AREA NEWS
June 20, 2016 | The Vermilion Voice
Dawn Hodgins-ARPLAS Submitted
9
Alberta Royal Purple Lodges Association 2016 Conference Update
The members of ARPLAS met for their 2016 annual general meeting in Sundre AB. on June 9, 10 and 11. Seventy-four enthusiastic and passionate delegates represented 21 out of the 29 lodges who are members and belong to the Canadian Royal Purple Society. We were extremely satisfied with the turn out. Many thanks to host lodge Sundre - you all did a splendid job, host hotel – Best Western – Sundre – no doubt one of the best host hotels that we have ever had and the staff was wonderful and very helpful. Local caterers Marie Nelson and Dianne Meissner provided the best meals and treats. Sundre is fortunate to have such a great caterer. Thanks to all in Sundre who made this a great visit to your town! Meet and greet, hilarious skits and Dianne and Carol entertaining the group with music and dancing was held Thursday night at the Sundre Community Hall. It is a really great facility. We had a shopping spree at Bear’s Den Clothing Store, under new ownership, by our Immediate Past Provincial President Brenda Johnston of Sundre Lodge. Friday morning was the formal start to our AGM and sessions were led by Provincial President Esther Smith of Bentley Lodge. We were thrilled to perform initiation of a new member – Elsie Tennant into the Sundre Lodge. This initiation, welcome march and pansy ceremony has never been performed in the 23 year history of the ARPLAS at an AGM. It is an impressive ceremony and anyone who belongs to a lodge will know just how special this was for all of us attending. Watch for our new Tagline---Positively Purple. We encourage all lodges to use the line in any of their correspondence, so the local newspapers will see Positively Purple and know that it is another Royal Purple item coming at them! T h e b i d wa s a c c e pte d fr o m F T
Saskatchewan Royal Purple for the 2017 AGM and we will be heading to the beautiful Lakeview Inn & Suites in FT Saskatchewan on June 2, 3 and 4/17. Election of the 2016/17 directors was held. Provincial President Anita Kitz of Westlock (Edmonton Royal Purple) is now our leader. Oth er elected directors are: Immediate Past President Esther Smith of Red Deer (Bentley Royal Purple), Vice presidents are: Joan Turner of Edmonton Royal Purple, Yvonne Borrowman of Medicine Hat Royal Purple, Barb Schmidt of Vermilion/Mannville Royal Purple, Secretary Dawn Hodgins of Viking Royal Purple, Treasurer Olga Matvichuk of Edmonton Royal Purple, Chaplain Lillian Konieczny of Mannville/Myrnam Royal Purple, Conductor Lavern Kittlitz of Elk Point Royal Purple. The incoming officers were installed. At our Friday night banquet we had the pleasure of hearing Katie Jo Jackson of Sundre speak on gender equality, a topic that that she had the honour of speaking on at the United Nations. Katie Jo is a terrific grade 12 speaker and we could see why she was chosen to speak at the UN. Sundre Mayor Terry Leslie welcomed us all to their lovely town and area. It is nice to look out and see the mountains off to the west. Jason Nixon, the local MLA also welcomed all to the area. We then heard Mike McKay who is responsible for running Camp Kindle, just west of Water Valley. We have taken Camp Kindle--a division of kidscancercare--- as our provincial charity and we do encourage all lodges to remember the Camp in their budgets. Last year members of ARPLAS and lodges donated $13,500. At the conference ARPLAS donated $5000 and with lodge and individual donations the total climbed to $8,474 total. Very impressive! On Saturday morning the representatives of the rest of the charities that we support arrived to give us information on
their particular charity and we made all of our annual donations. Stollery Children’s Hospital rep Beverly Sawchuk told us that we have donated them $95,000 since 2006. This year we gave another $10,000. We were thrilled to hear that ATB will be matching our donation. Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation rep Patty Bambrick told us that “CP Has Heart Program” will be matching our $10,000 donation to them. All funds will be used for Cardiac care. She showed us an inspiring video of the hospital. Compassion House (safe house in Edmonton for people undergoing breast cancer treatments to stay at) will also receive $10,000 to go towards cancer related material and maintenance of the House. We were thrilled to have cancer survivor Dianne Ritter come and speak to us about her 5 week stay at the house. Very inspirational! We have supported the House since 2002. As one of the original donors we have a room in the House named in our honour – The Volunteer Room, where all the volunteers who assist at the House meet. Two purple framed pictures of our provincial presidents hang beside the door to the room. Linda Firlotte and Patti Brewin from C a m p H o r izo n (A B E a s te r S e a l s) brought an interesting video presentation and we got to have a peek at the camp that is located near Bragg Creek. The Camp received $5000 and this is used to assist campers to attend camp each year. The campers enjoy all kinds of special recreation, that would not be possible for them any place else. Joan Nielson of Camp He Ho Ha spoke on the work of running a camp for people with disabilities and how a small boy with stubs for arms could feel the freedom of climbing a climbing wall or how the small girl was so happy
there and was not bullied because she had a disability or the child who maneuvers her wheelchair with her tongue. These camps are truly wonderful/these KIDS are truly wonderful. Each year we donate $5000 to the camp. The Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgar y Ronald McDonald Houses also receive $1000 each. Their donations will be presented by IPPP Esther and PP Anita at a later date. $1000 was given to the host lodge charity and this was Greenwood Neighborhood Place in Sundre. At grand total of $ 49,0 0 0 was presented. Amazing amount for a small group of Royal Purple members to raise through working a Calgary Casino, selling raffle tickets and putting of special events at conference to raise funds. Plus the matching grants of $20,000 made it just an awesome AGM. We encourage all to check out your local Royal Purple Lodge and discovery all the wonderful work that these members do in YOUR community. We are like most other service clubs and continue to look for new members to volunteer with us. Our work is mainly for the children. Che c k out our we bsite @ w w w. abroyalpurpleassn.com and continue o nto the Fac e b o ok pag e for more incredible updates. FYI: just to let everyone know that R oya l Pu r p l e L o d g e s a c r o s s t h i s provin c e are ver y g enerous. With 26 out of 29 lodges reporting, a total of $341,254.00 has been donated in your communities and to the charities supported by ARPLAS. Way to help the children! Winners of our 2nd annual cash raffle were: $1000 – Sylvia Boothman of Vermilion, $750 – Lee Richardson of Edmonton, $500 – Irene Thomas of Ponoka and $250 – Jean Paradis of Bashaw. Thanks for the support.
Richer From Royal Purple From left, Barbara Schmidt, Past Honoured Royal Lady of Vermilion Lodge # 108, presented Sylvia Boothman of Vermilion with a $1000 cheque on June 14. After having purchased a raffle ticket, Boothman’s name was drawn at the Annual Alberta Royal Purple Lodges Association Conference in Sundre on June 10. The Alberta Royal Purple raise money throughout the year by catering, raffles and volunteering at casinos with the funds going to support children’s hospitals, treatment centers, and summer camps. If you would like to find out more about Royal Purple, you can visit canadianroyalpurplesociety.ca or www.facebook. com/AlbertaRoyalLodgeAssociation. Photo by Angela Mouly
Vermilion TD Canada Trust BBQ Fundraiser
The TD Canada Trust branch in Vermilion held a fundraiser BBQ for the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) on June 15. The total raised was $500. From left; TD Canada Trust employees Eric Bergerud, Darren Anderson, Edie Whitten and Darly Burd. Photo Marie Conboy
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