On Tuesday, September 15, Rotarians from our club attended (or will attend... I don't know what time you're reading this!) the world's oldest Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, founded by Paul Harris, Gus Loehr, Sylvester Schiele, and Hiram Shorey in 1905. With that first virtual pilgrimage complete, I thought it would be fitting to have us visit the club that put the "I" in "RI" (Rotary International). All you Manitobans may know that the Rotary Club of Winnipeg became the first Rotary club to charter outside the United States of America on November 3, 1910. Fast forward 110 years, and on Wednesday, October 7 at 11:15 AM Mountain Daylight Time, President Brent Jorowski will welcome the contingent of "travelling" Spruce Grove Rotarians. Darlene Ronald, the guest speaker that day, will give us "A Look Behind the Curtain at Manitoba Opera". President Brent wants to be able to introduce us personally, so please email me at brad.mastaler@gmail.com to let me know if you plan to attend. I'll send you the Zoom link when I receive it.
Future visits may not all be of historical significance to our club, but there are really good reasons to understand where we, as Rotarians, came from and where we find ourselves today. With that in mind, I am making arrangements with President Bill Stumbaugh to visit the Rotary Club of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador, a city where our club has worked for many years on a variety of projects, including recently bringing clean drinking water to about 750 people in two area villages. I'm finding out that even virtual visits to an Ecuadorian club require formalities to mark the occasion... they're not content to just let us "pop in". Stay tuned for us to nail down a date for that in October.
I want to space out visits every couple of weeks so as not to crowd your schedules. Future stops on this tour may include...
the Rotary E-Club of Canada One, the home club of our current District Governor, Jim Ferguson, and a club that's no stranger to meeting online because that's the way they've always done it.
the Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield, the club that sponsored our charter into Rotary International in 1993.
the Rotary Club of Whitehorse and/or Whitehorse Rendezvous, two new clubs to join our District 5370 on July 1, making our geographically huge district even larger.
the Rotary Clubs of Stony Plain and Parkland After Dark, just to say "hi".
the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, the home club of Rotary International's first woman to be selected as President-Nominee, Jennifer Jones.
One of the privileges of Rotary membership is the ability to attend any other Rotary club's meeting as a guest. It's easier than ever to virtually visit places around the world, so let's go to some far-out and far-away clubs! It will be a great way to see some new faces and places, learn about Rotary, and bring back new ideas. Alas, we won't get to steal their bells or banners to ransom them for a good cause, which is what many raids...er "make-ups"... used to entail between Rotary Clubs in District 5370.
For our first virtual trip, let's go to where it all started! The first meeting of what would come to be known as the Rotary Club of Chicago was held on February 23, 1905. The world's first four Rotarians met to build friendships and ended up building the world's largest and most impactful service organization! Also known as ROTARY/One, the Rotary Club of Chicago today boasts over a century of good work in Chicago and throughout the world. They have about 200 members, and they can apparently attract celebrities to their weekly meetings as speakers.
Let's visit Chicago on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 from 11:10 PM until 12:20 PM Mountain Daylight Time to hear actor, director, and Chicago-native, Joe Mantegna, speak! As Rotarians, it's free for us to visit their online meeting, but registration is required. Please sign up by clicking the "Register Now" button on the Chicago club's event page. Then let Brad know if you're coming by dropping him a quick message at brad.mastaler@gmail.com. More details about the online meeting will follow.
Jennifer E. Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, has been nominated to become Rotary International’s president for 2022-23, a groundbreaking selection that will make her the first woman to hold that office in the organization’s 115-year history. Click here to read the full article.
The 17th annual Rotary Run for Life (RRFL) is upon us beginning with recognition of World Suicide Prevention Day on Thursday, September 10th. To mark these events, we will hold a face-to-face Rotary meeting in front of the Rotary Playscape at the south end of the Trip-Leisure Centre on Thursday, September 10th.
At 12:00 noon, we will ask those gathered, to walk (or run if you like) a 5 km route through the west end of Spruce Grove. If you arrive later than noon, no problem. Just follow these: Map. Turn-by-turn directions. Relive video of route.
When we finish the walk (at the Playscape), we will have a social lunch together in the nearby green space. BYO chair, lunch, drink. If you do not want to walk, please meet us at that space for lunch.
You may want to register this walk through RRFL and post your time using the RaceRoster app provided as part of your registration fee or manually using your own device.
Our you may simply want to donate to this, our most long-running (pun intended) cause.
We will be having a few people from Safe Horizon speak at our meeting. Safe Horizon Society for Abuse Response is a non-profit society that works collaboratively with other organizations and the community towards reducing relationship violence and abuse in the tri-municipal region through education, awareness, resources and supports.
Safe Horizon Society for Abuse Response has received grant funding from the Solicitor General’s Victims of Crime fund since 2014 in order to contract a Domestic Violence Caseworker. The DV Caseworker is a specialized human services worker with knowledge and training specific to domestic violence. The Domestic Violence Caseworker works closely with the Criminal Justice System and the victims of domestic violence to ensure families have the appropriate wraparound supports required to move toward a family free from violence.
The Society was originally formed in December 2009 after the Parkland & Area Community Partnership identified family violence as a serious issue in the Parkland Region. At that time, we were known as the Parkland and Area Response to Family Violence Committee (PARFVC). The committee was comprised of members from many community agencies and volunteers all with a commitment to the reduction of relationship violence and abuse in the Parkland Region. Of note, the current Board Executive is made up entirely of community volunteers.
Zoom has changed its security settings and that has necessitated that we change the link to the weekly meetings. This new link will remain the same every week, so keep it handy. If you ever forget it, you can visit www.sprucegroverotary.org and click About Our Club - Meeting Info and Location.
Have a Rotary Story, pictures from a Rotary Social and/or information for the Rotary RAP?
Send me (Krista) an email: krista.mastaler@gmail.com by Sunday evenings at the latest so that I can include it in the weekly RAP on Mondays!
Thanks everyone!!!!
Although every effort is made to ensure that the content of this eBulletin is faithful to the Rotary Four Way Test, readers should be aware that this publication is not the official record of decisions made by the Rotary Club of Spruce Grove. The approved minutes of the Club constitute the one and only such record.
