You Can Ride Two is back at Broxton Park School in Spruce Grove on March 4, 2016 (1-7 PM), adapting bikes for kids with special needs and teaching them to ride. Haven’t heard of this unique organization? Check out my previous blog article detailing the great work they do.   The Rotary Club of Spruce Grove is proud to be involved with this organization.

Exhibits and Vendors

You Can Ride 2’s Try a Bike events include exhibits by many groups supporting children with disabilities, such as the Children’s Ability Fund, Sport Central, Variety the Children’s Charity, Free 2B Me, the Cerebral Palsy Association in Alberta, the Paralympic Sports Association, KidSport, and many others. In addition, select vendors such as Renu Cycle, Trivel and others will be present.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship of exhibits and vendor tables goes a long way in allowing You Can Ride 2 to cover the cost of assigning, maintaining and modifying bikes to meet the needs of children. If your business or service club can help out, please contact You Can Ride 2.

Volunteers

Volunteers (individuals, service clubs, school groups and the like) are urgently needed for a variety of tasks. Bike mechanics in particular are wanted for the March 4 event. Please visit You Can Ride 2’s “Support Us” page for a list of volunteer opportunities.

Donations

You Can Ride 2’s loan pool now has about 120 bikes, and can always use more. Anyone wishing to donate a used bike to the program is asked to bring it to the event. Each bike donated enters you into a draw for a signed Edmonton Eskimos football and helps allow another child to experience the joy of riding a bike. Donations of cash are always welcome as well!

Registration

Currently there are around 110 kids registered for the Try a Bike event on March 4! Parents of kids with special needs are invited to contact You Can Ride 2 for information about this program.

One final thing:  Name You Can Ride 2’s new mascot (supplied by the Rotary Club of Spruce Grove), and you could win a $100 MEC gift certificate!

As a proud Rotarian, I’m delighted to be able to help this worthwhile organization.  Comments or questions? Call or text me at 780-910-9669, email me at barry@barryt.ca, or contact me here.

Celebrate as our local libraries, municipalities, and the Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland After Dark Rotary clubs share steps they are making to build relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal neighbours in our Tri-Region area.

As part of our desire to engage with our aboriginal communities, the Rotary Clubs of Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland After Dark helped organize an event to celebrate reconciliation and build relationships with our aboriginal neighbours. We invite everyone to share in this event.

February 3, 2016
6:30 p.m.
Horizon Stage Performing Arts Centre
1001 Calahoo Road Spruce Grove, Alberta

Tickets $30, plus service fees

• Join Shelagh Rogers, celebrated host of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter, Honorary Witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Chancellor of the University of Victoria, as she interviews local authors Patti LaBoucane-Benson, Esther Supernault, Tracey Lindberg and Dianne Meili to explore the importance of Indigenous literature.
• Enjoy musical entertainment with Juno-nominated special guest Asani who will sing in Cree, French and English.
• Sample traditional Aboriginal foods and visit with local artisans who will explain their creative process and have products available for purchase.

Thank you to our Sponsors:
Rotary Clubs of Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland After Dark, together with the Rotary Aboriginal Partnership and Norquest College.

Tickets available at the Spruce Grove City Hall Ticket Centre, 315 Jespersen Avenue, by phone at 780-962-8995 or online at www.horizonstage.com/tickets
Proceeds will support the purchase of books by Indigenous authors. For more information, please call Lisa Smith at 587-986-8758.

There is always so much going on in the Tri-Municipal region, and as a proud Rotarian, I’m happy to promote important events such as this one. Comments or questions? Call or text me at 780-910-9669, email me at barry@barryt.ca, or contact me here.

I’ve written before about some of my activities with the Rotary Club of Spruce Grove. I enjoy helping other people, and I find that this club allows me to get involved in causes I might not have otherwise been aware of.

Recently, Spruce Grove Rotarians were asked to volunteer in support of a local organization called YouCanRide2.  This organization held an event a few months ago at Broxton Park School in Spruce Grove that was both rewarding and inspiring.

YouCanRide2 adapts bicycles for kids with special needs and teaches them to ride. These kids suffer from conditions such as Down syndrome, spina bifida, cerebral palsy and autism. In some cases, these kids may never walk, but they can be taught to ride a bike. This one thing can have a major impact on these children and their families, bringing mobility to children who may have never experienced it before, and improved mental health to the most vulnerable in our community.

At the heart of YouCanRide2 are 3 pediatric physiotherapists: Janine Halayko, Melanie Harris, and Trent Magis. These three core people coordinate the large team of dedicated volunteers needed to run the “Borrow a Bike” program. The need for this program became evident when Janine was working with a child with cerebral palsy to teach him how to ride a bike. After 8 months of effort, and trial and error, she realized that no ordinary bike even with adaptations would do. The $3000 bike this child needed to be independent was far too expensive for the family, and could not be covered by any other agency. With the support of the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society and Trent’s help, the idea for the “Borrow a Bike” program was born.

This story is not just about the children and families who are helped. It is about determination and volunteerism. Determination happens when everyone around you tells you what you are trying to do is too difficult to accomplish. And this is also about volunteerism – on steroids! Two of YouCanRide2’s core people are working moms with 3 children each of their own. Yet, they can volunteer 20-30 hours a week supporting this cause, and inspiring and leading dozens of other volunteers to help needy children.

YouCanRide2 is unique to Alberta and probably unique to all of Canada. Some of the bikes are donated, but they still require adapting to a specific child’s needs. For some of the more severely challenged, specialized bikes can run as high as $5000. Money is also needed for storage and transport of the bikes. This year, the goal of YouCanRide2 is to adapt 100 bikes for kids in the Edmonton area.

At the Rotary Club’s annual Lobsterfest, held this year on May 30, 2015, I made a video appeal for funding for this worthwhile organization, and I am delighted to report that the astounding sum of $91,000 was raised! I am overwhelmed by the compassion and generosity of Spruce Grove and area residents, and I know that YouCanRide2 will be able to do so much good with the money.

If you would like to contribute money, bikes that could be adapted, or expertise, please contact me, or get in touch with YouCanRide2 directly through their website.  Believe me, you’ll feel good for helping out!

Can you help? Please call or text me at 780-910-9669, email me at barry@barryt.ca, or contact me here.

(Photos used in this post are from You Can Ride Two’s website at http://www.youcanridetwo.ca/)

More information about Rotary International, the Spruce Grove service club I recently joined.  The facts below are taken mainly from two of Rotary International’s publications, This is Rotary and The ABCs of Rotary.

 Did you know…?

1)      Worldwide polio cases have decreased an astounding 99% since 1988 due to Rotary’s PolioPlus participation in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.  Rotarians have vowed not to stop until polio is wiped from the earth to prevent this deadly disease from ever making a comeback.

2)      $1.5 billion could be saved annually around the world if polio were eradicated.  This money could be applied to other public health priorities, and the savings in human suffering is immeasurable.

3)      More than $650 million have been contributed by Rotary members to PolioPlus.

4)      The Gates & Buffett Foundation offered to donate $355 million to PolioPlus for polio immunization campaigns in developing countries if Rotarians contributed an additional $200 million by June 2012.  Success is imminent as $160 million had already been raised by December 2010.

5)      9,000 secondary-school students annually experience life in another country through the Rotary Youth Exchange.

6)      How big is Rotary International?  32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world initiate service projects to address today’s challenges, including literacy, disease, hunger, poverty, lack of clean water, and environmental concerns.  The clubs get to work immediately whenever a crisis strikes; at this very moment Rotarians are busy in the earthquake regions of New Zealand and Japan.

7)      1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders make up the Rotary global network of community volunteers who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards, and help build goodwill and peace in the world numbers.

8)      The organization that holds the highest consultative status given by the United Nations to nongovernmental organizations is Rotary International.

9)      The first Rotary club meeting was held in Chicago on February 23, 1905.  Five years later in 1910 Canada welcomed its first Rotary club to Winnipeg.

10)  The furthest a Rotary Club banner has ever traveled:  In 1968 astronaut Frank Borman, member of the Houston Space Center Rotary club, carried a banner on the Apollo 8 flight to the moon!

For more information about Rotary International please visit the website http://www.rotary.org/

I always welcome your questions and comments!  Email me at barry@barryt.ca, phone me at 780-910-9669, or contact me here.

Recently I became a member of Rotary International in Spruce Grove.  I am not usually a joiner, but this organization’s philosophy and good works appeal to me.  The information below comes from two of Rotary International’s publications, This is Rotary and The ABCs of Rotary.

What is Rotary? 

Rotary defines itself as “an organization of business and professional persons united world wide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.”

Rotary, I’ve come to learn, really is a service club in the truest meaning of that phrase.  In fact, Rotary’s principal motto is “Service Above Self”.  Rotary’s main objective is “to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise”.  This concept of service is applied at every level:  Club, Vocation, Community, International.

Rotary also originated one of the most widely quoted statements of business ethics in the world, the Four-Way Test, one which closely aligns with my personal business philosophy:  “Of all the things we think, say or do:  1. Is it the TRUTH?  2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?  3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?  4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”

Rotary’s many worldwide projects are legendary and include the following:

• PolioPlus is Rotary’s massive effort to eradicate polio.  To date, Rotarians have contributed nearly $650 million and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours to this project that has resulted in an astounding decrease in polio cases world-wide of 99% since 1988.
• Rotary Youth Exchange:  “one of the most popular programs to promote international understanding and develop lifelong friendships”.  At present more than 9,000 high-school-age young people from around the world participate annually in “opportunities to learn about the customs, languages, traditions, and family life in another country”.
• Youth Service Projects:  Rotary’s slogan “Every Rotarian an Example to Youth” takes many different forms, depending on community needs.  “Rotarians sponsor Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, athletic teams, centers for disabled children, school safety patrols, summer camps, recreation areas, safe driving clinics, county fairs, child care centers and children’s hospitals.”  In addition, vocational counseling and youth employment programs, drug or alcohol abuse prevention and HIV/AIDS awareness are supported.
• World Community Service:  “the Rotary program by which a club or district in one country provides humanitarian assistance to a project of a club in another country”.  This usually entails giving aid to a developing community to raise the standard of living and quality of life.  But it also involves stepping in wherever crises occur in the world; New Zealand Rotarians are already hard at work in the earthquake zone in Christchurch.
• Literacy Projects around the world where needed.
• Rotary Friendship Exchange encourages Rotarians and their families, usually along with several other families traveling as a group, to visit Rotarian families in other parts of the world in a reciprocal exchange that results in an unusual vacation and interesting experiences.
• Group Study Exchange pairs Rotary districts to send and receive study teams whose goal is to learn about the host district while interpreting their home district, nation and culture to their hosts.
• Many opportunities for people of all ages to perform service as international volunteers of every type, receive leadership training, learn about responsible citizenship and the fostering of world fellowship and international understanding.
• Rotary sponsors numerous awards and scholarships such as Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, Ambassadorial Scholarships, Rotary World Peace Fellowships, and more.
• Rotary also gives out numerous grants of which some of the most important are the Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants.  Since 1978 $74 million USD have been spent on 290 projects in 75 countries for the purpose of improving health, alleviating hunger, and enhancing human, cultural and social development around the world.  The first 3-H project was the immunization of 6 million children in the Philippines against polio – the beginning of PolioPlus.

For more information about Rotary International please visit the website http://www.rotary.org/

I always welcome your questions and comments!  Email me at barry@barryt.ca, phone me at 780-910-9669, or contact me here.