Call to Order
President Anna Harder.
15 Rotary Members attending.
Guests
Morten Asfeldt
Liz Rolf
Carol Breitkreuz
Sabrina Andrews
Ann Fleck
Kelly Bower
Deanne Morrow
Makeups
None this week
Announcements
Breakfast next week is French Toast and Ham.
The Tofield Quilters Guild are hosting a Days for Girls sewing day on March 28th. Ann Fleck volunteered to attend with Carol and offer her assistance.
Food For Thought
John shared a story of optimistic settlers from North Oklahoma moving to Alberta and bringing with them a Cotton Gin (or Gin Mill according to John…..which may have served them better). John shared a quote by Soren Kierkegaard “Life can only be understood by looking back, but it must be lived forward.”
50-50 Draw
Anna drew the 4 of clubs from what is still a pretty full deck this morning.
Judge
Since we were all feeling fine this morning, Gail opted to save us from any fines.
Happy Bucks
Happy bucks were plentiful this morning with five members offering happy bucks for the Chinese New Year’s social. Other happy bucks included the 17th birthday of a youngest child (and not having to make a cake as he is in Ottawa), surviving some of the worse road and -45 temperatures in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, a trip to Vancouver (where the driving conditions were wonderful), a ski trip to Mt Shark, guest attendance, and the display of membership materials of which members and guest were encouraged to help themselves.
Guest Speaker
Dave introduced Morten, Sabrina and Kelly as our speakers this morning. The three of them shared some details and answered many questions on the Camrose Youth Leadership Canoe Trip.
Morten started us off with some history and some facts. This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Canoe Adventure for Rotary international exchange students. For many years the value of these trips were recognized and a number of Camrose Rotarians wanted to provide a similar experience for Camrose youth, particularly those who are struggling or disadvantaged. A partnership was formed between the Rotary Club of Camrose, the Camrose Police Service, Battle River School Division and Augustana Faculty and in 2005 the inaugural trip paddled off on their adventure. Since the first year, the trip has continued to be an annual event and has served 153 Camrose youth.
The hope was to provide an atmosphere where these youth can be engaged in meaningful relationship building with people they will see again and the goals are wide and varied including enhanced self-confidence and leadership skills, development of effective communication and cooperating strategies, encouraging healthy risk taking and healthy lifestyle choices and for the youth to have a fun and safe adventure while developing wilderness travel and camping skills.
Kelly Bower is a member of the Police Services and attended the trip last year as part of his role as School Resource Officer. He shared that he experienced some anxiety leading up to the trip last year, but that was quickly overcome as he got to know the youth and started to see the development of positive relationships. He shared a story of a young man who started the trip trying to avoid him and by the end of the trip was calling Kelly his buddy. The emotion of that connection was clear to everyone in the room this morning. In Kelly’s words “…when faced with hours and hours of paddling kids talk and walls come down.”
This trip is considered to be the ultimate reward and has an impact on student throughout the year.
The participants are chosen by PACE and the criteria includes attendance, grades, and behaviour components. The possibility of participating in the trip helps keeps students focused and on a good path. Student are not responsible for any of the costs involved, but must participate and agree to follow the rules including no electronic (so no cell phones, tablets, etc.) and a ZERO tolerance for the use of Alcohol, drugs, tobacco and violent behaviour.
The observed benefits of this trip have been “survival pride”, positive relationships between participating youth and teachers and police officers, the development of new peer groups often with an environment for increased academic and social success, increased confidence and leadership skills of the participants. Other benefits included the assistance of student in the solving of some Camrose crime though increased cooperation with police services, the skill development and employment experience of Augustana Outdoor Education students, revenue is generated to support Augustana’s outdoor program, and a partnership has been developed that works collaboratively to further the common goal of supporting Camrose Youth and making Camrose a healthier and safer community.
Currently funding for this trip is as follows:
CASH;
Rotary Club of Camrose -$7000 (10 students @ $700/each)
Battle River School Division -$2100 (3 students @ $700/each)
IN KIND SUPPORT:
Camrose Police Service -Seven days time for 1 officer
Battle River School Division -Seven days time for 2 teachers
-Substitute teacher funding
Augustana Faculty -3 student spots at no cost
-Staff and faculty time to organize and implement the program
Over the last few years the university has seen a growing financial loss with the Youth Leadership Program and are actively seeking a new partner. Due to the realities of the University funding in Alberta, there is a risk that if this program is not shown to be at minimum revenue neutral, the university will be unable to continue the program in coming years.
The funding they are seeking is $2100 to cover the cost of the 3 students Augustana is currently subsidizing as well as the costs involved with organizing and implementing the program (80 hours @ $25/hour =$2000) for a total investment of $4100. Ideally an annual commitment of this amount is what they are looking for.
Anyone seeking any further information is encouraged to contact Morten Asfeldt or Sabrina Andrews.
Morten Asfeldt (Associate Professor-Outdoor Education – Augustana Faculty)
masfeldt@ualberta.ca 780-679-1158
Sabrina Andrews (Assistant for Outdoor Education – Augustana Faculty)
After many questions from the floor, Anna presented the speakers with a Stop Polio Now certificate thanking them for their time and ensuring another 10 children are vaccinated against Polio.