Stories

Rotary Clubs of Lethbridge Lethbridge Feb. 27 – Mar. 1, 2015

Rotary Bonspiel

Districts 5360 and 5370

Welcome, curlers from Districts 5360 and 5370! We look forward to hosting a terrific bonspiel full of fellowship on and off the ice. The first 40 teams registered and paid will be guaranteed entry into the bonspiel. Registration details will be sent out shortly, so consider this your first notice that there will be a party going on in Downtown LA (that’s Lethbridge Alberta).

Please note the date was moved from Family Day Week, as there were no hotel rooms available in Lethbridge due to the Alberta 55+ Winter Games . Due to the 10 sheet capacity of the curling rink, we do not anticipate having games played on Thursday night. More details will be out soon…questions now? Feel free to contact - Charles Funk - charles.funk@nbpcd.com - 403 331 2031

Where: Lethbridge Curling Club http://www.lethbridgecurlingclub.com/ Located at 911 6th Ave South, the Club features 10 sheets of pristine ice, the largest fully-stocked pro shop in Southern Alberta and an upstairs lounge with room for 200+ curlers and fans. During the first part of 2015, we will host the Southern Alberta Women’s Play down and the Alberta 55 Plus Winter games, so the Club will be in top notch shape.

Accommodations: Lethbridge Lodge http://www.lethbridgelodge.com/ . Located at 320 Scenic Drive, Lethbridge, the Lodge is directly across the street from the reception and 9 walkable blocks from the Curling Club. We reserved 40 rooms at a cost of $108 per night, which includes a free daily hot breakfast buffet (one of the best in town!)

Banquet: The Galt Museum http://www.galtmuseum.com/facilityrentals-viewinggallery.htm is located adjacent to the Lethbridge Lodge. It features an incredible view of the coulees and the longest trestle bridge in Canada.

Marnie Young is a real estate agent with Sutton Group in Grande Prairie and dedicates a lot of her time to volunteer pursuits in the community. Rather than working in a variety of volunteer capacities, Marnie believes she could be more effective with her volunteerism if she dedicated her entire focus to an organization such as Rotary, giving her an opportunity to still become involved in a variety of areas of interest.  Emilia Hovorka is presenting Marnie with her membership.

Our last meeting a the GP Curling Club will be on April 2^nd.

Effective April 9^th until further notice, we will meet at the GP Golf & Country Club.

District 5370 2014 Conference October 2-4, 2014  

Click on the link below to view District Governor2014-2015 Linda Robertson's personal invitation to register early!  

Watch on iBelieve it's Time to Register! Vimeo.com/85994166

Early Bird Registration closes February 28, 2014!   YOU COULD WIN A FREE REGISTRATION. The first 100 registered will be entered in a draw to win!  

Register NOW! Conference Website:  http://www.conference5370-2014.ca/

Follow us on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/iBelieveRotary 

Like Us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/iBelieveRotary

Jim Letersky provided an update to the membership in December on the Soap Box Derby Fundraising Project; to be held in conjunction with the City’s 100th anniversary celebration, in May 2014.

Jim announced that Rona lumberyard has donated plywood for the project and St. Joes High School Shop class will donate man hours to assist in cutting the boards.

Soap Box Derby committee members Lionel Frey, Frank Wright, Angie Saltman and Jim Letersky presented a team effort soap box assembly to the membership.

Welcome Rotarian Yuri! Yuri is currently a student at Law, articling with Gurevitch Headon.  He is a member of the G.P. Bar Association and is looking to commit his time and energy to a variety of Rotary initiatives.  Yuri is sponsored by Denise Ouellete.

A great message from President Lola which she delivered at the multi-club Christmas Party:

The Rotary After Five Message comes from the Theme of Gratefulness!

During the Holiday Season I think people are reminded to be grateful and they celebrate that.

I was reading a couple of weeks ago that Gratitude is one of our most powerful emotions …. therefore we should take time EVERYDAY to reflect on what we have-not just at Christmas.

A big welcome to new member Karen McClelland!  A long time Grande Prairie resident who has been involved with various fundraising initiatives within the community over the years.  Karen was looking for an opportunity to stay involved and like all of us thought that Rotary would be an excellent way to do so!  Karen was sponsored by Cara-Lee Voss-Seiler.

Also, a big welcome to Pamela Battiste!  Pamela has recently moved to Grande Prairie and is a Branch Supervisor at JB Insurance Services, a division of Johnson Inc.  Pamela comes to GP from St. John’s Newfoundland and was a member of Rotary there (CBS District/NE Area, District #7820).  Pamela was sponsored by Karen Schoepp.

Thank you to Wade Nellis for a humorous tale of his background, career and desire to continue the tradition of giving back to the community set by parents as well as wife (and fellow Rotarian) Joan.  Wade brought his adorable daughter along to watch her dad give his talk.

October is the month we set aside to remind ourselves of our second Avenue of Service:Vocational Service. An excerpt from RI President Ron D Burton appears in the latest edition of the Rotarian.  Please check out the entire article as it really helps understand the topic of Vocational Service.   So on the topic of Vocational Service I would like to honour Angie Saltman, our own self-professed "Geek"!

This year's Rotary Food Bank Drive was another huge success!

Organizer Ken O'Shea says they had a record 125 teams take part, meaning well over 600 volunteers covered both Grande Prairie and Sexsmith over the course of a few hours last night.

"We ended up being up slightly from last year, with 160 thousand items.  And if you consider at an average $1.69 per item, that equates to $270,400.... just fantastic."

Nathan is welcomed by his sponsor Lionel Frey. 

Thanks to Jim and Carol Letersky for hosting our "First Anniversary Barbeque" in their beautiful back yard.  Here is a picture of Angie Saltman, Brandon Kerschbaumer and Taj Johnson leading the Jam Session.  The complete photo album can be viewed under the links on the website.

A job well done by Liz Jones and Tracy Kostiuk as they compiled many photos and banners telling the story of our first year.

Matt Kostiuk receives his Certificate of Membership and Rotary Pin from his membership sponsor, Rotarian - Taj Johnson.

Matt, we are looking forward to your enthusiasm and energy and your willingness to give back to the community in which you grew up.  You have already shown you will be a great Rotarian!

Geri Conrad receives her Certificate of Membership and Rotary Pin from her membership sponsor, Rotarian - Cara-Lee Voss-Seiler.  

Welcome aboard Geri, you will be a great asset to the club as you now become an official Rotarian after spending many years as a Rotary spouse.

Frank Wright is happy to sponsor and also welcome our newest After Five Member - Wade Nellis.

The CLASS of FIVE is reunited as Wade was a previous a grade 5 student of Frank's at Harry Balfour School.  

Frank and Lola look forward to sharing their RI Convention experience with you at the July 10th weekly meeting

Jodi educated us on her profession of Optometry and explained how she became interested in it a very young age.

Awesome turnout this morning for our Rotary Pancake breakfast at Dukes Country Club! Thanks to all who attended and donated; it feels great to be able to make a difference in the city we live in!! Special thanks to Penn West Exploration, Esquires Coffee House, Dukes Country Club & all the Members of our club who gave a helping hand! Looking forward to next year!!! - Taj Johnson -co- chair!

A new banner announcing their pregnancy and a due date of early December!

The entire membership enjoyed Lionel's use of humour to entertain us during his classification speech.

Emilia is presented her Certificate of Membership from her sponsor Taj Johnson.

Rae-Lynne Robichaud and Lola Wright accept a cheque for $10,000 made payable to the Rotary Club of Grande Prairie After Five from Dan Boorse Rotarian with Swan City Club.  This money was raised by working the Cars for Christmas Lottery for the Swan City Club.

Wendy shared a very informative and entertaining classification talk using a map of the world and her life's travels to explain about being in the right place and the right time.

Frank, Lola and Brenda recently attended a meeting of the Marina Puerto Vallarta Club Rotario in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  They are also a brand-new club and their major project is to build an academic/trade school for deaf persons in the greater Puerto Vallarta area.  A main concern they have is that because deafness does not show overt signs of a disability, that these people are often ignored when it comes to any type of help, including education.  The club presently has what is basically a two room shed on some property in the city.  They told us that they can help about 20 people right now, but would like to increase that to about 120, as there is certainly a need.  This project is essentially starting from scratch, they have a whole list of needs; items as basic as a perimeter fence, doors, windows and ceiling fans.  They estimated the total cost of their project to be $40,000 US.

It was fun to visit a club so similar to our own with such an ambitious project.  We were proud to leave our banner and hope to receive one back from them in the mail when their have theirs ready.  

Photo: Lius Felipe Carajal Barrera - President Marina Puerto Vallarta and Lola Wright - President After Five.

One week after our initial meeting with St. Joe's staff members Mr. Pritchard, Ms. Blimkie, and Ms. Douville, fellow Rotarian Jim Letersky and myself dropped into St. Joe's see how things were going.  

These staff members had called their first information meeting after spreading the word by talking to students and putting up a few posters in the hall.  In one week they had sparked some interest and I think the picture tells it all.  The group at the meeting consisted of four staff, one Outbound Student, one Rotary Exchange Student, one grade 12 student,  and 33 interested grade 10 and 11's!  

The staff told me that they weren't able to invite the grade 9's to today's meeting because they didn't have the same break in their schedule; but, what they do know is there are several more students interested!   When the students were asked how many had parents in Rotary, the answer was "none", except for the Exchange Student.  Amazing that this information-gathering meeting was exposing over 30 new families to the work of Interact (and Rotary) in the community and around the world!  

As Jim and I were leaving the school a young girl stopped us in the hall and asked if we were the Interact people. I said, "Well,  we are here to support them, but we were actually Rotarians from the sponsoring club".  

She said, "I so wanted to attend that meeting today but I was already booked for something else".  I assured her this was only the beginning of St. Joseph's Interact Club, so not to worry as there would be time for her to join.  

Rotary's future is definitely in good hands, as today we saw what is out there in one short week for our New Generations!

Sharing the news via DG Kevin Hilger's Facebook Page

Some days are so danged exciting. Last weekend a school asked if they could have an Interact Club (St. Joe's, Grande Prairie, teacher Trevor Prichard). We met Monday. Next - find a club to sponsor the so it can happen. That leads us to GP's newest club - "After Five". Their executive met this eve. They are "in" says Lola Wright and Lloyd Fisher of the club. Onward towards a charter of a new Interact club!

President Lola Wright welcomes the newest member of our Rotary family Lionel Frey, also present in the photo is his sponsor Frank Wright.

Please update your own information - using the option of My Clubrunner, My Profile.  

You always have access to the Membership Contact List - using the option of My Clubrunner, View Club Directory 

Congratulations to Brandon and Nicole on the birth of their first child Victoria Dawn Kerschbaumer.  She was born Jan 4 at 1:40 am. 6 lbs 14 ounces, 19.75" long.  Brandon reports that "the gift of life is a beautiful thing" and that Mama and baby Victoria are both doing great! 

A huge thank you to Rae-Lynne Robichaud for coordinating the Cars for Christmas Lottery.  It is always a big undertaking to keep everyone organized and on time for their commitments.  To all our members and their families who worked shifts,  thanks for your efforts and a job well done.  The money raised will make a positive difference in our community.  

Carla Shkwarok Executive Director of the Grande Prairie and District Schools Education Foundation and Marie Stevens Snack Program Coordinator receive a cheque for $1000.00 from After Five members Frank Wright, Dave Rawson, Brenda Montgomery and Cara Lee Sorensen.

Brad Myers from Houston Texas was one of our visiting Rotarians at today's meeting. He presented President Dave with a banner from his E-Club of Vasco da Gama, Goa, India which is part of District 3170.  Check our their website at 

E-club of Vasco da Gama, Goa, India

At the District Governor's Dinner at the Quality Inn DG Kevin Hilgers presented the After Five Club with our official Charter.  Special thanks to Kevin and After Five charter members Trenton Perrott and Frank Wright for being instrumental in creating the fourth club in Grande Prairie.  Evelyne Viens-Dobish also attended a couple of the first meetings to brain storm the idea of an after five club.  Missing from the photo is ADG Vernon Boyd who was also instrumental in making the charter happen.

If you would like a copy of the data that Brian Glavin presented at our meeting please contact me via email at frank@maximstorage.ca and I will forward you the information.  The file is fairly large so I will only send it out to those that ask for a copy.

Thanks

Frank

Also, this is an excellent video on apathy we will be showing at the launch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Knz100ldLM

Thanks for sharing this information with your fellow Rotary members. 

Cheers,

David Olinger

Manager of Marketing and Communications

City of Grande Prairie

Ph. 780.538.0349

C. 780.402.5972

F. 780.539.1056

Nearly the every club member voted this banner as the winner.  It took five rounds of concepts to get it just right...what a perfect number. 

 
Thanks for giving us at Saltmedia the opportunity to to create. 

Past President Dennis Young of the Grande Prairie Rotary Club makes a presentation of $4,600 dollars to President Dave Rawson and the After 5 Rotary Club in recognition of their support of the 2012 Dream Home Lottery.  The After 5 Rotary Club members in the photo all completed shifts selling Dream Home Lottery tickets in May and June, 2012 and helped ensure another successful lottery.

Welcome to new member Alan Segal!

Alan is a professor at Grande Prairie Regional College who specializes in research in sexuality and gender. He is a former member of the Grande Prairie Rotary Club from Dec 2008 to April of 2014 and is a former member of several boards of governors of organizations in Grande Prairie. He has also performed varied committee work as part of his community involvement. In addition, Alan is a documentary filmmaker and has traveled extensively.   Sponsored by Wendy McMillan.

Welcome to new member Lori Kohl!

Lori is a nurse with Alberta Health Services and has been for the past 27 years, primarily in the area of Mental Health. Lori has attended previous meetings of the club as a guest and enjoys the fellowship that takes place among the members. She also looks forward to assisting in club events and has done so with the first annual McClelland Oilfield Rentals GP100 Soap Box Derby this past May. She is also looking forward to personal development within the club. Sponsored by Brenda Montgomery.

The winning ticket number was # 843679.

Pauline Green from Richmond, B.C. was the lucky winner of our Bud Country 50/50 Draw on Sunday June 29th.

Pauline was presented with a cheque of  $2936.00. 

The remaining funds will be donated to the "future" Rotary Wellness House.

Elections:

President Lola Wright by acclamation announced the Executive for 2014-2015.

Incoming President           Taj Johnson

President Elect                  Lionel Frey

Secretary                          Liz Jones

Treasurer                         Kathleen Crouse

Community Service           Wade Nellis

Fundraising Chair              Jim Letersky

International Service         Denise Ouellette

Youth Services                   Lloyd Fischer

 A couple of positions have yet to be filled:

Club Service and Sargeant-at-Arms Directors.

If you would like more information on these positions please contact Taj Johnson or visit Club Runner (club documents, 2013 AGM)

"Another great classification speech by Geri Conrad. We are happy to have her on board." ~President Lola Wright