End of September Edmontarian newsletter (Sep 25, 2022)

Mark Monday November 21st in your calendar for this inspiring event. This year another organization supporting the downtown community will be announced. We will continue our theme of "Homelessness".

Thank you to the Rotarian's who submitted their nomination for a Paul Harris Fellow to be honored at Step Up.... Nine nominations were received and reviewed by the organizing committee. The top candidate is being contacted and will be announced at the Step Up event.

Want to join the organizing team? We sure could use the extra help. No experience necessary. Send Nik a note at nikonesihap@hotmail.com

Neil Lang

Friday September 30th is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Also called Orange Shirt day. You can honour the day by wearing something orange.

Many links discussing Reconciliation can be found at:

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html

Also... at our Monday October 17th meeting there will be an extra special presentation from Dr. Kisha Supernant. Dr. Supernant is director of the Prairie & Indigenous Archaeology and Anthropology (PIAA) at the UofA. This includes Canadian residential schools and the search for unmarked graves for which they are involved. Several of us heard from Kisha and PhD candidates on Sept 22nd at a UofA PIAA presentation.

Indigenous Archaeology and Anthropology, including Canadian residential schools

Dr. Kisha Supernant

Co-Director of the Situated Knowledges: Indigenous Peoples & Place Signature Area

Chair, Unmarked Graves Working Group, Canadian Archaeological Association Association

https://www.kishasupernant.com/

This meeting is sure to be very informative and worth attending.

Check out the District Rotary Indigenous Committee:

https://portal.clubrunner.ca/50012/page/district-5370-indigenous-committee I highly recommend signing up for upcoming presentations offered by the Indigenous Committee.

Neil Lang

Update on our support for Ukraine

Anna continues her Service above Self!

Anna sent us the following on September 21st:

I just wanted to let you know that our latest supply to Ukraine was completed in the second half of August.

Łukasz, the veterinary doctor (I call him ‘our Man’), who drives his truck once a month to Ukraine, was so kind to take again our boxes with 15 military first aid kits (including 5 from Barb) and clothes and medical socks for soldiers in Mikolaiv (130 Km NE of Odessa along the southern coast of Ukraine)

Thanks to Łukasz, the first aid kits have directly reached a brigade of young soldiers in Mikolaiv. He told me that one of them cried when he got one. All of them were so moved with the kits considering them the GIFTS OF LIFE.

War is exceptionally tragic situation. You probably don’t think about the possibility of losing your life until you have to go to the front. These first aid kits are the equipment for every person carrying out support activities in hot zones. Their valuable contents make it possible to save the lives of combat casualties even before professional medical help can be provided. Who knows? Maybe we managed to save someone’s life?

Anna

In the meantime I donated, in the name of our club, a baby carriage and a bassinet to two Ukrainian families here in Warsaw. They were extremely happy. So, I’d like to share this happiness with you....

I’ve got a very interesting story to share with you.

I’m sure you’ve heard about the famous Ukrainian stamps which are dedicated to the well-known event, when a Russian ship approached Zmeiny Island (Black Sea, Ukraine) and offered Ukrainian border guards to surrender. To this ultimatum, the Ukrainian soldiers suggested that the Russian warship go in a certain direction. The phrase “Russian warship, go…………” was uttered by Roman Gribov, a border guard from Snake Island. Gribov himself was captured, then he was released on exchange. In the future, the phrase became a symbol of the resistance of the Ukrainian people. The Russian ship “Moskva” pictured on this stamp below was destroyed on the next day after this stamp was released.

Łukasz got a set of these stamps from his friends-soldiers from Ukraine and brought them to Poland. He asked me to sell them. The aim was to collect money for food supplies for people who live in wreckages of Kharkov.

It was still in August when Barb (from Calgary) was here. Without hesitation she bought them for 1000 American dollars and this is how the stamps turned into bags full of food for people in Kharkov.

I have drawn this story on this slide. Łukasz is there in the picture in Kharkov just on the right. I can’t say more because this picture and the following one say more than words can say.

Anna