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How a service organization serves mankind


M


ahatma Gandhi once said that “a nation will be judged on how it treats its weakest members.” As a politician, I always keep that thought in mind when considering policies that I believe in. And certainly, that philosophy is one that politicians must always remember.


But is that responsibility one to be borne only by govern- ment and the politicians who run government? I think not. In our society, we have many service organizations who do excel- lent work in providing service to our weakest members of society. One of those organizations that I am most familiar with is Rotary Club. Here is how Rotary Club de- scribes itself, its people, purpose and activities: “Rotary Club is an international organization of busi- ness and professional people who provide humanitarian service, en- courage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.


Myrna Driedger Broadway Journal


“Rotary has united more than a million people through its 35,000 clubs. Through Rotary clubs, peo- ple from all continents and cultures come together to exchange ideas, and form friendships and profes-


sional connections, while making a difference in their backyards and around the world. Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbours, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who come to- gether to make positive, lasting change in communities at home and abroad.


“Solving real problems takes real commitment and vision. For more than 110 years, Rotary members have used their passion, energy, and intelligence to act on sustainable projects. From lit- eracy and peace to water and health, they are always working to better our world, and they stay committed to the end. “For more than 110 years, their guiding principles have been the foundation of our values: service, fellowship, diversity, in- tegrity, and leadership. Their motto is: Service above self. They do this in several ways: promoting peace; fighting disease; pro- viding clean water, sanitation and hygiene; saving mothers and children; supporting education; and growing local economies.” Those are very wide reaching and ambitious goals. And its members devote a considerable amount of time working to- wards those goals. Attendance at weekly meetings is just the beginning of the service they provide. It is not a political orga- nization, but all Rotarians are vitally concerned with everything pertaining to good citizenship and the election of good men and women to public office. It is not a charitable organization, yet its activities exemplify the charity and the sacrifices that one should expect from people who believe that they have a respon- sibility to help others. It is not a religious organization, but it is built on those eternal principles that have served as the moral compass for people throughout the ages.


Rotary is an organization pledged to upholding the highest professional standards. Rotarians believe that worldwide fel- lowship and international peace can be achieved when business people unite under the banner of service. I am honoured to have been made an Honourarian Rotarian of the Charleswood Rotary Club several years ago. Although my schedule does not allow me to attend weekly meetings, I do try to attend whenever I can. I also hope that by carrying out activities to encourage community members to come together, and adhering to my belief that a community best strengthens itself from within, that I will continue to embody the ideals of Rotary.


Charleswood Rotary recently held another successful fund- raising event – their annual Lobsterfest at the Eric Coy Arena. I look forward to this annual event as a place to meet with neigh- bours and friends while helping this organization raise funds for its many activities.


In addition to international programs such as polio eradica- tion, building daycares and schools in underdeveloped coun- tries, Charleswood Rotary is the steward of the Assiniboine Forest. They have also been huge supporters of the summer learning program carried out at Westgrove School. If you are ever interested in joining a worthwhile organization and at the same time making a whole new network of friends, I encourage you to join your local Rotary – or any other service organization. It’s an excellent way to give back to the communi- ty and to feel like you are doing something worthwhile. One of the comments that I hear from people as they grow older and/or retire is that they miss being “relevant” in some way. You gain a sense of being a valuable member of society by giving to others. Hats off to all Rotarians and other members of service orga- nizations! Your passion and perseverance create lasting change. Hon. Myrna Driedger is MLA for Charleswood and Speaker of the legislative assembly.


4 www.lifestyles55.net


READERS TELL US Alcohol is a poison


ots of interesting articles in each Life- styles 55 issue. Between you and me, I could not believe the dangerous misin- formation provided in Nathan Zassman's June article; "Bottoms Up: The Health and Wellness of Alcohol." Any supposed benefits of drinking alcohol were debunked years ago by actual sci- ence, but continue to be broadcast by individu- als who should know better or who benefit from the public using the chemical. Alcohol (actually ethanol) is a poison, damag-


L


ing every cell in the body, and has been linked to numerous diseases, particularly cancers and heart problems, not to mention direct damage to the liver, which has to break down ethanol into other dangerous substances before it can be metabolized.


I use propanol (the antiseptic used in hospi-


Blown away at the thought


R


e: Opening Portage and Main: There has been so much discussion on this subject, but those in favour of remov- ing the barricades don’t realize how dangerous it will be for pedestrians. I work downtown as a courier with equal amounts of driving and walking. I weigh less than 120 pounds, and many times I have been pushed onto the road by a strong gust of wind when walking down Fort Street by Portage and when crossing Main at Pioneer.


One day i was pushed right into the Scotia Bank door on Main Street. If I had not man- aged to get my arms up in time, I would have smashed my face on the glass door. If it is icy and there is nothing nearby, you are blown onto the road. Opening this intersection will literally put pedestrians on the streets, and not in the manner you have in mind.


Gay Dolyniuk Publisher stands firm T I


hank you, Gay. We will print your let- ter. I am sure there will be many opin- ions on this – but consider that the mayor of Calgary nearly got killed crossing on the other side of the barricades! Many do that. The corner was open for most of a century before the barricades went up and nobody was killed.


Dorothy


Back then, you walked or took a streetcar


really enjoyed Dorothy Dobbie’s “Then and now” piece in the June edition of Lifestyles 55. I was born in Winnipeg in 1928 so have lived through that era. As far as kids were concerned, there were no legal baby-sitting establishments. If you didn’t have a grandmother or favourite aunt, you stayed home with your kids. There were no pizzas or fast foods till the mid-1950s. I think A&W at Polo Park was the first fast- food outlet, so mothers had to make supper from scratch.


Clothes were another thing. No parkas in the thirties and early forties. In winter you wore a heavy, hip-length warm coat called a mackinaw; in the summer you had a wind- breaker jacket. Also men’s shirts had to be ironed, likely with sand irons; you had to light the kitchen stove in the summer to keep the irons hot. They had clip-on handles, so one was keeping warm on the stove while you ironed with the other one. I can’t remember anyone taking clothes to the dry cleaners. Gasoline was three gallons for a dollar, but a lot of people didn’t own a car to put it in. I was four years old in 1933 when we moved to a farm, after my dad who was man- ager for one of the small Safeway stores was


tals to kill bacteria and viruses) to instantly kill my insect specimens in the field, and insects are some pretty resilient creatures. Ethanol and propanol are closely related chemically and in action, so how can the former, when imbibed, have any benefit to humans when compared to its toxicity?


Agreed, no one dies right away from moder- ate drinking, but there is no safe level, just as there is no really safe levels of lead, mercury, ar- senic and other contaminants in the body, and of exposure to radiation (even in medical appli- cation). Resulting cellular death and damage to DNA may take decades to develop into serious health problems, but it is a matter of dose and probability. Ethanol has been responsible for the death of millions of people (including mem- bers of my own family), so the topic is a sensi- tive one for me.


Dr. Robert Wrigley Former curator, Assiniboine Park Zoo


released from his position because the com- pany management said they could pay a single man lower wages! On the farm we had no car for seven years, no radio for three years, no phone for 10 years, no electricity till Hydro came in 1949 and, like all the other farmers, no plumbing or running water. Thank good- ness we had a good well to supply water to ourselves and our livestock.


All the stores in Winnipeg closed at 6 p.m.


except movie houses, gas stations, large res- taurants , the beer parlor (no women) and the odd mom and pop grocery store. No night shopping, no Sunday shopping and no pro- fessional sports played on Sunday. During the summer from May till September Wednesdays were half holidays when all big stores and of- fices closed at 1 p.m. No credit cards till the later sixties, and very few people had a bank account.


One of the major conveniences of the early days was the Winnipeg streetcars. We had streetcar service for 73 years from 1882 to 1955, starting with horse cars on rails from 1882 to May 1994, and electric streetcars from January 1891, to September 1955. For 35 years, from 1882 to 1918, street- cars were the only public transportation sys- tem the city had. The first four Transit buses didn’t arrive till 1918; by that time the street- cars had built our population up to 160,000. One hundred and five years ago (1912) the streetcars had built Winnipeg’s population up to 150,000, and we were Canada’s third larg- est city. If the streetcars hadn’t been here, the residents would have had to walk from home everywhere they wanted to go. The first auto- mobile didn’t arrive here until 1901, 19 years after streetcar service began.


When I was 25, I left the farm and signed


on with Winnipeg Transit for the next 38 years. That was back in 1954, 63 years ago. For the next 17 months I operated the street- cars, till the end of their service in September 1955. Then I switched over to buses for the next 37 years.


When I retired in August 1992, I was the last employee in the company that had operat- ed a streetcar in regular service 37 years back. Now as far as I can find out, there is only one other person who operated Winnipeg street- cars who is still living. Back then you could have a round trip on a streetcar for 17 cents. Now it’s around $5.


Rides were cheap then. I guess that’s why they could only pay me $1.44 an hour! So in 2015 I published a book about them: The Streetcars of Winnipeg/Our Forgotten Heri- tage. The late John Baker wrote a wonderful book on our electric streetcar and bus trans- portation system. That was back in 1982, 35 years ago. To my knowledge, no other book has been written about Winnipeg streetcars so I thought it was time to publish another one. McNally Robinson at Grant Park carries them and I still have some at my home address. There are three generations in Winnipeg that know nothing about them They were here before 62 of our 74 Heritage sites were constructed. That should be recognized in our three special birthdays that are coming up in the next six years


Brian. K. Darragh, Winnipeg July 2017


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