The Rotary Club of Calgary comprises professional and community leaders brought together in fellowship to make a better future.
Birthdays:
Sean Bayliss
March 27
Jennifer Lavier Jankovic
March 29
Julie Visser
March 29
John Boyd
March 30
Eva Friesen
April 6
Rob Woodward
April 8
Al Corbett
April 8
Message from President Madeleine
This feels like a good time for our club! We are having meetings with excellent fellowship, pride in our projects and outstanding speakers. Next month we return to the renovated Palliser after a successful few months at the Ranchmen’s. Our next big “all hands on deck” focus will be on early childhood literacy with the book sale activities starting soon. And with good luck the new Marmie’s House in Dover may be operational as early as this fall, offering fresh impetus for mentors and students in our Stay-in-School programs. Community Services is collaborating more than ever with other clubs and community partners, and our international projects are recovering from the limitations imposed by covid and are having a real impact around the world.
Our first annual member satisfaction survey elicited 48 responses and was open just for one week. We would love to have feedback from more members – so if you missed it, please let me know: mkingrotary@gmail.com. We received written comments from 29 members; the most impassioned were in the “start doing” category – keen for opportunity for members to be engaged in meaningful activities, and raising money for impactful causes. The numbers and comments also question our current ratio of in-person to on-line meetings, with the slight majority favouring continuing as we are. Those wishing for more in-person meetings are expanding the numbers at regular FranknSteins! Whilst I love getting together, on-line meetings are vitally important for many of our members, and some guest speakers too.
Thanks for all your emails – please do keep them coming!
Major Donations Update
Franco Savoia
The Major Donations Committee has implemented a continuous intake process. This aligns well with the Rotary Helps YYC that was launched by 8 Rotary Clubs within Calgary on February 1, 2023. It also aligns well with the committee’s proactive process to its grant making in requesting applicants to contact the Committee prior to submitting proposals. Rotary YYC proposals are simple outlines of a project and relatively simple to submit. Clubs that are interested in the projects will work together with project proponents for a full and detailed proposal.
Increasingly, the committee is deepening its understanding and appreciation for projects and programs that focus on systems change and collaboration.
Under this evolving process the committee recommended and the Board approved a grant to Meals on Wheels for the Coming Home Program in December 2022.
The Major Donations Committee is recommended to the Board that the following project be approved:
369 Collaborative:-- the grant of $20,000 towards the budgeted $81,275, 2023 Left Unread campaign
The 369 Leaders Table is a collaborative catalyst group that is working to advance early learning and care as an essential lever of change in Calgary's poverty reduction strategy, Enough for All. The group has been meeting for almost two years now (and prior to converging with Enough for All some members were part of a five-year collaborative called the Campaign for Grade Level Reading) and is working to advance community awareness and engagement with the issue as well as policy and advocacy for early learning and literacy. With 11 active organizations at the table, the collaborative has developed a roadmap and action plan to advance the work. Together, with community support, they can get the important message out to all members of the community that literacy is critical to a sustainable future.
The Left Unread campaign will run during the month of May alongside the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale. The campaign is designed to be earnest, serious, and yearning that creates a need for fulfillment. A desire to stave off the feeling of literacy loss.
The Board approved it at its March 16, 2023 meeting.
Legacy Projects/Funding Review Task Force Update
Randy Topolnitsky
March update: Since our last update a lot has been happening. On January 18th and February 8th the Task Force was led through two facilitated sessions over Zoom by team Members from the Trico Changemakers Studio. As you can imagine trying to address the purpose of the Task Force which is, “To determine the role Legacy Projects might play in maximizing Rotary’s influence and impact in the community. To evaluate Legacy Projects and the role they play within the Club and its overall funding strategy. To find alignment with other funding areas of the Club. To fully engage Club members in the process”, can be a tricky and complex situation. In Session #1 the POP Model (Purpose, Outcomes, Process) was used to try and establish the purpose of Legacy Projects and how they might fit into the community and club. In Session #2 the findings were presented with some understanding of a possible “Purpose”, but it wasn’t conclusively established that any decisions could be made at this point what to do with Legacy Projects. It became apparent that to work through this difficult process a different approach needed to be undertaken. The magnitude of the challenge could not be solved with a narrow focus and solution. The Task Force was pivoted to using the Adaptive Cycle Model. This model asked the questions “What do we need to hold onto?, What do we need to let go of?, What opportunities are emerging?, What choices do we need to make? And how do we decide?” The responses to these questions generated some very interesting items that need to be addressed. The subsequent report from the Trico Changemakers Studio received in March highlighted the situation that an Overall Funding Strategy and Overall Member Engagement Strategy needs to be done to achieve the purpose put forth for the Task Force.
The Task Force has also been busy collecting research on granting strategies from other Rotary Clubs across the country and other granting organizations. It is now focussed on working through a path forward to address the recommendations in the report in relation to the purpose of the Task Force.
Legacy Projects/Funding Review Task Force
Calgary Reads Big Book Sale Coming Soon
Manon Mitchell
We are now seven (7) short weeks before the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale begins and there are some key things we can do RIGHT NOW! Mark your calendar as the entire event (from setup to take down) is from April 28 to May 24, 2023. Think about making time to volunteer in some capacity (Sort books, tidy up book tables, support volunteers in the hospitality room, tally book purchases, help with parking, help set up banners, process payments at the cash out desk, help with “stuff a truck” events).
All the information you need has been clearly documented on the Big Book Sale website at
You can VOLUNTEER, DONATE or BUY books! Get involved and learn how by going to the website, reading your Rotary emails and District Digest and attending Club Meetings.
Promoting the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale
Manon Mitchell and the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale Transition Team & Committee
How do we expect to attract 1,200 volunteers and over 14,000 buyers to our event? Everyone, yes including you, is expected to promote it in some way. How can we promote our Big Book Sale?
You can register to volunteer and let people around you know that you are doing this. Right now, it is important for you to familiarize yourself with the event, which is why you need to go to the website and read about it. Don’t forget to REGISTER to be a volunteer. The volunteer slots will be available soon and they will fill up.
You can help is by collecting books and boxing them up to deliver in April when the team is ready to accept your donations. Maybe get everyone at work to donate! All the donation instructions are on the website of course! Check out https://bigbooksale.webflow.io/donate-books and scroll down to the “Host a Book Drive” section. There is a book drive kit to download.
You can also edit your signature block and add the Big Book Sale image. The more people know about this the better. Different email applications have different procedures so you may want to ask someone for help in customizing your signature. If you want to be a super geek, you can even have the image link directly to the big book sale web page.
If you’re on Social Media check out the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale FB page https://www.facebook.com/calgaryreadsbigbooksale. We’re also on Instagram and Twitter! Just do a search. Please comment, share, like, follow and all those interesting actions we do online!
Communications
As this is a major project for our club and we wish to continue the great success that Calgary Reads has created over the past 18 years, we will be communicating different information every week, via email, at club meetings and in the COG and District Digest.
Please read this information so that you are well informed and can jump on the right opportunity at the right time.
We are so proud to be working alongside over 1,000 community members and show how Rotarians are people of action! We are strongly motivated by a desire to see children grow up as avid readers, as we all know that this is one of the major levers in poverty reduction.
Volunteering at the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale
Manon Mitchell
The Calgary Reads Big Book Sale is our club’s big service project and we expect all club members to participate. Funds raised from this project will be designated for Early Childhood Literacy projects/programs in Calgary.
It is time to register as a volunteer. Click HERE and enter your information. Of course, you can invite your family and friends to do so. Right now, 900 of the over 1,200 volunteers needed are registered. So, get on it NOW!
This is our Club’s newest and biggest service project, and everyone is expected to contribute in some way. Just like when we ran the big bar-b-q’s, we expect a high percentage (over 90%) of our club members to volunteer.
Our Club’s Volunteering Priorities
Our club is directly responsible for the following activities:
Volunteer Hospitality Room (All days of the set up and sale) – Steacy Pinney
Cash Management (All days of the sale) – Lavender Neff
You can contact the Rotarian responsible for more information or to inform them of your commitment. We need to fill these positions with Rotarians NOW.
Please contact any of the above Rotary team leads to sign up. Remember that you still have to register as a volunteer on the Big Book Sale website.
So …
1) SIGN UP as a volunteer and
2) CHOOSE an area from the 5 listed and email your name to the team lead.
Let’s get on this NOW and be ready for the biggest book sale around!
Contributions to the COG
By Diane Macdonald
As a reader of the COG, is there anything you would like to see included in your newsletter? We want to make sure that the content is of interest to our Club members and we would welcome your input. Because not everyone is able to attend the in-person meetings, would a brief synopsis of those meetings be of interest? We could include any important announcements, a word about anyone who is specially honoured, perhaps some information about the guest speaker in case you want to investigate the topic further. This is only one suggestion – we really would like your ideas.
.png)
