Regular Meeting (Jul. 28, 2025)

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

President Milan welcomed everyone including this week's guest - Anjali Mishra and her father, Rama Mishra as well as several of her friends from the community. George Koopman, the Chaplain at Medicine Hat College was also in attendance and will be out guest again in two weeks.

Thank you to Doug and Dave for getting the flags set up.

President Milan provided a land acknowledgment and also reminded that July was Maternal and Child Health month and reminded us of our motto “Unite for Good”.

Other important business conducted included a vote on the new club bylaws. Past President Mike Christie made a motion to accept the latest iteration of our bylaws per the notice given three weeks.

Dave Stadwick seconded.

Sharon Hayward asked if a motion to rescind previous bylaws needed. Determined no.

Vote called – passed unanimously.

Rotary Club Information:

Housekeeping:
- We are looking for volunteers for desk reception at our Monday meetings.

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, has been working on restoring both the structure and the programming at the historic Monarch movie theatre on 2nd St S.E, Medicine Hat.

Stan Sakamoto attended the July 15th meeting of the Friends of the Monarch, and advised that the Monarch is closed until October, for renovations to the stage, the marquee and replacement of the roof. The plan is to be back in operation in the fall, with both live music performances, movies and some other entertainment.

The stage will be significantly enlarged, and handicap accessible seating and other modifications will be completed.

Our club will try to keep track of events on at 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.

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).

Walking with Refugees in Egypt

Anjali has a long connection with Rotary winning the Rose Bowl at the Rotary Music Festival as a teenager. Her career has taken her into the realm of the UN and non-profit work in child and women health. She is also working in centers in Canada living with refugees and build relationships and transitions to Canada. After doing this for a few years, wanted to experience a bigger picture and through the Mennonite Central Committee and St. Andrews Refugee Services volunteered for overseas work in Cairo, Egypt supporting refugees and asylum seekers. She discovered there is a large network of organizations supporting refugees and many are led by former refugees.

The 300-400 people Anjali worked with are all former refugees. Anjali specialized in work with unattached children and young people. Egypt hosts 1-10 million refugees – 1 million are documented. Many come from Sudan fleeing the civil war. This war has created the largest human displacement crisis involving 11 million people and putting 25 million into acute food insecurity.

Estimated 1.5 million refugees have come to Egypt in last 2 years from Sudan. This has placed huge strain on Egypt’s infrastructure.

Her day-day work with unaccompanied children involves providing:

Direct psychosocial support
Client advocacy and legal aid
Organization consulting and project management

50% of Anjali’s organizations funding came from USAID which disappeared in less than a month. This lead to budget re-org and trimming…the education program was fully cut as a result. Children who had been receiving education and therefore, a chance of a future lost this opportunity.

Canada does not accept unaccompanied children refugees due to legal concerns if the parents are still alive. Unfortunate. This results in children being in less than ideal circumstances

Call to action

Transitioning to beneficiary led solutions and partnering with those that already exist
Supporting initiatives to strengthen refugee response in Canada
Contextualizing Canada’s refugee response to global needs and trends.

Anjali’s Next Steps

Romero House – Walking with Refugees.

She will move to a facility in Toronto called Romero House and working/living directly alongside refugees.

Questions were entertained and it was highlighted that situations in countries like Sudan is notably absent/muted in the media. Anjali noted that world events are overwhelming and numerous. For example, famine in Sudan is a key cause of the situation in Sudan compounded exponentially by the civil war.

Meeting News

GUESTS:

Anjali Mishra, Rama Mishra and friends
George Koopman

ATTENDANCE:

21 members attended in person, 5 on Zoom and 6 guests.

MEETING DRAW:

Peter Mueller won a box of Orange Chocolate After 8's.

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

Makeups: None were mentioned.

Birthdays:

Susan Withers August 7

Lesley Tuchscherer August 22

Gregg Martin August 25

Rotary Anniversaries:

Ken Zollner 42 years August 1, 1983

Jillian Koch 9 years August 8, 2016

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY ROSE RUNNER FOR AUGUST 2025

Nadia Deenen

Minutes

MEETING FRONT DESK INVITATION TO SHARE IDEAS FOR OUR CLUB

Dave Stalwick is looking to build a team roster for the front desk duties so expertly carried out previously by John John. It would be nice to have at least four members who would become familiar with the process.

EMPRESS ART AT SAGEBRUSH STUDIOS

On 16 August, the Sagebrush Studios is welcoming our club to visit and appreciate the arts exhibits. Members can car pool. Margie Booyens has sent out signup invitations, so have a look for this great social event.

ROTARY WATERTON GLACIER PEACE PARK

There has been a change of date for the Peace Park weekend. It is now Sept 12 - 13, 2025 in Waterton.

Family of Rotary

The club mourns the passing of long time Rotarian Joan Sauve.

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.