June 28, 2021 - Rotary Weekly News (Jun 28, 2021)

President Meeting Remarks:

President Mark Sorenson welcomed everyone to this celebration of another successful Rotary year, and in a place like Rotary Park that holds so much history for our club. Mark began our annual "picnic in the park" with thanks to everyone who helped him through this unique and challenging year. He enjoyed his tenure as President but was happy to be passing the gavel to Terry Partis.

First our local Assistant Governor, Keith Walker performed the induction ceremony and swore in Terry Partis as the next President of the Rotary Club of Medicine Hat.

That being accomplished, Mark happily passed the gavel to Terry and the meeting proceeded.

Before proceeding further, Terry presented Mark with a token of appreciation from all the members of the Rotary Club, for his stable, and strong leadership through this pandemic year. It was a challenge that Mark met very well and we are grateful for his presence "at the helm".

There were a number of guests at our meeting this evening, as well as a few partners, so for a hot, sunny summer Monday, it was a great turnout.

Rotary Club "What-z New":

A new club laptop is in our future, the current one will not provide the service required to stream our meetings.
If our hybrid meetings continue in the future, a few more meeting helpers will be required to help run cameras and sound. We are all learning as we go along here, but these type of meetings are manpower intensive.

Rotary Club Membership Update:

If you are interested in helping this working membership team, please contact Mike Christie.
Membership also had a "place" in the program today as Past President Margie Booyens had the pleasure of inducting our first new member for 2021-2022, Gwen Dirk to membership in the Rotary Club. Welcome Gwen and we look forward to your contributions to the club and community.

Rotary Club Information:

Housekeeping:
- Please collect club draw items. It is an important part of our meeting and the funds generated help to run the club.
- If you have a Meeting Minute, please phone or email the Newsletter and we'll include it.
- Board minutes can be found on ClubRunner, under Club Documents.

Upcoming Club Program, Activities, and Meetings

The meeting on Monday July 5th is current planned as a ZOOM event, to prepare for a return to the MH Lodge the next week.

Upcoming Rotary District and International Events:

The next District 5360 Conference is a "single day" event in Canmore, on Saturday May 14, 2022
The Rotary International convention for 2021, originally scheduled in Taiwan will now be held VIRTUALLY as well. Watch for updates on registration and programs.

Future Programs:

The Rotary Club's Program Coordinator is Jillian Koch. If you have future program ideas, please email Jillian at jkoch@jmhca.com

Presentations in the Park

Newly Inducted President Terry Partis spoke for a few minutes about some of the priorities of his year, which begin with membership. "Many hands make light work", and every new member we induct will add strength to the club and lighten the load for the rest of us. He passed around two club photos taken over the past 15 years, and noted how much change there has been in our membership.

First, he assisted Keith Walker in the induction of his new Board.

Melanie Harty (President-elect) had a conflict and could not be present, and Peter Mueller "was a little late" and not present for the induction. We forgave him, because he brought a new member with him.

Terry spoke about the "Move for Polio" initiative of our incoming District Governor Martin Parnell, so far 26 clubs in the District have registered a champion for their club and Terry is looking for someone to step to this roll in our club.

Terry also spoke about the District 5360 Indigenous Committee, which will be working on engaging the native community over this year.

Terry also spoke about the structure of meetings, as we go back to "near normal" in terms of COVID protocols. He sees a mixture of in-person and virtual meetings, in the future, with at least one "hands on" type meeting in the community over the next few months. Stay tuned, more information to come.

Terry was then able to turn the meeting into a great series of recognition for the efforts of Rotarians and others in helping our community.

First, the Rotary Club was delighted to recognize the amazing work of our Music Festival Executive Director Delynne Lorentzen, who was able to pull together a "virtual" Festival this spring and provide over 150 kids with the opportunityto "have a stage", and many 100's of others to watch remotely. Great work Delynne!

Next new Rotarian Brent Secondiak was presented with a Paul Harris Fellowship by PDG Sandy Mackay. Brent has been a force in our community as a senior member of the Police department and a worthy recipient of this honor.

Next PDG Sandy presented Bruce Shepard with his Paul Harris +1 pin, for his continued financial contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Thanks for ths support of the Foundation, where we get the funds to give back to the community!

Meeting News

Posted on Jun 28, 2021

Guests:

Keith Walker, AG - member of Medicine Hat Sunrise Rotary.
Johanne Booyens, Phyllis McLaughlin, Sharon Zollner, guests of Rotarians
Delynne Lorentzen, Executive Director of Rotary Music Festival.
Gwen Dirk, inductee.

Club Draw:

Club Draws will be restored at our "in person" meetings at the Medicine Hat Lodge, in mid-July.

Minute People:.

Terry Cooper sent an update on Team Freewheel as of June 24, 2021. "We have now distributed 101 bikes to the community and have another 17 in storage at the C-Can ready for distribution. (9 of which are for youth 10 and under) Peter Mueller and I are working on another 10 in my backyard which we, along with other volunteer workers, will work on over the coming weeks. Five will be allocated to District 76, which Anne and Margie will look for to organizations that we have already given bikes to to see if they would like a few more so that we can clear the C-Can and my yard. Thanks to Dave Panabaker and Ken Zollner we can now store up to 17 bikes."
PP Mark Sorenson shared the news that our participation in the "3D Limbs in Sri Lanka" has been approved by District Grants, great work by Terry Cooper and the International Team to involve us in such a fascinating project.
Representatives of all three local clubs, and our AG Keith Walker met with the senior members of the local mosque on Wed June 23, to express support in the wake of the murder of a muslim family in London, Ontario last month. An informative and interesting experience, thanks to those that organized and participated.
For those who are interested in learning about our native neighbours, Dan Kammerer sent along a free course, sponsored by BMO which is used in their internal training and provided through the First Nations University of Canada. The course is free until July 15, and can be accessed through this link. https://www.fnuniv.ca/partnerships/reconciliation . As well, a much more comprehensive course, titled "Indigenous Canada" can be accessed through the University of Alberta. It is also free, and can be found here. https://www.coursera.org/learn/indigenous-canada .
President Terry reminded everyone that the dates for Rotary staffed events were sent out on Monday afternoon, our first bingo is Sunday evening, July 4th. As of Thursday July 1st, a full team is registered.
Several young men who have been a significant part of the Music Festival over the past 3 or 4 years are performing a concert on Saturday July 17, 2021 at 3:00 pm in St Barnabas Church. Both Soren and Laec Lorentzen are Rosebowl winners and will be performing with Con and Elaine Sandro. This may be your first opportunity to hear "live music" in 18 months, so come on out and enjoy!

Dave Panabaker also announced that a blend of "in-person" meetings and "ZOOM" meetings are planned for July and August. Currently July 12^th and July 19^th and August 9^th and 23^nd are booked at the MH Lodge, WATCH for attendance invitations as we work with the MH LOdge to reopen things and have personal meetings.
If you have photos or a story to include in the Weekly News, please submit it to Dave P and we'll try to publish it.

Birthdays: July

Jillian Koch July 19^th.
Marg Mazerolle July 24^th.

Club Anniversaries: July.

Sandy Mackay 44 years July 1, 1977.
David Maclean 44 years July 1, 1977.
Jim White 42 years July 1, 1979.
Margie Booyens 5 years July 5, 2016.
Glen Presley 6 years July 27, 2015.
Kitt Brand 12 years July 29, 2009.

Makeups:

None recorded.

Family of Rotary: (PLEASE KEEP ADOLF INFORMED ABOUT MEMBERS SO THAT INFORMATION CAN BE PASSED ON TO ALL IN THE WEEKLY NEWS)..

The Rotary Club was saddened to learn of the passing of Joanne Taylor, widow of former club member Dan Taylor. The club sends it's condolences to her family and friends.
Rotarians and friends are invited to a "come and go" celebration of Gerry Nadeau, now that COVID restrictions are relaxed. The event is being hosted at the Connaught Golf Club on Sunday July 18th, 2021 from 2 pm - 5 pm. Please RSVP to Liz Nadeau, so they can be prepared for the number coming. Liz can be contacted at liz_nadeau@hotmail.com