Welcome
MEETING NOTES
REGULAR MEETING: December 17, 2024
Meeting Chair: Shirley Bergsma
At 6pm, tonight’s Chairperson welcomed members and guests, followed by O Canada and the Rotary Grace. We then had and enjoyable time for dinner and fellowship.
Our meeting re-convened at 6:45 pm with a welcome to Zoom attendees and land acknowledgement.
Announcements/Updates:
- Rotary Cares Raffle 2025
- Rotary Youth Exchange update from Jan
The highlight of December for Jan was a ski trip to Jasper with the other Inbound RYE students. He loved skiing in trees, which is not common in Austria. Jan is an accomplished skier and was able to go down the double black diamond run!. Not all the students have been exposed to skiing before—one picture showed the student from Japan off in the trees but fortunately he was not hurt. The students did a Flag Run with the flags of their home countries.
Jan is staying with Corey and Signe Peake on their farm near New Norway. He has been doing chores like feeding the sheep. He saw coyotes and a moose. They have baby kittens! Jan is looking forward to experiencing Canadian Christmas traditions and skating on a lake. Jan is an Oilers fan, and his favorite players are McDavid and (of course) Draisaitl.
- Upcoming Rotary Social- Traditions Pot Luck Dinner
Patrice and Larry Johnson will be hosting their annual Traditions dinner at their home on Sunday December 29. Please bring a dish to share and your beverage of choice. Feel free to bring a friend.
- Merry Christmas Fund Donation
It is not too late to donate to the Merry Christmas Fund if you have not already done so. Morris can accept your contribution, or you can etransfer to:MCHampers@telus.net. Tax receipts are issued.
Presentation – Christmas Message – Pastor David Eriksson
Lou Henderson introduced Pastor David who gave us a message of hope and inspiration. He spoke about the joy of giving meaningful gifts that add value to the life of the person receiving the gift. He tied that thought into the work that we do as Rotarians and the gifts we bring through our service to the community that add value to the people we serve.
Roundtable - Favorite Christmas Traditions
Members shared some of their favorite holiday traditions:
- Alan and his family have a mix of Norwegian and English traditions. They celebrate with gifts on Christmas Eve. Alan will make a traditional meatball soup.
- Odell’s roots are Norwegian. His family was a pastor, so they attended lots of Christmas services!
- Debbie shared a Newfoundland tradition, Tibb’s Eve, where people go out and celebrate with their friends on December 23 and then spend the next days with family. It turns into a street party with Mummers. (I would love to be part of that!)
- Elaine grew up in Southern Ontario. They had Christmas Concert at Church on Christmas Eve. The kids got a treat bag with hard ribbon candy. They walked home after church, admiring the Christmas lights.
- Jan told us about the German tradition of St. Nicholas Day on Dec 6 where good girls and boys get treats. Cinderklaus comes on Christmas Eve and leaves candy in the children’s shoes.
- Shirley B’s Dutch family tradition is also for gifts on Christmas Eve.
- Dan’s Mom always made Christmas cake and has handed the recipe to Dan to continue the tradition.
- Bree’s favorite part of Christmas is staying in her pj’s all day!
- Marnie Roberts shared a funny incident at a Christmas service where her son was trying to light the advent candle and was having a very hard time. The result was an “oh shit” exclamation over the microphone—ooops!
Happy Bucks
- Alan and Odell are happy for the snow and the ski trails
- Kevin is spending Christmas on the Island
- Ken and Marnie are spending Christmas with daughter in Canmore, then off on a Hawaiian cruise
- Shirley and Ken are home for Christmas this year, but leaving on a trip to Antarctica on Jan 2
- Lou visited an old friend and former roommate in Edmonton and enjoyed re-living old times
- Kim’s son and family from Ontario are coming for Christmas this year!
Rotary Cares Draw – ticket # 262 was drawn, the winner is Brad Tien, ticket sold Shirley Rostad. The first draw for 2025 will be held on January 21 at our Evening meeting.
Winning ticket drawn belongs to Alan Fielding, who drew the 10 of Spades.
The Jackpot of $ 380 is carried forward to the next noon meeting on January 13, 2025. Only 8 cards left!
Door Prizes:
Lou handed out tickets for a door prize draw. 5 lucky people won a small Christmas gift of candy from Rotary Camrose.
Next meeting – Morning meeting on January 7, 2025, at Safety Starts Here (downstairs).
Our Rotary Youth Exchange student, Jan Nestler, will give us a presentation about his home country, Germany.
The meeting was closed with the 4-Way Test. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
Shout out to those who helped the meeting go so smoothly: Kim Boyco (reception), Shirley Bergsma (chair), Lou Henderson (tech support), Alyssa Martin (meeting notes).
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