The Rotary Club of Calgary comprises professional and community leaders brought together in fellowship to make a better future.
Birthdays:
Robert Lampard
October 27
Cristina Castro
October 29
Manon Mitchell
November 1
Gerard D'Mello
November 2
Rick Erven
November 4
Farid Bedwany
November 6
A Message from President Madeleine
Welcome to winter! How fast we transition from a glorious fall season that happily extended a wonderful summer. Let us hope that those months of beauty and warmth give us extra strength to endure and maybe enjoy the coming winter.
Today I heard from a member concerned by the email saying we only had 23 people signed up for our Tuesday in-person lunch meeting. So I wanted to bring you all up to date with what’s happening. We have exceeded our minimum 40 for every in-person meeting so far this fall – sometimes through weekend registrations plus a few walk-ins. The late entrants do cause Jo-Ann extra work (and are therefore not favoured), but at least we are not in a situation of paying for unclaimed lunches.
In fact, attendance for nearly every in-person meeting is slightly higher than our zoom meetings – but they continue to be comparable. Which indicates we are on the right post-Covid path for our club. Also, I’m happy to let you know that our alternate Thursday afternoons (FranknStein) at Two House Brewing continue to expand in popularity, reaching about 20 members of all ages and stages this past week. And in terms of club vibrancy, several committees are actively engaged in positively impacting our communities, providing opportunities for members to contribute and welcoming everyone into fellowship.
Last week District Governor Steve Leavitt attended our board meeting ahead of his presentation to the club at our lunch meeting November 22. We also reviewed this year’s clean audit of our financials, which will shortly be posted on Clubrunner. The club is being well-managed financially; no challenging issues to report.
I’m delighted to report the Agreement with Calgary Reads regarding their gifting of the Big Book Sale to us has been signed by both parties. Watch out for lots of exciting communications over the next weeks and months.
I hope to see many of you at the Rotary Remembers all-clubs lunch on Friday November 11 at the Carriage House Inn. It is an excellent annual program – very well attended – and this year to be emceed by Manon. Registration is available on-line.
For the Holiday Season we’ll have our annual Christmas Dinner December 13 at the Calgary Golf and Country Club (in place of the lunch meeting), where we hope to welcome many members and their partners and other family members. Sign up is already available. Also, the following week December 20 George Brookman will be in charge of programming for our regular lunch meeting – should be fun!
Calgary Reads 2021-2022 Final Report
By Steacy Pinney (Collyer), Chief Executive Officer, Calgary Reads
Dear Rotary Friends,
As a friend of Calgary Reads, I would like to personally invite you to read our final Report to Community: From Small Seeds, Big Things Grow.
Over the last 22 years, we’ve helped thousands of children to become stronger readers, but the need for greater early literacy support has become infinitely more vast and complex and critical. So much so that, this year, Calgary Reads has gifted our ‘seeds’ to partners so our initiatives may spread far and wide—ensuring many more young readers have a bright start in school and in life.
I encourage you to take a few moments to learn all about the incredible partners that will raise the next generation of readers and keep our reading movement alive.
This was a special year for so many other reasons too. From our Little Red Reading Van sharing the joy of books to the biggest Big Book Sale yet, there was proof, everywhere, that early literacy matters. We are so grateful to have people like you helping to build a thriving community that reads.
So, please read on, and stay tuned as we share more exciting news about the book sale, the dandelion season that will continue to carry on our important work and new ways you can help a child fall in love with reading.
A World Conkerer in Our Midst!
By Manon Mitchell
On a recent trip to the UK, Northamptonshire to be precise, our Director of Community Services, Randy Topolnitsky, decided to join the many hopefuls, around 300 or so, in a conkers competition. Having studied hard and diligently practiced for a few days, Randy executed his manoeuvres with keen accurate and earned the Men’s title of World Champion! A woman who had been competing for 30 finally secured the Women’s title of World Champion.
There is so much diversity of talent in our club.
Hail Randy, the World Conkerer, and congratulations; you put a smile on everyone’s face today!
To read about this year’s competition click here https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/competitors-swing-action-world-conker-120619582.html
We received the following message from the Closer to Home group, which was supported by funding from the Small Donations Committee in the spring. The funds allowed a group of needy, latch-key children to attend a day camp in the city.
Closer to Home Community Services, is thanking all of us at the Rotary Club of Calgary Downtown for our donations and support for the Summer in the City program this past summer.
The team assembled a short presentation of photos showing the impact of the program thanks for our support. I thought you might enjoy it https://youtu.be/RoljUVgstHA
Growing Stronger Together
Rotary Remembers
By Manon Mitchell, Past President
Every November 11th, Rotarians gather at the Carriage House Inn over lunch to remember the sacrifice made by so many during terrible conflicts so that we can enjoy the freedom we do today. We invite all Rotarians to attend. Tickets are available on the District Website (rotary5360.ca) by navigating to Events > Area Calendar, then click on November 11 event. Below are the event details:
Date: Friday, November 11, 2022
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 pm
Location: The Carriage House Inn, 9030 MacLeod Trail S
Guest Speaker: Lt. Col. (Retired) Jim Hennessey
Topic: “Under Appreciated: Canada’s Role in World Affairs Since 1914”
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