Group hears updates on projects

Late last month was Partner’s Night at the Castlegar Rotary Club.

President Karen LeMoel welcomed some 40 Rotarians to this ‘fifth-Tuesday-in-the-month’ occasion.

Each table included a bottle of wine, and Rotarians and guests at each table were wittily introduced, each in turn, by one host club member.

After an excellent dinner, the company heard a brief report.

Lorraine Hartson stated while there had been only one applicant for the Rotary International Youth Exchange Program, the Interact Club (high school Rotary) had been very active.

Twenty-two students (18 Interact and four exchange) had made an exciting trip to Fort McLeod, she said, and had visited a number of historic sites including Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Fort Steel and the Frank Slide, en route.

They are also making preparations for a service trip to Bolivia next summer.

On entering the Castlegar Complex dining room, club members received their September copy of the monthly news letter edited by Wayne Groutage and profusely illustrated with Jaako Hartman photos.

These included group pictures and brief biographies of Rotary Exchange students Midori of Japan and Freddie of Denmark, as well as a shot of LeMoel presenting Marilyn Luscombe, Selkirk College president, and Joyce Bucker, college co-ordinator of donations, with a cheque for $5,000.

This is the club’s fifth such donation in fulfillment of a commitment to a bursary for single parents at the college.

Matched by a grant from Rotary Foundation, it now amounts to a handsome $53,000. Funding for this bursary came from proceeds of the Club’s popular Diamond Dinner.

Jim Gouk, former MP, took over the entertainment aspect of the meeting and delivered a fine film-and-commentary program on the top “Rocky Mountain Tour”.

This spectacular, and now popular train trip, subsidized by Via Rail, starts off from Vancouver and travels across the province through many valleys, tunnels and passes, including Kicking Horse Pass and Rogers Pass, until it arrives at the “real” Rockies at Mount Rundle near Banff. It was an eye-opener to most of the audience and warmly received.