The Westerner for September 23, 2013
Meeting: Chair - Duane Evans; Music - Jerome Martin; Grace - Fred Kraft
Attendance / Guests - 29, including Raj Sran, guest of Chris Gowers, Anup Varma, guest of Fred Kraft, Bob Winfield and Paul Lucas
Announcements:
- President Duane distributed copies of the Alberta Gaming Commission schedule of training sessions for those who want to know how to manage a casino, or for those who want to know the rules governing the expenditure of funds raised by means of casinos. These are excellent and very interesting sessions, and the more members who have this training, the easier it is for us to comply with the regulations.
- Al Holmes gave a report on behalf of the Rotary Club of Edmonton West Friendship Circle. The Circle consists of Al, Anne Orsini, and Steve McEachern, but contacts or visitations by other members are welcomed and encouraged. Al talked about Bill Storoschuk, Grace Young, Rudy Mangold, Sandon Cox, Muggsy Forbes and George Stout.
- Finemaster Jerome Martin asked some relatively easy questions about Rotary, and then let several members including Fred, Brian, Mike, Jim and Jim contribute happy bucks for various recent happenings.
- 50/50 Draw - Jennifer and Raj did not match, so $42 carries forward.
- New Member Proposal - Raj Sran has been proposed for membership by Chris Gowers. His category would be "Business Services". Raj is the founder of a group known as the Youth Restorative Action Committee (YRAC) which has helped the Edmonton Police with the coaching of basketball teams. He and his family have several business ventures including a UPS store franchise in south Edmonton.
- Gift Cards - Sales of cards have been close to non-existent lately. Aren't you guys eating anything? You could really help the club to raise funds by purchasing gift cards for Safeway, Save On Foods or Sobeys / IGA. See Brian.
PROGRAM - EVENTS EDMONTON
Joe Lizotte introduced our speakers for the week - Paul Lucas, General Manager of Events Edmonton and Bob Winfield, President (serving his second term). Events Edmonton was created to fill a void left when Edmonton Northlands / K-Days Association stopped sponsoring Klondike Days offsite events.
Events Edmonton is responsible for organizing the following Edmonton events:
- New Years Eve Celebration
- A Taste of Edmonton
- Metropolis International Winter Festival
- Tour of Alberta Bike Race
It is a non-profit charitable organization which is now partnered with 10 community associations such as Hope Mission, Youth Emergency Shelter, Easter Seals and the Mustard Seed. The organization strives to provide Edmontonians with festivities that demonstrate the spirit and energy of the city, creating events that engage both volunteers and patrons.
A Taste of Edmonton recently celebrated it's 29th year and it has grown from something like 6 restaurants in the first year to 42 restaurants in 2013. It is now a 10-day event which runs each day from 11 am to 11 pm, and it is one of the largest food festivals in North America. Volunteers from Hope Mission provide garbage pick-up services during this event, and it is estimated that they provided 900 manhours of that service this year. The site is very clean, which makes the 480,000 patrons happy, and their happiness transfers to the satisfaction of the volunteers from the mission. Events Edmonton donates some of the profits from the event to Hope Mission and some other similar organizations.
Paul mentioned that Events Edmonton is working on other opportunities to partner with Canstruction, the YMCA and Big Brothers. Since Events Edmonton has a good working relationship with the many chefs involved in A Taste of Edmonton, they are looking into a Chef Mentoring program with the Big Brothers organization.
Paul pointed out that most events and festivals in Calgary are all related to, and run by the Calgary Stampede, whereas Edmonton has been developing a Festival City culture which offers Edmontonians a huge range of festival choices almost all summer long.
Bob and Paul were thanked for their presentation by Mike Henry.