I want to give you an update and plea to use the the People of Action (POA) bucks, and to encourage you to look for opportunities to serve and use our resources during the COVID-19 crisis.
People of Action Bucks Status:
Of the $37,000 budgeted, only $8,600 has been spent (23%). Another $8000 or so is allocated to approved projects. This means over 50% of our POA budget is still not committed.
The Board has decided on a deadline of April 30 to have all bucks ALLOCATED.
This means you have 5 weeks to donate to an already approved project or a new project.
A list of approved projects is attached, with contact info and some details. To donate to one of these, please inform the project contact person of the amount you want to give (and then mark on your paper bucks so that you remember what it's being used for).
New projects and COVID-19 response:
During this time of crisis, there are no doubt needs in our community that you may be aware of, which could be supported by our club. We encourage you to identify these needs to the club, so that we may respond through donations of our time or money.
To expedite new projects - please submit any new requests for POA bucks within the next two weeks - we will compile any requests that come in and present/discuss them at our April 9 club Zoom meeting. Right after the meeting, the projects committee will confirm their suitability for use of Rotary funds, and then the list will be distributed to all members.
Instructions for submitting new project requests is attached. Please send them to me via email, or call me if you have questions.
If you are aware of a non-financial need (eg: deliver to shut-ins), please share this with Me, President Brad, or the whole club as you see fit. We will provide weekly (or more if urgent) updates.
Thanks. We may be self-isolating or social distancing, but we can still serve our community collectively and individually during this time.
You can use this link to join the meeting from your desktop computer, laptop, phone, or tablet: https://zoom.us/j/602710507. As an alternative, if you already have the Zoom app on your phone, tablet, or computer and you want to join using the meeting ID, it's just the last 9 numbers in the web address above: 602 710 507. Either way will work. If you would like to invite a guest to join our meeting online, please share this message or the link above. The meetings are open to anyone who has that web address or meeting ID.
For the benefit of members who can't join the live meeting online, we are recording every meeting to send out to members after. These recordings will be protected so that only members can view them, not guests or the general public. Everyone's video and audio will be turned off by default, except the presenter's. This means your image or spoken words won't be recorded unless you're asking for time on the meeting's agenda and the meeting organizer (usually me), deliberately makes you the presenter.
If you have never used Zoom before, the Zoom software will be downloaded and installed on your device when you click the link above. To see a demonstration of how that process goes on a desktop or laptop, check out this short video beforehand. This help center page on Zoom's website also has specific guidance for all different types of devices (scroll down on the page to find yours).
I thought last week's zoom meeting was quite enjoyable and I am sad that I will not get to see your smiling faces this week. So, I had a thought..... I am going to set up a gathering on Zoom this week - no agenda, just a chance to have lunch together and check in.
I will set up the meeting using our bi-weekly club meeting login in, so you can use the same method of joining as you did last week. If you didn't join last week, I invite you to pop on this week and say hi.
I will leave the meeting open from 12pm-1pm and hope to see you all virtually this Thursday.
If you are unsure about your total amount of Rotary Bucks left, please contact Allan Pawlowich. He is keeping the running total and will be happy to help you out.
I have been in contact with my Canadian Blood Services (CBS) liaison, Olga, for over two weeks, when we first realized the world would shut down. (Note: We have a regular clinic on Friday, April 17. That’s the one that is at the Heritage Pavilion in Stony Plain.)
At first the CBS did not know whether we would have that clinic, but of course, the need for blood never stops. Olga and I spoke again this morning and here’s what I learned.
The clinic is “on”. They need the supply badly. However, they have put in place, as you can imagine, VERY stringent rules about the event. Everybody, including volunteers, must first be screened to determine the health of each individual entering the clinic.
They do want us to attend as volunteers, but Olga stressed that someone like me (70+ years ☹) should not attend. What they really need is someone who will wear a mask and wipe down the donor pamphlets after each use. She said that if we have no one there, they will certainly understand because their focus is on the health of their staff and volunteers.
Olga also stressed that regulations and decisions are changing every day, sometimes faster than that, so she will contact me one week before the clinic to confirm its location. As well, she will keep me apprised of any changes that we need to know.
Here’s what I think should happen:
I will contact our product donors and tell them that we will NOT collect from them on April 17. If we have members attend, it will not be for food distribution.
If you are interested in volunteering for a shift, you can sign up directly on the club's website by clicking here. We need only one person for each shift, but we are asking you to consider signing up to be an alternate in case the first person can't attend. Alternates will only be required to come if the primary volunteer can't.
I will ask you, closer to the date if any of you wish to go to the clinic to help. You would let me know and I would let Olga know. (If no one attends, CBS is okay with that.)
Let me know tomorrow at the ZOOM meeting what you think.
Finally, Olga also asked me to ask all our “healthy” members to consider a blood donation. BY APPOINTMENT, you can donate downtown in Edmonton, at the CBS building clinic by the U of A hospital.
When I recently visited the Parkland After Dark Rotary Club before Christmas, I saw them engaged in in a Christmas card writing project for Canadian Forces troops on deployment. Each card was addressed to a soldier personally and would be delivered through the chain of command to the named individual. I thought it would be very touching to receive that encouragement and thanks from the folks back home.
As our front-line essential workers wage a different kind of war on our behalf to help society slow the spread of COVID-19, I see an opportunity for Rotarians to serve them. It shouldn't take much time, you don't have to leave your house, and it could brighten someone's day significantly. I would like to let nurses, doctors, first responders, pharmacists, grocery store workers, and more, know that we appreciate the personal risk they're taking every day to serve our essential needs.
Paper thank you cards, individually addressed, are out of the question due to the health risk they pose. I envision doing this online, instead, and here's how you can move this idea forward: Think of a vocation or profession you'd like to thank and imagine you're looking a practitioner of that vocation right in the eye. What would you say to that person to convey your appreciation? Let me know what profession you're targeting and what you want to say to them. You can do it in written words or a short video. Get your message to me by email (brad.mastaler@gmail.com) or text (780-965-0258). Feel free to write/record as many messages as you want, targeting as many different vocations as you want. Be advised that if you record the message in a video, it's going to be put on Facebook. You can choose whether you want to be tagged in your video/text message or not. Let me know your preference.
I would like to compile 100 "thank you" messages, to start. We have 35 active club members, so I think this is achievable. If your families want to participate, I encourage it! After a promotional launch of the project on Facebook, our club will publish one message each day for the next 100 days. Through our network of followers who will share this with their networks of followers, I think we can make our gratitude felt far and wide. After we kick-start this, we'll encourage our social media followers to post similar messages of gratitude on our page.
Thanks for considering the opportunity to be part of this. I think it's a meaningful way for us to fulfill part of the second Object of Rotary: "the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations".
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.
