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...
Members are reminded about the UPDATED District Volunteer Security Policy, DOWNLOAD HERE.
This policy was generated from the requirement of our insurance company providing liability coverage in case of issues arising from members and non-Rotarians working with youth and other vulnerable members of our society.
The policy provides that all involved Rotarians and non-Rotarians complete a vulnerable persons police check. Click on "Read more..." or title 'Police Check' to read more about the relaxed submission procedure which has been greatly simplified.
Contact Hans Granholm, 780-466-5566 for more information.
This Tuesday we heard a classification talk from one of our newest members, Audrey Martyn, pictured. Audrey’s sponsor was Hans Pilz. Audrey is a native Edmontonian, being born and raised in Edmonton. She was the oldest of five children, with four younger brothers. She grew up in Belgravia and later Windsor Park, and attendee the U of A where she studied Education, with a double major in Languages and Psychology. Her first teaching job was in the inner city, where she had one incident in her first month, where she had to take a knife away from a grade five student. The next year she moved to a school on the south side, where she taught in several schools for many, many years. She finished her career teaching at Ross Shepherd High School. She spoke of how teaching has changed over the years, and the challenges of dealing with children from all types of backgrounds.
Audrey is married with two grown children and two grandchildren. She and her husband have travelled all over northern Canada, camping and trailering. Her husband is an avid hunter and fisherman. She says that she keeps busy as the family socialite, doing most of the family entertaining. She remarked how her brothers can’t seem to find the kitchen.
Since the 1970’s she has been a volunteer with the Edmonton Symphony, doing all kinds of work for them. She worked with them through some interesting times building the Winspear Center, and during their move from the Jubilee Auditorium to the Winspear. The Edmonton Symphony is the fifth largest symphony in Canada, and as a board representative of them, she sometimes felt like she did not fit in with the other high society symphony reps from other larger North American symphonies. She had some interesting stories to tell about her high fashion encounters with some of these ladies.
Audrey has also become a strong advocate for the CNIB and also for the organ transplant community in Edmonton, and Alberta. She herself required a cornea transplant several years ago, so she has first hand experience of ho difficult it can be for people who are waiting for a suitable organ. She was able to advocate to government the need for a better system to encourage and track organs for transplant, and also the funding needed to support this system. We have a need for about six to seven hundred eyes and about four hundred other transplant organs per year in Alberta alone. At the time she had her transplants done, there was only one surgeon doing corneal transplants, and he was doing them all privately after hours. Thankfully that has now changed, due in part to her lobbying.
Audrey also volunteers at Arch Greenhouses, one of the groups that our Rotary club supports. She looks forward to sharing in our rotary activities, and also to having the opportunity to share her causes with us, and we look forward to getting to know her better.
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.
Donna is collecting silent auction items for the Pilgrims Hospice Fund raising Gala on April 7. Anyone who has items they would like to donate, can bring them to the meeting on Tuesday (April 4th) or call me 7804355498 to pick up. It's a good cause and all donors are recognized.
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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Fund raising Gala on April 7. Anyone who has items they would like to donate, can bring them to the meeting on Tuesday (April 4th) or call me 
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