A $25,000 contribution from the Rotary Club of Calgary is supporting an innovative University of Calgary resource designed to help educators bring Indigenous literature, voices and ways of knowing into their classrooms.

Books to Build On: Indigenous Literatures for Learning, developed through the Werklund School of Education, is a web-based resource that connects educators with Indigenous literature and materials for incorporating stories into teaching and learning. The Rotary Club of Calgary reported its $25,000 Major Donations contribution to the project in April 2026. 

The project begins from the idea that Indigenous education can start with story — using literature to centre Indigenous voices, knowledge and experiences and to build relationships between readers, storytellers and communities. The growing online collection is complemented by professional learning that helps educators work with Indigenous literature and Indigenous ways of knowing in their teaching.

Rotary’s support is helping strengthen a resource that can extend well beyond a single classroom or school, giving educators access to materials they can continue to draw upon as they incorporate Indigenous stories and perspectives into learning.

The Rotary Club of Calgary East contributed $40,000 toward a new playground at St. Rose of Lima Catholic School, providing the funding needed to complete a project that had been in development with the Parks Foundation for several years. 

The project also provided an opportunity for the club to honour longtime Rotarian Jim Smith and his wife Betty. Jim was a Calgary East member for more than 40 years, and he and Betty were deeply involved with young people in northeast Calgary, including hosting numerous Rotary Exchange students who became lifelong friends.

The playground was dedicated in their memory on November 21, 2025. Today, it serves not only students but the surrounding neighbourhood, providing a place where children can play while families gather and connect. 

The $40,000 contribution came from funds the club had accumulated through the Calgary Rotary Clubs Foundation, allowing Calgary East to help bring the long-planned playground to completion while recognizing two Rotarians whose lives reflected a longstanding commitment to young people and their community.

A $5,000 contribution from the Rotary Club of Calgary West is helping Umoja Community Mosaic expand a community sewing program for women through the purchase of additional sewing machines.

Umoja’s Women’s Community Sewing program provides participants with opportunities to develop practical sewing skills while building confidence and social connections. Calgary West reports that the program has expanded to four locations across Calgary, increasing opportunities for women to participate.

The sewing initiative fits within Umoja Community Mosaic’s broader focus on strengthening belonging and opportunity for newcomer families. The Calgary organization operates free, community-led programs intended to create connections and give participants opportunities both to develop their own skills and to contribute to their communities.

The Calgary West contribution is a relatively modest investment with a tangible result: more equipment that allows a community-based program to reach women in more locations across the city.

A new passenger van funded through the Rotary Club of Calgary at Stampede Park’s Stella Endowment is helping Recovery Acres remove a practical barrier faced by people seeking treatment for addiction: getting where they need to go.

Recovery Acres Executive Director Stian Rorstad told Rotarians that transportation can be an obstacle both to entering treatment and to remaining connected with recovery. The new 15-passenger vehicle is being used to transport clients to detox, appointments, 12-step meetings, community programs and other activities connected with treatment and recovery.

Recovery Acres has served Calgarians experiencing addiction for more than 50 years and operates residential treatment programs for men and women. Its approach emphasizes not simply completing a treatment program, but building the relationships and community that support longer-term recovery.

Recovery Acres has itself subsequently identified the Rotary-supported vehicle as one of the improvements made possible through donor support, reporting that the organization purchased a Ford Transit for client transportation with support from the Stampede Rotary Stella endowment.

By helping people reach treatment, appointments and the community supports that sustain recovery, the Rotary-funded vehicle is providing something straightforward but essential: reliable access to help.