This episode will start your holiday season off right. We talk to Tammy Hansen from the Rotary Club of Ladner about Story Walks.
This project is a great combination of literacy, physical activity and community building. You can find out more by visiting the Club's website at: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/603
You can also contact Tammy directly at: d_hansen@telus.net
This episode will start your holiday season off right. We talk to Tammy Hansen from the Rotary Club of Ladner about Story Walks.
This project is a great combination of literacy, physical activity and community building. You can find out more by visiting the Club's website at: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/603
You can also contact Tammy directly at: d_hansen@telus.net
Welcome to this episode of Talking Rotary. I'm Peter chi and I'm a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg Charleswood.
Mandy Kwasnica:And I'm Mandy Kwasnica past president and also a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Charleswood when we are so happy you have joined us here and I are so excited for this new podcast and thankful to our many listeners. Let's start talking Rotary.
Peter Tonge:Mandy we just got to talk to Tammy Hansen from the Rotary Club of Ladner in what a neat project, they have.
Mandy Kwasnica:So interesting. I've never heard of anything like it before. But as soon as she started describing what this story walk was, I right away. I'm like our club has to get on this. But we have the perfect opportunity to do something like this. And it just I think it goes way beyond what her club and the other two Rotary Clubs are involved in are doing. I think a lot of people are going to be jumping on board with this.
Peter Tonge:I think so do and what I love about it is that on the surface, it seems like a very simple thing. But it addresses a whole lot of really complex issues in the community. I think it's the
Mandy Kwasnica:incredible between, you know, getting outside and encouraging literacy and and obviously there's the physical activity to peace that's involved. I just think it's an incredible project that they're doing great work.
Peter Tonge:You do. Some people are going to enjoy our conversation with Tammy Hansen. Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Talking Rotary. I'm Peter Tonge.
Mandy Kwasnica:And I'm Mandy Kwasnica.
Peter Tonge:And we're here with Tammy Hansen and she's from the Rotary Club of Ladner. Hi Tammy. How are you?
Tammy Hansen:I'm great. Thankyou so much for having me.
Mandy Kwasnica:Welcome, Tammy.
Peter Tonge:Okay, can you tell us a little bit about the Rotary Club of Ladner and where it is we have listeners from all over the world so we we need to help them out here
Tammy Hansen:So I'm here is a pretty much a small town it based on fishing and farming originally it it is on the outskirts of Vancouver, British Columbia, which most people will know. No, of that big city. So we're just kind of like a little hidden secret. Little River, a little a little town by the river. And yeah, we're just a quaint little community. The ladder club of or the Rotary Club of Ladner has been around for long before I was even born. We 50 in February, and it was back formed back in the days when it was a men's only club. The first woman to join our club was Irene Fornier. And she's still with our club. And yeah, so there are many members who could be my grandparents and maybe even my great grandparents. So I'm cutting one of the young the young ones, we do have a few people younger than me, but I was the young one about 10 years ago when I first joined but it's it's a great little club and a great little town.
Mandy Kwasnica:So have you been affected by any of the floods recently?
Tammy Hansen:Fortunately, we have not we are actually on like a dike community and we would be potentially in flood threat but we do we did have some of our farm lands that had animals that had to temporarily evacuate because horses were up to their knees and water and so fortunately there wasn't any fatalities of most of our animals were able to be moved to sort of higher ground until things dried up. However we are cut off from most of the sort of the mainland right now with with many highway closures and we're suffering with those gas restrictions. We can only fill up to 30 litres right now. Because the highways the fuel trucks can't get in. So there's been many days of lined up vehicles at gas stations and gas stations posting that they're out of gas and oddly enough, there's a toilet paper shortage again. But But I feel my heart goes out to the people in Abbotsford and Chilliwack who unfortunately are out of their home and they've lost their animals and I think to what capacity, you know, the damages, it's going to be weeks and months before they even know but everybody's working hard to sort of get everybody safe and get things back open. Bu t we don't know when that's going to be
Peter Tonge:I'm glad that you and your family are safe anyway because you say there's lots of families that have been impacted by the flooding.
Tammy Hansen:Absolutely lots of groups are collecting donations to send out to the flood victims. And that sort of seems to be a major on top of you know, right now with Christmas, there's lots of empty stocking campaigns. I mean, it's just one thing, but it's just amazing how deep people's pockets can be when when it's time to give. So our community certainly rallies, I mean, all of the local communities to try and help out the province. And so just one of those times of the year.
Peter Tonge:Wow. Yeah, absolutely. And it always seems to happen every year. I don't know why. But
Tammy Hansen:We got hit with the fires in the summer, so on exactly. Between the between the virus and the fires and the floods, it hopefully if things only happen in threes, we're done now for a while.
Mandy Kwasnica:Yeah, the same thing happened in Slave Lake to right where they had the fire and then right after the flood, like it's so strange how that happens. It's crazy.
Peter Tonge:Now the Rotary Club of Ladner came to my attention because of the story walk project. What can you tell us about that?
Tammy Hansen:So this was a project that sort of fell into our laps during a Zoom meeting. So it was in June 2020. So right after COVID hit and we had to shutter in person meetings down. And we had a lady by the name of Andrea Lanier, who was from the Delta Child Youth Committee, talking about this literacy project. And so she put on a slideshow and she talked about this project that's called a storywalk. A woman by the name of Anne Ferguson out of Vermont was the originator of this concept of having an outdoor podium style book that set up that's accessible and sort of changes. And so she told us about the project. And so we I mean, the club just instantly thought this is a great outdoor activity. And so we just started to partner with them and the city of delta. So the city of Delta governs Ladner, or part of South delta. And we approached our other club, which was North Delta and to Austin, so to Austin and Ladner are in South delta. So the three clubs went to the city with the youth council and the Delta literacy group and presented the idea. And I actually happened quite quickly, because we approved it as a board in August, it went to the city in December, and by January it was approved. And I mean, if you've ever had to do anything with the city to get anything approved, you know, just a number of months. It was It happened really quickly. And then like I said, the city wanted to get it going. So yeah, they and they were going to install install our podiums. And so yeah, it got installed in June and we put the first book up in, in July. But yeah, I sort of to jump back as to what a storywalk is. So ours is about most of them are about a kilometer on accessible trail. So the idea is whether you have a stroller or a wheelchair, or a walker, or small children, you know, elderly children doesn't matter all ages from you know 100 And under can go and enjoy this. Enjoy this book. And we chose to change our book every month, which now as I seem to be the book changer, it may be doing it once a month might have been a little bit of a overachiever sort of idea. But you know what, I'm sure I'll get a committee to sort of help me change the book every month. But our book is along a river walk it starts kind of right behind it Elementary School, which is great. Because the the school librarian I sent her the book every time a new ones installed. The especially the primary grades have have been putting it into their curriculum to take their classes out and they go and do the walk. And so on each podium is one page of the book. And our podiums are a wooden style with a metal frame and a plexiglass covering to sort of protect them from from the water or the weather, I guess. And and the literacy group laminate them for us too. So the pages are are protected. We don't alter them in any way. So we keep the book in its original original form. And they're usually about 18 to 22 podiums would be like an average storywalk. So ours is 22 podiums, but the first one is kind of a welcome. Here's what the storywalk is. And the very last one is, thank you for coming. So ours is 20 pages, for the children's family, whoever to enjoy. And then we've also incorporated things that are called physical literacy prompts. And so it might be flap your flap your arms, like a bird to the next podium, or hop like a bunny to the next podium. So to just try and incorporate those. And it's great because my husband and I walk our dog around there often, and there's nothing quite like, you know, seeing a, whatever, whether it's a 20 year old, a two year old, or an eight year old, flapping their wings, or reading the books. And so it's just kind of a very interactive, interactive project. And so, like I said, it was, it was a great idea, we jumped on it, and the community has just been has embraced it, they're so excited to see the next book that's coming, every time I'm installing it, you know, somebody is just like, oh, my gosh, I love this idea, oh, I was a retired, you know, kindergarten teacher, I wish I had this. And so we've just had nothing but positive feedback. And so it's just, it's really been a great project, what has the impact been on the community, then, while it's definitely been an opportunity, whether it's been like a rainy day, or a sunny day, or whatever, for the for me to get outside, obviously, during COVID, looking for safe physically distanced outdoor activities, it's been a great destination point. And like, as I mentioned, between ladder tossin, or delta, we all have different books. And so it potentially could be a weekend thing, or, you know, even over a month, a family could visit all three books, and enjoy a different location and a different book. So we've kind of been feeding off of off of each other that way and sharing the books that are in each location. The the tuason one also is by an elementary school, sort of close to the beach, and the one in North Delta is by kind of a community center hub. So obviously, location is is key, it needs to be in an area where you know where there's going to be, it's easily accessible. Ours also there's a sort of a denser populated condo and townhouse single family home area. So there's lots of sort of user groups that you know, that can use it.
Mandy Kwasnica:Is it branded, like with a Rotary logo and stuff to get rotary out more in the community? Or did you have to kind of stay away from that part of it?
Tammy Hansen:No, so we mentioned all the partners ourselves, the city of delta and the literacy group and the community on the first one. And then since we, you know, we put together the podiums, and we maintain it, you know, not to be not to be overkill, but every few podiums we have, like Final stickers, or some sort of acknowledgement that has the, you know, the rotary wheel, or it says the Rotary Club of Ladner, just as a reminder that it is a rotary that put it out there because sometimes people see our wonderful projects, but they have no idea who put them in there. Yeah,
Mandy Kwasnica:That's wonderful that the city allowed you to do that. That's great.
Tammy Hansen:Yeah. And as long as we had, you know, our proper ancestral acknowledgments, and we were respectful of, you know, the area, there didn't wasn't there wasn't an issue. So like I said, it's just really been a great, you know, positive project for sure. And even since we did ours, I mentioned to Peter earlier that it basically started out in a community paper, sort of announcing that we were that we had installed these, and then CBC Radio picked up on it, and then Global TV picked up on it. And then rotary magazine. And so, I mean, I think it's fantastic. I've talked to there's a passport club that that here in British Columbia that borders into Washington, the Washington State in the US, and I spoke to a scope via zoom with them. And I've had the C sharp Club, which is the sunshine coast of British Columbia, reach out and so I mean, my goal is just keep talking about it. Let's get these projects, you know, all across the provinces, the Canada, you know, the all across the nation. You know, I think just think there isn't a location, anywhere in the world that wouldn't, that wouldn't love to have this type of project.
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Tammy Hansen:And when we started to reach out into the community, we were surprised how many thought it was such a great idea. We thought, you know, the Plexiglas, you know, they cut it all into the pieces for us. So, I mean, just little things like that, the powder, powder coating of the metal brackets was done for free, you know, they discounted on different things. And so we were able to put together, you know, our 22 podiums for it was about $2,000. So, from a roadmap project, I mean, it's pretty easy to raise that kind of money, and then the books all come from between the library and illiteracy literacy group, so we don't actually have to pay for any of the books. And so it's, it's just one of those projects, that I think it's an opportunity to partner with local businesses, and, you know, it's just, it's just one of those sort of feel good and inexpensive, because I think quite often, especially smaller clubs, you know, to do a million dollar water park or, you know, something like that, you know, those are big, massive projects. But, you know, to run a shred a thon, or, you know, various, even a bottle drive, you know, you can raise $2,000, you know, fairly easy, and I think if you were to mention that it was tied to this project, the community, you know, would support that as well. So, I think it's one of those projects, that's, it's attainable from a financial perspective. And then if you've got a few handy people, which, so we basically had all these, you know, pieces, we had a retired construction person design the, the podium, and then you know, somebody else with a drill and, and, you know, sort of put these things all together. And so, I think everybody sometimes looks for those hands on projects. And so whether it's walking by with Windex and paper towel, once a month to clean off the podiums. There's just all these little projects that can get people out there and involved. So it's just I don't know, like I said, I just can't say enough good things about this project. It's fantastic.
Peter Tonge:I want to talk a little bit more about your site. I know it's accessible, but is it in like a park area or along a scenic trail? Or, you know, how did you decide where to set up?
Tammy Hansen:So our was right, we looked at several trails that were owned by the city, because of course, it would be hard to find private property. So it was basically city property. So we looked at more or less existing, existing trails. And our trail was called the Millennium trail. And it was installed. I want to say about eight or 10 years ago, when they started, there's an elementary school there. And they started a sort of a housing development. And it's a walk that takes you along along the river. And it's it's kind of a multi use, you know, like a strike walking bike path. So we looked at a few different paths. And one of them wasn't great, during, you know, certain parts of the season because it was, you know, too wet or too muddy. So we wanted to make sure that we found a path that was going to stay usable all through the year. So if you go to the start of our trail, there's a road but there's also the parking lot attached to the elementary school. So if it's outside of school hours, you can park in the elementary school playground or parking lot, the elementary school parking lot, you can park in there. And then there's, like I said, there's road parking as well. And that's kind of at the start of it. Ideally, a loop is the best type of trail where you basically start and finish sort of the same part. We didn't have that ladder. The one into Austin is in fact a loop. Ours is a linear trail. So it starts behind an elementary school it weaves along, you have an arm of the river, kind of a slew on on one side and sort of a wooded area and then we actually go along a golf course for a little bit. But we did make sure the fences were high and there was no no issue with anyone getting hit by a flying golf ball. Well, they went past a few and then we're ours ends. We have a sign kind of at the end that has a map of the sort of the entire Millennium trail To invite people to continue their walk if they if they so wish to. So that was another sort of boost for the city was to have a map of their continued trails. And so someone could read the book and then continue to walk, or like it's just a kilometer back. And they could, I mean, I'm sure there's some kids who would be quite content to read the book backwards as they as they had back. But yeah, so if you were to walk along, or a trail, it's a there's lots of trees and wildlife. And it's quite often the books, try to incorporate that. So we've had various books that have taken place, or sort of the the idea of them is different animals. The one that we have right now is I like myself, so it's kind of a feel good. You know about a child, you know, whether your hair is curly or straight, or if you're tall or short, but I like myself for who I am. The one before that was called the the squirrels who squabble but of course, it's all about squirrels. Well, we definitely have squirrels and raccoons and beavers, and all kinds of all Eagles around ours, for sure. And there's been one of our first books was called munch and munchin. It was about a gentleman who decided in his retirement, he was going to have a home garden. But of course, these bunnies who live in his backyard have a whole other idea for his garden. And so he, you know, builds a wall and a moat and all these things to keep these bunnies out. And so they're very entertaining books. Like I said, we're very fortunate that the library partners with the literacy group to pick all of these books, and we've had ones that have it have maybe have an indigenous component. It could be a grandparent grandchild relationship, we had one called the Red canoe. We also had LeBron James, I promise. So throwing up the basketball star name there, but it's it, I shouldn't say but, you know, quite often you think professional sports and writing children's books, not necessarily hand in hand. But a very good book. And again, I think, you know, for children who follow basketball, you know, to see that LeBron James's book. And anyway, so they're, they're really they're Canadian authors, international authors, the the illustrations all have to be very vibrant and inviting, because there's going to be children who actually can't read the book on their own. So we want to make sure that the pages are interesting for them to look at. And, basically, I would say the age group is probably three to eight is kind of who we aim to. But like I said, anybody can read the books for sure. And like I said, the physical literacy prompts where there's different actions. And sometimes it can be, you know, can you pick up? How many leaves can you pick up between here and the next podium or just little activities? And of course, they would be appropriate to the time of the year, because, of course, now in the fall, all of our leaves have fallen. And so that would be one that would be on a podium now as opposed to in the summertime.
Mandy Kwasnica:So the physical prompt piece of it, is that like a little separate piece that you have on the podium, or how do you incorporate that in with the book?
Tammy Hansen:So again, we're very fortunate that the literacy group, when they laminate the page, they put a literacy prompt on the bottom. And quite often it would be appropriate to what's going on in the book. And because you can't always have a book that's 20 pages long. They also put in different sheet like we would call them kind of filler sheets, but they would be at the end where it would be like a reflective question about what you just read about. Or it would be something that might incorporate numbers or so so there's these filler pages. So that if we have a 16 page book, we have four filler pages if we have an 18. So I said like, yeah, it's great that we have these and then I have a friend umbrella fever company and she does a bunch of acrylic stickers. And so she put together these laminated animals and vegetables and fruit and you know, letters and numbers and so I put in a splash of color once in a while I'll incorporate these different little stickers or she also gave me whether once so just to sort of another conversation piece to sort of talk about and just sort of embellish the, the podiums just to make them more inviting.
Peter Tonge:Love that. That was the big technical question I was worried about what do you do if you have a 16 page book? This makes perfect sense to me.
Tammy Hansen:Yeah. And I mean, you Another thing to consider is we actually have to have three copies of every book. Because if you think about it, that when you read a book, it's got one page, and then the back. So they assemble two books, and they put them together. And that's how we get rid of page 1234. And then we keep a third book, just in case there's any damage. Because we would, we would hate that if one page got damaged, all of a sudden, we couldn't use the book. So. But fortunately, like, we're on our fifth book, now, I was able to successfully remove 20 pages, and we haven't had to break into the original books. But our whole idea was, since the three clubs partnered together, we all have 12 books. So we basically have enough books to do three years worth of the podiums, which is, which is fantastic.
Mandy Kwasnica:So great.
Peter Tonge:You were also saying how teachers were incorporating this into their curriculum, what kind of feedback are you getting from the teachers?
Tammy Hansen:Yeah, so the teachers have been happy to because I think they have a physical daily physical requirement within their within their classroom curriculum requirement. But as well as and Mandy understand this with with two new additions to your family. And I think Peters said they're nine and 11, but they need to be outside. And it doesn't matter whether it's, it's, you know, raining or windy or sunny, it's just so important to get to get fresh air. And so I think with teachers, you know, once in a while, the kids start to go a bit squirrely, so what a great opportunity to go read the book. To get out there and, and, you know, it could be a matter of if it's a smaller grade, taking, you know, 20 or 30, kids all at once might be a bit much, but maybe if you have no partnership, or, you know, helper in your classroom, you know, half the class can be on the playground, and half of it will read and you can rotate it sort of through that way. But like I said, two of the walks that are in South Delta are right by elementary schools. And, you know, it's just been a great opportunity and some of the other Closer, closer elementary schools to our walk, when the weather gets better, have expressed, you know, having a walking field trip, where they'll be able to take their their classrooms to come and take a look as well. My oldest daughter is actually just doing her her post degree and elementary school education right now. So, and she's actually teaching at an outdoor education, school, it's an ecology program. So it's a school that actually focuses around teaching outside and learning from the outdoors. And so you can kind of see how important it is to have kids just be able to experience, you know, experience the outdoors or learn outdoors. So it's just a great opportunity for that.
Mandy Kwasnica:That's so neat. I think that there are many rotary clubs that are going to be listening in on this and hearing, hey, we have a park that we're involved in, because it's very common for rotary clubs to be involved in, in parks in the local community. How can we go about implementing something like you've done here? Do you have plans that you can share with us or you know, instead of reinventing the wheel? Is there anything that you can share with us on that?
Tammy Hansen:So absolutely. Anybody who would like to reach out to the Rotary Club of Ladner, or myself, d_hansen@telus.net. I have a copy of our podium design, I have the the the PDR, the PowerPoint presentation that we took to the city. I have all had pictures of what our storywalk and our maps and everything looks like. So I have I have everything that would answer I think any of those, what do we do to get started questions? And that's exactly what I want is to is to be able to spread that information. I think someone had asked me is there a storywalk website? And there isn't unfortunately, like I just think it would be so neat if there was where you could just you know Google story walks and there would be a map of where they're all located. When my kids were small, a smaller there was geocaching. I'm sure it's probably still around a little bit. But you know, you could find out where all the different geo caches were kind of in your area. I mean, wouldn't it be nice if you could be you know, whether you're visiting or you live there, to be able to look up where these are located and go in and visit them?
Mandy Kwasnica:Great idea.
Peter Tonge:I think that's a brilliant idea.
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Peter Tonge:Now, I know that you're working hard to get the word out and share this with other rotary clubs. But where do you see this in two years, or three years or five years? Well, I went,
Tammy Hansen:I mean, like I said, I've, I have had two clubs that are fairly close, reach out for the information, and that's just within the last six months. So I would say two to five years, I would love to see, you know, a dozen of these in British Columbia, I would love to see, you know, 100 of these across Canada, I, I would I would love to be able to one day Google and find a map as to where these these story walks are. As a result, basically to say that I don't look like I'm 50. But you know, in 10, or 20 years from now, I'm going to be a grandparent and I would love to take my grandchildren all over and still know that these story walks are still around to to experience. Yeah, I guess that I, as Mandy, as you said, so many clubs are involved in parks, and you know, I don't see a municipality city province that would be upset at the idea of having a path that went around the park or you know, a certain area of the park. That if it just brings more people into the community. And so yeah, even if it was, you know, that we have ours by an elementary school, but why couldn't you have it by a library, kind of like minded the ideas, obviously, schools push literary literacy, a library or community center, any of those, any of those locations would be a great spot, you know, to have a house storywalk
Mandy Kwasnica:Love it. I think it's such a brilliant tie in to, to bring the physical activity, the engagement and literacy and just just even getting out in nature. Like to tie that all together. It's a brilliant plan. Love it. I absolutely love it.
Tammy Hansen:I think initially, I thought it was only like I said, only going to be elementary school kids enjoying this, but my husband and I were just out putting the November book in not so long ago. And people were walking by walking their dog and they're like, Oh, I'm so happy. There's a new book for me to read. And there were no children with them. Or, or it's just as exciting to be, you know, to be changing the book, and you can see a few podiums away that there's, you know, a child pulling on their mom's hand. Come on, come on, let's go to the next podium. Hurry, hurry, you know, so just to to experience, you know, that kind of excitement and involvement is great.
Mandy Kwasnica:So, yeah, so never underestimate Never underestimate, you know, like the the fact that who your audience is, because I don't even like, I can just speak for myself bringing our kids over now to my mom's slice the other day, they had cartoons on she's like, I don't even remember the last time I had cartoons on in the house. And she's like, wow, they're like, so different now. And it's the kind of the same thing with books, right, like, so you're gonna get an audience of all ages reading these books. So not not just for children.Love that. note?
Tammy Hansen:For sure.
Peter Tonge:Yeah, I have to say, I think I think it's, it's, it addresses lots of complex needs in a pretty straightforward way. I think that's the really interesting part about it. And I have to say, I would love reading the O'Brien Jays book and belting my basketball from podium. Yeah.
Tammy Hansen:Absolutely. Well, and I mean, people talk about sometimes, you know, trying to group together, you know, young children is like herding cats, or, you know, with the occasional time of perhaps bedtime, when they're really tired, they'll sit by, you know, quite easily to sit and listen quietly for a book. But, you know, there are lots of children out there that, you know, sitting at a desk or sitting to read a book is just, it's just not, it's just not a great environment for them. And so yeah, the opportunity to be outside and, you know, run 15 feet or whatever, to the next podium and blow off some, some energy, get some fresh air. It's, you know, it's a great way for them to learn and maybe they're not so excited about sitting in a classroom and reading a book, but running outside and reading a book might be might be of interest to them, so
Mandy Kwasnica:Oh, well. 100% Yeah, my kids would be all over it.
Peter Tonge:Fantastic. Yeah. It's very simple. You've been involved in Rotary, I think since you told me since 2012. Why do you keep coming back to Rotary, you could be using your energy on lots of stuff.
Tammy Hansen:Well, you know what my, my boss invited me to a lunch meeting many years ago. And I have to be honest, the very first time I was, I was a bit, and maybe a bit taken aback at perhaps the average age of the people that were in there, thinking this is, I mean, this sounds awful, but I love my club. But, you know, most of these people can be my grandparents. But then I started to sit down, and I was with, you know, a retired judge, I was with a teacher. And, you know, an executive director, I was with somebody who was from banking. And I said, at another table, and I was I was with, you know, people who were who were still working, I was with realtors, I was with lawyers, I was with farmers, I was with bankers, and all of a sudden, it was, it was, it was such an in engaging atmosphere that I was like, I'm totally going to sign up. And so that was just sort of the conversation and meeting people who necessarily weren't in my age group, but I thought they were so exciting. And, and they were so involved, they were so involved in a community just wanting to give back. And I and I love that. At the time, both of my, my children were probably just sort of starting high school. And our club has an Interact Club at at our high school. And I think my, my oldest daughter was probably in grade nine. And I said, you need to go go to an interact meeting. And, and she's like, What, and of course, you know, grade nine, you know, going into this meeting, it was like, oh, no, no. But you know, I said, oh, please just go and try, just go and try. And so she went to this interact meeting, and, you know, everybody was so inclusive and welcoming. And, and so she ended up getting involved. And then I ended up being the the youth liaison. And at the other time, my, my young, my younger daughter was coming into high school. And so I got them both involved. And I was, you know, sponsoring kids to go to adventures and citizenship in Ottawa, they were going to rile us out. Through connections, my daughter ended up going on an exchange to China and teaching English through the summer, and then just realize that this massive network all over the world, it wasn't just my community, it wasn't just my country, it was it was, you know, it was all over the place. And both of my kids when they came back from RYLA, just felt it was life changing, you know, just writing inclusive environment and just people from, you know, introvert extrovert, just people from all over, you know, students from all over. And so anyways, so I think that I was in, in charge of the youth program for a long time. And then when both my kids graduated, I said, I think it's time to pass the torch to somebody else and actually took on the treasurer role. I'm an accountant, I'm a CPA, so I guess it that that kind of fit. But then, and then COVID hit and it was, you know, we weren't able to do a lot of the community lunches and dinners and things that we use, you know, we used to have a Christmas event every year, a lighting in a park and all these different things that we used to have and and that was an that was sort of what kept me going was all these different community projects. So the storywalk ignited my my energy again, to get back involved. And like I said, it's it's just been one of those projects that has really brought a light kind of doing during a bit of this dark time. But yeah, so I think rotary what brought me in, I guess, initially was my boss, what kept me there was the great people. And what will keep me there is, like I said, is all the good things that I know rotary does all over the place and just trying to make a difference. One small step at a time.
Mandy Kwasnica:Love it. Well, thank you for your impact that you're making on your community and around the world because now you're gonna have a huge audience listening in on this conversation and thinking, wow, we could do something like this in our community. So I really hope that you get lots of emails and inquiries coming your way on how we can all take part in in this great project. Absolutely.
Peter Tonge:Thank you so much damage has been fantastic. Really appreciate you telling us about the project.
Tammy Hansen:Thank you for reaching out to me, Peter. I'm so glad I answered the email.
Mandy Kwasnica:Thank you so much for joining us on another great episode of talking Rotary. We would love to hear from you. Please send us your comments and story ideas and you can share with us easily by sending us an email at feedback at talking rotary.org Let's keep talking Rotary.