Alberta Rotarians get their feet wet and their communities dry.
In June 2013, two days of relentless rain hammered southern Alberta. Water inundated valleys and overflowed riverbanks in a swath of destruction stretching from just west of Banff, to Calgary and its southern environs, and on to Medicine Hat. The town of Canmore was isolated for seven days after the deluge washed away roads. “There were places in the valley where the water coming out of the creek looked like it was being shot out of a cannon,” says John Waterhouse, 2013-14 president of the Rotary Club of Canmore. “At one house, a tree had been driven through the concrete foundation.”
By the time the water had receded, the event was tabulated as the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history, with recovery costs estimated at C$6 billion. It affected about 21,200 square miles of the province. At the peak of the catastrophe, 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes.
It was a misery that picked winners and losers: Many towns were cleaved, some neighborhoods dry, others submerged. In High River, a community of 13,000 people south of Calgary, more than 50 businesses were devastated. Only one restaurant had been able to reopen a month after the flooding, says Harry Riva Cambrin, a local municipal official and 2013-14 president of the Rotary Club of High River. His basement had flooded, but the picture was far worse for others: Three people had died and hundreds of homes had been inundated. Eight months after the disaster, nearly 1,000 residents remained displaced, he says. About 70 percent of the High River club’s membership suffered flood-related losses.
Yet even as many of their own homes were in peril, Rotarians across Alberta organized cleanup teams, provided housing, and offered nourishment for both stomachs and spirits.
Pat Killoran, 2013-14 governor of District 5360, which includes much of the affected area, says Rotary clubs are managing about $1.5 million in funds for relief efforts. “Probably 175 Rotary clubs in Canada and some in the U.S. have contributed,” says Killoran, who is also cochair of the district’s flood relief committee. “Organizations raising money for flood relief channeled it into Rotary to send back to the community.”
Lawrence Nyman, 2012-13 president of the Canmore club, took action before the water levels dropped. “I saw the crack in the system – there was no vehicle for people to donate money,” he says. So Rotary became the conduit for more than $820,000 in donations. Over the following months, 20 local social service agencies distributed those funds to nearly 300 recipients in the form of $1,500 grants for individuals and $3,000 for families.
“We quickly became seen as the trusted club. Our principle was to work with established community groups and get relief out the door,” Waterhouse says. The Canmore club took in money from a variety of sources, from a golf fundraiser to “two little kids who came to the club one day and gave us $75 they’d raised by selling lemonade.”
Other Canmore Rotarians contributed to the relief effort with a balancing act – literally. Peter Nichol, a semiretired cardiologist and accomplished juggler, put on a clown costume and entertained children who were out of school because of the floods. (Schools were shuttered a week before summer break.) “Most of the children didn’t fully appreciate what the flood might mean for their families,” Nichol says. “The parents who brought them to the programs were no doubt worried and wondering when they would be back in their homes. As distressing as the situation was, the town pulled together.”
Another source of support came from Glen Sather, general manager and president of the New York Rangers hockey club. His team scheduled its training camp in Banff to boost morale – and the economy – after the disaster. The young players were unprepared for the damage they witnessed once they arrived, Sather says: “They were shocked by what had happened – by what Mother Nature can do.”
To help the communities, Sather, who has a home in Banff, helped organize a golf tournament featuring 40 of his players. The Fairmont Banff Springs and New York Rangers Golf Invitational in September raised $250,000, with half of the proceeds going to the Canmore club for flood relief. “It seemed to give everyone a lift,” says Sather, a Hockey Hall of Famer who was born in Alberta.
In High River, the recovery is taking longer. Rotarians there have organized benefit performances by singers Tom Jackson and George Canyon and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars with an eye toward assisting small businesses and nonprofits and restoring local parks, Riva Cambrin says. “Whether it’s rebuilding their homes or their community, Rotarians are there to do whatever needs to be done.”
“Rotary stood up to heal people’s lives and heal the community,” Killoran says. “It’s been heartwarming to see the depth of the support.” – Brad Webber