Welcome to "The Friendly Club" and our Web Site. How to contact the site administrator. Click on 'More...' below.

Strathcona members and Other Users, if you are unsure how to log in, click online HELP, or contact the site administrator Hans Granholm; 
phone: 780-466-5566 any time.

For more information about our club, click HERE

For full information on our upcoming Speakers, click on the speaker's name.

Members can access the Club Constitution and By-Laws from ADMIN | CLUB DOCUMENTS after login.

Feb 5; Barbara & Fritz Koenig, Anniversary
Feb 5; Joan & Dennis Freeman, Anniversary

Tuesday noon belongs to Rotary!

Look in "Upcoming Events" for other activities taking place in the near future.

Dr. Peter A. Laansoo is proposed by Henry Neufeld under the classification: "Optometry".
Any objections or concerns must be submitted in writing within 7 days of receipt of this notice to the Club Secretary,

Rose Marie Basaraba
4124 112th St Nw
Edmonton, AB T6J 1J5

Alan Lomax's Presentation on Shelterbox Canada Jan 28, 2008

 Allan Lomax is a man of vision, who sees needs beyond our comfortable world in northern Alberta, a place where all who are willing to work and ask for the basics can obtain them.

The Shelterbox mission is to provide dignity and hope to enable displaced persons to rebuild their lives. Alan presented a multi-media presentation with video clips from different recipient areas around the world, as well as giving us a sense of the history of the program and the challenges involved.
This project serves as a "first responder" to disaster-affected areas with large plastic boxes containing food, water, clothing and shelter. The cost of each is approx $1200 Canadian . Each shelterbox includes a ten person tent, ten sleeping bags, water purificatioin tablets, a multifuel stove, pots, tools, blankets, groundsheets, rope, and other survival items, and children's school supplies.
For those who would like more information on this project, Alan's suggestion is to research the program more fully. www.shelterbox.ca  Volunteer information is available on the American website. Individuals may contribute $$ in any amount, and our clubs may choose to join many other Rotary clubs who have adopted this global project. Alan and his wife are based in Ladysmith BC and can be reached by email  alan@shelterbox.ca with any questions.

Major Innis presentation - January 22, 2008 ( "off the record " )

From the perspective of his experiences, Major Innis introduced us to the background and the current complex situation of our Canadian involvement in Afghanistan. His humor and visuals combined with his pass-around samples of "troop gear" deepened the impact of his informative presentation.

The sketchiness of my notes attests to the compelling nature of his stories and I would highly recommend finding out when and where he speaks next for those who might have missed our guest speaker.
Afghanistan is the "heart of Asia", the border between the Persian, Chinese and Indian empires territory which has historically always been disputed. Its traditional lack of a strong government stems from its geographical composition of 34 provinces and its character as a tribal society with two languages and five ethnic groups.
Interesting to note, there exists a mandated min 25% female MLAs. The past 30 years of war has resulted in a poor infrastructure of roads, institutions and very few schools. 20% of the population is literate, and doctors, engineers and teachers are highly respected. In response to a question,
Major Innis explained that the "Taliban" consisted of five levels based on a grouping of conservative religious students. The concerns of the Afghan people are for security, governance, and development. The mission of the Canadian forces is to "Build capacity within Afghan society".

To gain a better understanding of the Afghanistan situation Major Innis recommended three books: 15 Days by Christie Blatchford Punishment of Virtue by Sarah Chayes Ghost Wars by Steve Coll

Please open THIS LINK to read about the progress of "Rotary Day" where you can also register yourself and guest(s) and pay online.

President Peter asked Ted Griffiths to update the club on his progress with his pledge to the club of getting into shape before taking over the presidency on July 1.

Specifically, Ted's pledge was to downsize to 200 pound before July 1st 2008. At the time of the announcement, I believe Ted was tipping the scale at about 270 pounds.
Members of the club signed a pledge sheet committing to an amount per pound should Ted accomplish his goal. Of course, if Ted missed the target, he would be on the hook for all the amounts committed by the members which totaled several thousand dollars.

Ultimately, the pledge funds, wherever they came from would go to a club project.

On Tuesday, Ted spoke about his progress. He said that at first it was the financial ramifications that motivated him, but as he started to lose weight and feeling better physically, he realized that improving his health was much more important - besides, he can now tie his own shoe laces!

So, Ted has lost 38 pounds to date and is right on target. You can help Ted by pinching a meatball of his plate at lunch ;-)

Way to go Ted!

It is with great sadness that I must announce that my mother passed away late Tuesday night. The funeral service will be held next Tuesday, Feb 5 at 2 pm in the afternoon at Evergreen Memorial Gardens, 16204 Fort Road. A reception will be held after the service.

Evergreen Memorial Gardens is in the NE corner of the city, just off the Manning Freeway. From the German-Canadian Club there are two possible routes, direct and ring road.

Direct -- take 75 Street North to Gretzky Drive, past Rexall Place and past the Yellowhead Trail turnoff where it becomes Fort Road (approximately 125 Avenue). Continue on Fort Road until it becomes the Manning Freeway (Hwy 15) (approximately 50 Street) and continue to 144th Avenue. While the road itself makes several turns, one essentially takes 75th Street to 144th Avenue without turning left or right.

Ring Road --
take Roper Road east to 75 Street
right (South) on 75 Street to Whitemud Drive
left (East) on Whitemud Drive to Hwy 216 North
left (North) on Hwy 216 to Hwy 16 West (the Yellowhead Trail)
left (West) on Hwy 16 (Yellowhead) to 50th Street
right (North) on 50th Street to Manning Freeway (Hwy 15)
(Note: do not turn at 137 Avenue - continue a block or two to Manning Freeway)
right (North-East) on Manning Freeway (Hwy 15) to 144th Avenue

Both --
right (East) on 144th Avenue to Old Fort Road (about one block East on 144th Avenue)
(Watch for sign to Kuhlmann's greenhouse)
left (North) on Old Fort Road to 162 Avenue and left into Evergreen Memorial Gardens
(Note: the first entrances are into the cemetery. Continue on to the funeral home building)

Using the Anthony Henday ring road (Hwy 216), the drive takes approximately 25 minutes. I suspect the direct route is similar in good conditions but will vary more with traffic and road conditions.

Yours in Rotary,
Ken Sutley

In true Rotary fashion, Edmonton Strathcona Rotarians stepped up to the plate and volunteered to help the 'Alberta Caregivers Association' man some of the volunteer worker positions at their casino.

Thank You!  Barb Craig, Eric Solash, Ted Griffiths, Dennis Freeman, Ken Haverland, Len Gierach and Roberta Bedard.

Doris is planning for a Jan 31 Opening with a Grand Opening later in the spring.

The Edmonton Strathcona Rotary Club is known as the 'Friendly Club' and part of that designation is that we always make sure to make visitors feel welcome by introducing them as part of the luncheon proceedings.

When we are introducing a visiting Rotarian it is important to mention that person's classification. We are all members in Rotary under a classification that is relative to our profession or business.

When we introduce visiting non-Rotarians we should mention their business or profession, but we should never introduce them as a 'prospective new member' unless the proposal procedure has been completed and the person has been informed of the Board's acceptance of their application.

Announcing a 'prospective new member' before such acceptance can put the person and the club in an awkward position.

Below is an excerpt of the official proposal procedures:

Standard Procedure

The prospective member's name is submitted

to the board of directors.

The board ensures that the person is fully

qualified and approves or disapproves the

proposal within 30 days. The proposer is notified

of the decision by the club secretary.

NOTE - Until approval is granted, prospective

members should not be informed that they

have been proposed for membership.

After approval has been announced, the

prospective member is fully informed of privileges,

expectations and responsibilities of club

membership. He or she is then asked to complete

the proposal form and give written permission

to publish his or her name and proposed

classification to the club membership.

If no objections to the proposal are received

within seven days following the publication of

the name, that person, upon payment of an

admission fee, is a new Rotarian

.

The club secretary sends a completed new

member report form to Rotary International

as recommended by Rotary Club Bylaws or

submits the new member's name via

www.rotary.org.

This excerpt is taken from the 'How to propose a new member' pamphlet issued by Rotary International. The complete pamphlet can be downloaded from our home page http://edmontonstrathcona.rotary5370.org , look for the Downloads section in the right column and click on the link: How to propose a new member [download form]

You are welcome to visit Harald, but phone him first, 780-464-5309. He is anxious to come to a meeting, but I told him to slow down and concentrate on getting his strength back.

Yours in Rotary.

Hans Granholm
p: 780-466-5566
e: hgrdane@telusplanet.net

Say WELCOME to Kelly Williams introduced by Henry Neufeld into the club on Jan 8 2008 under the classification
Real Estate-Sales.

Kelly was introduced and welcomed into our family of Rotary by the Membership Committee and President Peter.

Please introduce yourself to Kelly at our next meeting.

Welcome Kelly!

The Semi-Annual Attendance Report for the period July 1 2007 to Dec 31 2007 is ready.

After login and on the ADMIN page, click on the link: View Club Documents in the My ClubRunner box.
Click [View] on the line: document #46 "Attendance Percentage Summary - CURRENT Year".

A more detailed report, document #48 "2007-08 Semi-Annual Attendance (Jul-Dec)" can be opened clicking [View] on that line.

Please examine carefully and report any discrepancies to me.

Hans Granholm
p: 780-466-5566
e: hgrdane@telusplanet.net 

The 2007 Campaign came to a very successful end early on January 1, 2008, after some 150 volunteers provided 165 rides to take people and their vehicles home safely after they celebrated the arrival of the new year.

I will provide more exact numbers at our next meeting, but it appears we have raised more money than last year thanks to our amazing volunteers, partners and sponsors!

We kept over 700 impaired drivers off the streets in the Greater Edmonton area, and that alone makes this wonderful program such a gratifying event.

I take off my hat to all those wonderful volunteers who have donated their evenings and nights to keep our community a safer place and to raise funds for the future of our country, our children.

Peter Denooy

A fair number of dedicated volunteers, including club members, attended the Volunteers Appreciation Breakfast  on Saturday, a fitting end to the successful 2007 Campaign.
The food was great and plentiful. President Peter gave a detailed report on the successful campaign and special thanks went out to our generous sponsors and partners.
Cathy Strawson Chair of the 2008 Steering Committee, and Peter handed out many prizes drawn at random throughout the morning.

We need to clean out the facilities at the Boilermakers and move material to our storage area donated by Sentinel. In order to organize and make room for the stovage, leftover material in the storage area needs to be cleaned out.
There are a lot of 'boat anchors' and 'paper weights' but there just might be the chair or desk or whatever you are looking for.

On Jan 26 we are arranging a work party to accomplish this and we will publish more details  in the next few days.

No Child Should Die Hungry and Alone.

Imagine a modern country where nearly 40 per cent of children under six die of starvation. Severe famine has hit North Korea , and its people are suffering in silence . North Korea's 23 million people need 6 million tones of food to eat well, but they have been able to produce barely half that much. People are chronically malnourished, and many die-especially the children (always the most vulnerable in any society). Without your help-immediately-an entire generation may perish. You can save three children's lives this year for about what you pay for the daily newspaper! Think about that.

I became involved two years ago, when I was invited to lecture on "Nutrition for Health" at the Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) in Yanji, China, near North Korean border. Since 2003, this university has gathered hungry children and housed and fed them-gave them a chance a future, in short. With them, I help procure food in China and made weekly delivers by trucks to those hungry children in Rajin City, North Korea-with no overhead costs!

In another border city, a once-rich potato production area is now completely isolated without food and fuel. YUST received a desperate plea to help some 10,000 starving children, who simply will not survive another harsh cold winter unless without immediate help. You can save these children with a donation of only 30 cents per child per day. That is all it takes. I am thrilled to report that to date, we have managed to raise $8,000 and $30,000 in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Thanks to all of the donnors who helped to make Feed NK Children project possible. Please know that you have been a part of something that is making a direct impact on the lives of the most vulnerable and helpless children in North Korea. Not only are they given food, keep them alive, but many of them are given a chance to recover from almost near-death malnutrition to a normal status for development as long as their bellies are filled with foods.

The Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona has adopted "Feed NK Children" as its international project. Please help by sending your cheques made payable to "Rotary Project of Feed NK Children" to the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona, 8310 Roper Rd. N.W., Edmonton, AB T6E 6E3. OR  you may send checks endorsing Jeong Sim's NK Children project to, NEAFoundation-Canada (North East Asia Foundation), 67 Scarsdale Rd, North York, Ontario M3B 2R2 (1-647-999-9160).

December 11th at the Edmonton Country Club was once again a lovely evening. 65 members and guests shared good food and drinks and lots of fun. Diana Parker planned her birthday around this day and with Ted Griffiths was sung at by the noisy crowd. A singing trio called "Yule Time" was supplied by the Country Club as a pleasant surprise during the meal. 

Rose Marie lead the 12 Days Of Christmas "wave" that involved each table rising, singing and acting out the gift item.. I wish "Turkey In the Straw" had been one of the days. Everyone had to do the 5 Golden Rings. Too funny! Rose Marie was joined by Dianne Sleen, Diana Parker, Heather Platt and Linda Granholm to sing a Christmas carol. This was answered by "Len and the Three Kennors" (Gierach, Sutley, Haverland and Germain). Buns and corks flew in appreciation!

The Christmas gift exchange went as usual...bedlam, grabbing and trickery. There were a surprising number of really NICE gifts?!

This event is always a great kick-off to the festive season for me. The setting, the laughs and the meal are coupled with the true feeling of friendship among a group that gets to know each other through work projects and fun events like this.

Check out the photos that Eric Germain took.

You are reminded that up to date records are available from the web site administration page after login any time. Click on the last item in the "My ClubRunner" section and chose reports #46 & 48. Open #46 first to see the percentage figure and if you do not agree, open #48 to see which meeting(s) are listed as missed.
Documents #40, 43 & 44 show various attendance reports for last year 2006-07.

If you do not report any discrepancies to me within the next two weeks, we will accept these reports as accurate.

Contact me anytime if you need assistance with the reports.

Cheers!

Hans Granholm
p: 780-466-5566
e: hgrdane@telusplanet.net

Lets go to a Rotary Convention......

2008                   Los Angeles
2009                   Birmingham, England
2010                   Montreal
2011                   New Orleans

>>> PLEASE LOOK AT THIS ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY <<<

With the number of members in this club either owning or operating a business, we are getting a very poor interest in this nice little generator of funds for the club.
Are the rates too steep? I don't think so, but if you do, please let us know.
If you have any bright ideas on how to promote this little initiative, please speak up.

A web site and bulletin advertising feature is available to dedicated members who wish to sponsor an ad and support the club's endeavors.

It is an opportunity to go out in the community and solicit ads from businesses, and who knows, in the process of soliciting ads you may also find prospective new Rotarians.

Be sure to visit these sponsors by clicking on their ad

The fee is for members $20.00 for one month or $50.00 for three months or $150.00 for one year.
 
For non-members $30.00 per month or $70.00 for a quarter or $250.00 for one year.


The ad can be text or a logo. Either way it becomes a link and upon clicking will take the visitor to the sponsor's website or e-mail address.

Please have a look at the complimentary ads in the right column of any site pages and in the left column of the e-Strathconian.

NOTE: You will notice a link in the bottom of the right column of a site page "Interested in being a Website Sponsor?". This link opens a page with all the information.

Feedback and comments are very much appreciated. You can post comments on the FORUMS | CLUB WEB SITE | ADVERTISING. Or you can e-mail you-know-who.

Cheers!

The blood challenge is over, but the need is not!