Highlights from the January 23 Meeting

The head table were marched in lead by President Bill to a sea of red Calgary Flames jerseys and the singing of O’Canada followed. Julie Visser provided the enthusiastic invocation to kick things off.

President Bill then thanked the volunteers: Gord Cumming, Julie Visser, Eric Bennett and Bob Junker. Carmen Goss then introduced the visitors and guests and thanked KPMG for sponsoring the meeting. We sang a very happy Rotary Birthday to Joe Fras, Michael Colburn, Ian Viner and Ken King.

President Bill announced that our club’s luncheon fees will be increasing to by $5.00 to offset losses due to poor attendance at meetings. Hint hint… (try to attend more meetings!) 

In the announcements we were invited to join our hosts the Rotary Club of Calgary South for the annual Larry Kwong Chinese New Year Dinner February 2, 2018 at the Regency Palace Restaurant on Centre Street. Cocktails at 6 PM. Dinner at 7 PM. $50 per person. Tickets are on sale now through Club Runner. Larry was the first person of Asian ancestry to play in the NHL!!!

There was also an announcement by a member of Calgary West who provided the details of their Delectable Strawberry Shortcakes Fundraiser. The Minimum Order is 6. The Cost is $7.00 each.  The Delivery Date is Wednesday, February 14, 2018 between 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. So get your orders in before Thursday, February 8, 2018. Rotary West thanks us for our support and for helping Rotary help the community. **** FREE delivery within Calgary and Airdrie on orders of 6 or more servings to one location.

Howie Shikaze then spoke about the Rotary Christmas Hamper Program that raised a large amount of money this year and helped approximately 84 families. He reminded all of us that the program almost collapsed a few years ago but with the help of various Rotarians, notably Mark Stiles and his colleagues at the Calgary Flames, the program was revitalized and we hope to help at least a 100 families next year and have expended the number of schools involved. George Brookman’s fundraising was phenomenal this year as were the contributions by Howie and his family