Rotary Weekly News - February 27, 2023 (Feb 26, 2023)

President's Message:

President Elect Bruce Shepard stepped in and chaired the Monday 27 February meeting. He mentioned that our thoughts are still with President Melanie.

PE Bruce also mentioned that the sound issues which have plagued our ZOOM meetings seem to have been resolved, Kurt to the rescue again.

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 of this team and see how exciting it is! The committee meets on the second Wednesday 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:

Rotary Music Festival - March 5th - March 19th.
Monday March 6th - Club Business Meeting, MH Lodge.
Monday March 13th - Special "Business of Rotary" meeting, MH Lodge
May 8th and 9th, 2023 - Next Rotary Club Casino
Friday June 16^th, 2023 - Rotary at the Ballpark, Athletic Park

Upcoming Rotary District and International Events

Rotary District Learning Webinar: Wednesday March 21^st, from 7-8pm, on the District's New Generations Service Exchange program for 18-30 year young adults. Register on District 5360 website, at the link https://rotary5360.ca/event/march-club-learning-webinar-1
SPECIAL " DEEP DIVE" into the NEW DISTRICT GRANTWEBSITE, Learning Webinar: Tuesday March 7^th, from 7-8 pm. Register on District 5360 website, at the link https://rotary5360.ca/event/new-grants-website-deep-dive
Secret Marathon - website and registration are available for March 8^th, 2023 - International Woman's Day, https://www.secret3k.com . AG Keith Walker has invited all members of our club to walk the Sunrise Rotary trail at the Medicine Hat College that evening. Park in the Cultural Center parking lot and the walk will start about 5:00 pm. All are welcome!!
Rotary Board leadership training is happening on March 1^st and March 11^th. Registration is available on the District website.
District Interact President's meeting is Saturday March 4^th.
Next District Conference: Lethbridge: May 5/6, 2023. Registration is now open. The conference website is located at https://www.discon5360.ca Margie mentioned that some ride sharing and car pooling might let more folks attend.

Ideas for Future Programs

The Rotary Club's Program Committee members are 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.

Club 1000 Raffle

TWO WEEKS LEFT TO SELL THESE TICKETS, please do your best.

Every year, the Rotary Club holds a cash raffle in support of the Rotary Music Festival. Tickets for the 2023 Raffle are now available from Rotarians and online. This raffle is the Rotary Clubs primary support mechanism for the Music Festival, which is in its 67^th year. Please consider purchasing a ticket (or two!!) to help us keep the Festival growing.

The website for online ticket purchases can be found at https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/63a3f617-fe73-44ad-9913-d0296da68041 or by scanning the QR code below. Thanks to everyone who has supported us so far!!

Dave Panabaker provided the updated that the raffle draw was Sunday March 19th at the Stars of the Festival and that the raffle team has received about 1/3 of the tickets back sold. Plenty of time to get out and sell more, Doug Fleming, Glen Presley and Dave have extra tickets if anyone needs them. Also tickets will be available at the information desk at the Cultural Center through the Music Festival.

Presentation by Police Chief Alan Murphy

The Rotary Club welcomed our new Medicine Hat Police Service Chief, Alan Murphy to the meeting today. Chief Murphy was introduced by Rotarian Brent Secondiak, who also happens to be a member of the MH Police Service.

Chief Murphy was originally from our most easterly province, NFLD & Labrador and although he still has family "on the rock", he's been an Albertan for a long time.

The Chief was with the Edmonton Police Service for 27 years, the last 4 as deputy chief and has a well rounded background in law enforcement. He came to Medicine Hat last year as Interim Chief, and really enjoyed the community and a smaller center to work in.

Chief Murphy spoke about the trends, both good and bad, concerning crime in our community. He drew parallel's to larger centers and showed why some issues are present everywhere, and some are unique to a particular location. He spoke about the impact that the COVID pandemic had on policing, on community mental health and those suffering with addiction issues and how even as the pandemic is in our rear view mirror, it has had lasting impacts.

The Chief was asked a wide variety of questions by those present and provided great answers. The members of the club are grateful for the professionalism and the service of our Police Department, and wish Chief Murphy a success stint as the "top cop" in MH.

Chief Murphy was thanked for his presentation by PE Bruce Shepard and presented with a Rotary mug.

Meeting News

Guests:

Police Chief Andy Murphy, our guest speaker.
Member-elect, Alain Guerard
Kurt Shepard (guest of father, Bruce Shepard) and our sound technician!!

The meeting was very well attended by a total of 26 in person and 5 on ZOOM.

Club Draw:

Joe Hrankowski was the winner of a Rotary purse.

Makeups:

None mentioned

Birthdays:

Dan Kammerer Mar 04
Dave Panabaker Mar 07
Terry Cooper Mar 25

Rotary Anniversaries:

Stan Sakamoto 39 years Mar 01, 1984.
Jack Snedden 34 years Mar 01 1989.
Mike Christie 21 years Mar 04, 2002.
Dave Stalwick 21 years Mar 04, 2002.
John John 20 years Mar 10, 2003.
Bruce Shepard 9 years Mar 10, 2014.
Dawn Barr 19 years Mar 29, 2004.

Wedding Anniversary Rose Runner for February 2023:

Terry Brekko.

Reminders about important Minutes:

CLUB 1000 RAFFLE TICKETS: Dave Panabaker remined everyone that there are two weeks left to sell tickets on our principle fundraiser for the Rotary Music Festival. Tickets will be available at the Music Festival information desk at the Cultural Center, up until the Rosebowl Competition.

Team Freewheel Bike project: The Bike Project encourages everyone to visit the project at 551 Spencer Street (Knowles Electric building). Thursday mornings are a good time to swing by for a cup of coffee and a chat with the team working on the bikes. Active involvement in the project would be warmly welcomed!

Sign Up for Door Monitors and Information Desks at Music Festival: There are still a few spots available, Rotary Music Festival ED Delynne Lorentzen has created a sharable Google spreadsheet to sign up volunteers for the Door Monitor and Information Desk positions during the Music Festival. The Festival runs from March 5 - 19 this year. Please use this link to access the spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TKWeqg9ypAuAtwhYBjOjVTi33sj0mkHqpS2HOb_LGUA/edit?pli=1#gid=0

Tri-Club Social: The Medicine Hat Saamis Rotary Club has organized a social meeting of all three clubs, on Thursday evening March 16th. They will need a headcount, so invitations have gone out this week. Come and enjoy some fellowship with other local Rotarians, they will have a presentation, a cash bar and finger food buffet. Cost is $20.00/person.

Dinner Club start-up: Please consider signing up with Dick Bide or Milan Vujovic - it's big fun!

Rotary Bingos: Dave Stalwick announced that there is a bingo on Monday evening, February 27th, and he needs one more volunteer. He got them, so all was well.

Meeting Room Setup

John John needs assistance setting up the meeting room on a go forward basis. The time commitment is about an hour before the meeting, starting at 11:00 am and about a half hour after the meeting, usually ending around 1:30 pm. If you are willing to help, please contact John or Dave Panabaker.

Family of Rotary:

The club continues to send condolences and prayers to President Melanie Harty and her family on the sad loss of her son. We are available to support and help in any ways needed.

Please keep Adolf Seiler informed about members health changes so that information can be provided to the club through the Weekly News.