Q4 2023 - Oct 17

10/17/2023

For our last meeting of 2023, we returned to the familiar Main St Beer and BBQ and had another fantastic turnout. We packed the house and there was plenty of cold drinks, great food, and good conversation to be had.

We started the meeting off with a quick word from our sponsor - the Old Buckers hockey club. Tim Kehoe talked about their club - the longest running team in Airdrie - and what they've been up to. Last year they had their first ever Airdrie tournament and were able to raise over $9000! $8000 of that went to the very worthy Kalix Legacy Foundation, while $1000 was saved for this sponsorship.

The Buckers didn't have anything to promote, they're just fans of what the 100 Men do and wanted to be a part of it. Awesome!

In addition, a huge thanks to our Gold sponsors for this meeting:

Check out our Sponsor page, to learn more about this program.

Wilkie Award
Next we had our newest feature - the Wilkie Award. The Wilkie Award is to recognize someone from the group that embodies the spirit of our late co-founder Keith Wilkinson. We consider The Wilkie to be a noble and prestigious honour! Aside from the recognition, it comes with a very generous gift certificate donated by Keith's wife Sandra.

The recipient for this meeting was Peter Flannigan. Peter has been a mainstay at the 100 Men meetings and is always donating door prizes, adding on auction items, and spreading the word about the 100 Men.

Thanks for your support Peter and congrats on being a worthy recipient!

Guest Speaker - Alberta Adolescents Recovery Centre (AARC)
Our guest speaker was Ciara from AARC. Ciara is a Community Outreach Specialist but has also had the experience of being the mother of a program participant. Ciara shared a heart-breaking story of her son's struggles with addiction.

By age of 17, he had been admitted 14 times to addiction wards, 6 group homes, multiple overdoses, and - just two weeks prior to entering treatment - they twice saw him on life support needing resuscitation. He was sicker than the system could handle and a full intervention was the last line of defence.

Thankfully, Ciara is happy to report that he is healthy and in recovery.

This is one of just many stories about addiction. It is a grim realization to know how many of us in the room - maybe most of us - have been touched by addiction in some capacity. Knowing how common it is in young people makes it all the more troubling and the need for supports all the more critical.

Ciara talked about the AARC program, its unique approach to treatment. It is intense, long-term but it also has an astonishing success rate. On top of that, AARC has helped over a dozen Airdrie families!

Ciara's mission was to increase awareness of AARC and make it easier to find for those who are feeling like they’re losing hope.

Thank you Ciara for sharing your story and for the work you do with AARC.

If you would like to know more, you can start by visiting https://aarc.ab.ca/.

Past winner update - Royal Canadian Legion of Airdrie:
Legion President Jasen Hoffman returned to express his gratitude to the group on behalf of the Legion. The money from Q3 was put into a special account that is overseen by the Legion Executive. They are excited to allocate which veteran programs the money will go to! However, as branch elections are underway and a new executive is being formed, the specifics will have to wait for another meeting!

Presentations:
For the first time in a while, we were excited to have three registered charities that had not presented to us before.

First up was Airdrie Public Library.
The Library talked the importance of needing a connection to be healthy. Libraries are not just about books. They are tools and libraries are about shared connection - over stories, resources, community programs, and common interests. We heard stories of locals who used the library to connect with others, to bond with their kids, and to learn important life skills.

As the Library prepares to move into its new space, they are hoping to double the items in their inventory from 80,000 to over 160,000. With $10,000, they would be able to secure over 500 new resources/items. Deb noted that every single $1 given to library is able to benefit every person in Airdrie, through its accessible programs and resources.

Next was the Airdrie Abilities Centre.
The centre hosts inclusive social activity for adults with social and cognitive special needs. Acceptance and kindness are the pillars what they do - no one is turned away and everyone is welcome. It was noted that everyone in the organization is a volunteer. This means that 100% of funds would to participants and programming. Because the events are posted locally and use local artisans, the money for programming stays local as well.

If awarded the $10,000, the money would go towards funding these special events - rental spaces, supplies, transportations, hiring artisans, etc.

Finally, we had the Rocky View Foundation.
The Rocky View Foundation works to provide affordable seniors housing and, tonight, they presented on the Abrio Place project. The group has taken over a former hotel and converted 96 rooms into new resident spaces that are now open and available.

COVID hit the senior population particularly hard and there is a real need to find opportunities to improve mental health and find connections and purpose within the community. Men can be especially difficult to program for in the group settings so, the $10,000 would go towards building a 'maker's space' that would allow residents to do repairs, complete small woodworking projects, and other creative endeavours that contribute to improved mental health and a sense of purpose.

Money would also be put towards a scooter shed - a much-needed space to house scooters.

Mr Airdrie Award:
While online voting took place, Mike Reist took a few minutes to make an exciting announcement - the Mr. Airdrie Memorial Award in Honour of Keith Wilkinson! Since Keith's untimely passing there's been an effort to find a way to honour his legacy. This award is open to any resident of Airdrie and will be awarded annually.

There is a nomination period from October 17 to November 17. Voting details will be announced on November 20th. Visit https://bit.ly/MrAirdrie to access the nomination page.

Voting Results:
In addition to our sponsor donations, 107 paying members, and a few impromptu live auctions, we had $13,625 to give away - $10,000 to one of the charities, and just over $1800 to the other two! Awesome as usual!

After votes were tallied, the Airdrie Abilities Centre was announced as the recipient and they did not disappoint with an enthusiastic and grateful reaction.

A big thank you to Main Street Beer and BBQ for being fantastic hosts and managing our first ever Open House! We will be back in 2024 with a new set of meetings. Keep an eye on the website and Facebook page for location details.

Finally, thank you to our ever-generous members for their door prize donations: