President Jayna Amadasun called us to attention at 12:05 and invited Allen Hillsden to lead in the singing of O Canada. Peter Peters invited for an opening invocation and prayer which was followed by President Jayna sharing of the Clubs Landed Acknowledgement Statement. The President opened the pathway to the buffet table and in the meantime audio experts were summoned so that those with hearing challenges were no longer required to lip read.
Post dining, Jeannie Alexander was called on to introduce guest speaker Assistant District Governor (ADG) Lorne Calvert from the Rotary Club of Moose Jaw Wakamow. Lorne, a skilled orator impacted lives through his vocation as a United Church Minister and Provincial Politician. He traded in his initial calling from the pulpit to politics and reflected on how Rotary's doing good in the world philosophy and its Motto of Service Above Self impacted the work he did in each of those arenas.
From Lorne we learned that his attraction to Rotary was inspired by the opportunity he was afforded as a selected member of a Rotary International Group Study Exchange team member. Led by Rotarian Fred Wehak a member of the Rotary Club of Regina, the 5-member Group Study Exchange Team went to Puerto Rico for a 6-week adventure into a new culture and professional experience. Lorne described Fred Wehak as the model of a true Rotarian who opened the eyes of these young professionals to a life altering experience, and setting the stage for his own joining the Rotary Club of Moose Jaw Wakamow in 1985.
In district 5550 on the role of ADG was paused for a number of years and is being reintroduced in Rotary year 2026-2027. The 7 Rotary Clubs in Southern Saskatchewan located in the communities of Assiniboia, Estevan, Moose Jaw, Regina and Weyburn will be served by two ADGs, Lorne and Al Goude. In his presentation, Lorne made reference to President Barack Obama's visit to Canada's House of Commons in 2016. In his comments the President observed that the world needs more Canada. From that observation Lorne suggested, the world needs more Rotary. Rotary is one of the largest service clubs in the world. It has a membership larger than the United Nations and the Rotary Foundation is one of the largest member driven foundations in the world. The world needs more Rotary
As a participant in the Rotary International convention in Calgary in 2025, Lorne marvelled at the inspiration associated with being part of these 15,000 members of the Rotary Family – members from 120 countries around the world. Rotary with its partners around the world have vaccinated over 3 billion children against polio. This means that millions of children are walking around and playing today because of rotary's 4-decade commitment to polio eradication. Rotarians are going about changing the world.
Lorne reminded us that as Rotarians we have an opportunity to provide young people with an international experience as peace makers through a host of avenues. Rotary is about filling in gaps where those exist and changing lives and making invisible miracles real. We want to serve but we do not want to serve alone, we want to serve as communities.
Our guest concluded his remarks by repeating his platform that the world needs more Rotary. The world needs Rotary values and one of the ways this can be achieved is by living and reflecting the true scope of the 4-Way Test.
Lorne Calvert thank you for sharing your passion for the work of Rotary. Thank you for encouraging each of us to realize our ability, our opportunity, to go about changing the world, knowing we just need more Rotary.
