Rotary Weekly News - July 18, 2022 (Jul 18, 2022)

Remarks of the President

President Melanie Harty welcomed those present to our in-person meeting at the Medicine Hat Lodge. Melanie reminded us of a couple of upcoming events and meetings.

The Rotary Board will have it's first meeting of this Rotary year on Wednesday evening, at the Grant Thornton boardroom, beginning at 7:00 pm. Next week's meeting is our annual celebration of Rotary Park, on the Monday of the Medicine Hat Stampede. Please bring your own lunch and a lawn chair, it is really a social in the shade of the park (we will meet inside the Rotary Arch, in the Northwest corner of the park.

Also please remember that Monday August 1st is a Statutory holiday, and there will be no Rotary meeting.

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Rotary Club "What-z New":

A few more meeting helpers are required to run cameras and sound during our hybrid meetings. We are all learning to adapt to this new reality. Anyone wishing to help should contact Mike Christie 403 878 3311.

Rotary Club Membership Update:

Would you like to join the membership team? Check out a meeting and see how exciting it is! The committee meets on the second Thursday of each month at 5:00 pm. Contact Mike Christie to join in.

Rotary Club Information:

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

Upcoming Club Program, Activities and Meetings:

Wednesday July 20th - Rotary Board meeting
Monday July 25th - Noon meeting in-person in Rotary Park on Maple Ave. Bring lunch and a chair.
Monday August 1st - Holiday - no meeting
Sunday August 7th - Rotary Bingo afternoon.
Monday August 8th - noon tour of Sanare Center.

Upcoming Rotary District and International Events

Next District Conference: Lethbridge: May 5th and 6th, 2023.

Future Programs:

The Rotary Club's Program Committee is: Jillian Koch (jkoch@jmhca.com), Dave Panabaker (d.panabaker@hotmail.com) and Margie Booyens (margiebooyens@gmail.com).
If you have ideas for future programs, please contact them.

Update on CFB Suffield

The Rotary Club of Medicine Hat was delighted to welcome the "new" base commander of CFB Suffield, Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Burke.

LCol. Burke (who preferred to be addressed as Stephen), began by giving us a short bio of his more than 20 years serving in the Canadian military and some of his recent assignments. He has been the base commander at Suffield for just under a year and now that we are coming out of our COVID hibernation, he is happy to be out in the community and rebuilding the relationship between the base and its surrounding neighbors.

He gave a brief history of the base, from its inception during the Second World War, to its role in the issues around the Cold War and the more recent rise of regional insurgency's. The base is a large isolated area, and as Stephen described, an incredibly rare and valuable asset for military training. He presented some fascinating aerial photos of the base, and how it has changed over the years. Only the hanger is the same (sort of).

CFB Suffield main purpose is support DRDC/BATUS and CAF. There are approximately 225 military personnel and 590 civilians who are employed at the base, which makes the facility a large (if not the largest) employer in the area. Staffing is a key issue with them, and they support a payroll of over $58 million dollars annually.

LCol. Stephen spoke about the relationship between the property and other stakeholders, such as the oil and gas industry, wildlife management and recreational area's. He spoke about the future, which is certainly subject to change but has many upsides for the area. He answered a few questions and was thanked by President Melanie.

A great talk, we wish Stephan and his staff all the best in the future.

Meeting News

Guests:

LCol Stephen Burke, Base Commander CFB Suffield.
Master Warrant Officer, Garnett Carberry

Club Draw:

Doug Fleming won a set of placemats in the draw.

Makeups:

Rotarians who worked the Wednesday evening, July 13th bingo.

Birthdays:

Jillian Koch July 19
Emilia Dirk July 22
Marg Mazerolle July 24

Rotary Anniversaries: .

Sandy Mackay 45 years July 1, 1977.
Dave Maclean 45 years July 1, 1977.
Jim White 43 years July 1, 1979.
Margie Booyens 6 years July 4, 2016.
Glen Presley 7 years July 27, 2015.
Kitt Brand 13 years July 29, 2009.

Wedding Anniversary Rose Runner for July:

Bruce Shepard.

Minute People:

Dawn Barr told a story about their recent travel problems, so the issues with air travel have certainly happened to someone we all know.
Kitt Brand wanted to pass on the news that a community member, an honorary PHF of our club, Deb Lloyd will be participating in the ceremony's starting next weekend around the Papal visit to the residential school survivors in Alberta. Deb is well known in our community as an educator on indigenous culture, and we hope this role in building peace and understanding will be fruitful.
Dave Panabaker thanked those Rotarians who worked the bingo on Wednesday evening. The event raised $2,111.75 for the pool profit and Adolf Seiler was the winner of the guess pot.
Dave also reminded everyone that the first meeting in August, on August 8 will be a tour of the Sanare Center to hear from the ED Christina Johnson and to view the work paid for by our donation.
Dave also mentioned that a new Medicine Hat chapter of PROBUS is being organized. This friendship and social club is meeting monthly on the first Thursday of every month, at 10:30 am at the Veiner Center.

Upcoming Social Events:

Monday July 25th, Celebration in Rotary Park: bring your own lunch and lawn chair.

Family of Rotary:

Please keep Adolf informed about members so that information can be passed on to all in the Weekly News.

We welcomed two Rotarians whom we haven't seen in a while. It was great to see Dave Maclean and Bernie Scott back at the meeting.
Wayne Chesley is on the path to recovery, he returned home on Monday and now will be working on healing up.
The Rotary Club sends it's condolences and prayers to Gregg Martin and his family, on the loss of his mother over the weekend. Watch the paper for funeral specifics.