Up until now, there have only been two public Rotary clubs in St. Albert where adults could join up to make connections and serve the community. Next week, that all changes.
Laura Charrois is the president-nominee of the new St. Albert Rotaract Club and so far, its only member. The group is set to have its charter meeting over Zoom on Thursday. The club is for youths as young as 18.
Charrois, a Paul Kane grad who is now in her fourth year of Bachelor of Science in Psychology at MacEwan University, which is actually where she got her first introduction to what Rotary can do.
That would have been her dad, Andre Charrois, who has been involved with the Rotary Club of St. Albert since she was 12 and she liked to tag along.
“I've been volunteering with them for about 10 years now. When I was in high school, my best friend started the Interact club at Paul Kane so I joined that. And the rest is history,” she said.
An Interact Club is a school-based club for members aged 12 to 18. These clubs still get solid guidance from the more established Rotary Clubs for older members but they govern and support themselves otherwise.
A Rotaract Club is for people between 18 and 30 years old. They are often based in post-secondary institutions like MacEwan University where Charrois has offered her service to the campus and its students through awareness efforts and through community outreach efforts with the Edmonton Food Bank, Mustard Seed Church and Hope Mission, among others.
“I’ve been a member of the MacEwan (Rotaract) Club for four years now and as I'm coming up on the end of my degree, I wasn't fully ready to become a full member of Rotary.”
This being a strange year where activities have slowed down, she has turned her attention to starting up this new chapter a little closer to where she lives.
“I am now a member of the (Rotary Club of St. Albert) but I just really wanted to bring some of that home.
In her conversations with its club president Mark Dixon, he indicated to her his support for the new chapter. Rotaract also has the Saint City Rotary Club partnered in for its guidance and support.
The virtual charter meeting will mostly be about gauging people’s interest from the community at large but also to see what projects might become Rotaract’s focus.
If you would like to join in on the meeting and see what it’s all about, check out the group’s Facebook page or send an email to [email protected] to receive the Zoom link.
