The tour of Saskatoon clubs got off to a lively start at the Rotary Club of Saskatoon Nutana, where music (piano accompaniment for O Canada), positivity (Sargent-at-Arms replaced by a Cheer Captain) and creativity reigned.
Applauses were replaced by the president calling out the name of the appreciated recipient(s), followed by the words “three-two-one” and then a single clap by all members. At the end of the meeting, the club (accompanied by the pianist or a club guitarist) sang The Four Way Test with music and a delightful extra line - “When we pay it forward, it will be returned!” - created by club member Jim Gillis. A video of the 4-Way Test song performed during the DG visit follows:
The club’s activities in the community include involvement with the Rotary Peace Plaza, ensuring (since 1961) that an aboriginal elder introduces First Nations culture to new migrants at the Citizenship Court, having a director in charge of reconciliation, offering scholarships to students of Oskayak High School, supporting literacy programs in the community, purchasing iPads for students and computers for the Sherbrooke care home, providing a portion of Ribfest funds to the St Frances Cree bilingual school and supporting the Restorative Action Program (RAP - which deals with bullying, physical violence, crime, mental health, substance abuse, and suicide and self harm – with programming delivered to over 8000 youth in Saskatoon schools).
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Intrigued by Nutana’s President Stan’s announcement that the following week’s meeting would include a “Show and Tell” where each member was to bring the oldest article in his/her home and tell the others about it, we decided to come back the following Tuesday. That second meeting was as lively as the first one we attended. As part of the “show and tell”, artefacts included a large coal oil lamp, “gaucho technology” from Argentina,a rock representing strength from the member’s Cree grandmother, a toy that still works when you pull the string that belonged to the member’s older brother and other novelties. When an elderly gentleman was asked what his show and tell article was, he bent over, put his hands on his knees, and informed us that he had brought his old knees and offered to give them away to anyone who wanted them!