.

Wendy Smith describes this unprecedented burst of generosity in Give a Little: How Your Small Donations Can Transform Our World , published this month. Smith, who profiled a bridge-building project funded by The Rotary Foundation, adds that giving a lot of money does not guarantee success. "What matters," she says, "is the outcome."

Rotarians know this firsthand, whether they are among the Foundation's top donors, bequeathing multimillion-dollar fortunes, or the many club members who steadily contribute smaller amounts every year. more

The Millennium House Committee is collecting gift items for the Millennium House Christmas party which is on December 5, 2009. If anyone has items that would be suitable for resident gift bags, I'm sure Santa would be most appreciative.  There are eight women and 21 men. Please contact Linda Hall at 780.462.0386 or linda.a.hall@shaw.ca if you can help or need further information. 

Rylee Oosterhuis is our second outbound Rotary Youth Exchange Student. Her exchange is in Skaelskor, Denmark .

Rylee sends monthly updates on her progress and has been having challenges.  Apparently the language was a problem for her so after about 1 month in a regular high school she transferred to a school for Danish as a second language.  She is studying Danish with gusto and is trying to get to a point where she can return to regular high school and be more productive.  We expect that will happen within the next month.   She also struggled with her first host family in the beginning but worked through it to have an enjoyable time there in the end.  No doubt she grew from the experience and is one of the great benefits of RYE.   She has just recently moved to her 2^nd host family.  Rylee is enjoying doing a lot of extra-curricular activities such as working out at a gym and dance classes.  She has been to the opera and has taken some nice trips around Denmark.

Eve Dewart is one of our two outbound Rotary Youth Exchange students. She is living in Tampere, Finland and has just completed her first 3 months there. Here is an update.

 " Eve is doing great and sends regular updates.  She is energetically taking on the task of learning a very, very difficult language, Finnish.  She attends school regularly and has made many friends at her school.  She is even taking such topics as math and physics, not easy even in English let along Finnish.  In addition she is doing a lot of dance and is now practicing ballroom dance in preparation for the big high school dance coming up after the new year.  Her first host family was great and she became close to them.  Enough cannot be said for what an important role a good host family can make in an exchange student's experience (hint, hint… are you a great host family just waiting to happen for our inbound students?).  Eve has just moved to her 2^nd host family.

  Eve also has an online blog at www.evefinland.blogspot.com and I encourage you to take a look.  She has a few videos that she made about her experiences on it that are interesting.

There are two dates to add to your schedule of events. The first is Monday, December 14 as it is the Annual Rotary Christmas Party. Please invite your partner to this fellowship based gathering.

The second is Monday February 8, 2010. Our speaker for the day will by our Premier Ed Stelmach.

These are "do not miss" events.

Jason Bossert had his chance and proved that purchasing a ticket or a bunch for the 50/50  draw maybe, perhaps, might, couuld, ( if he crossed his fingers just right) payoff....no such luck an he drew the black marble and missed out on $327.00. Next week the odds reduce and the jackpot grows. The guess is about $375.00 or so and Christmas is comming!!

The Rotary Club of Edmonton Office is open daily between the hours of 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. The office is located in the Sutton Place Hotel - Administrative Level

The Club Administrator Bonnie Koch can be reached at 780-429-3256 or at admin@edmontonrotary.com   Fax: 780-426-4355