Our Speaker this week was Lyle Johson.
Lyle is the current president of the Sherwood Park Rotary Club and athe executive director of the Emmanuel foundation.
Lyle was there to tell us about the partnership that the Emmanuel Foundation has with rotary, what the foundation does and how we can help.
About Emmanuel Foundation
Emmanuel Foundation is a charity that exists to serve the poor in tangible ways. We desire to demonstrate God’s love by sharing our resources to create hope for a better tomorrow for individuals, families and communities of developing countries in the areas of their physical, social and spiritual wellbeing. We do this through getting involved in 3 different areas.
Playground Projects:
We rescue decommissioned playgrounds that are destined for our landfills. After some refurbishing, we send them to areas of the world where children do not have access to developmental play. *
Shipping Containers:
We have developed a Distribution Centre which exists to send goods and materials to organizations that are actively involved in sustainable community development in developing countries. Emmanuel Foundation ships about 20 containers each year. These shipments of needed items include medical and educational equipment and supplies that will contribute to the success of these organizations’ endeavors. **
Community Development:
While on trips to build playgrounds, significant needs in many communities became apparent to us. Emmanuel Foundation has served some of these communities beyond providing goods and playgrounds through supporting initiatives such as safe water projects, school construction and training.
* Emmanuel Foundation founder, Gary Debney launched this initiative in 2002 in collaboration with two Calgary Parks and School Board representatives, Wayne Baptist and Ray Hauck. Gary has been involved in Parks and Recreation for over 30 years serving on Alberta and Canadian Parks and Recreation boards for many of those years and understood the importance of play in the development of a child. These men saw the potential available with these decommissioned playgrounds to change the lives of children little or no access to such play. Since Emmanuel Foundation began we have had the privilege of installing over 60 playgrounds in developing countries around the world! In 2006 Gary received on behalf of Emmanuel Foundation a World Leisure Reward at the international conference in China for this innovation!
** For over thirty years there had been a service in Alberta, led by Lovyl Marion, called Alberta Development Relief Agency – Aid International SocietY (ADRA-ASI), which had gathered goods to send overseas to help with international relief and development efforts. In 2003 ADRA-ASI joined with Rotary’s Humanitarian Aid Warehouse Society (HAWS) to work together for this common goal. In 2010 both ADRA-ASI and HAWS approached Emmanuel Foundation to take over this important work which we have been privileged to do so since September of 2010.
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