President John Nicoll thanks members

Address to the Rotary Club of Edmonton Northeast

July 20, 2018

 

 

 

 

The Rotary club of Edmonton Northeast is thriving with an active and diverse membership of more than 50 members. In the past 3 years, everyone has been able to bring one new member to our club. Our Club is truly diverse, with equal numbers of males and females, and significant participation of visible minorities.

 

Our newest members include young business and professional people and community leaders who live and/or work in the Northeast Community. Many of these members are well connected and have networks of people they influence.

 

Members continue to be inspired by the team approach of club leadership and eagerly participate in the annual spring strategic planning exercise. Members enjoy working together and feel a sense of family and support for each other. We have recycled past board members back to share the work load and ensure there is experienced leadership to mentor the newest board members. 

 

We settled in at the Highlands Golf Club for our regular meetings with large turnouts. We have developed a rapport with the golf club, with new Rotarians coming from the golf club and Rotarians becoming golf club members.  Our members are welcomed at their social events such as their steak and lobster night and Christmas party, and they are welcomed at our meetings and events.

 

Meetings are fun, enjoyable and the food is to die for. Members achievements are recognized and sometimes spoofed in a good natured way, and we care about our friends who are not well.   At each meeting there is social time for members before and after the formal program. The guest speaker, speaks after the meal but before any other club business allowing our working members to return to work without interrupting the guest speaker or missing part of the presentation.

 

We consistently have great speakers, that provide club members with useful, educational and relevant information, often in one of the six areas of rotary focus. The club regularly holds club business meetings to provide information and receive feedback from the membership about club operations, Rotary International and District 5370 business.

 

The chairmanship or leadership of club meetings rotates among club members to provide a training opportunity for members and an opportunity for them to tell members something about themselves.

 

 

The Rotary wheel is prevalent in more places in our community raising awareness of what we do. Our members are respected when doing hands on service projects helping the children in our schools, the Food Bank, mustard seed church and projects affecting homeless children.

 

The club has focused on projects each year that require hands on service and/or financial support. The service projects are planned to suit a variety of members, offered at different times and locations and involving different types of volunteer work.

 

Others projects include a Write to Read project that supports libraries in first nations schools, providing curriculum materials for schools that support integrity and the four way test, and a start on a rotary community garden at Abbot School.

 

The club is working on a legacy project, with The Rotary Foundation, and the Alberta Government that will have a positive impact on the children in our community. Our club’s financial contribution will be $100,000.

The Northeast business community is more aware of Rotary’s 4 Way Test because of our vocational conferences involving coffee chats between Rotarians and Young business leaders.

 

 

Formal communications to members have improved, and members use the web site Club Runner and the mobile Club Runner application to stay abreast of club events. Regular updates on club activities, board meetings, budgets and committee reports are routinely posted to Club Runner. The club uses a variety of tools, email, press releases, Club Runner, Facebook and other social media platforms to inform the public of its activities. The club started publishing its club handbook online, through Club Runner, with an easily printed hard copy.

 

The Club offers seminars for members on the use of Club Runner and social media.

 

Fund raising activities, each quarter, are carefully planned to ensure there was sufficient club support. The rotary musical fest now takes place over two nights and is an important element of the Alberta Avenue cultural scene. The club started a new format fundraiser that produced significant revenue and was oversubscribed last year. The club recently set up a “go fund me” page to help support specific Champions for Children club projects. The club continues to co-operate with other North East Edmonton service organizations to provide “service above self”.

 

 

Our International Service projects have involved partnering with other clubs and the District Foundation, and we have successfully completed 2 New Global Grant Projects, including Project Amigo, and the Malawi Girls School.  Club members have been coordinating their vacation plans to attend the International Conventions and International work weeks.

 

 

Our focus continues to be “Champions for Children”. Our Interact and Rotaract clubs are very active and we have supported our local youth in leadership development opportunities in both the local area and training offered in other parts of Canada..

 

Our Jeff Dartnell scholarship program continues to be a valued tool at encouraging youth development in our area.  The clubs involvement with the Edmonton Community Foundation and Concordia University and our sponsored scholarhips continues to assist area students.

 

Our club continues to be known for being the …” the social club”. We have a very active social committee who love to plan and organize regular social activities at least four times per year that cater to a wider variety of member’s interests. The regular golf tournament, the summer barbeque, are you home alone meals, Guess who’s coming to dinners have been successful.  There are session on the Ukulele and other instruments Musicals, learning to paint, learning how to use their computers, and other workshops to teach members new skills. We have also partnered with other organizations social events.

 

 

Looking back over the past three years, it is apparent that the members of the Rotary Club of Edmonton Northeast have enjoyed themselves by socializing and stepping up while achieving a significant number of “service above self” projects that have enhanced the local and international communities that we belong to.

 

 

 

John Nicoll

President 2018-19