Our speaker this week was Kevin Royle, with the Edmonton Fire department. Kevin is our club’s nominee for the Integrity Award this year. Kevin told us how he had visited the Ukraine on a rotary sponsored trip and toured their fire halls hospitals and clinics and been dismayed by their condition. The equipment was old fashioned and dilapidated. Everything was underfunded and under resourced. His later research found that Fire death rates in the Ukraine were approximately 10 x . (5% compared to .5%) greater than in Edmonton. Kevin decided to do something about this. He started with the Edmonton fire Department and gathered surplus gear to donate to the Ukrainian firehalls. He recruited experienced people to assist and filled a container and returned to the Ukraine to deliver the supplies he had gathered. Special efforts were made to ensure that the equipment got to the places that it need to go and it was not diverted through graft or fraudulent activity. Kevin’s project has expanded and there are fire departments throughout Canada and internationally that are now participating. The program has also expanded to donate equipment to other countries. Kevin is currently fundraising and preparing for a 2nd trip to the Ukraine. Kevin is looking for volunteers to assist in cleaning and packing equipment for his second trip. |
