Good News Letter
GOOD News Conference 2020 update
YES-------we did it----------awesome, safe, fun, lots of delegates, LOVE, no wasted TIME, friendships and knowing we all do BELIEVE in Royal Purple.
40 enthusiastic delegates from 17 Alberta lodges met in Sundre for the 27th annual AGM for the Alberta Royal Purple Association Society. We have 26 lodges in Alberta. Also our national president MaryLou as a guest. What a wonderful representation. What a wonderful day!
The Sundre Lodge and their Chairperson Brenda J did a spectacular job of social distancing us with assigned cohort seating, regular cleaning and lots of sanitizer and great meals. The set up was perfect. Some wore masks and some did not. There were No HUGS, NO handshakes, LOTS of elbow bumping, millions of SMILES, laughter, enthusiasm, taped music (the hymn “One Day at a Time’ was a tear jerker), NO singing and literally NO marching as we did not even have a drill team. Is this our new NORMAL?
The usual Friday night to Sunday noon conference went off without a hitch and was successfully completed on Saturday. Some were sad to see a lot of the pomp and formality taken out on the downsized agenda. NEXT YEAR! Besides completing ALL of our business, we did include a wonderful initiation of two new members to the Caroline Lodge. Special officers had the great honor of performing the initiation ceremony and the pansy ceremony. national President MaryLou McCarthy, PSHRL/ARPS PP Marg Brown, PSHRL/PPP Brenda Johnston, PPP/ARPS national director Anita Kitz, national 1st VP Barb Bambrick and our wonderful Protem conductress Debbie Klimchuk did a spectacular job and we all enjoyed seeing these beautiful ceremonies. Great job – special people! Welcome Mary Bugbee and
Angela Rutschke.
We did the normal memorial service and read the names of 19 departed members. SAD!
We had a special donation from the estate of Martha MacKey of Calgary. $100 will go to the Purple Book of Memories and $900 will go the Calgary Ronald McDonald House in her memory. The funds will possibly be used to assist with purchase of food for residents at the house. Many crocheted blankets and a few teddy bears were brought from Bassano and they are donated to RMH in Red Deer to be shared. More info on blankets and teddy bears later.
A special pin was presented by president MaryLou to Arleen Albiez for Joyce Yalowega of Lethbridge for volunteering for 50 years in RP. Congratulations Joyce.
It has been a stressful TIME for us who have worked to make this week end happen. We sincerely hope that all are SAFE and that all members of RP will remain in excellent health.
We ran a little contest and for the 40 members present at the AGM we had 1043 years of RP volunteering. A couple attendees did not answer the question so it would have been a few more years. Audrey Williamson of Bashaw RP was the longest at 62 years.
Book your time off for June 4&5/2021 – as we once again meet in Sundre for our 2021 AGM.
Submitted: dawn