President's Corner

Harold Pereverseff – President LTS
Awarded Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee
Medal by Lethbridge MP Jim Hillyer (October 12, 2012)

Thank you Lethbridge Twinning Society Members! You have succeeded in making the Society not only successful but significant in our community.

The year 2013 is upon us, and we are preparing for an exciting year indeed. This year, we will be approaching our twinning activities with the same vision but a greater passion! Are you ready for the ride? And what a ride we have been on so far, 2012 was incredible, our activities like never before. We had three "Youth Ambassadors" participate in a tri-lateral youth exchange co-ordinated by Sister Cities International. This was certainly a highlight for the year and such a catalyst for our Culver City, California relations.

As well in 2012, four of our members were recognized for their "outstanding contributions to the community". Pastor George Takashima; Carol Kensley and myself were awarded the Queen Elizabeth II – Diamond Jubilee Medal. Robert Hironaka was awarded the Alberta "Award of Excellence". What a privilege and honour it is to have people of this caliber in our Society!

Makoto Sakurada a musician from our twin city, Towada City, Japan was sponsored by our Society to conduct his "Thank you Alberta Tour". This was definitely a stretch for our Society, however as everything else we have set our hand to, a success!

Aside from our busy 2012, what a surprise it was to hear (on the last day of the year – December 31st) that the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) had selected our Society as a recipient of grant funding! This funding is greatly appreciated and will definitely be put to good use in our budget for three projects slated for 2013. (1) Our engagement with the Great Falls Association for International Relations (ACIR) as we move towards twinning relations with Great Falls, Montana - and - (2) Our sponsorship of a Japanese student in Lethbridge for English as a second language. This is expected to be the beginning of an on-going project with our twin city, Towada Japan - and – (3) Are receiving of an official delegation from our twin city in Timashevsk, Russia in the summer.

We stand with our twin city, Culver City, California who on January 12, 2013 will be celebrating their 50th year of twinning activities and for the Lethbridge Twinning Society our twinning relationship with them since 1989! We will have a delegation flying to Culver City to participate in their 50th Anniversary celebrations. We are very proud and honoured that in support of twinning relations, His Worship, Mayor Dodic has arranged to attend the celebrations.

What is next for our Society? How can we improve on what we do? What do the members want and expect from the Society? These are the questions that I along with your dedicated Executive members constantly discuss. One factor stands out, membership in the Society will challenge you, and there are opportunities galore to become involved in projects and events. We have purposely kept annual membership dues low ($15.00 individual and $25.00 family) to allow for all to be members without huge financial responsibility. We have never insisted on memberships dues from those who have aligned themselves with the Society, and as such we allow for "Associate" memberships. The only restriction on the Associate members is that they can not hold an executive position in the Society. Do we encourage "Active" – dues paying members? Absolutely, we rely on membership dues to maintain our modest budget for administration of the Society... but we realize that without our network of Associate Members we would not exist!

The support from our Mayor, His Worship, Rajko Dodic, the City Administration, and our Corporate Sponsors, (In particular, Save on Foods) have assisted us in achieving many of our goals, a heartfelt "Thank you" to them!

Thank you all for your membership in the Society, because of you we have achieved so much in the past and because of you we will continue to be a positive and respected organization in our wonderful community.

Best,
Harold Pereverseff
President

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." [Margaret Mead (1901-1978)]