Spending three weeks in Saskatchewan, explaining the details of his “District Vibrant Clubs Award” to the board members of 17 Rotary Clubs has not dampened DG Ed’s enthusiasm for his personal plan to award $4000 to one club accumulating the most points doing what vibrant clubs should be doing – to put towards a project of their own choice.

With Weyburn Club

Some clubs were not particularly interested in going through the exercise of gathering information from their members for fundraising activities, attending meetings at other clubs, participating in their own and other club’s projects or activities. Some even thought this was a program initiated by Rotary International.

Club VisitsAlthough it’s based on RI’s “Effective Clubs” and “Vibrant Club” forms, the point system to quantify effectiveness and vibrancy are solely the work of DG Ed (and not of his wife, as one board member suggested). These reluctant clubs did, nevertheless, have at least one board member who could see the benefits to their club of undertaking such an exercise. The key benefit which supportive board members appreciated was the ability to measure, compare and improve their club’s vibrancy from year to year.

There have also been suggestions made to give more prominence to certain programs in the point count such as participation in the student exchange program, which one board member said adds significantly to a club’s vibrancy.

Ed with Board of DirectorsDG Ed’s presentation to club members provided information about the end game in the eradication of Polio from the face of the earth, and the challenges and strengths of Rotary International as published in a recent study by Siegel and Gale that had been commissioned by RI.  This study provided some very interesting results that members appeared to be pleased to hear about.

Besides attending 17 Rotary Board meetings and experiencing the fellowship of 17 regular Rotary Club meetings, (where Paul Harris awards and perfect attendance awards were also presented), DG Ed has also participated in social activities. These included

  • the steak barbecue/meeting and tour of Lake Manitou (Camp Easter Seals, the Spa, Danceland and a beautiful sunset over Manitou Lake) with President Al of the Rotary Club of Watrous,
  • socializing with the Hillsdens – in their home, at Jack & Keaton’s BBQ and Grill, and for Grace’s 70th birthday party,
  • attending the play “Forget Me Not” at Regina’s Fringe Festival,
  • taking part in a farewell picnic at Wascana Park for the soon to be departing exchange student Maite from Belgium,

Sunset Retreat Ceremony

  • visiting the RCMP Heritage Centre and watching the Tuesday evening Sunset-Retreat Ceremony on the Parade Square at the RCMP Depot,
  • joining several members of the Regina Eastview Club in experiencing  the divine “Coronation Chicken” prepared by President Ann,  

Attending Roughriders Game

  • attending the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ trouncing of the Hamilton Tiger Cats at Mosaic Stadium (courtesy of President André of the Regina Oskaya club),
  • touring Moose Jaw and viewing its many Rotary projects with Assistant Governor Yves and
  • attending the barbecue/meeting of the Fort Qu’appelle Rotary Club.

In addition, Regina also provided an “act of God” experience, wherein a hailstorm passing through the eastern side of Regina pounded the DG’s car into a dimpled red mass and required replacement of all the plastic vent covers in his motorhome.

First Club Visit Saskatoon MeewasinAlthough DG Ed is known (by his family and his own Rotary club) to arrive late at events, he has arrived on time for all the meetings – with two exceptions  - and these were as a result of two clubs having changed their meeting location (as far as DG Ed and his “handler” knew).

PeytonSeveral things struck DG Ed at the Estevan Rotary Club meeting. One was the way the club exhibited their banners, using folding wood & fabric room separators. The other was a lady who single-handedly set up the meeting room (with tablecloths, cutlery in napkins and cups), brought in the plates, bowls and food for the buffet lunch, (we didn’t ask if she also prepared all the food), served the soup then removed all the plates, cutlery,  tablecloths, etc, and cleaned up after the meeting was done.  For her incredible service, the Estevan Rotary Club has awarded her a Paul Harris Fellow.The third was the presence of a sweet young lady, Payton, about 5 or 6 years of age, at the club meeting, who was there with her Rotarian mother, Andrea. Andrea indicated that Payton enjoys coming to Rotary meetings because she likes the opportunity to dress up.  That day Payton was colour coordinated with a long pink and white dress, a pink purse and pink high-heeled shoes decorated with rhinestones. She said she had several pairs of shoes like those, each in a different colour! 


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