Reviews

Metis Cultural Experience

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July 11, 2025

We met at the St. Albert Legion for a soup and sandwich luncheon and visiting with members. We had about 30 people attending. Following the social time we were privileged to have a metis elder speak about their unique lifestyle and about their use of nature’s resources, specifically fish. We learned about their fishing methods, and their use of the scales and bones as well as the rest of the fish body.

After the talk and slide show we were led through an artistic activity making a small flower out of dyed fish scales. This was a lot of fun and the excellent artistic skills of some of our members really stood out. Some of us not so much… I for one won’t be quitting my day job. Ha!

Casino – June 28-29, 2025

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WPSS once again volunteered at the Yellowhead Casino to raise the money which funds our society’s operations for the next year and a half. Thanks to all our volunteers! Extra thanks to those who stepped up to fill in gaps left by the sudden passing of George Kunec. Pat Murray took care of organizational logistics, Val Hitchen filled in as night shift General Manager and Bernie Hornung acted as the lone chip runner on Saturday night. I believe he had the toughest job of any of us, so, hats off to Bernie!

Our sincere condolences go out to Marie and her family as well as to Georges friends here in WPSS.

We should find out what our income for the two days was sometime in August.

 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2022-2023 – REVIEW

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The AGM for the year 2022-2023 was held on Friday, April 19, 2024 at the St. Albert Legion #271.

Registration was at 11:30 and lunch was served, buffet style, at 12:00. Thanks to the staff at Diner 271 for once again putting on a very delicious lunch and dessert!

On the business side of things, of note was that the Board of Directors, consisting of 10 chairs, lost one member. Jonathan Smethurst has decided to step down. All eight of the remaining directors have agreed to remain for another term. No new nominations were received so the bord will operate with 8 filled chairs and 2 vacancies. If anyone from our membership is interested in serving and becoming more involved in the operation of our society, please contact Pat in the office (780-428-8842) or any of the current directors. We thank Jonathan for his service!

After serving as WPSS Events Coordinator for many years, Rick Meunier has decided to step down. Thank you, Rick, for the great work you have done over the years! Rick is remaining on the board as a director. Sandra Mooney will be assuming the position of Events Coordinator. We look forward to her bringing new ideas and fresh energy to the position!

All committee reports, including the Financial Statements, were presented in the AGM Booklet you were given at registration. In case you did not keep this and wish to review the reports, you can link to the AGM Booklet here.

Once again please note that we have 3 vacancies on the Board of Directors and help with the Newsletter/Website would be very much appreciated!

Please consider stepping up and contributing your creative talents to the operation of your society.

“Many hands make light work”

2023 CASINO FUND RAISER

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Our Casino Fund Raiser happened on Wednesday and Thursday, July 26 and 27. Our sincere Thank-you’s go out to all of our volunteers for manning the various work stations from 9:00AM through 3:30 PM. Shifts went from 9 until 6:30 and 6:30 until 3 or 3:30. These were long days but so worth it for WPSS. We should receive anywhere from $60,000.00 to $95,000.00 for our efforts. Doing this one fund raiser roughly every 18 months sure beats monthly bingos, auctions and other types of fund raising activities – far less work and way more money!! I believe we, the volunteers, are all somewhat bagged after this effort but we got through it and had fun doing it. I am happy to be retired and able to take Friday to recover. I’m pretty sure that the rest of the volunteer crew feel the same!

I want to send a special thank – you to Marie and George Kunec. These two worked tirelessly to organize the event and navigate the treacherous pathway through the AGLC rules and regulations, to recruit the volunteer crew members and set up the shift schedules. They also were on hand at Yellowhead Casino both mornings at 9:00 AM to get things rolling, staying around untill 300PM whe Pat Murray relieved them. They went home for a rest and were back on the job to relieve Pat by 10:00 PM and closed things down at 3:30 PM> That is what I call DEDICATION!! I can’t say thank-you enough.

For the first time in all the years we have been doing the casino we had to rely on “casino angels”, a paid group of people who give their time to fill staffing shortcomings. We just did not get enough participation from our group to fill all the positions. I know we are all getting older and it gets harder each year to put in these long and late hours. However, this event represents the money pot which allows WPSS to continue to function; to publish the Polio News, to run the web site, to offer the reimbursement program and the water exercise program at the ACT pool as well as the social functions which we sponsor every few months. In short, the Casino Event is vital to our very existence. If WPSS is important to you, please consider, if you are at all able, to volunteer a shift or two or even a partial shift.  If you cannot, that’s ok too but perhaps you can recruit a friend or relative to fill in with us. Our next casino hopefully will happen in 18 months time and the time to think about making the commitment is now.

Please, please give it some serious consideration!