The Westerner for June 8, 2009

Announcements:

• Reminder that there is no lunch meeting on June 29th, because the meeting will be held in the evening.  President Al is really looking forward to passing the gavel to incoming President Ben Doz.  Grace Young will be phoning to see who will be attending that evening function.  We need to guarantee numbers to the Petroleum Club, so it is important for those who commit to actually attend.
• Past President Jennifer thanks Grace for doing the phoning and thanks John Blimke for providing a truck to haul school supplies and helping to load the container being shipped to Belize.  A second container load of computers will be loaded next week.  Call Ralph Playdon if you would like to help load that container.
• Jennifer advises that Erika is now home and is awaiting results before starting her treatments.  Best wishes from all Erika!
• Jerome will be absent the next two Mondays (should we bring ear plugs?), so today is a good day to buy or reserve your tickets for the Alan MacLean roast on July 8th at the Faculty Club.  Seating is limited, so if you snooze - you lose.
• President Elect Ben & Marley will soon be off to Birmingham, England for the Rotary International Convention.  President Al presented Scarlet with a Birmingham Mascot which he picked up at last year's Convention.
• 50/50 Draw - Bill Arnold and Brian Thompson decided to wait for a bigger pot before matching cards.
• Finemaster John Blimke fined Alan MacLean for sleeping through the fire alarm while the building next door was on fire.  He also fined Don McDermid for not saving him from having to pay a ticket issued by the RCMP.
• Happy Bucks from:
  • Laurie Wilkie for becoming a Grandma
  • Ralph for telling a joke
  • Grace for her daughter Valerie's qualifying for a triathalon in Bucharest
  • Bill Buckham for 35 years of marriage
  • Don McDermid for attending another great Graduation Parade for 395 Air Cadet Squadron
  • Chris for having a MUSICOLOGIST as a guest today

PROGRAM - AL HAMILTON AND FRIENDS GOLF CLASSIC

Committee Chair John Blimke provided an update on the status of our fund raising golf tournament scheduled for Cougar Creek Golf Resort on Thursday, July 30th.  Registration forms were on the tables, and they are also available on our Club Website. 

The other members of the committee are:

• Brian Thompson - Looks after volunteers for the day of the tournament plus creates course maps and hole event guides for participants
• Laurie & Duncan Wilkie of Comsign who create and produce all the tournament signage, plus they donate the sushi & refreshments for the players who visit the Comsign hole.
• Wayne Ellis - Is the tournament registrar and does all the accounting for the event.
• Al Hamilton - Works with MC Rod Phillips, Auctioneer Gary Meyers and others to create a fun and interesting after-golf program.

So, if you would like to volunteer, call or talk to Brian, if you would like to donate an auction item or a prize, call or talk to John, and if you would like to golf, fill out a form and get it sent to Wayne.  We are expecting to register 36 full teams this year.

John advises that Lynette Esak has kindly donated the use of her condo at Fernie for a week (worth $4,500), and more donations of this type are welcomed.  The Edmonton Oilers Alumni are now hole sponsors, and they have registered four teams in the tournament.  Earl's Restaurants will be providing food at one of the holes, as will Packrat Louie and Comsign.  We will need some volunteers to look after the sushi and refreshments at the Comsign hole, so if that appeals to you, please contact Brian Thompson.

John has set our fundraising goal for this tournament at something over $30,000.  Remember that those are unrestricted funds, so we can use them to respond to urgent needs, whereas our restricted funds can only be used for purposes which were pre-approved before the casino or bingo fundraiser.  In the past, we have used the dollars raised for such things as Polio Plus, Micro Banks, local youth (Interact Club) and Integrity Awards.

$5,000 of the funds will be designated for the charity which Al Hamilton has chosen - development of a skating rink and a skating program in the inner city near 96 Street and 107 Avenue.  To talk about this project, John introduced Al Hamilton, Ted Green, Dan Glugosh and Father Jim Holland.

Al Hamilton was born and raised in Flin Flon, Manitoba, but chose to play for the Edmonton Oil Kings rather than the rival Flin Flon Bombers.  Al was a member of the Memorial Cup winning Oil Kings team.  He went on to play in the NHL for New York and Buffalo before becoming the first Captain of the Edmonton Oilers.  He has been awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship by the Rotary Club of Edmonton West and an Integrity award by the Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield.  Al is honored to be asked to be the celebrity host of our golf tournament and hopes to keep it as a high profile Edmonton event.

Ted Green has 7 Stanley Cup rings - 2 as a player with the Boston Bruins and 5 on the coaching staff of the Oilers.  He and Al Hamilton really didn't know each other very well until quite recently, but have found that they have much in common.  It was Ted who made Al aware of the inner city rink project.

Father Jim Holland is a Priest at Sacred Heart Church.  He lives and works in the inner city, and his church now host between 600 and 700 people from that area at it's annual Christmas dinner.  He has come to recognize that there are many kids in the area with nothing to do and no place to go - which is a recipe for trouble.  He is a strong proponent and supporter of the rink project.

Dan Glugosh has lived his whole life in the inner city area.  He is now a father of two boys aged 5 and 7.  There was no rink available for him when he was a boy.  He now not only works at the rink, he is involved with Kids in the Hall and Our Place, two well-known youth projects.  Although they now have a rink, and many neighborhood kids are using it, there is no change room and there are no bathrooms.  There are also no hockey or skating programs yet - but that is about to change.

So the project our Charity Golf Tournament is supporting this year will advance this project to develop skating and hockey programs, change room and bathroom facilities at the rink.  Al Hamilton is looking for personnel in the Contracting business to get involved to help develop the facility.  If they could pave the area inside the boards, then the facility could be better used in the spring, summer and fall for ball hockey or basketball or other activities which could keep the kids busy and away from the gangs.  Al also believes that there is an opportunity for Rotarians to become involved directly to volunteer their time to supervise, fix-up, flood or clean ice, organize or whatever.

In any case, there is an opportunity for every member of this Club to be involved in our tournament and this worthy project.