Guest Speaker Last Week, February 15th, 2024 - Jill Spinks - Leduc Regional Housing Foundation
Jill Spinks, Community Relations Coordinator / Tenancy Administrator at Leduc Regional Housing Foundation was with us this past week to talk about what's going on over at the LRHF. According to the LRHF website, they have recently announced that they are excited to share renderings and photos from their Funding Announcement event Friday, October 27th, 2023 for the Gaetz Landing II Project. This will add 24 one bedroom Affordable Housing units into the Leduc Region. The units will be focused on women in core need of housing fleeing violence.
Leduc Regional Housing Foundation provides high quality, affordable housing to seniors, individuals and families of modest means. The housing and rent supplement programs include Supportive Living (seniors’ lodge) and Supportive Housing accommodation, Seniors’ Apartments, rental accommodation for non-senior individuals and families in Bachelor, 1, 2, 3, and 4-bedroom apartments, as well as rent supplements in partnership with private landlords and directly to individual tenants.
Governed by a Board of Directors made up of Councilors from each of the seven Member Municipalities within the Leduc Region that includes the Leduc County, City of Leduc, City of Beaumont, Town of Devon, Town of Calmar, Town of Thorsby, and Village of Warburg.
Vision: Every senior, individual and family of modest means, that resides within the Leduc Region lives in comfortable, safe and affordable housing.
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Guest Speaker Last Week, February 1st, 2024 - Tim Parker, PhD, Augustana Campus - UofA
Tim Parker joined us this past week and presented a more than interesting presentation on addictions. Tim is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology on the Augustana Campus at the University of Alberta.
Tim Parker has just retired after 37 years as a Professor of Psychology at the Augustana Faculty of the University of Alberta. His area was biological psychology and in the last decade he has researched addiction and the brain. Given the ways in which addiction has assailed our population, he has written a book for a general audience on addiction. It is titled Trapped by the High: What Addiction is and How it Changes the Brain.
His goal has been to translate the neuroscience into a narrative about addiction that readers can understand. His readers tell him that he has succeeded in this. Tim will has copies of his book for sale at a cost of $25.00
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What a great job Sam did this past week presenting her RYLE experience to us this past week. Our Club sponsored Rick Medcke's daughter Samantha to attend the RYLE experience out at Camp Nakamun this past spring and some of the things she talked about is how the weekend focused on team work and teaching these young kids how to be leaders and what a leader really is.
The counselors all participated in giving lectures and creating activities to help learn more about leadership.
RYLE taught and spoke about how Rotary is an international, multi-level, non-profit organization that works to give back to the communities they are based in. The participants learned about all the different programs that Rotary has for them to get involved in such as Interact, Rotaract and more about Rotary itself.
When questioned, Samantha said that she would thoroughly recommend the RYLE program to everyone. The program offers everyone a great way to grow in more than just leadership. It allows you to learn more about yourself and what you can do to make a great impact in your community.
Samantha's favorite part of the experience was the diverse culture that she found at the camp, with fellow students coming from all over the Western Canadian provinces. She gained insight into how different people can work together to overcome and learn about each other's differences.
Samantha's favorite part of the experience was the diverse culture that she found at the camp, with fellow students coming from all over the Western Canadian provinces. She gained insight into how different people can work together to overcome and learn about each other's differences.
Thank you for your presentation Sam and we look forward to hearing from you in the future!
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We had the pleasure of having Colleen Zimmerman, Executive Director of the Leduc Community Hospital Foundation join us this past Thursday. The Nisku Leduc Rotary Club has enjoyed a very warm relationship with Colleen and the LCHF for some time now as we have partnered with the Foundation on numerous different fundraising events. Colleen was here this past week to tell us about the scholarship program that was started in the fall of 2021 where the Foundation established a new scholarships and awards program that directly supports the people in our community who have a special passion for and commitment to healthcare through their chosen profession. These scholarships can be used to pay for books or items such as a laptop to help you further the health care studies of your choice. There are two $1000.00 scholarships and two $500.00 scholarships available to students in our local area who choose to further their studies in their health care profession. If you have any budding young individuals in your circle of friends and families, make sure you pass this along!
Click on this link that will direct you to the Foundation's website and the application forms for the available various scholarships https://lchfoundation.ca/scholarships-awards/ Colleen went on to tell us about the acute shortage of health care professionals in our area and is working with the Black Gold School Division and the Catholic School Boards to promote health care as a profession and career choice to our your students
Colleen went on to tell us that April 1st marks the 30th anniversary of the Foundation. She is excited about working together with our Club again this year at the annual Golf Tournament on Friday, June 2nd and is more than excited to partner with the Club with the return of Lobsterfest this spring! Thank you Colleen for your visit this past Thursday and we as a Club also look forward to working with and partnering with the Leduc Community Hospital Foundation in the future!
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Sylvain Losier, CAO of the Town of Calmar (https://calmar.ca/) joined us this past week to present a passionate discussion about Community Initiatives going on in the Town of Calmar. Calmar now boasts 2100 residents and most have seemed to bought into the posted values of the Town which are commitment, safety and integrity of the community. Sylvain talked about the many community projects on their wish list which include a new playground that would also be accessible for children with disabilities and special needs, the start and completion of a walking trail system alongside the railbed, expansion of the Town's ball diamonds and dressing rooms and a new scoreboard for the Town's arena.
Sylvain is proposing a partnership with our Rotary Club and invited a delegation of our members to come and meet with council and the business community to further discuss our involvement with one or more of their projects. This would be a great opportunity to promote Rotary in many ways and hopefully bring on some new members as well!
Thank you Sylvain for your impassioned presentation and I'm sure the Board will be arranging a visit to Calmar soon!
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Our speaker this past week was Jayden Dalke, a born and raised Leduc native. Jayden started playing minor football right here in Leduc and now plays professional football with the Saskatchewan Roughriders proudly wearing the #38 number on his jersey. As I was attending via Zoom and the audio wasn't the greatest, but I thought I heard Jayden say that when he started playing football at the tender age of eight years old, our own Gerald Thomas was one of his first coaches and that was 110 lbs. ago! I'm not sure if he meant Gerald or himself! :)
As this was Jayden's first year in professional football Jayden filled us in on the tense weeks doing the two-a-day workouts and living in the U of S dorms with all the other prospective Riders. Jayden talked about the thrill of being picked up by the Riders and giving it his all to make sure that he made the team. Jayden has worked hard to get where he is now, playing his guts out in his younger years with the Edmonton Wildcats where he picked up the prestigious MVP Award in 2017 and the Founders Trophy 3 years in a row 2015 - 2017.
Picking up a scholarship along the way, Jayden spent 3 years playing for the U of A Golden Bears Football Team 2019-2021 prior to be drafted and picked up by the Riders. Dalke, who was named a Canada West All-Star and U SPORTS All-Canadian for the second-straight season while studying Business at U of A. Jayden works with his parents in the family owned construction business in the off-season.
We had the pleasure of having Amy Smith, originally from Calmar, Alberta speak to us this week. Amy has been living in Australia since 2018 and is a Senior RAP Officer for Reconciliation Australia. (RAP is an acronym for Reconciliation Action Plan). Reconciliation Australia was established in 2001 and is the lead body on reconciliation in the nation. They are an independent not-for-profit organization which promotes and facilitates reconciliation by building relationships, respect and trust between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Amy's history with Rotary goes back to her high school days in Calmar, where her school principal got her involved with Interact which Amy claims changed her trajectory in life. Amy was the first president of the Interact club in Calmar and during her final year of her bachelor of arts degree, she was president of the University of Alberta Rotaract club. After graduation, she joined the Rotoract Club of Edmonton.
Our Guest Speaker this past week was Tara Persson with Strategic
Leadership Co.Tara is a professional development coach who's
mission is to develop more conscious,strategic leaders in the
business world.Tara's focus and forte is working with family run
businesses that are going through ownership changes, be it
retirement of the founder(s)and takeovers by the next generations
or even dealing with crisis within family run businesses. Tara
speaks with experience as a former Managing Partner at UTV
Canada Inc.and shared with us what professional coaching is and
what it isn't along with a few tools on how to get what you really
want in life, no matter what age or stage you are at.
Thank you Tara for your thought provoking message! For those
of you that would like to talk to Tara further about how she
can possibly assist you in the future, she can be contacted at
780-387-0765,phone or text or via email at
For those of you members that couldn't attend this week's meeting, you missed a good one! We had the pleasure of having Bob Stauffer and Cam Moon, the voice(s) of the Edmonton Oilers as our guest speakers this morning. In addition to Bob & Cam, we also had the pleasure of having our local MP Mike Lake join us and bring us greetings as well. Prior to entering politics, Mike worked for the Edmonton Oilers but as Mike said, he worked on the business side and Bob worked on the fun side of the Club. Thanks to Milt Hodgins for arranging this entertaining visit this morning and it was so awesome to see so many guests out today as well. Bob and Cam shared some great stories from within the realm of the Edmonton Oilers and probably could have enthralled us for hours. Thanks for coming guys, you can visit anytime!
Kidsport Leduc
Guest Speaker - Dawn McDougall
Thank you to Dawn McDougall for joining us this week to tell
us all about the newly formed chapter of Kidsport right here in
Leduc! Kidsport Leduc will soon be a chapter of that will be
supported nationally by Kidsport Canada and provincially by
Kidsport Alberta. Kidsport helps fund kids from lower income
families to ensure that no kid is ever left watching from the
sidelines with one of the key points being "Sport for All".
It all starts with a Kidsport grant! This is the kind of future
that's shaped by the power of organized sport. The sort of
future that's possible when they overcome the barrier of the
cost for whatever sport they choose to play. To find out more
about Kidsport Canada, please check out there website
IMPACT ON COMMUNITY
Our Guest Speaker for September 8th, 2022 was Jaclyn Evanschyshyn who was here today to promote the "No Where to Run" event being held in Calmar on October 1st, 2022. This event is focused on raising funds to support positive mental health initiatives and trail development in Calmar, AB. Their featured Keynote Speaker will be Chris Koch, creator of the "If I Can" project. Chris was born was no arms or legs and has a truly amazing and inspirational message to deliver! To find out more on Chris Koch and the "If I Can" project click on this link to his website http://www.ifican.ca/events For more information on the "No Where To Run" event click on the following link to their website https://calmarnowheretorun.weebly.com/
Leduc Nordic Club
Guest Speaker Chris Hrabec
Thank you to Chris Hrabec for joining us this week to tell us all about the recent partnership between the newly formed Leduc Nordic Club and the City of Leduc and the Leduc Golf Course. This recent partnership will lead to the expansion and revitalization of the cross country ski track in our community. This expansion will see the existing track length more than doubled in addition to a new training area installed and maintained. The Nordic Club is also working towards purchasing a fleet of rental ski packages for all ages and abilities. This will enable them to grow and expand the accessibility of this great winter sport to the entire public including the possibility of implementing a youth, senior and beginner program.
The Leduc Nordic Club is seeking sponsors for many of their new endeavors and future goals and for more information you can contact President Chris Hrabec at 780-547-5652 or at ichrabec@gmail.com