Orange shirt day, September 30, honours those who have died as a result of the Indian Residential Schools or are healing from them. It’s to remind people that all children are important. 

 

This year the 2024 Every Child Matters Orange Shirt Design contest winner, Aliyah Bautista, is a grade 11 student from Ponoka, Alberta. Her design features a child in the middle to represent the “I” in child.  

Participating in Orange Shirt Day honours those who have lost their freedom, language, and worth, and raises awareness about the damage done by the schools and respects those that attended them. If you would like to purchase one of these shirts,  see the retailers that have them available including Canadian Tire, Marks and Aritzia ...  Official Merchandise - Orange Shirt Society (orangeshirtday.org)

A huge thank you for all the club members ( and prospective members) that came out to collect food and funds to support the Food Bank at Heritage Days.

 

Wayne McKutcheon, Pepe Villareal, Marilyn Mucha, Ihu Nwachukwu and Adam McArthur were on hand to help gather donations on Saturday and Sunday before the storm cause the cancellation of Monday. 

 

 

We will look into helping sort donations at the Food Bank at a future date. The need is great to provide food security for those in need.

 

 

 

 

Olesia is a newcomer to Canada, having left her homeland of Ukraine when the Russians invaded in 2022.  She shared beautiful photos of her town of birth, historic sites and breathtaking scenery.  Since the war, many of these places were destroyed and she did not want to the share those images. Olesia has a Master's degree in Psychology and she worked in recruiting. Her relocation transfer took her to Luxembourg with her employer PWC and eventually to Canada.  We learned more about adventures sky-diving and underwater diving.   She has settled in Edmonton with a job in recruiting at Gallagher's and has adopted a cat.  Her previous exposure to volunteering brought her much joy and she looks forward to getting involved in community service projects with our club. 

Our Festive Feast on December 16, 2023 had more than an abundance of delectable dishes shared by our attendees.  We also had a double induction of our newest members.  Sami Zaman and Olesia Linkevich were officially inducted to the club by co-President Shelley and Membership chair Yvonne.

Olesia is a Ukrainian newcomer who fled the war and was hosted by member Marilyn Mucha.  She has a masters in Psychology and works as an Executive recruiter at Gallagher's. 

 

Sami came to Canada a number of years ago from Pakistan and is a project engineer.  He is an active and eager volunteer and  looks forward to doing more to make a difference in our community.

 

We welcome both into our fellowship and service circle.

 

April 2023 marked the launch of an impactful initiative, "Giving a Future to Vulnerable Children and Rural Women and Youth," led by the Rotary Club of Moshi in Tanzania, in partnership with the Rotary Club of YEG Passport in Canada. This venture, funded through a Global Grant, is a testament to the effectiveness of community-driven development, fully conceptualized by the communities in Tanzania.

 

The Sinkunia Community Garden was overflowing with an abundant harvest and numerous helping hands.  Saturday, September 23 was a warm, sunny day and the fields were revealing their bounty - beans, squash, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, tomatos and chard were just some of the crops uncovered.  

 

Rotarians from YEG Passport and Edmonton NorthEast clubs along with Sinkunia families worked side by side to gather the crop to make available to those in the community.  It was a sharing atmosphere of food, comraderie and many smiles. The CommuniTea van also joined in to offer some refreshments and a board to catch messages of hope. 

Hope is the message that Rotary is expressing in its theme for this year.  And the garden gave all the participants hope of food sustainability.  More pictures in our Photo album.