A great turnout at Emily Murphy park included many club members and

their families along with prospective members –  Rowena, Maria, Crystal and Rick. Ride sharing made it possible for anyone that wanted to attend to get to this picnic venue not far from our club's neighbourhood.

 

The food selection was varied and delicious, from popcorn and veggie snacks to homemade pie, Betty’s baked beans and perfectly roasted marshmallows by Tim Onciul. Great weather made this a perfect night for fellowship including lots of games brought by Laura Milroy and Steve McRory. Paige and Mathew’s little canine family members Pipp and Izzy were a big hit with all ages. An added feature was the presence of the Skills Society CommuniTea mobile van serving iced tea and making colourful custom buttons.

 

We have partnered with Skills Society in the past and their participation helped remind us of our commitment to community service and inclusion. A big thank you to all the members that came to share great conversation and food as well as members that could not attend but dropped off food items to share – thanks Kelly and prospective member Mike Greaney. If only all our meetings could be

outdoors on sunny summer days ….

 

Our speaker this week was Shelly Vermillion who shared her story and her inspiration behind her starting Naoka Inc., a vehicle safety whip company. Shelly said she would never be a entrepreneur because she grew up seeing the struggles that come with it, but after working with the Dene community health department and seeing untapped labour forces she decided to dedicate opening her business to keep people in the oil field safe and on the principles of respect, integrity, safety, people first, and quality products. Shelly focuses on using as many Canadian products as possible in production and through focusing on helping relieve the unemployment rate maintains an 80-85% aboriginal people employment base, but open to everyone and including immigrants. Her experience in business it that paying attention to people is what keeps employees happy so she believes in supporting any education an employee and the principle of flex hours as the time people want and are able to work is when they’ll be most productive. Her ideals and ability to uphold them earned her recognition through the Alberta Chamber of Commerce 2015 Aboriginal Business Women Award of Distinction.