Latest news with #MarkStarratt
CTV News
22-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
15K Rotarians from 140 countries celebrate community at Calgary convention
Mark Starratt is the co-chair of the host organizing committee of 2025 Rotary International Conventional, which has 15,000 people from 140 different countries attending. Last week, Alberta hosted the G7, which featured global leaders from around the world gathering together in Kananaskis Country to try to solve a few of the world's problems. This week, Calgary is hosting the 2025 Rotary International Convention, which features 15,000 ordinary folks from 140 countries around the world gathering together at BMO Centre in Stampede Park to try to solve a few of the world's problems. "I don't think we have enough time to talk about the variety of things that are being talked about, but it's everything from peace and conflict resolution to polio eradication to literacy, maternal health, and community engagement,' said Mark Starratt, the co-chair of the host organizing committee. 'There's just so many things going on at this convention. It's hard to put a pulse on just one thing." Starratt said there are 13 Rotary Clubs in Calgary and more than 45 in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, who represent a sliver of the organization's 1.2 million people from 46,000 different clubs. When you put that kind of people to work trying to solve a problem, you can get a lot done, said Rotary International General Secretary and CEO John Hewko. 'Rotary, really, back in 1985, had the the audacity to say we are going to eradicate a disease from the face of the earth,' Hewko said. 'Smallpox have just been eradicated, and we -- to celebrate our 75th anniversary -- said we're going to tackle eradicating polio. John Hewko, Rotary International CEO John Hewko, Rotary International president and CEO (Tyler Barrow, CTV Calgary) 'We were joined by the WHO, UNICEF, CDC, and, more recently, the Gates Foundation and GAVI to create the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. 'We started with 125 countries that had polio back then,' Hewko said. 'We're now down to just two: Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the virus is still circling. So we're on the verge of eradicating polio and leaving a legacy for as long as mankind inhabits the earth.' Hewko said Rotarians around the world have contributed US $2.9 billion to the effort over 40 years, and recently Gates announced he would chip in two dollars for every dollar raised by Rotarians. Not bad for a gathering of not-so-ordinary folks. 'What the polio eradication effort demonstrates is the power of the individual, the power of grassroots organizations to unite together around the cross to drive change and to really make a difference in the world,' Hewko said. Locally, two Calgary Rotary Clubs joined with the Flames Foundation Friday to announce a $3 million donation to build four sports zones in different communities across the city. The convention is believed to be one of the largest Calgary has ever hosted and if there's a problem to be solved in Calgary this week, it might be finding a vacant hotel room or a dinner reservation at a restaurant. All those visitors are expected to book 30,000 hotel room nights and drop around $81 million into the local economy. 'We're delighted to be here in in Calgary,' Hewko said. 'And of course, we're going to be taking advantage of the incredible hospitality of the of the people of Calgary and the City of Calgary.' Rotary International Convention 2025 continues through May 25.
CTV News
29-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘Sharing ideas, sharing wins': Final preparations for the 2025 Rotary International Convention underway
Co-chairs of the 2025 Rotary International Convention, Craig Stokke and Mark Starratt talk with Sydney Boll about final preparations for the five-day event beginning June 21. The 2025 Rotary International Convention kicks off June 21 and will see more than 15,000 Rotarians from 120 countries converge on Calgary for five days. Local Rotary clubs won the right to host the annual event ten years ago. 'It's been a long journey for sure,' said Craig Stokke, convention co-chair. 'You know going from sort of the planting the seed and thinking about what may be and how the city got behind it and the communities got behind Rotarians, everybody's really excited.' Stokke says it's a chance to show off Calgary to international visitors but also raise awareness locally with people in the city and surrounding area who are not familiar with Rotary. 'There's a lot of charities out there that may not know what we do,' he said. 'And there's a lot of people I think that want to give back to the community but they don't know how to do it and they don't really have an avenue so just getting that exposure about Rotary and what we do in the community, I think is really important.' Mark Starratt, convention co-chair, says the annual event is designed for participants to share ideas and talk about projects they have in the works. But at it's core it's a gathering of people with like mind who want to make a difference. 'It's about sharing projects, sharing ideas, sharing wins and how we've impacted the communities around the world,' he said. 'But at the end of the day it's about just helping our communities be better.' Starratt says Rotary has been in part of Calgary and area's community for over 100 years and it's an organization that's working along side many other great organizations to build community and to add to everyday life here. 'From seniors to youth to new immigrant populations, just the sky's the limit in terms of the rich service that we've done,' he said. 'And the convention coming to Calgary allows us to show this on an international stage.' Stokke says close to 1,500 people have signed up to volunteer for the five days of the convention. He talked to other organizers around the world who recommended that Calgary have at least 400 volunteers to help it run smoothly. 'That's not Calgary, that's not what we do,' he said. 'We want to make sure that from the time somebody gets off the plane until the time that they leave, they know they're in Calgary, they know that they're taken care of.' In the final weeks before the convention begins, Stokke says all the 'heavy lifting' has been done. 'It's the little things now that matter and making sure that we cross the T's and dot the I's and we know that we're going to put on an amazing event,' he said. Learn more about the event here.
