Maxine Morrison delivered this week’s invocation that provided a powerful message in this time of COVID-19 and economic devastation. Her thoughtful words were an appeal for guidance when information comes at us from all sides, and we cannot be sure what is correct and what is not.
She also appealed for us to discern the truth when fear makes it hard to breathe, and anxiety seems to be the order of the day and to reach out with our hearts.
While we cannot reach out with our hands, we can still be connected, love unconditionally, and accept our imperfections, knowing that together we cast out all fear. We can learn a better way and emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than ever.
Membership Director Kurt Kowalchuk reminded us that with the approach of the new Rotary year, the deadline for payment of club dues is fast approaching. Did you know a large portion of your membership dues goes towards supporting the activities that make Rotary an international organization? These fees include the annual membership dues that we pay to Rotary International and District 5360, in addition to the excellent training materials that are available to all Rotarians. Our membership dues also pay for insurance coverage, while the remainder goes towards running our club. Members should pay their membership fees as soon as possible because the club has bills that come due at the beginning of July.
Eric Bennett introduced our newest club member Ginny Sparks-Kellough, the daughter of Frank Sparks. Ginny graduated from the University of Calgary with a BA in psychology. She spent seven years working with the Calgary Health Region as a therapy assistant, helping people with mental health illnesses to reintegrate back into the community. Ginny’s current profession is in the world of risk management and insurance. She is licensed in Alberta, British Columbia, and Newfoundland. She and her husband Dan have three children: a 20-year-old daughter and 11 and 9-year-old sons. A little-known fact about Ginny is that she is no stranger to and loves working with power tools and is constantly renovating and upgrading. She is also an avid wakeboarder. Ginny is already an active member sitting on the fellowship committee and is a regular attendee at our Thursday Frank-n-stein meetings co-founded by her father, Frank.
David Leslie introduced the executive of the Western Canada High School Interact club: Vice-President Elect Heba Manshadi, Carol Sun, Amina Abdrazakova, Meghan Perri, Vivienne Lin, Co-President Elect Tony Li, Andrea Palanca, Malea Nguyen and Co-President Elect Lea An. The WCHS Interact club will have a dynamic ten-member executive for the upcoming Interact year.
Greg Stevenson introduced our speakers Maxine Morrison, chair of the 50/50 Fundraising Committee and Matthew Broussard, founder of Rafflebox. This Calgary-based company is changing the way organizations fundraise in a digital market.
Rafflebox is working with our club to develop an exciting new fundraising avenue for our charitable projects: online 50/50 raffle draws. Rafflebox is the leading North American online raffle platform that runs more raffles than all its competitors combined, and its clients have collectively raised more than one million dollars in the last quarter. With a highly-skilled in-house team of developers, Rafflebox continues to evolve its cutting-edge technology.
Rafflebox is proposing to assist the club in executing three critical components of successful fundraisers: engaging members in friendly competitions to sell tickets, organizing direct marketing campaigns, and media promotions. The company’s marketing specialists will help our club to develop targeted ad campaigns that will launch strategically throughout our raffle campaigns.
Our raffle campaigns will encompass the following elements. We will need to establish realistic fundraising targets and apply for licenses to run the raffles. Obtaining these licenses takes between three and six weeks, and we must guarantee minimum prize amounts that are typically twenty percent of the fundraising targets. We must also establish the required merchant account, and we must set up the ticket selling website. Rafflebox will assist the club with these activities.
The new 50/50 Committee requires club members to sign up for the planning activities, to leverage our connections, and to donate to this exciting new initiative. Please consider joining the committee if you can assist with non-profit partnerships, storytelling, events, promotion strategy, communications, or budgeting.
COG Staff - May 26th, 2020
Editor
Craig Henderson
Rotary Club of Calgary - Chartered April 1914 as Club #949
Suite 305, 105-12 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2G 1A1
