Rotaract Newsletter. A Message from the District Governor. From the Editor. District Spring 2008

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1 District 5370 Spring 2008 Rotaract Newsletter A Message from the District Governor Congratulations on your inaugural District 5370 Rotaract Newsletter. Just a note to thank the Rotaractors for helping District 5370 better serve young people in the cities that you are now active in. There is a good potential for growth in the larger centres and communities throughout the District. The synergy that is developing with Rotaract in our District is really exciting. District volunteers are there to help you in the most appropriate methods. Since it is a partnership between the Rotaract Clubs and Rotary Clubs, there is an opportunity for you to share your skills as you help Rotary understand your potential. A Rotaract Club in Yellowknife would provide an opportunity for partnering and learning about a very interesting part of Canada. I guess this holds true to all communities Rotary now serves as well as communities where we are trying to charter new Rotary Clubs. We find that the size of the community does not matter, as there are always keen young people that are interested in serving local needs and are willing to help others in the 2/3rd s world. We hope that Rotaractors in our District will consider partnerships with Rotaract Clubs in other parts of the world. As with Rotary, this gives us a chance to learn about and share successful projects. My first encounter with Rotaract was in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Young people there were tuned into the needs of their community and were willing to bring about change. That has been a memory for over seven years for me, a life enhancing encounter. One of the strengths of Rotary is our numbers. Working together we are enabled to do so much more. Rotaract in District 5370 is attaining that mass and we ask that you use the opportunity for partnership with each other here in the District. If you are aware of any opportunities to start another Rotaract Club, please contact the District Youth Services Team Leader, Dianne Palovcik, the District Rotaract Committee and a local Rotary Club. On behalf of the people whose lives you have changed, are changing and will change, thank you. From the Editor Happy 40th Birthday Rotaract! David R. Taylor Governor Rotary District 5370 david@rtntaylor.com Welcome to the first edition of the District 5370 Rotaract Newsletter! This newsletter will be published quarterly, with the intention of promoting what s happening in the Rotaract clubs of our district. I would like to invite any Rotaractor or Rotarian who would like to submit an article for the newsletter to do so. The articles must be print ready with no editing needed. Pictures may also be submitted, but must be of a high quality with a note attached to describe who / what s happening in the photo. The submission deadline for the summer issue will be June 1, As you will read throughout the rest of this newsletter, the Rotaract clubs of our district have had an amazing year... we ve chartered 2 new clubs and membership overall is on the rise. We re keeping extremely busy and per capita, our members are some of the most active you will come across. At this time, I would ask any Rotarians that know someone years of age who have expressed an interest in Rotary, to suggest joining Rotaract. This could even create a great opportunity for the rise of yet another new Rotaract

2 Page 2 club in our district in a community that doesn t yet have one. With the District Conference only 2 months away, I would like to encourage all the Rotaractors to attend. Be sure to register before April 15th to get the early bird rate! This year there will be a break-out session specifically for Rotaract and all Youth Services. We will also be hosting a booth in the House of Friendship to promote our projects and Rotaract / Youth Services in general. If anyone is interested in helping with the booth, please let your club president know. The District Conference is sure to be a great time and will certainly give us all a chance to meet one and other and brainstorm about the great projects our clubs have been involved. The Rotaract Club of the U of A meets every second Monday on the 2nd floor of the Central Academic Building located on campus at 4:30 pm. The Rotaract Club of Edmonton Centre meets the first and third Thursday of every month at the Coast Mountain Plaza Hotel downtown at 8:00 pm. The Rotaract Club of Grande Prairie meets the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at the Stanford in at 7:30 pm. The Rotaract Club of Lloydminster meets every second Tuesday at 6:30, room 2013 Lakeland College. Cheryl Luken Co-Chair, Rotaract District Committee Rotaract Club of Grande Prairie coach@persona.ca A busy Charter Year for Lloydminster! We officially became a club September 29th Including our executive, we currently have 19 members within our club. Our clubs elects have changed a number of times this last year, and currently we have: Kaitlyn Matthews Jenna Lamb Vice Pam Quicksted Secretary and Rose Potts Treasurer. We are very active within our community. We have taken part in many service projects such as volunteering for the MS Walk, assisting our local SPCA, selling tickets for organizations, bar tending and serving for different functions, and many others. We do at least one community service project a month. Our club is currently participating in Project Porchlight. We have 1000 light bulbs that need to be delivered throughout our community. We will be volunteering for the MS Walk again this year and putting in a team for the Relay for Life walk. Our big project that we are working on at this time is preparing for a Rotaract Golf Tournament in June. The money that we raise from the golf tournament will go towards a Belize project, although the scope of our efforts within the project has yet to be determined. We meet every second Tuesday at the Lloydminster Lakeland College. We have had a wide range of speakers at our meetings, from Rotary members to the Mayor of our city. Our club also has monthly socials, which we find keeps our member engaged and interacting with each other. Kaitlyn Matthews Rotaract Club of Lloydminster kmatthews_85@hotmail.com The Rotaract Club of Lloydminster at a gala last year... looking good!!

3 Page 3 Rotaract Club of Edmonton Centre keeping busy! Three hours ago, the elections finished for the Rotaract Club of Edmonton Centre. One year ago, the first elections took place to decide the first executive and board of directors for our club. One year later, a lot has transformed in our club. We stand poised, looking forward at the coming opportunities: community projects, international projects, leadership training, and of course fellowship. Volunteer drives for Zebra Child Protection Centre and weekend builds for Habitat for Humanity have acted as community projects and social events alike for this past year. Traveling down to Salt Lake City for the international convention last year was a chance for many of us to get to know one another, helping to prepare us for this year. Members of the Rotaract Club of Edmonton Centre in Salt Lake City for the International Convention Hoping to spread the spirit of volunteering and service above self, on May , we are hosting the First Annual Rotaract Club of Edmonton Centre s High School Leadership Conference. We will be transporting sixty students from varying high schools to charities of their selection for an afternoon of volunteering, after a morning of icebreakers and leadership games. Top: Rotaract Club of Edmonton Centre Paul Hillier and Vice Maryam Soleimani with the Presidents of their two sponsor clubs Members of the Rotaract Club of Edmonton Centre help out at a Habitat for Humanity Worksite Looking abroad, we have set our sights on Kenya. Our goal is to travel down in May 2009, to Lake Victoria, a secluded part of Kenya, and build a school from the desks to the walls. We thank everyone for their support at our Charter Dinner on October 12, our first fundraiser for the project, KENYA: Laying the Foundation. Looking toward the future, with a Charity Poker Tournament All In for Africa on March 16th, and the fundraising committee working around the clock on sponsorship packages, we are encouraged by the increased stability in the country and excited to go and make a difference. It s been an amazing first year, I am really fortunate to have had the opportunity to be the club s charter president, chartering the first community based Rotaract club in Edmonton. We look forward to seeing everyone at the district conference and perhaps at the International Convention this year. As one of two Rotaract clubs chartered this year, I can say Rotaract is on the move! Paul Hillier Rotaract Club of Edmonton Centre hillier.rotaract@gmail.com

4 Page 4 The Rotaract Club of Grande Prairie... Looking Forward! Since 2001 the Grande Prairie Rotaract Club has been seeking to lead the way for the youth of this city, showing that youth can contribute to a city. The club has had a fluctuating level of membership that now numbers close to 20 after periods of single-digit membership. Our members represent all parts of the city and numerous professions and backgrounds. This year could be the biggest yet for the GP club as plans are well underway for this year s Grande Prairie Duck Race. It will be the 19th year for the charity event which was previous run by our parent club, who has now passed the torch. With 15,000 tickets up for sale, the potential is there to raise $150,000 for our non-profit partners, GP Minor Soccer, Ducks Unlimited and the Gay and Lesbian Association of the Peace. This will be the largest undertaking in our club s history and it doesn t stop there. There are also plans for the Second Annual Longest Day Longest Drive competition. This general fund raiser runs on the day of the summer solstice and offers prizes for the longest golf drive and putt of the day. On March 11 our club also hosted a community open house to promote the 40th anniversary of Rotaract International and members regularity visit with the city s other three Rotary clubs. The Grande Prairie club has been active in several international projects including previously contributing to the Grande Prairie Members of the Rotaract Club of Grande Prairie receive their membership certificates in the fall The Rotaract Club of Grande Prairie participates in the Annual Curling Bonspiel L-R: Darrell Winwood, Michelle Dupont, Cheryl Luken, Ashley McDonald, Bill Given (Missing) Gabrielle Boulet Bus to Mazatlan project, donating to relief efforts in Lebanon and participating in cultural exchanges with a club in Nigeria. Grande Prairie recently hosted the Rotary District Bonspiel and Rotaract was front and centre running the registration desk, icing a team in the bonspiel and one of our members was awarded the Good Time Charlie award for great spirit and participation. Our club has also volunteered its time for Red Cross projects, Habitat for Humanity, the Grande Prairie Street Performers Festival and much more. Darrell Winwood Secretary, Rotaract Club of Grande Prairie dwinwood1@mac.com

5 Page 5 Making a difference in the community and around the world! It has been a very busy year for the Rotaract Club of the University of Alberta. With many of our long time members graduating or departing for jobs, it has been somewhat of a transition year for our club. However, this challenge has brought plenty of new faces into our executive and general membership and, as a result, many new and creative ideas for our club were generated. We started the year off with an event over Thanksgiving weekend at the Boyle Street Community Services Co-op. Two on-campus bake-sales gave us the funds to purchase 175 pumpkin pies which were donated to the Co-op. Members also volunteered throughout the three day affair to clean and decorate the Co-op as well as prepare and serve food. Also, we held our first Canadian Blood Services Blood Drive in October. One of our clubs yearly traditions, and a favourite activity among our members, is participating in Operation Christmas Child. This year we managed to pack and send 75 boxes overseas. Over the Christmas Holidays members were also given the opportunity to volunteer at a gift wrapping booth in City Centre Mall with all the proceeds going to the Youth Emergency Shelter Society. Due to the popularity of our first Boyle Street Co-op Event we decided to hold a Pancake Breakfast there during our February Reading Week holiday. We served over 200 people with the majority of the food being supplied and donated by our club and area businesses. This month we are holding a fundraiser at The Comic Strip in West Edmonton Mall. We are also currently working on developing another project with the Youth Emergency Shelter. Throughout the year, club members have been devoting their time to our Big Brothers Big Sisters Club Connect Program which pairs members with after-school daycares in the university area. This program provides members with a chance to take part in a number of fun activities that benefit children in need of positive mentorship. Our Club has also been working closely with the Child is Innocent Foundation. This organization helps rescue Ugandan children, who are at risk of being forced into militias, and provides them with schooling in a safe and protected environment. This year we were happy to gain 32 new members in the first term of school and were particularly pleased with turnout for our October/November activities. As in previous years, we saw attendance drop in the second term. Next year s executive will focus on maintaining momentum over the winter holidays. We are looking forward to another exciting year when we will continue to participate in projects that have become traditional and also expand our activities to include new ideas for socials, projects and fundraisers. Michael Samycia Rotaract Club of the University of Alberta msamycia@ualberta.ca Left: Operation Christmas Child Right: Members of the Rotaract Club of the U of A at the Boyle Street Community Services Co-op