WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

April 16th 2020

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A New Generation of Giving Back

This past month, here in Cochrane, 25 young professionals (25-40 year-olds) made the decision to become Rotary members. I am not sure about you, but this warms my heart on many fronts.

As someone who loves studying people, I was fascinated by the observations of the many authors who have set the stage for what we believe about their generation. Reginald Bibby (2009) argued that one single trait defines this age group – “personal freedom” (p. 2). He goes on to define their behaviour and interests uniquely within a paradigm of their unlimited lifestyle and consumption choices. So, what does this actually mean? Bibby explains that culture, for this generation means that they value diversity and friendships. In lifestyle, they grasp hold of their unique ability to make choices about things like morals and parenting beliefs, even though they look different from past generations. In the marketplace, there is an intense push to have a job that provides the most consumption choices available; meaning, they value the freedom to make choices as to where money, time, and energy is spent.

This young generation now finds themselves smack in the middle of being indelibly affected by business slowdowns/closures, layoffs, school and daycare shutdowns, and being isolated from their social groups. We are looking straight into the face of a world that will not be the same as it was 3 months ago.

Therefore, we recognize the rarity of such a vibrant and strong Young Professional Rotary Group and celebrate the collective effort of service above self in what is usually a more individualistic generation. This is a movement of young people who have stepped up to collectively make a decision to galvanize and uplift our community during and after this global crisis. The results of which will likely ensure the continuation of unrestricted personal freedoms, but it also reaffirms that important essential community building blocks, like truth, collaboration and goodwill will always remain.

Cyndie Baum B.Ed., M.Ed., Ph.D.

Running Alone Together... 

Early morning Saturday, April 4^th I was standing on my treadmill, in my basement, waiting for a race to begin. In total there were over 2,400 participants from over 55 countries. Dave Proctor, a Calgary elite Ultra runner, was looking for something to pull the global running community together and he came up with the Personal Peak Quarantine Backyard Ultra.

To take part, all runners had to log into Zoom. Racers had a choice between running on a treadmill or running outside as they had to complete a 6.706 km lap in less than an hour and prove it by showing the Zoom audience their GPS data if they ran outside or their treadmill screen inside. Then they could move onto the next lap with every lap starting on the hour.

Having had my Boston Marathon cancelled, I certainly didn’t want to waste my weeks of training. I decided to use the race as a fundraiser and combine the donations I raised from my Year End Run and see if I could hit the $10,000 target for the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and area.

At 6.45 am MST, with 15 minutes to go, my hydration and nutrition were prepared and I set up my laptop so that the camera could view me on the treadmill.

At 7.00am MST a bell rang and we were off. I had set a pace of 7:30 minutes per kilometer and with 6.71 kms to run it took me 53:40. Now the goal I had set myself was to run a marathon (42.2 km) so if I ran for 7 loops (7 hours) that would give me 47 kms. At the end of the 7^th loop I got off the treadmill and logged off Zoom. That meant that I got a “Did Not Finish” (DNF). In fact every participant would get a DNF other that the winner, who was a guy named Mike Wardian. He completed 63 hours.

Martin P.