Outstanding Service Club Award!

November 15, 2006 was National Philanthropic Day, and the Edmonton Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals held their 8th Annual Luncheon and Awards ceremony at the Shaw Conference Centre. At this luncheon, The Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield was presented the award for the "Outstanding Service Club" category. Edmonton Mayfield was nominated by the Winnifred Stewart Association, for the Club's dedication of funds and labor towards providing Winnifred Stewart with a six suite apartment building that is currently being utilized to train mentally handicapped individuals to live independently. The quest for a major club project for Mayfield Rotary members began in the fall of 2003. The Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield, chartered in 1977, has a strong history of successful club projects within the Edmonton community. The Club's incoming President, Jim Galpin, who is also a Charter member, felt that it was time to get some excitement generated within the membership by taking on a major club project. He recruited the assistance of Past Presidents Eden Hampson, Jelto Schiebel, Bob Kavanaugh, and Frank Bell, along with incoming Community Service Director, Jim Clare. Together, they began to explore opportunities within the west end Edmonton community for a major project that would generate enthusiasm within the Club's membership. In December of 2004, Past President Bob Jickling contacted Jim with a proposal for a project in support of the Winnifred Stewart Association. Bob, retired at the time, was the past Director for the Winnifred Stewart Association, a long time member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield, and a Past President of the Club. The Rotary Club also had two of their current members who were associated with Winnifred Stewart. Janet DeBeurs was an employee at Winnefred Stewart, and Nada Thiru-Chelvam was on the Board of Directors for the Winnifred Stewart Association. Bob's proposal involved the purchase of a six suite apartment, renovating the suites, and having it serve as a training facility for mentally handicapped individuals to learn to live independently. While the Winnifred Stewart Association has a number of group homes that it utilizes to provide living assistance to mentally handicapped individuals, this facility was to be something different. This apartment was to be a facility for mentally handicapped individuals to live on their own, independently, without the assistance of a full time staff member. A Training Suite would be housed in the apartment building, for the purposes of training the individuals to live independently. They would be trained on cooking, washing, cleaning, paying bills, etc. This was a venture that had not been done before, and as far as WSA was concerned, a first for their Association. As the committee began to explore this proposal in more detail, the more exciting the project appeared. Bob Jickling was aware of a six suite apartment that was for sale, within a few blocks of the Winnifred Stewart Association's main office. In February of 2005, Eden Hampson and Jim Galpin met with the owner who was selling the apartment, and had a "walk through". It appeared structurally sound and certainly had potential, although it was an older building. As our Club could not purchase, or own property, we would have to provide funds for the Winnifred Stewart Association to be able to put a "down payment" on the purchase, assist them in the financing, and provide the upgrades and renovations to the building. The initial feeling was that it may be much more expensive than what our Club was willing to commit. However, we decided to explore the opportunity further, to find out exactly what we were dealing with, before ruling it out. Eden ordered an Inspection Report, and when that came back favorably, he ordered an appraisal. The appraisal came back with a figure that didn't appear to be out of our "realm of possibility", so Eden and Jim decided to meet with the owner to see if he would adjust his asking price more in line with the appraisal. They were stunned to find the owner was not only willing to adjust his asking price, he lowered it below the appraisal price because of his support for the project. Things were starting to get exciting, so the committee decided to put together a proposal to present to the Board of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield, and if met with Board approval, present to the Club membership. We proposed committing funds from the Club, initially $150,000, to assist WSA in the purchase of the building and the material costs of upgrades. In addition, we wanted the commitment from our Club members to donate their time in providing labor for the renovations. The proposal was approved by the Board, and now we proposed the project to our membership. It was met with unanimous approval from the Club members. The apartment building was purchased in March, 2005 with a possession date of July 1, 2005. Our Club had a time frame of three months to renovate the building, and suites, for occupancy in July. Our Club's Community Service Director, Jim Clare, appointed various foremen to organize the work details. Tim Onciul organized the painting crews for numerous shifts, to paint suites, hallways, ceilings, etc. Owen Jackson and his crew were responsible for demolition of cupboards and floors, as well as the plumbing repairs. Ted LeLacheur looked after the disposal of demolished cupboards and floors. George Eljaalouk and his crew looked after electrical repairs. Mark VanFossen took on the responsibility of contracting people to install flooring. Tamara Johnson was able to persuade Allweather Windows to supply, and install, new windows. Bruce Simpson looked after signage for the training suite and apartment building. Jess Morrill looked after the building, and installation, of cupboards and baseboards. Jelto Schiebel and Frank Bell put in countless additional hours in painting, touch ups to trim, doors, and windows. A large percentage of the membership (if not all the members) were involved with providing "sweat equity" to this project. A terrific, and successful, "hands on" Club project! On April 30, 2005, a special ceremony was held to celebrate the launch of the "Mayfield Rotary Apartments". The Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield and the Winnifred Stewart Association combined to celebrate the launch of this exciting project. A cheque was presented from Edmonton Mayfield to Mr. Larry Smook, CEO for WSA. District Governor Bruce Christensen, District Governor Elect Ellie Contreras, and Past District Governor Alan MacLean were in attendance, as were several members from WSA and Mayfield Rotary. A special moment for everyone was when the training suite was dedicated (by now it had been renovated), and the sign was unveiled to reveal it had been named the "Bob Jickling Training Suite". A lunch, and special "Rotary" cake from Harvey Emas followed the ceremony. On June 11, 2005, the WSA held their annual Block Party and a ribbon ceremony took place to mark the opening of the new "Mayfield Rotary Apartments" located just north of 111 Avenue on 124th Street in the west end of Edmonton. Renovations and upgrades to the building were completed in July, with Club members working right up to the final hour, in order to have it ready for occupancy on August 1, 2005. The project was completed on time, and the occupants of the Mayfield Rotary Apartments began to enjoy, and continue to benefit from, the freedom of learning to live independently. A very rewarding Club project, and one that the members of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield are extremely proud to have accomplished.