Rotary Weekly News - February 24, 2025 (Feb. 24, 2025)

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

President Mike Christie rang the bell and started our meeting on Monday morning, with a salute to the great hockey game on Thursday evening and the unseasonably warm, "spring like" weather that we are currently enjoying. Don't get too comfortable, March is good for at least one or two blizzards.

Mike commented that he was delighted to see so many of the seats at the meeting filled, as well as 5 members joining us online. He was sure that was a result of the highly anticipated "re-classification" talk from Rotarian Brent Secondiak. Brent was invited to the podium and put on a short Powerpoint presentation.

Brent was born in Calgary, but their family followed their Dad's career in the RCMP and so moved to Bassano and then to Brooks (where Brent went to high school)

He and his wife Deb have two children, have been married for 25 years and really enjoy this community. Brent joined the Medicine Hat Police Service in 1999, and worked in patrol, the drug unit, major crimes and retired as an inspector in 2014.

Brent knew in retirement he would want something to do, so he obtained his real estate licence and has been working with Deb for Remax over the past year or so. He also commented that he has been doing a fair bit of consulting for small businesses and non-profits, almost to the point where he is going to have to choose one career or the other.

As anyone who follows Brent on social media knows, he loves to Kayak on the South Saskatchewan River, and is into sports, particularly football. He is also a voracious reader, and both he and Deb love to travel.

Brent has done a great deal of volunteering in the community, been on a number of boards notably for Rotarians the Medicine Hat Women's Shelter Society and the Sanare Center.

He spoke about the great honour he received in his last years on the police force, where he was gifted a Blackfoot name, "Sun Man Talk", at a training session for a tribal police group.

A few questions were answered and we look forward to all that Brent will accomplish in the Rotary Club.

------------------------------

President Mike reminded everyone that we are moving our meetings around, and the current plan is to try out the CORE space toward the end of March.

Our next meeting is a business meeting, so it will be strictly ZOOM on Monday March 3rd. The next week we are back at the Kiwanis Room at the MH Lodge on March 10th and then on the 17th are visiting Saamis Immigration on 3rd St SE.

Watch for Mike's email on Sunday's to know where to go.

Rotary Club "What-z New":

A few more meeting helpers are required to run cameras and sound during our hybrid meetings. Anyone wishing to help should contact President Mike Christie 403 878 3311.

Rotary Club Committee Membership Update:

Please continue to assist your 'team captains' (committee leads) and please also work in other areas of club activity, as you are able.
Please have a look on ClubRunner in the Committee section. You should find your name on one of the committee member lists, as per your choice(s). If not, please contact President Mike.

Rotary Club Information:

Housekeeping:
- If you have a Meeting Minute, please phone, text or email the President and it will be included in the next Newsletter.
- Board minutes can be found on ClubRunner, under Club Documents.

Rotary District 5360 and Rotary International News

MONARCH 1911 SOCIETY

As many Rotarians will know, our club in cooperation with the Saamis Rotary Club and the Friends of the Monarch Society have been working on restoring both the structure and the programming at the historic Monarch movie theatre on 2nd St SE.

Our club will try to keep track of events on a the Monarch, to give members a heads-up that the opportunity to serve exists. If you are interested, please let Rotarian Janessa Anderson (403-952-1907) know and she can provide details of available shifts and responsibilities.

Volunteering at a show is a great way to connect with the community and support the historic local landmark.

RI CONVENTION 2025 IN CALGARY: 21-25 JUNE

The RI Convention was last held in Calgary in 1996. It’s going to be back in Calgary again June 21 - 25, 2025.
If you are interested in volunteering, contact Host Organizing Committee secretary, Luanne Whitmarsh (l.whitmarsh@shaw.ca)
Club Convention Champions are playing a vital role in communication (both ways) between the District 5360 Host Convention Committee and their Club. Our Convention Club Champion is PDG Sandy MacKay.
Registration for the 2025 Rotary International Convention is open - https://convention.rotary.org/en-us
The convention website is http://www.rotarycalgary2025.org

Ideas for Future Programs

The Rotary Club's Program Committee members are Jillian Koch (jkoch@jmhca.com), Margie Booyens (margiebooyens@gmail.com), Alain Guerard (aguerard@telus.net), Sharon Hayward (sharon.hayward@medicinehatymca.ca)
If you have ideas for future programs, please contact them.

Meeting News

GUESTS:

none today.

ATTENDANCE: There were 21 attendee's at the meeting, as well as 5 who joined by ZOOM.

CLUB DRAW: Glen Presley won a package of tea.

Please remember to contribute gifts for the weekly draw. If you are somewhere interesting, a small gift to the club is an easy fundraiser!

Makeups: None were mentioned.

Birthdays:

Margie Booyens Feb 29^th.
Brenda Mercer. Mar 1^st.
Dave Panabaker. Mar 7^th.
Manali Shanbhag. Mar 7^th.
Odessa Vermee. Mar 14^th.
Terry Cooper. Mar 25^th.

Rotary Anniversaries:

Stan Sakamoto 41 years, Mar 1, 1984.
Jack Snedden. 36 years, Mar 1, 1989.
Dave Stalwick. 23 years, Mar 4, 2002.
Mike Christie. 23 years, Mar 4, 2002.
John John. 22 years, Mar 10, 2003.
Bruce Shepard. 11 years, Mar 10, 2014.
Alain Guerard. 2 years, Mar 13, 2023.
Dawn Barr. 21 years, Mar 29, 2004.

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY ROSE RUNNER FOR APRIL 2025

Bruce Shepard (no wedding anniversarys in March)

Minute Reminders:

ROTARY CLUB 1000 RAFFLE TICKETS

Anne Carrier spoke about the upcoming 2025 Rotary Club 1000 raffle. Anne is requesting that anyone who sells a ticket using the ZEFFY site, which facilitates the use of a credit card, PLEASE advise herself and Nadia, so they can match tickets to incoming funds. Rotarians who sell that way need to write out a ticket for those purchasers so that they are entered into the raffle. Advising the organizing group will avoid duplicate entries. The cooperation of everyone is truly appreciated and will make financial reporting on the raffle much simpler. Please work hard to sell the raffle tickets, as they are the primary fundraising tool that we use for our Music Festival support.

ROTARY CONVENTION INCENTIVE

Club Treasurer Gail Halderman reminded members that due to the proximity of the convention to our club, our 2024-2025 budget includes a sum of money to be shared between those members who are attending the event. By a show of hands it appeared that 7 or 8 members of those present are going, so please sign up and share in this thoughtful idea.

BINGO UPDATES

Gregg Martin announced that our Feb 16th bingo served 111 players, and made a pool profit of $2,488. Al Guerard won the guess pot. We also received our pool checks for the two January bingos, and the profit was $2,150/bingo.

Dave Panabaker advised that he has a full team for the next bingo, on Monday evening March 3rd. Thanks to the group for volunteering.

MUSIC FESTIVAL NEEDS

Our Festival Executive Director Delynne Lorentzen was in need of three door monitors to complete the schedule and those spots were filled.

THE MONARCH THEATRE - OPERATING CAPITAL DEBENTURES

Dave Panabaker advised that he had received a request from t he "Monarch 1911 Society" to introduce the concept of their operating debentures. During this startup period of time, while expenditures exceed revenue, the.y are setting up a series of Operating Debentures and are looking for Rotarians to invest. The debentures cost $5,000 and are flexible in the repayment methods. The debentures pay a 5% interest rate and if you are interested in supporting the Monarch Theatre project, Dave can send you the document or you can contact Frank Devine at the Saamis Club for more info.

THE NEXT "WHY ROTARY" EVENT

Past President Bruce Shepard reminded members that the next introduction event to Rotary for potential members will be Wednesday, April 30th at the Grandstand Ballroom of the Stampede Grounds. The event will begin at 5:00 pm, and a buffet supper will be served starting at around 5:30 pm. The supper will increase the cost per person to $50.00 and tickets will be available soon.

ROTARY DINNER CLUB

Milan Vujovic advises everyone who has signed up for this year's dinner club that dinners can now be booked. If you have a particular date in mind, it's best to get it to him (or his spouse Almira) so that date can be fit into the schedule. Please phone and book your dinner as soon as you can.

TIGER TICKETS FOR ROTARIANS

Glen Presley has 8 extra tickets for the Tuesday March 4th MH Tiger game against the Kelowna Rockets, which starts at 7:00 pm. Any ticket cost is a donation to Rotary, so please let Glen know if you would like one or more.......

A NEW ROTARY "GET OUT OF TROUBLE" CARD

During the Sgt-at-Arms session at the end of the meeting, a new "thank you" was introduced by Sgt Dave Stalwick. Occasionally it is nice to have folks recognized but not necessarily fined. So he gave out a few "Get out of Trouble" cards. Nadia Deenen was one of the first recipients.

Family of Rotary

The Rotary Club sends best wishes and our thoughts and prayers to Bernie Scott, as he works through some serious heart issues.

Please keep a Board Member informed about members health and/or any other changes, so that information can be provided to the club through the Weekly News.