Tags
Fort Saskatchewan, Operation Red Nose, Rotary clubs, Rotary District 5370, Rotary District Governor, Rotary Foundation, World Class
A cold but sunny day found us in the warm welcome embrace of the Fort Saskatchewan Rotary Club.
President Bill Gordon and his team reach out and connect with the community in a variety of unique ways. While we were there the conversation was focused on a fundraising project called “Frank on the Roof”. Local City counsellor Frank set up camp on top of a building and stayed up there for two days to raise awareness for Families First Society. Fort Sask Rotary has been a great supporter of this society and lent its support to the project which included $2000 and raised the event profile to finally raise over $8100. The important part of this is the relationship building in the community lead by this group of well connected Rotarians. A story we hear all the time in Rotary.
Creating a club of well connected members does not come easy. It takes work and constant renewal. At the past District Conference in Dawson Creek, Bill heard a great idea that he thought his club could use. Each club member is dealt a hand of cards. Each card is marked with a classification or profession and the members are asked to invite someone from that classification to a Rotary meeting. When you bring someone in, you get to turn in your card. Members are encouraged to get rid of all their cards and introduce new people to Rotary. So far, the members are excited about this program and are having fun bringing new people to Rotary!
With the Christmas holiday season approaching Fort Sask Rotary is offering a pro active service to get season partygoers safely home. Operation Red Nose is a national campaign designed to provide chauffer service to those who need a ride home for themselves and their vehicle. The program will be running for nine evenings starting Nov 27 – so every Friday and Saturday nights 9pm – 3 am and including New Year’s Eve. Rotary sends out the call for volunteers, organizes the paper work, and finds sponsors to cover any expenses. People who use the service are encouraged to make a donation, and most do, though no one is ever denied a ride home. All the funds raised go to support various youth activities throughout the community. This includes sports teams, scholarships, youth groups. In the past 9 years, this program has donated over $40 000 to the youth of the community and made the holiday season safe for everyone!