To say the least, it’s been mission accomplished.
From an incredible array of donations to charities to a host of projects taken on both locally and internationally, the Wakamow Rotarians have taken ‘service beyond self’ to heart and then some.
But 35 years ago, it was 14 people who soon became 22, with a lot of dreams toward what could be accomplished in the future.
And it was those 35 years that the club celebrated at a special meeting recently at the Heritage Inn.
Current Wakamow Rotarians were joined by past members and special guests for the event, which featured plenty of reminiscing about days of yore and all the amazing work that had been accomplished.
One of those was Richard Goodnough, the original president of the club. Currently a resident of Vancouver Island, once he heard the local group was celebrating the anniversary, he was quick to make his way back home to take part. Even if that meant flying in the same day and leaving the following afternoon.
Richard Goodnough, the first president of the Moose Jaw Wakamow Rotary Club, flew in from Vancouver Island to be part of the event.“It was quite an honour to be the charter president, so it was important for me to come back and be a part of this,” Goodnough said, adding that even with the determination of the original members, seeing Wakamow Rotary remain so successful over the years was impressive.
“You can always hope that something you started will continue on,” he said. “But what makes it last so long is that everyone is working together all the time. I’ve gone through some social and recreational groups and sometimes it seems like everyone is looking out for themselves, where in Rotary we’re not doing that. That makes a big difference in getting things accomplished and the success they’ve had here over the years.”
Those accomplishments are as numerous as they are impressive.
In addition to their longstanding support of the Polio Plus campaign in the club’s early days, Wakamow Rotary has made large donations to the Wakamow Valley Authority, Hospital Foundation, Riverside Mission, Moose Jaw Food Bank, Salvation Army Family Fund, Habitat for Humanity, etc. Essentially, if it’s a charitable organization in Moose Jaw, the Rotarians have lent a hand.
Then there are projects like the Trans Canada Trail, which saw major support from Wakamow Rotary, as well as the club’s civic tree-planting campaign that helped make Moose Jaw the beautiful city it is today.
More recently, the club has partnered with Rotarians in Guatemala to help build schools and provide scholarships through annual visits to the Central American country.
Former Premier of Saskatchewan Lorne Calvert was the guest speaker at the 35th anniversary celebration.“I think it’s wonderful,” Goodnough said. “The thing about Rotary is the things that we do tend to be projects that are going to live on. They don’t do something that’s going to last a short time and I think that’s one of the things that helps the club stay together, having that kind of history and knowing the work you do is going to help people possibly for generations.”
The event included updates on current club activities with president Sonja Susut and words of wisdom from guest speaker and former Premier of Saskatchewan Lorne Calvert.
All in all, Goodnough hopes to see the club thriving much the same way long into the future.
“They look like they’re very vibrant and have some really good projects going on,” he said. “So I’m really proud that we started something and 35 years later it continues to do and probably exceed what we were doing in the early years. It’s really quite gratifying.”
