Next week Victorians can expect to see 100 new flags flying on lawns throughout the city, planted there by volunteers of the Rotary Club of Oak Bay. The 1-by-1.5-metre flags on 2.4-metre poles are a new fundraiser for the local service club.
The premise behind the club’s Canada Flag Program is simple. For a $50 annual subscription, the club will temporarily erect a flag on the recipient’s lawn three times a year: Victoria Day, Canada Day and Labour Day.
Members of the club will erect the flags on the subscriber’s front lawn the Thursday or Friday before the event and return the day after and remove it.
“It’s a simple but effective fundraiser,” says Jim Force, a Rotarian and co-chairman of the project.
He says a similar program was initiated in Edmonton in 2008. The Edmonton Strathcona Rotary Club now raises $35,000 a year from 700 subscribers. The Edmonton group has donated the first 100 flags and poles to get the Oak Bay group started.
The local group has already received 80 subscriptions just from word of mouth.
“We hope we will expand once we sell out our first 100 flags,” Force says. “We would like one day to have a few flags on every block. Hopefully, we will get prosperous enough so that one day we too will donate flags to another Rotary Club — to pass it forward.”
For more information, go to oakbayrotary.com.
Storytelling as a volunteer tool
Organizations looking to recruit volunteers should attend Mastering the Art of Strategic, Compelling and Effective Storytelling, hosted by Volunteer Victoria. The featured speaker is Norma Cameron, who has more than 20 years’ experience in using stories to raise funds, develop meaningful relationships and recruit volunteers.
“In a time when B.C.'s non-profit organizations face such financial uncertainty and ever-growing demands on services, seeking out innovations in communications and donor relations is paramount,” says Tara Todesco of Volunteer Victoria.
“A critical component of this is not just about informing people but creating strong and sustainable relationships with donors and the community at large. Holding learning events that focus on such innovations is an exciting and important part of our training and development program.”
The workshop will involve a full day of practice-based education, where Cameron will share storytelling wisdom, tools, processes and scripts.
The workshop runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday in the Haro Room, Cadboro Commons, University of Victoria.
For more information, go to volunteervictoria. eventbrite.ca.
Concert will help hospital
The Friends of Mengo Hospital (Canada) are holding their annual charity event Thursday that supports a struggling hospital located in Kampala, Uganda.
The registered charity supports the many critical needs of the hospital. This year they are focusing on building a facility to accommodate the ever-increasing number of HIV patients in the area.
This year the event includes a vocal concert by tenor Benjamin Butterfield and his wife, soprano Anne Grimm. Guests can nibble on a buffet with prime rib and bid on the many silent and live auction items.
Tickets are $65, with a $35 tax receipt. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and dinner is at 7 p.m., at the Pacific Fleet Club (CFB Esquimalt), 1587 Lyall St.
For more information, go to mengofriends.ca.
MS cycle event raises $15,256
Last week’s Fort Street Cycle Beginner Tri for Multiple Sclerosis, presented by TriStars Training, was a great success. The event managed to raise $15,256 for the MS Society of Victoria.
