Another Great Year for St. John's!

Submitted by Andrew Best
CPC St. John's
 

The Canadian Progress Club, St. John’s is pleased to announce another great year!  Lots of fun and laughs were coupled with a little elbow grease and a lot of hard work to make this year one of the most successful ever for the storied St. John’s club.

One of the year’s many highlights was the completion of the Shepherd project. The project, originated by the Canadian Progress Club, St. John’s, in March 2003, was a celebration of the life and work of Helen Parsons Shepherd and her late husband Reginald, two artists who had enriched their native province for over fifty years and who were both great supporters of the Progress Club.  The goal was to produce a book about the Shepherds, to mount a retrospective of their work at The Rooms, and to endow in their memory a scholarship in the visual arts at Sir Grenfell College.  Former Progress Club National President, Chris Marche, chaired the committee overseeing the project and was a key driver in making it a tremendous success.

The book was successfully launched this past fall at The Rooms and was later recognized as the top ranked book of its kind in Atlantic Canada.  The St. John’s club was extremely proud of this accomplishment and was pleased it was able to recognize two outstanding individuals who contributed greatly to the club and to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The St. John’s club’s successful year continued with our Christmas projects that saw our dedicated members occupy our local cold storage facility for days on end until they managed to sell and deliver over 2000 turkeys!  There were a couple of cases of frost bite and even some confusion among some younger members on how to determine the difference between male and female turkeys!  But all in all it was a great time that netted some impressive results.

Members were just beginning to thaw out when duty called again and it was off to put together Christmas hampers for 100 local families in need of assistance.  The Club kicked in some funding to start and was able to successfully recruit support from the many friends of Progress to make the project work.  The hampers were well received and helped brighten the holidays for our selected families.  It’s nice to know that a little bit of hard work can warm the hearts of many during such a special season.

Moving into 2006, it was time to celebrate the Progress Club, St John’s 20th anniversary. Members past and present were called in to join the many friends of Progress and our charitable organizations, the Vera Perlin Society and Special Olympics Newfoundland & Labrador as we recalled a great 20 years of dedication, determination, and one helluva good time!!!  National President Bob Lockhart was in attendance with Vice-President Doug Baker as everyone enjoyed a fabulous evening of food, drink, laughter, drink, good times, and drink!  Here’s to the next twenty years!

The future of the Progress Club, St. John’s is brighter than ever. It was several years ago that senior club members recognized the need to inject some youth and new energy into the club.  They initiated a strong recruiting drive that has seen many new young members join; to a point where close to 40% of our current membership is 30 years old or less. Not only do the younger members bring out youthfulness in the senior members and provide them the opportunity to relive their youth vicariously through them, they bring new ideas and concepts that have helped push the club to new highs. The club has initiated a strong mentorship program that has seen new members work closely with existing members to learn the ropes, but also to inject some new insight into the club’s affairs. New members were active during an innovation night held this year in which many new ideas were presented and approved. Our annual dinner and auction, the crown jewel of our fundraising efforts, was completely revamped this year and saw attendance decrease from 250 plus guests to just over 100, while proceeds from the event jumped over 35%! Change management is alive and well in Progress Club, St. John’s as they storm ahead into their 21st year!

The St. John’s club would like to thank its executive for a great year of hard work and devotion. Thank you to all members who unselfishly gave their time and effort to support so many great events and thank you to all the individuals and organizations who helped make this year a remarkable success.

The work of a true Progressian cannot be measured in dollars or in time, nor in heart or in soul.  Simply stated, the work of a true Progressian is never done.

Looking forward to welcoming you all to St. John’s for Convention 2006!