. It has planned a wide range of activities featuring everything from good food and music to inspiring tours of local landmarks. If it’s your first convention, these events are chances to meet fellow Rotarians from around the world, and if you’re an experienced convention goer, you can catch up with old friends.
Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Aaron will host Rotarians for a “Strike Out Polio” night at the new SunTrust Park, where you’ll...
When Teguest Yilma helped found the Rotary Club of Addis Ababa Entoto in 2002, she thought polio had already been eradicated from most of the world. But while Ethiopia had been free of the disease, Yilma was shocked to learn that new cases had started cropping up in surrounding countries such as Somalia.
“I was thinking, it’s not possible, we can’t be free if the countries around us are not free,” she says. Yilma, the managing editor of Capital, Ethiopia’s largest English weekly newspaper, has brought a journalist’s skills to the fight against polio. She became vice chair of the Ethiopia...
Battling breast cancer in 2000, Kathryn Smith found comfort pursuing her lifelong interest in Franklin D. Roosevelt. The more she read, the more intrigued she became with the 32nd U.S. president’s private secretary, Marguerite Alice “Missy” LeHand. “I thought, what a fascinating life she had because she was by his side through the polio crisis, establishing the polio rehabilitation center in Warm Springs and then after his return to politics,” she says. Smith, a past president of the Rotary Club of Greater Anderson, S.C., and a longtime newspaper journalist, turned that curiosity into a book...
One of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s earliest memories is of fleeing with his family into the mountains during the Korean War, his village burning behind him. His father and grandfather had to forage for food in the woods; his mother gave birth to his siblings away from anything remotely resembling a health facility. “I have known hunger,” he says. “I have known war, and I have known what it means to be forced to flee conflict.”
The soldiers who came to their rescue were flying the blue flag of the United Nations. The UN provided them with food and their schools with books....
Like a lot of us, I spent much of my childhood riding bikes, but fell out of the habit for a while. Forty years. Then my wife and I moved to New York, where cyclists risk their necks in a daily Thunderdome of cabs, police cars, firetrucks, double-decker buses, messengers on motorbikes, and delivery trucks backing around corners at 20 miles an hour. Not for me! At least not until my 50th birthday, when my metabolic furnace flamed out. Calories started going directly from beer bottle to beer belly. It was time to start exercising. Either that or give up Samuel Adams, and I couldn’t do that to...
General Membership voting on Tuesday April 27, 2017
Please read President Dimitri's summary of his report to the club on January 31, 2017. OPEN LINK
In view of new information about endowment funds that became available since June 7, 2016 and was presented to the membership on January 31, 2017, the 2016-17 Board of Directors passed a resolution at the Board meeting of March 16, 2017 to hold a membership vote on April 25, 2017 on the following motion:
To allow the Board of Directors to establish an endowment fund under the name of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona through the Edmonton Community Foundation and to place an initial deposit of $10,000 from our recent casino account into the endowment fund.
If you are unable to attend this important meeting, you are encouraged to vote by proxy. Your vote matters.
Download theproxy form, complete it and give to the person you intend to vote on your behalf as indicated on the form.
Alternately, you may fax, email or hand to Hans Granholm with a clear indication of your Yes orNo preference.
This past Tuesday we heard from Joan Baker, pictured, VP of Community Housing Initiatives from the YMCA of Northern Alberta. The YMCA of Northern Alberta has facilities in Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Wood Buffalo. They have six Health, Fitness and Aquatics centers in northern Alberta where they have a policy that no one who can not afford these programs will be turned away. About one in five users of these facilities fall under this policy. They are also the largest provider of child care in northern Alberta, with sixty six centers, with twenty two early childhood and forty four out of school programs.
They also provide community programs such as education, literacy and employment supports, leadership development, and supports for immigrants, refugees, and foreign workers. In addition they provide community wellness programs, life skills (applying for income supports, shopping for groceries, navigating the neighbourhood, finding furniture, preparing meals, cleaning their clothing and home, using the transit system, finding a drug store, a family doctor or dentist, etc.). They have ten low income kitchens where they teach people how to prepare nutritious meals on a budget. They also connect clients with other providers of supports such as Mustard Seed or Housing for Humanity. A large portion of their programs are provided by volunteers. They had over six hundred volunteers last year.
Their housing philosophy is to provide housing first, along with all of the above supports, in order to give people a chance to remain housed into the future. They currently have two facilities that provide housing, the downtown YMCA building on 102A Ave., that has room for one hundred twenty people, and the MelCor YMCA Village, in the Boyle Street area, which has one hundred and fifty units. The downtown building is very old and requires extensive renovation to bring it up to code. The expense to do this makes it not feasible, so it was decided last fall to close this facility. All but forty of the occupants have now been helped to find other accommodation. They are working on finding housing for the remaining forty people prior to the closing of the facility this fall.
The YMCA has an enterprise model for funding, which means they charge fees for some of their services, but others are provided free, based on need. Their budget target to raise this year is three point one million. They receive social (individual) funding, government funding and a small amount of funding from the United Way. They manage their own charitable foundation (the Edmonton YMCA Foundation), and also have a charitable endowment fund under the Edmonton Community Foundation. The vast majority of their funding comes from private individuals like us.
On April 4, 2017 I visited ELEPAP in Ioannina that we funded the purchase of 8 computers.
I was accompanied by a small delagation of the RC of Ioannina, including its President Dr. Kosta Kotsi. At ELEPAP we were greeted by the President Natassa Benga and the facility director Vassiliki Mastaka.
The Computer Room of the RC of Edmonton Starthcona was amazing. The computers were in the room hooked up to special equipment for users. A sign was prominently displayed as you may see it on the photograph. I also presented them with a banner that I asked them to place on the wall.
You cannot imagine how grateful ELEPAP is with our donation, and the use they have started doing with the equipment.
For those that were on the 2017 Greek tour, we also visited the ELEPAP village for 35 adult people with special needs. The facility is completed and will start to be populated in the next month or so. The European Union inspected the facility and is presently looking at the possibility of providing them more funding for the operation and/or expansion.
I also visited a school were the participants of the 2017 Greek tour gave a donation of 500 Euros that was used to provide daily lunch to 20 Roma elementary sudents. Unfortunatelly the kids were gone but the photos of the classrooms show the poverty that exist.
On Thursday I will attend the meeting of the RC of Ioannina.
The computers (with special keyboards, tools etc...) are purchased and set, and...our club sign is already on the wall ....and what a size
I have spoken to Natasha and also to the director and will arrange to visit them sometime next week, maybe with representatives from the RC of Ioannina. At that time I will send new photos.
On behalf of ELEPAP I would personally like to thank the Board and through it the membership for this generous donation to my heritage hometown. We will alway remember the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona.
Thanks for all the volunteers who helped cook and serve at The Mustard Seed this past Wednesday. Judy from the Mustard Seed put us all to work preparing and serving 235 guests perogies and sausages with all the fixings. We even had ice cream and cookies for dessert. Judy was impressed with our group as was I and would love to have us return soon. A very good and rewarding night.
The life blood of our Rotary Club and Rotary International heading into the future is the successful recruitment and retention of new Rotary Club members. As time marches on, it is imperative that we are all actively identifying prospective new Rotary Club members, and inviting them out to our weekly club meetings. Our club has been very successful in recruiting and retaining new club members over the last several years.
Part of our recruiting initiative over the last couple of years, has been to have special lunch meetings devoted to inviting prospective new members to introduce them to our club, and to provide some insight into the benefits of joining Rotary. We have been holding these traditionally in the spring and the fall, with good results.
We are excited to announce our next Prospective New Members luncheon will be held on Tuesday May 2, 2017.
We will be highlighting the great work that our Rotary club has been doing locally and internationally. We think this would be a great way to introduce prospective new members to Rotary.
I encourage all of our active Rotary Club members to invite a friend, colleague, family member or just someone you may know who would appreciate Rotary. The lunch cost for any prospective member will be picked up by our Rotary Club.
In fact, we would like to extend our offer of a free lunch to any prospective member for any regular Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona lunch meeting, until further notice, to encourage the attendance of prospective new members throughout the year. We have attached an invitation letter for you to send out to anyone who may be interested in Rotary.
Please RSVP to myself directly with the names of any prospective members who will be joining us for our lunch meeting by Thursday April 27, 2017.
Here is a letter from one of the Mothers of Intention who learn and teach children through our sponsorships with the Amarok Society.
Her story is told by herself.
April 11, Co- founder Gem Monroe will be our Guest Speaker.
He is speaking to the Rotary Conference the previous weekend.
February 2017
Amarok Society
Ruma Khatun
Khulna, Bangladesh
Dear Ken,
I hope you are very well. We are also fine. You will be happy to know that now my daughter Sefa Akther Rasni can recite rhyme and try to write herself. Now she is 2 and half years old. Today I like to tell you about our mother school and education for little children that I teach. When I came to our mother school then my consideration how people can write their own name. But now I am thinking to write a name or something it doesn`t means education. Education is much than more singing or writes words. But every day we are learning many new things and realizing more on importance of education in our life. We come in our school for learning and have some responsibilities as a mother to our children. In our culture mothers are responsible to take care of their children.
You will be happy to know that last December we 25 mothers win award from our mother school as our volunteer service to teaching children. I think this is our dignity and also our social respect. You know my learning is very limited. And with this I am trying my best to teach 4 neighbor children and my daughter.
Now in our school we are learning English song “Little cock sparrow”. This is an interesting song to consider the importance of thinking ability. For every song our teacher discusses in between two lines and acknowledges our opinions. We are lucky that we learn English and teaching English to our children. In the same way we are also learning Bengali songs. Before our school, I thought song is for amusement. But now I believe we can learn many things through songs and role-play. In Bengali there are many songs on Patriotism, Love, Civilization, Relations, Historical, Dedication, folks and Philosophy. In the beginning of our school when our teacher played songs and put in speakers then people thought there is something enjoyments going on. But now they know we learn by song and teach our children through songs, poems and stories.
We are happy for our challenging life and gradually changing our life.
Thank you for your support to my education and prosper.
The format for the April event is 2 couples Visit to the house. One couple the host family selects and one couple I will assign. Otherwise the same format.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a social program of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona. It is designed to provide an opportunity for Club members and spouses/companions to meet other Club members in an informal, social, small group setting.
Typically a Member would Host one month and be a Guest for two months. All Members are encouraged to participate - even if for only one month. The visitors should expect anything from spaghetti or pizza to steaks. The most important part of this program is the fellowship and the opportunity to get to know each other better.
Tickets are going fast to the 2017 YESS Gala for Youth! Guests will enjoy elegant entertainment, sumptuous décor, and a decadent feast worthy of the gods. Dive in with us to discover the timeless secrets and hidden treasures of the lost city of Atlantis!
It all takes place on April 28, 2017, in the luxury of the SHAW Conference Centre.
Location - Hall D, Shaw Conference Centre (9797 Jasper Avenue)
Cocktails - 6:30PM
Program & Gala Dinner Begins, Cash Bar - 7:30PM
Parking - Parking options include the Impark Underground Lot at Canada Place, Impark Surface Lot at the Courtyard by Marriott, and the Grierson Hill Surface Lot
Additional Activities include a Live and Silent Auction
Dress - Cocktail or in Theme (Atlantis)
Last year's Gala for Youth was one of the most successful fundraisers in YESS history. Be a part of the life-changing programs and resources that help youth who are in crisis and experience homelessness on their way to brighter futures.
Rtn. Jerry Kelly from Victoria, formerly with the RC Edmonton, joined us at the zoo and gave us an invitation to join other golfers from around the world to their 54th golf tournament in Victoria BC. The "International Golfing Fellowship of Rotary" is one of the oldest Rotary Fellowships.
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