Over these past years, I have had a lot of meetings throughout the community with fellow board members, residents, and government officials. The Starbucks in the Sundance business park is a place I have become very familiar with as a result of these meetings. Thanks to good acoustics, a comfortable atmosphere, and an accommodating seat setup, I can’t recommend it enough (though I also must give a nod to the Tim Horton’s on Bannister Road, especially for calmer evening meetings, since it stays open late. For larger meetings, I also want to plug the board room at our community centre, a great private space with room for 16, that is broadly available for bookings). The Starbucks is no hidden gem though- every time I meet there on a weekday to discuss business, I soon realize much of the crowd is there for the same reason.
It was on one of these days last month that I had a great meeting with our Vice-President, Chris, to discuss our by-laws, community trees and roads, and the future of our board. Chris has done a great job managing the responsibility of looking after development permits, and he has represented the Association very well in meetings with residents and City of Calgary representatives. It has been reassuring to have someone with his unique perspective and tenacity in our corner. I will miss our discussions, since, as mentioned last month, Chris will be resigning from the board this year to travel.
I also announced last month that I too will be resigning from the board at our Annual General Meeting coming up on November 6 at 8:00 pm. Our exits are going to create some obvious vacancies on the board in both our Presidential roles, as well as in Planning and Development. With this in mind, I really encourage you to pick up a membership, come out to our AGM, and consider joining the board for the upcoming session. In case you aren’t sure what the Community Association Board of Directors does, I wanted to use this space to overview the different roles of our board. More than that though, I want to shine some light on my fellow directors, and some other volunteers who have really helped the community, all of whom deserve our gratitude. The expression “standing on the shoulders of giants” is as true now as it ever was…
To our Past President Angus Macdonell, I want to thank you for accepting the President’s role at a time when we wanted to have your presence on the board again. I know a lot had changed from when you were President the first time, and I’m sure there were challenges with transitioning back into the role, especially since you were working a very busy schedule. Even still, it was always clear how much you cared about our community centre, our association, and the neighbourhood, and that is what really counts. I’ve always respected the intelligence and energy of your writing, and you’re the sort of person that makes me proud to call this area home.
When I first joined the board, our President was Devin Elkin, who still helps us out every chance he gets. Devin was the one who encouraged me to join the board after I expressed some early interest, and he always made me feel welcome, as he did for anyone who joined our Wednesday night meetings. He’s continued to represent our community association well, always offering supportive praise for his fellow directors, and serving on the Community Advisory Panel at St. Mary’s University. Devin always tells me how passionate I am about the area, but I know he feels the exact same way, and the line he used to sign off his old President’s Messages, “Loving where I live”, rings through my head every time I write mine.
In between those two, of course, was Keith Pedersen, who served a term as President that was bookended by his primary roles as Treasurer and Operations Director. Mid-Sun is fortunate to have orderly finances and an exemplary, well-maintained community centre, and so much of that is due to Keith’s guidance. His business acumen, budget outlines, and financial policies have guided us on the path to current and future success.
(Just to reiterate how important clear finances are, the original Midnapore Community Association, founded in 1963, was dissolved by the province in 1976 when their financial accounts couldn’t be reconciled, likely from bad book-keeping. When the directors went to reform the community association, they were unable to use the old name, since it was attached to a now delinquent group. A variation was acceptable though, so they added the year of reformation, and became, literally, “Midnapore Community Association 1977”, which was renamed Mid-Sun Community Association in 1986.)
Rounding out the board’s executive is our secretary Courtney Heppner, who really stepped up to help us last year, and has done a great job with sending out notice, creating clever suggestions for our complicated board motions, and taking minutes, ever since. Meeting minutes can be so overlooked (at least until we are freaking out and going back to them to make sure a motion was moved properly and on time), but I wanted to say how I really appreciate her work. It’s terrific having a little story of every meeting.
Long-time secretary Patsy McNish moved out of the role this past term, after several years of committing to minutes and notices, regardless of where life or work took her. She has now been working on policy development, tightening up our existing rules and by-laws, and exploring what else we might need based on current demands and what other community associations are doing. I’ve always appreciated her neutral judgement, and her suggestion for policy and tradition; to ask, “if we say it out loud, does it make sense?” It is simply one of the greatest pieces of advice I have ever received. Thanks for sharing that, Patsy. We’re lucky to have you.
Our representative from partner organization South Fish Creek (at Cardel Rec South in Shawnessy), Doug Bouwmeester, returned as a Mid-Sun director a few years ago. This was after serving on the board in years prior, as well as helping with basketball, and joining the squads of volunteers who painted the community centre. I have appreciated Doug’s unique perspective since we first met, and always wished that we could drag him away from his main role with South Fish Creek!
On the subject of our partner groups, I wanted to extend my congratulations to our Trico Centre rep., Jeff Pratt, who became President of their board this past spring. Jeff has always done great work, keeping us updated on what is going on at Trico, and building a connection between our two groups. I wish him all the best in his new role.
After a couple of years of looking for someone to spearhead replacing the decaying playground on Sunlake Road, Playground Liaison Erin Delamont has been a stronger leader than we ever could have hoped to find. The project hasn’t always been easy, from fund-raising, to grant applications, to figuring out the role of Mid-Sun and the City in all of this, but she has faced the challenge admirably. I always say how great this community is, but it might truly be perfect if we had someone like Erin looking after all parts of it, the way she is looking after playgrounds.
Anchoring the board is the last person to want praise, and the first one to deserve it, Rose-Marie McKinnon. I have gone through our community association records and her name shows up consistently from the early years of our society, a sign of something remarkable that has given our association tremendous heart. She has worn many hats over the years (President, Building Committee Chair years before the community centre even broke ground, Communications, and Fundraising, to name a few) but regardless of what role she has taken on, I know Rose-Marie has always been willing to argue for what is right, challenge a bad idea, and lend a helping hand. I am simply astounded that, after so many years of hard work, she still runs our fundraising casinos, regularly comes to meetings, volunteers at events, and even helps fill out the occasional grant application. To Rose-Marie, it has been an honour to serve with you. I look forward to us exchanging more stories about the community in the future, and I fully expect to get a call from you to volunteer at our casino in January.
Beyond the board, there are some other volunteers from our association I want to thank (and I apologize in advance if I miss anyone. So many have helped out in the years I have been here, and I appreciate you all).
First are the members of our Garden Committee, who have created terrific Facebook updates, well-written Mid-Sun articles, and some great events. Not to mention the garden itself, which is a real jewel in the community, that I would encourage you to join, or at least visit on a nice day. I couldn’t possibly name everyone who has volunteered there in the past few years, so let me just thank Karyn Booth, Lisa Klassen, and Catherine Webber for all your leadership. The whole garden team has managed to create something beautiful, and bring people together, neither of which is easy, and I look forward to seeing how the garden develops in the future.
Our Traffic Committee has also done some great work. When I first joined the board, it was mainly Janice Fischer, Wendy Beaucage, and Christine Nielsen running the committee. Christine is still looking after the traffic e-mails, which I really appreciate since she has the expertise to understand the issues affecting Sun Valley Boulevard in particular. Virtually every sign, crossing, and general improvement on that road has been due to the work of the committee, or their efforts lobbying our municipal government to make things safer. You’ve stuck it out through times when I am sure some at the City would have preferred if you just went away, to leave their flawed road as it was. By persevering, the entire community has benefitted, which is something to really be proud of.
I also want to send a big thank you to our long-time volunteer Faye Andrews, who has been tirelessly reaching out to local businesses this past year, establishing a connection between them and Mid-Sun. She also worked out a local business directory that will be a great reference going forward. Several of the business owners she met with have also helped your Community Association by purchasing Business Sponsorships (if you are interested in joining the program, please reach out to our office. We would be interested in hearing from all business owners and would especially like more from Sundance). Here are all the businesses who have sponsored us so far, and deserve your support:
- Vacuums Supreme
- One Smile Bright
- Supreme Barber Shop
- Midnapore Paint and Décor
- Auto Align
- Green Door Preschool
- Rascals – The Barking Lot
The Business Sponsorship program was initially started by our late colleague Kim Taylor, before she became ill, and it is wonderful to see it blossom into something truly fantastic for our area. Thanks for looking after this, Faye!
We have also had some great community contributors to Mid-Sun Messages. In addition to articles from Erin updating us on playgrounds, and always something fresh from the garden, lately there have been some unique reflections from Katherine Matiko, and reports from the 75th Midnapore Scout Group (which has been operating in our area since before Midnapore was annexed by Calgary!). This month we also got a great cover photo from a young resident of Sundance! Thanks to all of you for your work. If you have a cover photo or article you would like to submit, please send it in.
After this month, I will write one more President’s Message. Since that means you won’t be seeing my face in here much longer, I need to send out some long-overdue gratitude to my friend Jared Rousseau, who also grew up here, for taking the picture of me that has accompanied all of these articles (except the first one, when I was still deciding if I wanted my photo, albeit tiny and obscure, spread to 6,500 households). My photo seems to get two responses: “it’s fine” or “you look like a thug”. But it’s the only photo of myself that I both like, and that seems remotely “presidential”.
When Jared comes back to Calgary, we often meet up at Original Joe’s in Sundance; since the inset is so small, you may not be able to tell that the photo was actually taken outside that establishment. It also shows me taking a photo of the area, something I have been doing for a long time, which is another reason I chose it for my picture here. I thought about changing the President’s Message photo last year, and maybe using one where my face is clearer and I am wearing something more sophisticated, like a jacket and tie. But nothing else I had jumped out, so I decided that I would just finish out my term with this one. Thanks for the timeless picture, Jared!
I should also note that Jared’s parents are regular readers of Mid-Sun messages, so let me say thank you to them, as well as all the other awesome people who take a few minutes every month to flip through our newsletter, and catch up on what is going on in our area. It takes a lot of work to put all of this together, both from us, and the publisher Great News (who really does an awesome job, month after month), and it means a lot every time someone says how much they enjoy the latest issue.
After all that, I should clarify that I am not done yet. There are still some things I am working on, and some more meetings to run. I hope to see some of you at the AGM in November, and if not then, maybe we will meet in the neighbourhood. Regardless, you’ve been amazing.
A big inspiration for this article is a Twitter account that I found several years ago while researching everything I could about our area, @MidSunLove (www.twitter.com/midsunlove). This account was apparently run by someone at the phonetically-identical-but-unrelated MidSun School in Sundance. For months before graduating (judging from the post), this anonymous user complimented their classmates. It is one of the most positive things I have ever encountered, and I feel inspired knowing that I have shared the same neighbourhood as someone like this.
The account has been inactive for several years, going quiet once the anonymous kid (kids?) graduated from grade nine back in 2013. Still, their legacy remains and has not gone unnoticed.
“Peace, Mid-Sun”
Mark Schmidt
President, Mid-Sun Community Association
