The Westerner for August 12, 2013
Meeting: chair, Ben; music, Jerome; grace, Bob Lamoureux
Attendance/Guest: 27 including Jody Zabludowski, Shamse Hidayat, Duart Berg (guest of Ed Schultz) & Raj Sran (guest of Chris Gowers)
Edmonton West Rotary Circle: Al Holmes announced the creation of this group to foster communication with current and past Rotarians who have become incapacitated to some extent and cannot attend our club's meetings. The circle includes Al, Ann, Jennifer and Steve. Advise one of them if you know of someone that could use a visit. Recently Al visited Bill Storoschuk at Bill's home. Bill has been unable to attend because of diabetes related problems after being a long term member with many years of perfect attendance - he really appreciated the visit. Al also visited Sandon Cox at Grandview Extended Care Centre along with Jerome.
50/50: Jennifer and Wayne did not match cards - $157 carried over
Directors Meeting scheduled for August 21 has been cancelled due to lack of a quorum.
Finemaster: in honour of Al Sanderson's return to our club, Chris asked everyone to contribute a $1; fine of $1 if you were not wearing a Rotary badge
Happy Bucks: Doug Sollows as his daughter, Rachel, got married this weekend to Kirwin Mandrusiak; Mike Ryan as he got the bedroom ceiling finished in time for guests to arrive;
Correction re Bill Arnold - he was not a technician in the Royal Canadian Air Force - he was a pilot flying Lancaster Bombers
Former Member Muggsy Forbes: he will be 84 this Friday, Jim Spalding invites members to attend celebration at General Hospital Friday @ 3:00
Guest Speakers: Bob Kimmerly introduced Jodi and Shamsa from Easter Seals. Jodi is director of operations for Alberta and prior to this, she was with the Provice of Alberta for 15 years. Shamsa is the events coordinator and is attending U of A in mechanical engineering.
In 1951, as the polio epidemic swept our continent, the Northern Alberta Council for Crippled Children was created to assist where possible. In 1959, adults were included in the scope and then it became associated with the March of Dimes which was started by Rotary International. Jodi mentioned that she knows that Rotary is still involved in fighting polio. As Easter Seals works to make a difference for its clients it has a major fund raiser in every spring with Safeway. They also participate in a number of golf fund raisers. Programs include: 1) Easter Seal Camp Horizon near Bragg Creek, built in 1965. Children with disabilities attend camp in the summer but anyone can rent the facility during the winter. Children become empowered to learn a lot of skills at camp; 2) Easter Seals McQueen Residence located near 144 Street and 107 Avenue in Edmonton is a disabled adults group home. It is wheel chair accessible aimed at providing an independent lifestyle for young adults. The youth pay rent but the Provincial Government funds an LPN onsite and meals are provided. Easter Seals funds the extra costs of maintaining the facility; 3) Easter Seals Equipment program for all Alberta provides a last resort for disabled people to obtain equipment to enable them to live more independently (if Aids to Daily Living and other equipment programs decline to help). Equipment provided includes wheelchairs, lifts, ramps and walkers. Scholarships are provided to some adults but it was not clear under which of these programs. Cost of the equipment out on loan to adults is $470,000 with refurbishing costs of $55,000 in addition. There are unfunded requests for equipment that will cost about $200,000 when funding enables the purchase. Two other endeavours provided are Travel Disability Card (care giver travels for free) and Access to Entertainment Card (care giver attends for free). All programs need funding.
A video on Easter Seals was shown. The speakers were thanked by Darrel Ripley.