Eric Germain with his wife Karen
Good evening fellow Rotarians and ladies and gentlemen.
Creating Lasting Impact. That is the Rotary theme for the 2026-2027 Rotary year.
I have modified it to Creating Lasting Positive Impact to reflect our Rotary Club’s positive outlook and wish for positive results.
And it is the motto and mission the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona plans to act on for this upcoming Rotary year.
Our Rotary Club has a proud history of 52 years since it started in 1974.
From local programs and projects, to our international initiatives and projects around the world,
We have been creating lasting positive impact.
I had the privilege to represent our Rotary Club at the Rotary District Convention in May in Whitehorse Yukon. It was a great convention attended by over 250 people from the 53 Rotary Clubs in our Rotary District 5370.
Our Past Rotary District Governor Ramesh Ferris and his team did an excellent job of organizing the conference.
It included an outstanding presentation by Rick Hanson, the Canadian Man in Motion who went around the world in his wheelchair in the 1980’s to promote awareness for people with disabilities.
Ramesh Feris is also a very accomplished and interesting gentleman. He was infected with polio when he was only 6 months old living in India, and lost partial use of his legs. He was adopted by a family in Whitehorse Yukon as a small child. Ramesh hand cycled 7,140 kilometers over 6 months across Canada in 2008 to increase awareness of the Polio Plus program. He is a very well respected key note speaker at major events including at the United Nations and the World Health Organization conventions around the world to champion the Rotary Polio Plus program, which was started in 1985, to eradicate the polio virus from the world. Polio is now 99.9 % eradicated, with just a few cases this year being reported in war zones in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is estimated that the Polio Plus program has prevented over 20 million new cases of this terrible deadly and debilitating disease since 1985. Hopefully polio will be completely gone from planet earth in the next couple of years. That is creating lasting positive impact.
Karen and myself had the privilege of representing our Rotary Club recently at the Rotary International Convention in Taipei Taiwan June 14 to June 18. It was an excellent convention attended by over 37,000 people from over 140 countries.
Rotary International Past President Francesco Arezzo from Italy provided a review of his Rotary year with the theme Unite for Good. And that we develop our Rotary friendships not only at our regular club meetings and special events like this evening, but also in the projects and the services we provide, making our communities and our world a better place, while developing friend ships, and having fun.
The Rotary International Convention also focused on the Rotary Foundation. It was established in 1917 by Rotary President Arch Klumph who proposed setting up an endowment fund for the purpose of doing good in the world. It is recognized as one of the top foundations in the world. It helps Rotary members advance community and world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment and alleviating poverty. With every Rotarian every year making a donation to the Rotary Foundation, it has a net asset value of over US$1.4 billion. It has invested over US$4 billion in thousands of projects over the last 100 years. That is creating lasting positive impact.
Rotary International Incoming President Olayinka Hakeem Babalola, also known as President Yinka from Nigeria reminded us of the Rotary Four Way test. The guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships. It was created by Herbert Taylor in 1932, and was officially adopted by Rotary in 1943.The test consists of four simple questions to ask before saying or doing anything.
Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? And President Yinko added a fifth question; Will it be fun?
Highlighting that happy Rotary members build strong Rotary clubs.
There was a strong focus at the Rotary International Convention on recruiting new members and retaining existing members in our Rotary clubs.
Rotary International currently has 1.2 million Rotarians in over 45,000 Rotary clubs around the world. The goal is to increase the number of members to 1.25 million by the year 2030 The year 2030, only four years from now, will be the 125 anniversary since Rotary was started in Chicago by our founder Paul Harris. The Rotary membership numbers are declining in North America, while increasing in other parts of the world most notably in Asia and Africa.
In order to encourage the growth of our Rotary Club membership, we would like all of our members to have the courage to care, and to invite friends and neighbours and colleagues to consider checking out Rotary and possibly becoming a Rotarian.
Our Rotary Club would like to put more focus and attention on the new Friend of Rotary membership category. That is a different type of membership in our Rotary Club. It is open to anyone over the age of 18, it is non voting, and it is free. To often the financial cost of being a full Rotarian Club member discourages young and financially challenged people from joining Rotary. Once they are more established, they would be encouraged to become a full Rotarian Club member. This would include past Interact and Rotaract club members and teacher advisors. It would include individuals in service and not for profit organizations we support. And it would be for anyone else we deem to be a good potential Friend of Rotary Club member.
Over the last 20 years we have had very successful Rotary Interact Clubs at J. Percy Page High School, also at W P Wagner High School and now for the last two years since it opened, the Elder Dr Francis Whiskeyjack High School. Many of those Interact Club members went on and joined the Rotaract Clubs at the University of Alberta and other post secondary institutions. Of all of those Interact and Rotaract club members, only very few have joined a Rotary Club. We need to build a better bridge to encourage these dynamic great people to continue or start their Rotary journey. That is the life blood and future succession for Rotary to continue its legacy for future generations.
The self declared mission of Rotary is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. In today’s world of isolation and loneliness Rotary is a beacon of hope for people to become engaged in their community and the world, and to develop friendships.
In attracting new Rotary members, we must ask ourselves, how can we be more diverse? Where do we find new potential members? How do we welcome new member and engage them with something to do?
In offering value to existing members, we must ask ourselves how do we better engage current members? What can we do to make our meetings more fun and interesting for everyone? How do we raise awareness about Rotary and our club?
This year I would like every member of our Rotary Club to have a clear assigned task to do in our club. That could be a project, or a responsibility. an assignment, or a mission, to champion the well being of our Rotary Club. Many of you already have, but some don’t, or would like to do something different . Please let us know what you would like to do to make your Rotary membership more fulfilling.
This year our Rotary Club will be participating in the Rotary District club visioning and future planning program. An initiative by our new Rotary District Governor Jeanette Bancarz. All of our club members will be asked to participate. It will provide a plan and vision for the future of our club. It will help us on our journey of continuous improvement and evolving with the times. It will help us create lasting positive impact within our Rotary Club.
This year we would like to continue the great idea of having a special fun club event the second Tuesday of every couple of months. That is have a meeting with a taste where we go to a special restaurant for dinner. Have a meeting with a twist where we go to a special venue like a museum or art gallery or bowling or golf. And have a meeting with a purpose where we provide volunteer service at places like the Edmonton Food Bank and providing dinner at Ronald McDonald House. We will keep you posted as we schedule these club building events
At the heart of Rotary is belonging through purpose. Service above self.
This year we would like to have a Rotary Club Legacy Project. We have identified that project.
Sixty years ago, in 1966 a small group of visionaries and Rotarians committed time and money to rebuild Fort Edmonton, create an Edmonton heritage park, and develop a living history museum.
Our Rotary Club has made the decision of participating and financially supporting the development of the Fort Edmonton Foundation Rotary Gyro children’s playground and family picnic area project. Fort Edmonton is one of the premier tourist attractions in our community and Alberta. Currently there is no children’s playground at Fort Edmonton. There was a playground that was developed by the Gyro Club in 1976, but it was closed in the 1990’s as the playground equipment that I grew up with, and many of you, was deemed too dangerous. If any of you have children and grandchildren you know that kids today love to play at a playground.
This development which will be completed in approximately two years, will offer families a welcoming place to picnic, play and connect. It is a large well treed open area across the street from the Selkirk Hotel at Fort Edmonton Park. The project will help reestablish Rotary’s presence within Fort Edmonton Park. Our Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona will have permanent onsite recognition. And it will create lasting positive impact in our community.
In closing I would like to thank all of our Rotary Club members, past and present. From our Charter President John Germain to our most recent Past President Norman Leach. Thank you for helping our Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona, Create Lasting Positive Impact.
In the words of Henry David Thoreau:
There is a season for everything. You must live in the present. Launch yourself on every wave. Find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their islands of opportunity, and look towards another land. There is no other land. There is no other life but this.
Thank you.
