As part of its “Fly the Flag” fundraiser, a community Rotary Club is encouraging residents to give a subscription as a gift to mothers, fathers, military personnel, veterans and others.
The Rotary Club of Moose Jaw Wakamow is following the tradition of other Rotary clubs in Alberta and British Columbia that have been decorating their cities with Canadian flags each summer for several years. The unique Fly the Flag with Rotary fundraiser is a first for Moose Jaw and Saskatchewan.
If residents want a special gift for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, they should consider giving an annual subscription worth $60, which would see Rotary members plant a flag on recipients’ front lawns for three summer long weekends: Victoria Day, Canada Day and Labour Day.
A Rotary volunteer would come before those weekends to install a 10-foot pole with a three-foot by five-foot Canadian flag and then remove both afterward.
If residents know of a serving or retired member of the Canadian Armed Forces they want to recognize and honour, then the Rotary Club of Moose Jaw Wakamow would provide an attractive lawn sign for $20 — to go beside the flagpole — that displays the name of the person being honoured.
“You will keep the lawn sign and you can place it beside the flag each time the flag is installed over the summer. You simply need to provide the name of the person you are honouring when you subscribe,” the Rotary said.
“And to ensure you have a flag for your front lawn, subscribe soon as the first installation will happen in the days leading up to Victoria Day.”
The funds raised support many organizations in Moose Jaw and some internationally. Recent club donations went to the Moose Jaw Health Foundation, the food bank, the Transition House and Heartland Hospice. To promote literacy, the club donates two post-secondary scholarships and gives to the Festival of Words and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
Internationally, the club provides funds to Guatemalan Rotary clubs to manage the construction of classrooms, kitchens and washrooms in disadvantaged rural communities. In addition, the club contributes to scholarships in Guatemala to enable students to attend school past Grade 6.
Subscribers within Moose Jaw may participate in the fundraiser by visiting RotaryClubofMooseJawWakamow.org. Clicking on the flag fundraiser image will bring up the subscription page, where residents enter their information and pay by credit card.
If they wish to purchase a second flag subscription as a gift, they can complete the subscription form again with the additional name and location.
Subscribers do not need to be home when Rotary members install or remove the flags, as volunteers place the hollow metal pole on a stake made with rebar into the ground about two feet from the front edge of the yard.
The stakes will not affect underground utilities, but subscribers should inform the club about any underground sprinklers.
The club added that it appreciates assistance for the flag fundraiser from Cypress Paving, Eecol Electric, and Routific, Canadian developers of the route optimization software used for this project.
Besides the website, residents can also subscribe by emailing FlyTheFlagWithRotary@gmail.com.
