Shuswap Rotarians love to get outdoors to work on a project. That is just what happened when the opportunity to beautify the Canoe Beach Park by planting 15 oak trees was presented to them. This project was made possible due to the gift of these trees by Maarten Albricht. Over 20 Rotarians and friends worked on Saturday April 24.Seen here are several groups of 4 working together to dig holes, plant young trees and water them. Shuswap Rotary  consulted with The City of Salmon Arm in the location of these trees.

Luigi’s interest in astronomy began as a young man and he joined a club in Torino, Italy. In 2004, he owned a restaurant in the Alps and he applied for a grant through a nonprofit organization for an observatory. The observatory was built in the Alps, 7000 metres with a sliding roof biggest cost is the sliding roof and a 16 inch telescope.  

Luigi has been in Canada for four years and he sees an opportunity for an observatory in the Shuswap because of little light pollution in the night sky. This observatory would see a sliding roof where people view the night sky from the home computer. Luigi is looking for assistance in making connections with people who are interested in astronomy and donating money for an observatory.

More than 600 meals made their COVID-safe way to Salmon Arm residents in need on Christmas Day, thanks to an abundance of caring volunteers.

Salmon Arm’s three Rotary Clubs, as well as Second Harvest, the First United Church and Broadview Evangelical Free Church, donated funds to pay for the food, the meals were cooked and put together by the churches, and volunteers from all the groups pitched in to distribute the packages.

Norm Brown, president of the Rotary Club of Salmon Arm, said the idea was born when a Penticton Rotary Club used a similar system for a lobster dinner.

The work in the Shuswap, following pandemic protocols, started about a month and a half before Christmas, with everything coming together in just five weeks.

“All three clubs jumped on it. We had volunteers – we had to turn them away, we had more than enough,” said Brown.

A total of 620 Christmas dinners-to-go were produced.

In light of the recent Covid-19 virus outbreak around the world, our regular Rotary meetings are cancelled until further notice. This cancellation is to ensure that as a club we are following the guidelines for social distancing announce by our health officials. As soon as we have received an "all clear" from our health officials we will resume our regular meeting schedule. In the meantime I urge all members to watch your email and Facebook (if you have an account) for updates. I have included an excerpt from Rotary President, Mark Maloney letter to us.

 

"As Rotary’s president and president-elect, we have been thinking of these issues very seriously in regard to upcoming Rotary events. As you may be aware, we have made the difficult decision to cancel two Rotary Presidential Conferences honoring our relationship with the United Nations- one in Paris, another in Rome. In the near term, we recommend that Rotary districts and clubs cancel or postpone meetings or events following the advice of national and local health officials."

 

We hope that Rotarians will keep in regular contact with each other.  Members are asked to check email and the website for information. Take care of yourselves!

 

from our President, John Hansen