Rotary clubs play keyroles in community
For 100 years, Rotary Club members have been community builders in Lethbridge. They’ve planted trees, promoted education and sent children to summer camp.
But it wasn’t until much later they began work on another initiative — inviting women to join.
Helen Henderson, one of the first invited to join a Lethbridge club, remembers her first contact with Rotary. She was working in Pembroke, Ont. in the 1970s, and one of the aldermen invited her to attend a meeting with him.
“I was excited. I knew Rotary was a male enclave, and I thought maybe they had decided to open things up.”
Instead, to her surprise, she was introduced as the guest speaker!
Several years later in Lethbridge, after accepting a position in the City’s planning department, Henderson learned about Rotary’s history here.
But it wasn’t until 1990, when she’d been named the City economic development officer, that Henderson was invited by Rotary Club of Lethbridge president Peter Green, manager of the Palliser Distillery.
“Peter was a leader, and he thought it was time to include women in Rotary.”
She also remembers an encouraging call from hotel manager Estelle Botfield, who had already joined the newer Lethbridge East club. And the fundraising chicken barbecue she worked shortly later. “That was one of the initiation tasks.” She’s since taken on roles at the district level, and helped train incoming club presidents.
“Rotary has been a big part of my life over the past 27-plus years,” Henderson says.
It’s become a bigger part of Lethbridge life as well, with several more clubs formed in recent years.
“Each club has a personality,” she says. “They’re all great, they’re all different.”
When Fran Leggett joined the Lethbridge East club in 1997, she soon realized she wasn’t the first. A number of other Lethbridge women — Leah Waters, Audrey King and others — had already become involved.
But she became the second woman to be elected president, for the 2000-01 term.
It was a busy time, Leggett says, as Rotarians were ramping up their efforts to eradicate the scourge of polio, worldwide. More recently, she put in long hours as Rotary’s governor for District 5360, stretching as far as Kindersley, Sask. — the first woman so honoured.
“I drove about 25,000 km,” Leggett estimates.
Closer to home, she is also helping plan Rotary’s annual “Hands Across the Border” celebration at Waterton Lakes National Park, in late September. The event began after clubs in Lethbridge, Cardston, Calgary and Montana succeeded in gaining “International Peace Park” recognition for Waterton and adjacent Glacier National Park.
“Our club is very involved,” she points out.
Members are also excited about Rotary’s youth exchange programs, Leggett adds.
It wasn’t exactly a youth exchange, but Mandy DeCecco-Kolebaba starting learning about Rotary’s outreach as a part of a work experience program organized by the University of Lethbridge. She observed a local club’s mobility initiative for seniors in Malaysia.
“The project leaders were so passionate,” she says. “I saw it made a huge impact.”
Back in Lethbridge, she was invited to a Rotary lunch — a typical introduction — and soon signed up. She recognized her need for some mentorship as she started her career.
Club members “kind of adopted me,” she says. “So many people took me under their wing.”
And she quickly learned about the club’s annual fire truck and ambulance delivery trips to Mexico, and its educational support for schools in Malawi and Nepal.
“They do so many things I’m really passionate about,” so DeCeccoKolebaba got still more involved.
Fast forward, she’s now married, a mother — and club president!
Her new son was born after she’d already taken office, she notes.
“Since then (the club) has sort of adopted him.” So she offers an understatement. “That shows how much we’re changing as a club.”
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