Rotary Update

One of my favorite organizations to be involved in is Rotary. There are few organizations that can accomplish what Rotary can in the community, locally, regionally and internationally. Here's a highlight of last Rotary year.

In October, a small group of us traveled to Arauco, Chile to follow up on some projects we've been working on. The latest was the installation of a heating system in a seniors care centre. We also donated $5,000 to stock a library in a technical school for the youth. We stayed with host families while we were in Arauco and had the opportunity to make some good friends. We spent 10 days in total touring Chile, working on projects and also doing some sightseeing. It was an amazaing experience! I got to re-live that experience when we got back because I was in charge of writing the follow up accountability report. No worries, it was well worth it.

I spent a week in Birmingham, England at the Rotary International Convention in June this year. My wife, Karen, and I decided to work that into our summer vacation. It was an incredible experience to be sitting with about 25,000 other Rotarians worldwide listening to addresses from the Rotary International, the United Nations and other influential people in the world. It gave us quite a perspective on the impact of the projects that we get involved in.

Once we made it back to Grande Prairie, Karen and I took a group of Rotary members and our exchange student to Grande Cache to hike a leg of the Death Race. It was a great time, although very challenging. We did leg 2 of the Death Race which I think is the hardest leg of the race. It's 26km up and down 2 mountain peaks (Flood Mountain and Grande Mountain). We, of course, prevailed and made it an experience that Noemi, our exchange student, will never forget. She was awesome and we miss her since she went home.

Karen and I both volunteered for the Terry Fox Run. The 10km run is in support of cancer research and honors a Canadian hero, Terry Fox.

We took a couple of young kids to participate in our clubs Food Bank Drive in support of the Salvation Army Food Bank. Our efforts helped raise over 81,000 items this year.

We had a visiter from a Rotaract club in Mazatlan - Laura. She is such a nice person and helps to coordinate all our activities in Mexico when our club delivers the buses, ambulances and firetrucks on an annual basis. I think there's over 30 donated vehicles from Grande Prairie that have been delivered to needy organization in Mexico. We wanted to repay Laura by showing her even a portion of the hospitality they give us during our visits.

Next on the agenda is a fun poker tournament that I help organize and then some more paperwork for a couple of new projects. The first project is an international one with Chile. We're trying to get some wheel chairs for a clinic. The second project falls under our vocational services, which is an education exchange between Mazatlan and Grande Prairie. Finally, we have a new exchange student from Denmark and Karen and I are excited about getting in some time with her.