On April 18, 2013, Shari MacPherson and Mike Bustin, of Ariant Holdings Ltd., presented Rotary House Committee Chair, Annette Driessen and President, Terry Drader with a cheque for $25,000.00. Ariant purchased the naming rights to the Rotary House Staff Room. 

On behalf of the Rotary House Committee it gives me the greatest of pleasures to announce that the Gruber Family is making a substantial donation of $250,000.00 to the Rotary House Project. This announcement was made officially at the Rotary Club meeting today.

Fritz and Erna first started putting roots down in Drayton Valley in the mid-seventies. We, as a family, are so proud of the legacy that our dad has left behind because no matter where we go, there is literally concrete evidence that he was there. Building and improving existing structures wasn’t just a livelihood for him, he lived and breathed construction and rejuvenation of things that might not be of usefulness in its present state. This is one of the reasons why we feel he would be proud to be affiliated with Rotary House. It is taking an existing building, unfortunately a bit of an eyesore at the moment, and making something out of it that the community as a whole can benefit and be proud of

There will be a celebration of this announcement in the near future. In the meanwhile, we are informing the Western Review of this contribution. The Gruber family has prepared the above quote for the newspaper. It gives a sense of why the Gruber family has selected this project for this generous donation.

The Rotary House Committee has now secured 75% of the funds and is able to proceed with this project. There is still considerable work to do to raise the remaining funds, however this has given the group a very optimistic outlook.

We are so grateful to the Gruber family.

Mary Drader in New Zealand with Rotary International as the lead Rotarian on a study exchange.

Mary representing not only Canada and Rotary District 5370, which includes Northern Alberta, Northeast B.C., Northwest Saskatchewan and a portion of North West Territory, but also the Town of Drayton Valley on her exchange.

On March 14, 2013, Rotary House Committee Members were present at the official signing of the agreement with the Wildrose School Division.

From left to right are Eric Butz, Mary Drader, Dave Heimburg, Patty Piironen, Wild Rose School Board Chair, Nancy McClure, Rotary President, Terry Drader, Rotary House Committee Chair, Annette Driessen, Dave Swindlehurst, Jeannette Vatter and Val Thesen.     

On March 14, 2013,District Permanent Fund Chair, Don Lowry, presented Terry and Mary Drader with the Major Donor Award to the Rotary Foundation. This award is presented to individuals or couples who donate a minimum of $10,000 to The Rotary Foundation. 

Congratulations Terry and Mary,    

Jeannette Vatter, Elaine Tamboline, and Julie Mulligan were among the group of 42 Rotarians from across Canada and USA who recently visited India - they were part of a program to help eradicate polio and spent two days in Sonipat distributing the vaccine.

 They also had an opportunity to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra.