The following is an update of all that has
happened since our November meeting. November 17th, Colleen, Bonny,
Norm and I attended the free Wellness Workshop presented by Sturgeon
County. Jody Urquhart was the guest
speaker and she spoke on being positive, volunteering and laughter in a
person’s life. The evening was well attended by volunteers from various groups.
November 25th Norm, Ken and I
met with Roger Miller from Northwest Redwater Partnership. Ken had thought it
would be in their best interests to become members of SRCWA. Redwater is within
the Sturgeon County boundaries but not within the SRCWA boundaries. Therefore, they are part of the Redwater
Crime Watch Association. Nonetheless, it
was a good informative meeting. As you
have seen in the Journal, social media and local papers, there have been a
number of articles on the Northwest Redwater Partnership. The articles were interesting and informative
and have given us the opportunity to learn what is going on with this massive
project.
The Legal Chamber of Commerce Trade/Craft
show was held on December 3rd. Our table was manned by Colleen, and
Legal Zone 12 Directors Ricky and Forest.
Five new memberships were sold. Well done by all of you.
December 13 was our Christmas Potluck
dinner. A very nice way to start the
Christmas season and was attended by 23 members. There is very little time to
socialize at our monthly meetings so this gives us an opportunity to actually
visit.
Thank you to Shelly and Gwen from Sturgeon
County and Dolly (SRCWA) for the SRCWA ad that was published in the Free Press
and Redwater Review on December 13th. The ad looks great. It is a Community Services Initiative
provided by Sturgeon County to give free advertisement for non-profit volunteer
groups.
On December 15, a number of our members attended
the Candy Cane Check. On November 28th, nine members (and guests)
added our brochure to the goody bags we gave out to the motorists. Thank you to Patrick Tighe for printing the
brochures at no cost to us and to the members for helping.
Christmas is coming and with that there
will be gifts of electronics. The young 4H members recycle electronics so if
you have any to recycle contact a group in your area or you can contact Colleen
or Margaret at sturgeonrcwa@gmail.com.
As you have read in the local papers and
from fan outs from the RCMP there is an increase in criminal activity in the
county and towns. I am reminding
everyone that it is solely our responsibility to be sure our homes (doors and
windows) and vehicles are locked, that there is proper lighting around our
homes, that we pick up the mail, hide your valuables when you are out shopping,
and do anything else that would make it less easy for criminals. The onus is on
us to be accountable for our property. It will be too late when we find that we
have had our property broken into and precious mementos and possessions have
been stolen. We cannot prevent all crimes but at least we can do our part by
being pro-active. Please be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the
RCMP.
In addition to several events we attend, I also
had the opportunity to speak with the RCMP at the Redwater Seniors Workshop and
the Legal CWL. I gave a presentation about SRCWA at the Division meeting in
Calahoo and the Rotary Club. The support
of my board at all of these meetings has been excellent. I want to take this opportunity to thank my
board and executive for doing a great job – you all make my job so much easier.
The board and executive of SRCWA had a good
productive year. Since the beginning of 2016, our zone directors have updated
all of our members and from January 1 to December 9 we have 44 new members. Our
membership now numbers 771 active members and continues to increase. There is strength and safety in numbers and
now we have that many more “eyes and ears” in our communities.
County Councillors, Susan Evans, Patrick
Tighe, Mayor Flynn and Cecile and various county staff have been involved in
SRCWA activities and very supportive. We thank you for that.
We are ending the year 2016 on a positive
note and look forward to 2017 being another great year. If you have any questions or concerns please
contact me at sturgeonrcwa@gmail.com,
I would love to hear from you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Francoise Meunier
President Sturgeon Rural Crime Watch
Association
SRCWA #2016-120
This message is made possible by the Sturgeon Rural Crime Watch Association in partnership with the Morinville RCMP.
If you have any information in respect to any crime or criminal activity, please call the Morinville RCMP at 780-939-4550 or Toll Free at 780-459-7689.
